Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
So God had a lot of names. Got it. I didn’t have time to contemplate the metaphysical.
“Is Sarah dead?” I prayed this wasn’t where the sneak peek ended because I wasn’t sure I could go on not knowing. “Are they all dead?”
“Perhaps you should watch. We can’t stay for too long, but my siblings would very much like for you to understand what happened and that there is a way forward. What is lost does not have to remain lost.” He stepped back and suddenly the world started to move once more.
Sarah was held feet off the floor, her throat in Myrddin’s invisible hand. The bag had dropped, and Felix had placed Mia on the floor, trying to bring his wife back down. The scene in front of me was pure horror, and I couldn’t imagine the trauma being done to this lovely family and all for one man’s ambition.
“I can’t watch it.” Evan had tears running down her cheeks.
“Just a moment more, Princess,” the angel advised.
Something rolled by my feet, a small crystal ball of some kind. It rolled to where Myrddin stood and then flashed, sending light everywhere. Myrddin gasped and then he was gone, disappearing in an instant.
Sarah fell to the ground, her husband dropping to his knees.
He put a hand on her and his head tipped back. “Oliver! Felicity! Please. Please.”
“He calls to his brother and sister.” The gnome got misty eyed. “Most of us aren’t truly siblings in the way others are, but Felicity and Felix were made from the same clay.”
“We have to get inside,” Sarah was saying, her voice tortured.
“I’ll help you, Momma.” Mia held the bag of holding. “I’ll take it inside and we can hide it for the queen.”
Sarah nodded, allowing Felix to help her up. She limped toward her door, her husband at her side. “He’ll be back. He’s likely making his way back right now.”
“What was that?” Felix leaned over and picked his wife up.
“A sphaera motus,” she replied. “It’s a transportation spell. It took him somewhere. Who sent it?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Mia, get inside.” Felix managed to get the door open. He looked back but the hallway seemed empty. The door closed and we were alone again.
“Who saved her?” Evan asked. “Was it one of the academics? Why didn’t they come here and talk to Sarah? They could have gotten the Days out of the building.”
I stared down the hall. Whoever had sent that sphere had likely stood where the hallway turned toward the outer stairs. They’d popped out and then run. They hadn’t wanted to be seen.
She hadn’t wanted anyone to know that she was helping.
“You can go look,” the angel offered. “She might still be trying to get to the stairs.”
Tears flooded my eyes. “Why would she save them?”
“Liv?” Evan started for the end of the hall.
I didn’t have to. The actual embodiment of faith stood staring up at me with his kind eyes. Whatever else he’d wanted me to see, he’d also wanted me to see this. To know it in my soul.
Liv was redeemable.
“She hadn’t lost that piece of her soul yet,” he said. “This is who she is with her whole soul intact. She was scared and got caught up in something terrible and couldn’t find a way out. You are her only hope. I want you to understand that it is not your responsibility to save her.”
“Like fuck it isn’t,” I said through my tears.
“There’s my Hunter,” he said with a fierce smile. “You’re mine, you know. You were Jude’s and now you’re mine, and I won’t let you down. Not ever, lass.”
Evan jogged back, a shocked expression on her face. “That was Liv. Liv saved Sarah. Why would she do that?”
That was a complex question. Liv had been filled with fear. I needed to view it that way because it’s easy to forget that almost all bad behavior has its roots in fear. She’d lost her power. She’d loved the life she’d led, and that life was impossible without her magic. It was too dangerous to keep her on the team, and she feared she would lose not only the ability to protect herself and her friends, but she could lose those friends altogether.
She’d been afraid, and it led her down this path.
Could I lead her back?
I did what I should have done in the beginning. I gave the angelic gnome the respect he deserved. I got to one knee so I could look him in the eyes. “Is that all you want us to see, Faith? I will follow you if I need to see more.”
“Only one more thing.” He snapped his fingers and we were suddenly inside the Days’ apartment.
Everything looked perfectly normal. I could even smell coffee and caught a glimpse of the table laid out with pancakes. It looked like the Days had been enjoying a breakfast for two before the attack had occurred. They had likely sent their daughter off to school and wanted to enjoy a quiet morning before Felix’s appointments began.