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 knew it.” I grumble my words out. Then I head in that direction, calling Pie’s name.
The hallways rearrange, as they tend to do on this side of the cathedral, but they spill me out into a hallway that I know leads to Tomas’s dungeon.
And who do I find there, just kicking back against the stone wall?
“Batty.” This word vibrates the air and the torches around me flicker when I say his name. “Where’s Pie?”
I don’t really need to ask. I know she’s down there. “Pie!” I call out, trying not to put too much emotion in it. Still, it comes out a little frustrated.
The torches flicker again, but no walls crumble.
Hmm. Interesting. I wonder if the moving hallways are immune to my new power?
“Stop bellowing, Pell! I’m coming!”
And sure enough, a moment later, Pie appears in a stairwell that was not there a moment before.
“Did I or did I not forbid you from going down there to see Tomas?”
Pie just grins as she walks over to me. Then she pats my chest. “You’re so cute with all your caveman stuff, Pell.”
“I am not cute!” And once again, no walls shake from my annoyance.
“Oh, of course you are. You’re not allowed to boss me, Pell. Well”—she tilts her head, like she’s thinking about this—“you can boss me all you want because I think it’s cute, but don’t expect me to listen.”
I’m about ready to argue with her, but then she bats those long eyelashes of hers—flashing eyes as blue as the sky—and I momentarily get lost in them. Before I know it, I’m smiling.
She leans up on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek, then takes her mouth to my ear and whispers, “Cute.”
Even this makes me smile. And a whole slew of happy feelings floods my body.
Batty clears his throat, trying to break up our moment. And immediately, I’m annoyed again. I miss my peaceful sanctuary. I just want time alone with Pie. Time where she is not worried about everyone, or trying to make the monsters happy, or thinking about the future.
“Oh,” Pie says. “Yep. I got the translation—”
“What translation?”
“That’s why I had to go see Tomas. Who, by the way, is… scary. And there is an egg situation down there that we really need to talk about. But later. First—” She holds up a piece of paper and turns to Batty. “I get it. You guys need more food. We’ll get that today, all right?”
Batty spends the next minute and a half talking to himself, and Pie lets him do this. “It makes them feel listened to,” she told me the other day. “This is a sanctuary, Pell. A place of refuge for monsters. I feel like it’s our mission to make them comfortable.”
But this is not my mission. My mission is to get rid of them so Pie and I can have the whole place to ourselves. Tomas can stay, but eggs? I don’t know. Kids? I’m not good with kids. I can’t even remember the last time I talked to a child, let alone cared about one.
“Pell?”
I snap out of my introspection and look down at Pie. “What?”
“Town, right?” She waves a hand at Batty. “I think he’s waiting for you to agree.” But then she shoots Batty a sharp look. “Though he’s not the boss of me, so… if I tell you I will get you hay, I will get you hay.”
Batty smiles at Pie. But he’s humoring her, I can tell.
And so can she. Because she tilts her head as she looks at Batty, like she wants to say more about how ‘in charge’ she is.
I point at her. “Cute.”
She slaps my hand away. “Don’t placate me.”
“I’m not. And he’s not. I’ll get the hay. Happy?”
“Not you, Pell. We.” She points to herself and me.
But then Batty is pointing at himself as well, wanting to be included.
I don’t want Pie to come, but it’s either take her with me or leave her behind with all these sex addicts. “Fine, you can come.”
“I can?” She brightens, pressing her palms together like she’s praying, and then claps using only the tips of her fingers.
“You can. And so can you.” I point to Batty. “I don’t understand what’s going on with the town. It could get dangerous.”
“How dangerous?”
“Well… the devil is waiting for me in that bar.”
“Hmm.” Pie seems to be changing her mind. “Maybe I shouldn’t go?”
“No. You have to go. You can’t stay here with all these degenerates.” Batty takes offense to this, but I growl at him, “Everywhere I turn, people are fucking. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of the parties, and the sex, and laughter.”
Both Batty and Pie just stare at me, like I’m being unreasonable.
“What? I like my peace and quiet.”
“It’s a sanctuary, Pell.” And here she goes again. “It’s our job to protect them.”