Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Exploding at him, she hit him with her fist, blasted him with magic, then hit him with her other fist, trying to find a face. Kneeing upward to find some balls. Only hitting hard parts.
“Stop, angel. Stop.” His arms wrapped around her, and he pulled her in tightly, cocooning her with his body. It almost sounded like he’d breathed her in. “Stop. Please. I’m sorry. I’ve… You’re not… I think I screwed up.”
Shaking, breathing hard, she struggled again and couldn’t help the tears, all the emotions filling her and then spilling over. She sobbed into him because he was there. She sobbed into him because sometimes she just couldn’t help it.
“Shh, shh,” he cooed softly, his embrace stilling her. “It’s okay. I’m going to take you for some air, okay? I’m not going to hurt you.”
He didn’t sound too sure, like he still feared this might be a trick. Like she was not Natasha the person, and instead whatever he’d been going on about earlier. The thing he’d been walking somewhere to destroy.
Instead of asking, “Why is Ivy House not helping me?” or “What happened to the murder dolls?” or even “Where the hell is everyone who should be coming to my rescue?” she opted to just distract herself with mostly meaningless chitchat he would actually know the answers to.
“How do you know your way around?”
He picked her up again and started walking quickly. “I toured the house, remember? You watched me for part of it.”
“But how do you know your way through the tunnels? In the pitch black?”
“I…don’t understand the question if my answer didn’t suffice.” He spoke slower, like her brain had shut off and needed a bit of time to get going again. “I know the layout of the rooms because I walked through them. I have a good sense of direction.”
“But…the tunnels are a maze through the house, not exactly following logic. Sometimes Jessie says she just feels her way through, and she knows this house much better than you.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. There’s a little landing on the third floor that I assume is a perch for gargoyles. This house seems to be made for us.”
Oh goodie. He could just pitch her off if she got annoying. That would be a handy way to settle this little debacle. Or maybe just fly her somewhere, rip her apart, fly on back, and claim he’d just gone for a joyride. Ivy House probably wouldn’t even call him a liar.
“I still have no idea what’s happening,” she muttered to herself. “There’s mocking someone with murals and randomly slamming doors, and then there’s just totally ignoring a woman in peril. Is this karma?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh yeah?” she snapped. “How does it feel?”
“Where do you come from? Let’s start there.”
“Rhode Island. Where do you come from?”
“Why were you watching me?”
She leaned her head on his shoulder again as he turned one corner and then another. There was no way a sense of direction would get him through this.
“I will answer that, but first, did you find a map of the secret tunnels or something? Or is Ivy House helping you somehow? I can’t help but think this is all a little fantastical. I was led to believe this sort of thing was not possible.”
“Again, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“If I survive this, I’m going to kick you somewhere that hurts. What was the question—oh yeah, I was watching you because… Well, it’s complicated. Short story is that I drank a very powerful potion that masks my sound, sight, and smell.”
“A magical potion?”
“I didn’t know there was any other kind. Yes, a magical potion. That potion has been tested all around town. On gargoyles, on shifters, on Jessie and Sebastian—it works. However, the decent shifters can all still feel presences. Their primal or magical ability relies on a sixth sense, if you will, and while they can’t see, smell, or hear a person, they can feel them. With me so far?”
“I’m not a toddler.”
“I know. You’re an arrogant dipshit lacking a firm grip on reality. Our gargoyles can typically sense a person who’s taken the potion, but they’ve had a lot of practice. They’re looking for it. We wondered if leaders and guardians would be able to sense us through the potion.”
“Why test it on me? Why not the leaders?”
She detected a strange defensiveness behind his question. That was interesting. Just what was he hiding? Not that she’d ever know at this rate. She was about to get a one-way ticket to Splatsville.
“We did test it on the leaders. They didn’t have a clue. I got bored listening to them talk, so the other mage and I were headed upstairs to test the guardians. Except the leaders asked Jessie a question, and he stayed behind. Mr. Tom practically shoved me in the secret tunnel, and the house led me to you. You were supposed to be my first subject of a few. Boy did that go pear-shaped.”