Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
“Yeah. I’m fine. It wasn’t my wish I got stuck in, and Easton didn’t even mean to make a wish.” I let out a breath. “It’s confusing, I suppose. I know what happened didn’t happen, yet it feels like it did. It’s more vivid than any dream I’ve ever had.” I shake my head. “Though at the same time, I knew it wasn’t real. There’s no world for me where this place doesn’t exist. And my family…I couldn’t forget you all.”
“You are resilient, Callie.”
“You can say stubborn.” My lips curve into a smile and I sit on the couch near the fireplace so I can take Juliet out of the sling. She’s fast asleep and stirs as soon as she’s not pressed against my body again. “Which is kinda why I’m here.”
Tabatha takes Juliet from me, smiling down at her. “Evander did say you were going to stop by yesterday.”
“I, um, I…I found the oracle Julian had been looking for. Turns out, it can bring a bit of bad luck if you don’t know how to use it, so the Field Museum turned it over to the Order of the Mystic Realm and long story short, they do not have the best security when it comes to guarding haunted objects.”
“You stole from the Order?”
“Stole…rescued…depends on how you look at it. In doing so, I did kill a djinn.”
“The ring housing the djinn was also from the Order?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t take it.” I wince. “It, uh, attached to either me or Easton. But again. Luckily it went after me and learned fast that it messed with the wrong witch. Or nephilim? Honestly it feels weird calling myself that.”
Tabatha just looks at me, face blank, and blinks. It’s an expression I’ve seen many times when I was a kid when she wasn’t sure if she should punish me or go out and buy me ice cream for saving the day—again.
“Anyway, since this thing is supposedly cursed, though it does not give off bad vibes, I thought it would be safer to do here where someone else could maybe help cast a circle of protection.”
“If something were to go wrong, you’d at least have help here.”
“That’s exactly what I told Eliza.” I unzip the diaper bag and pull out the scarab, which is still in the little velvet bag filled with salt. “Only if that’s okay,” I say and look back up at Tabatha. “I don’t want anyone else getting involved if they don’t have to. I never have.”
“We know that, Callie. What are you hoping to accomplish with the oracle?”
It’s her way of asking if I’m going to bust all four of the Horsemen out of the Underworld in my attempt to save Lucas. “I just want to talk to Osiris and see if Lucas…if he’s okay. And we don’t know what the other part of the deal was. Julian hand delivered four very powerful weapons to an ancient god and we have no freaking clue what he’s going to do with them.”
“That has been a worry of mine,” Tabatha confesses. “We know the damage the Horsemen can do when in the wrong hands.”
“Exactly. And it seems like Osiris has been laying low for many, many centuries. Acquiring something like that could be what he needs to tip the scale and…I don’t know…send mummies to attack us or something.”
“You’ve already handled a bunch of zombies, let’s hope mummies aren’t much more of a threat.” She smiles, but her eyes hold back worry. “I am aware this is another calm before yet another storm. Paimon is a threat to us all, and since your identity has been revealed, you’ve been the object of many demons’ affection, so to speak. They have figured out they can use you and we know they will attack again.”
“I know.” My eyes fall shut. “I know I should go after Paimon and come up with a plan to burst into Hell, guns blazing, and take him out before he tries to take me or Juliet again. But I have nothing.” I open my eyes and shake my head. “Everyone thinks I come up with these genius plans and somehow save the day by the skin of my teeth, but I don’t. Not alone.” I wipe a tear away. “I’ve been in bad situations before, I know, that I’ve gotten myself out of. But things were never this bad. It was me versus a demon, not me versus the possible end of the world.”
“I know,” Tabatha says simply and sits on the couch next to me. “And as long as you are alive, the threat will be out there. You kill Paimon and another will come for you. There’s only one solution I can think of to all this.”
“What is it?”
Tabatha’s eyes gloss over and she looks down at Juliet, smiling. “You need to be protected by the other archangels.”