Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Over someone I hate. No. I don’t even hate him! I have no feelings at all!
The door to the bar bursts open and a hoard of monsters stream through it like they can’t get out of that bar fast enough. Something is happening inside. Something between Pell and Eros. Something big.
And I feel terrible about leaving, but I had to get out of there because if I didn’t, I was going to burst into tears and I wasn’t going to do that in front of the devil.
“Pie?”
I look up and find Tomas staring at me with a worried face.
“Are you OK?”
I want to say yes. I always say yes. I’m fine.
But I’m not.
And then I’m crying. For no reason at all, I’m crying.
Tomas folds me into a hug, holding me tight and rubbing my back as I sob and snot all over his shoulder. He doesn’t even ask what’s wrong. He just lets me get it out. He lets me get lost. He lets me get it under control.
He lets me pack it all back up and tuck it away.
And once that’s done, I step back, wipe my eyes, and sniffle. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. What happened in there?”
I look over my shoulder at the door to the bar, sad all over again. “I don’t know.” I’m sniffing like crazy. “I’m not sure.”
“Why are you crying?”
“I don’t know that either.”
Tomas nods. Like he understands. And the funny thing is, I think he does.
“Did you find Madeline?”
“I did.”
“You did!” I perk up. Life is getting better. Finally, someone gets good news. “Where is she?”
“In the feed store. With… Darrel.”
“Darrel?” I’m just about to ask who Darrel is when it hits me. “Oh, my God. You don’t mean—”
But Tomas nods. “It seems we’ve been gone six weeks, and in that time, Madeline has turned back into a human.”
“Really? Well, that’s great. Right?”
“It’s wonderful.” He smiles. “It really is. There is no happiness in being a dragon.”
He’s still smiling on the outside as these words come out, but maybe it’s me, or maybe he’s showing me more of himself, but for the first time I can see all the unhappiness just below his surface.
And I think this is why I love Tomas so much.
He’s the bright light in the never-ending darkness.
He’s the ray of hope in the face of doubt.
He’s found a way past the bad stuff but it comes with a price. And that price is hitting him on the head right now.
“What happened, Tomas?”
He shrugs and looks over his shoulder at the feed store. “She’s better off without me.”
“What? No! That can’t be true. You’re… you. You’re—”
“Me.” He meets my gaze and shakes his head. “I will ruin her, Pie. If she stays with me, I will ruin her. Because I’m the whole reason she’s changing into a dragon. I do that to her. Just being around her is a curse. And I love her, you see. So I must walk away now. Because I don’t want her to be a dragon. I don’t want anyone to be a dragon. Not even me.”
“Oh, Tomas.” And now I’m fucking crying again. I pull him into a hug and we just hold each other like that for a good long time.
The only reason we pull apart is because the door to the bar opens and Jacqueline comes out.
She stops when she sees me, her face all crinkled up in confusion. She looks me up and down, like she’s seeing me for the first time. Like she didn’t even know who I was inside the bar. Like she was under some kind of spell, and now she’s not. “Pie?”
I put on my happy face. Because that’s what I do. “Surprise!”
Jacqueline looks around the town. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of monsters here. All the prisoners—I don’t even know what that number is. Plus the fifty we brought back. Forty-nine, actually, since Frecks is dead. And the nymphs. This is when I notice Nysta standing across the street, glaring at me.
I want to tell her I’m sorry, but Jacqueline starts talking. “You’re one of them.”
It’s not a question. I take my gaze off of Nysta and look Jacqueline in the eyes. “I am. Not this, though. Actually, I’m not sure what kind of monster I am. I just know I’m not like you.”
“What?” Jacqueline is incredulous. “Not like me? Sister from another mister. Come on. We’re peas in a pod, Pie.”
I smile, then laugh at that old saying. But even as I’m laughing, I’m thinking of Eros. He’s not my father. He’s just some jerk of a god who kidnapped me for nefarious purposes and then abandoned me with a trashy woman who maybe even did her best, but still fucked everything up. “I don’t know what to say to you.”
Jacqueline’s smile falters. “I don’t know what to say to you, either. I feel like I just walked out of a cloud.”