Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
I want to kick him.
He winks at me and then looks away again like he feels guilty, the sea roars behind him like it’s pissed.
I feel the same.
Wild. Angry. Unsettled.
“Run along,” Cyrus says.
Rat throws one of his nuts at Cyrus’s shoe.
Cyrus picks it up, looks at Rat, and pops it in his mouth. “Generous.”
Rat squeals and runs off, leaving me on my own.
Staring at a man I know I can’t escape. He was right. Where would I go? And who would believe me anyway?
Ra was one of the most powerful gods in Egyptian mythology.
Impossible.
I don’t have any choice. I can run, but I bet he’d find me.
I have next to no money, thanks to school and how expensive life is. And the police department seems to be the type that’s most likely owned by Cyrus in the first place.
And now Cyrus is claiming to know where Jake is.
I need to think.
I turn on my heels, hating the sound of the bell as it rings with each step I take back toward the warehouse.
“They always sound different,” he calls after me. “Depending on who wears them. Yours screams of sadness and a fate you can’t escape.”
“Bells don’t talk.” I take another step.
His chuckle is infuriating. “I beg to differ. Enjoy your research, Cleo.”
I say nothing and walk off, the sound of my damn bell my only company as I make my way through the dark hallways.
CHAPTER 19
CYRUS
“He with a short knife must try, try again.” —Vapnfiroinga, ch.7
Iwait until she’s back in the warehouse, and then I slam my hand against the tree again and again.
Bark goes flying across the ground with each strike. My palm stings as I imagine its roots are too strong to break. I couldn’t even burn it down if I wanted to. Then again, can you really burn down the source of everything? I keep telling myself I have choices in this scenario but every time I think of it, I become more dead inside.
I’m just like the tree.
A vessel.
I look over my shoulder at the island; the waters have receded faster this time, maybe it’s because they too can sense that we’re moving up the timetable. Normally, the sacrificed find out the day before, but she’ll know longer. Her anxiety will mix with the thick sea air, and even the animals will be aware that things are earlier for the final sacrifice. At least I’ll be on time.
Right now, she’s being brave, putting up a front. Later on, she’ll know that she may have been different from the others, but she was never special. Just a means to an end. My heart clenches in my chest.
I repeat it to myself.
Just a means.
Just an end.
Just an end.
She still doesn’t believe me, despite what I know she sees, both in her dreams and in front of her. I always find it odd, how little humans can see something truer than their own reality and still deny its existence.
I’ve never had to convince someone of my identity before. I flick my fingers, and they immediately fall to their knees; many cry—mostly the men.
Except for one.
I tap my knuckles against the tree sending another leaf to the ground, it falls next to my feet and instantly turns to ash.
It’s dying.
After all, when you haven’t been fed, you die, when you don’t water a plant, it shrivels up, just like this tree. I stare down at the roots digging into the ground; they’re twisted to the north, south, east, west. They head out in every direction, diving deep into the cliff with two offshoots.
Only one is dead.
Just one.
Would it really be so bad? Staying here? What purpose do I even have outside of this? And what purpose does this puny world have outside of war and bloodshed, outside of chaos?
I ask myself this more often now.
And yet the knife still comes. It still digs deep and pulls out the toxin of humanity. The poison.
And every time it happens, I remind myself how satisfying it feels when that first drop of blood falls to the ground and I can rest.
You return to where you were born.
For her, the Nile.
For others, the dirt, the sea, the sky.
I shake my head and grab my cell.
Me
She knows now.
Enki
Let me guess, she cried and ran away. Give me a minute and I’ll grab my shit.
Me
No. She yelled at me then called me a liar, there was a lot of eye rolling. She’s in the warehouse now.
Enki
I’m dumfounded. You look every inch the god you are.
Me
Was that a compliment?
Enki
I’m feeling generous today, I got laid last night, two fairies—well, never mind, just know that it was magical.
Me
Fairies bite.
Enki
Exactly.
And they call me the insane one.
Me
Anyway, more convincing might be necessary.
Enki
…are you asking me to…bake?
Me
Tell anyone and I’ll hang you from the tree.
Enki
Rat would eat me alive, so would that goddess cow. Whatever, I’ll be over in a few minutes, got to take care of the fairies first, I give and receive.