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)
“I think Eros shot you with an arrow, or something.”
She makes a face and looks at the door to the bar. “Is that what he did?”
“I don’t know for sure. But you looked pretty out of it when you were in there with him.”
“You were in there?”
I nod.
She winces. “This place is weird.” Then she gets a look of panic on her face. “Oh, shit!” She puts her fingers on her tongue and whistles. Loud. The way people do in movies. She once spent an entire week trying to teach me that trick. I never really got the hang of it.
Then the door to the diner opens and the teenage boy who was helping her change the tire comes out, holding it open for the other kids. Jacqueline rushes down the street to meet them and they hug. And I’m jealous. Of her and them. Because if one gets to choose a mom, you could do a lot worse than Jacqueline Larue. She might be a little crazy, but she is loyal. Like a lioness. And she will fight to the death for you.
“Well,” Tomas says, sighing. I think he’s envious of that little family reunion going on as well. “What’s the plan?”
“The plan?” I shrug. “Pell offered Eros a door and a ring. But I told him the deal was off, so… I don’t know. Are you coming home with us?”
“Dear girl, where else would I go?”
“I still think we should go through with it. Regardless of what kind of deal is being brokered inside.”
“Little Pressia. The oracle. You would’ve liked her, Pie.”
“I think you’re right.”
“Well, let’s put out the offer and round up the takers.”
Tomas turns, and with a single word—“Listen”—the whole town stops. I’m talking silence. Like the fucking satyrs and wood nymphs actually pause. Even Jacqueline turns around to watch Tomas.
“Damn, Tomas, I didn’t know you had a voice like that.”
“I don’t like to use it. It’s magic, you know. Bad vibes all around. But I would like to end this now. And, well, nothing really matters anymore, so who cares.”
I hate seeing him like this.
“My good monsters,” Tomas says, “and lovely wood nymphs. We have an offer for you…”
As he’s explaining the details of the doors, Jacqueline comes over to me with her stolen kids. “Does the offer pertain to us?”
“I don’t think you want to do that, Jacqueline.”
“Why not?”
“The doors, they don’t lead here. To this world, I mean. I’m sure there’s a way to get here, from there, using like… bus transfers—which are hallways in our world. But the truth is, even if I knew how to do that, I can’t go with you.” I frown. Deeply. “I won’t be with you.”
“I don’t want to go.”
“You don’t?”
“No.” She shoos the kids away, telling them to go find a spot in the truck with the monsters, who are now piling in it to go back to Saint Mark’s. Reluctantly, they do this. And then Jacqueline turns back to me. “I just want the kids to go.”
“It’s not the same world, Jacqs.”
She smiles at the old nickname. “They don’t want this world. They don’t belong in this world, either. They need a little magic, Pie. A lot, actually. You know what I mean?”
Sadly, I do know what she means.
Jacqueline and I have only talked about our pasts once. We were seventeen, we were drunk and pretty high, too. And we had just gotten in a fight on the street with a bunch of guys who may or may not have been planning on doing horrible things to us.
But you don’t mess with Jacqueline Larue. She pulled out a knife, started flashing martial arts hands, and she only had to cut one of them to make them all go away.
We were staying in an abandoned building because our foster mom had locked us out until morning. It wasn’t true winter, but it was freezing. So we were all hugged up together in a corner, sharing our coats, and body heat, and a bottle of Mad Dog.
And then she just opened her mouth and her story came pouring out.
I didn’t say a single word. Not one. I hugged her and listened.
She didn’t want my sympathy. Or my opinion.
And even though I couldn’t give her my whole story back—because at that point, I didn’t even remember most of it—I gave her the bullet points. Not including Pia. I wasn’t telling anyone about Pia by this time.
So what she just told me, without telling me, is that these kids are just like us. And they need a frickin’ happy ending.
I think I can do that.
Maybe my life is just fucked ‘till the end.
But I think I can save these kids from the same fate.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE – PELL
I stare at the door where Pie just disappeared while the monsters—still hiding in various places out of sight—begin to murmur.