Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
My chin dipped slightly as I glanced down at the counter with a sigh. “Maybe my wings should be more like a chicken’s.”
“I understand being scared.” Maggie reached out to pat my hand. “But wouldn’t you like the chance to find out if something could happen between you two? For all you know, he’s been wondering about you all this time, too.”
I shook my head. “No matter how much I wish that were true, there’s just no way.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” she muttered, that gleam reappearing in her eyes.
Tilting my head, I strummed my fingers against the top of the counter. “How would you even know? Did you do a magic spell or something?”
“Not exactly,” she drawled, her gaze darting over my shoulder when the door jingled. Assuming it was Juniper and Silas arriving at the store, I continued to stare down Maggie, wondering what the heck she was up to.
5
COOPER
I didn’t know what I was expecting when I set foot in the small town of Screaming Woods. Okay, truthfully, a part of me expected it to look like a Warner Bros. studio with creatures from their movies hanging around, waiting for their scenes to be filmed. Or possible like Halloween at an amusement park, with all the monsters wandering around moaning, groaning, and gnashing their teeth.
However, it was a quiet little town. Although, my imagination hadn’t been entirely off because I spotted a man covered in snakeskin walking into a building across the street. A man who resembled a gargoyle with horns and huge wings—although the gold, wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose detracted from this fierceness—was holding a stack of books and walking beside a curvy blonde who looked at him like he’d hung the moon. I also spotted a very petite woman with little horns and delicate fairy wings chasing little kids around a playground.
There was also a couple walking down the sidewalk hand in hand, but they looked normal enough, despite her long, lavender hair. The man was tall and muscular with stark-white hair.
I wondered how many humans were living in this town among the monsters. Although, on closer inspection, I realized that the man was wearing thick leather gloves, and a current ran over his skin that crackled like lightning.
I followed them up to the door of the small shop, Something Wicked.
The entrance was through a set of glass doors that looked like they belonged in a Gothic mansion. Big windows on either side displayed a variety of items from books to antiques to custom jewelry, although the themes seem to be darker, running more along the lines of magic and the occult.
The electric man opened the door and ushered the woman into the store. Before stepping inside, she glanced back at me and smiled, her brown eyes twinkling oddly. The man followed her but held the door open until I grasped the handle.
“Thanks,” I mumbled as I walked inside.
The interior of the store was like something out of a movie. It was two stories, but the whole room was open in the middle. Books and displays filled the tall walls from floor to ceiling. A large spiral staircase in the center of the room would take you up to the second floor, which was really just a walkway along the upper shelves. The whole place was dark wood and black finishes, with touches of green and purple here and there. It fit the woman I’d met yesterday.
Along each side of the store was a long counter that held display cases with unique, and I was guessing expensive, items. There were also jars of liquid with…things…floating in there that I had no desire to name. Considering how down-to-earth Maggie had been, I was a little surprised by some of the cliché items I spotted. But then, she’d been very tongue-in-cheek, so it was entirely possible that she was simply leaning into the stereotypes because it boosted business. Smart.
Maggie was behind one of the counters leaning over it on her elbows with her face in her hands chatting with a woman who had a ton of long red hair, pulled up into a messy knot on the top of her head.
“Juniper! Silas!” Maggie exclaimed when her gaze drifted my way. “You found Cooper. Cooper, that’s my brother Silas. Don’t touch him unless you want to die. And Juniper is my sister-in-law.”
I quickly glanced at the couple and gave them a half smile because I couldn’t seem to drag my attention away from the colorful wings folded against the redhead’s back. I double blinked, trying to decide whether she was real.
After a few beats, Maggie grinned and raised a black eyebrow. “Are you just going to stand there, or come over here and meet my friend?”
The other woman turned her head in my direction, and my feet stood rooted to the ground. I was lost in the emerald-green eyes that I had seen so many times in my dreams. Ones I’d drawn hundreds of times but never got quite right. “Holy shit,” I uttered.