Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
“Will you be here tonight?” he asked, opening my car door for me.
“At sunset,” I whispered as I threw my bag inside before turning to look at him and the hurt in his eyes. “Will you be here tonight?”
He cupped the side of my face before putting his forehead on top of mine. “How could I not be where the woman who loves me is?”
I rolled my eyes, unable to keep from laughing. “Good.”
“Good.” He lifted my head and kissed my lips once, then stepped back. “Are you sure you are safe to drive?”
“Yes! If you knew how many all-nighters I’ve pulled in my life—”
“I am aware,” he said with a smile.
“Right. Stalker.” I chuckled. “Then yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“Get home safely, and then rest. It’s been a long night.”
“You need to get some rest, too,” I said and got in.
He closed the door gently, watching me as I started the engine and pulled away. Even though I had told him before not to follow me, he still did from a faint distance, and he would continue following until I had gotten at least five minutes away from my house on Juniper Avenue. There was a lot I did not know about Theseus. I mean, that was expected. How could I understand all of him in just a few short weeks? I had known myself for twenty-six years, and I still didn’t understand myself. All people, mortal and immortal, seemed to be complex. But what I did know for sure was that Theseus was intentionally patient with me. He allowed me to dictate almost everything. When I came, when I left, what we talked about…He left it up to me. Always kind, always sweet, doting, always watching over me like I was precious gold.
He treated me like I was once in a lifetime because I really could be. He understood that from the very first day that he chose to stay with me, and he accepted that in the end, I might always be a witch, but he didn’t care. He would rather spend a few short years of his eternity with me than none at all. He would rather fight with his mother to allow me to stay a witch than push me to become a vampire, even though he probably wanted that.
Do you know what it is to live a thousand years of loneliness? His mother’s voice echoed in my mind again. You will die, and he will be alone again? Eternity remembering you fondly—that is what you want?
I couldn’t even like the few hours I was away from him anymore. How would I feel if he died, and I was here for a thousand years?
“What am I supposed to do?” I exhaled tiredly at the stoplight, my head already aching.
Ring.
Ring.
The sound, the name on the ID screen, everything on my phone made me jump a little in my seat.
“Uncle Axel, sorry. I had a late night at work, so I am—”
“Magdalena has disappeared.”
For minutes it felt like my heart had just stopped. “What?”
“We are trying to trace her, but it’s not working. Did she ever tell you where she’d like to go?”
I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me.
Honk.
Honk.
I glared in the rearview mirror at the car blasting me so hard that the engine blew. But I didn’t care. “Magdalena likes to practice in the forest behind her house, but I’ve told her never to go alone. She’s smart and strong and—”
“I’m sending everyone out to search. Go,” he said, hanging up the phone.
“She’s okay, Druella,” I told myself as I stomped on the gas and sped off from the smoking car behind me, pushing mine as fast as it could possibly go. Every light, I turned green, and every car that nearly cut in front of me, I forced their brakes.
I didn’t stop until I arrived at the local park closest to my house to enter the forest. Grabbing my bag, I glanced over the treetops.
I couldn’t feel her magic.
“She’s okay, Druella,” I muttered to myself as I walked.
She was fine. She most likely fell asleep because she woke up so early. The silly little girl was going to wake up to an army of pissed-off witches because she had taken a nap. I was going to twist off her little ears.
I walked farther inside, climbing over a broken log. “Magdalena! Magdalena, are you here?”
“Druella?”
“Theseus?” I turned, feeling behind me. There he was like I had seen him only twenty minutes ago. “You can’t be here. Other witches are coming here soon—actually, forget that. You’re fast. Can you run and see if a little girl is sleeping somewhere? She’s about hip height to me and has—actually, you should know what she looks like. Magdalena? I use to babysit her, and she comes over to my house all the time—”