Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“Oh, I get that, buddy,” she says low, shoving me in the chest so I move out of her way. “You’re a fucking idiot if you don’t think I get that by now.” She stomps all the way back to the car.
I want to keep arguing with her. So I do. Because I hate the despair in her voice.
“Where are you going now?”
She only spins back to me once she’s at her car, and I’m happy that at least the fire is still there in her eyes. “Where do you think? I’m going to find this man-eater. Ammit.”
“How the hell are you going to do that? Are we going to a library?”
She glares at me like she doesn’t actually want to say but then finally huffs out a breath. “Fine. I’ll tell you. But only because you’re useful as bait.”
That surprises a laugh out of me. “Bait?”
“It’s Friday night, and there’s one place most of the college kids here hit up on a Friday night. It’d be an excellent hunting ground for Ammit.” Then she smirks at me. “You’ll feel right at home.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s called the Fallen Angels Club.”
Chapter Ten
PHEONIX
10 Years Ago
Layden helps me arrange the meat on the smoker like I did yesterday, and we take turns priming the pump while the other washes off. I try—and fail—not to sneak peeks at Layden as he tugs his shirt off over his head. It’s a good thing the farmer happened to be large-shouldered because Layden’s arms seem to all but split the seams with his muscles.
How has he gained so much mass back in a single day? It’s as if this is his true form, and he simply needed to absorb enough calories to return to it.
“I’m hungry,” he says as he finishes buttoning another straining shirt. “Is there anything else to eat while we wait for the meat to finish cooking?”
I nod. “I checked this morning, and there’s some eggs from the chickens. And some unmarked cans in the cupboard we can try opening.”
“I’ll try the cans. You eat the eggs.”
“There’s four eggs,” I say. “We can split them.”
But he shakes his head no. “You need to eat. I should have saved some of the meat for you. It’s unforgivable.”
Seeing the guilt on his face about eating all the meat, I give in. I know he’s especially stubborn about the fact that I continue eating while he’s around, and I can only imagine how much he needed the meat if he wolfed it all down like that this morning.
He heads to the pantry and starts opening cans, tipping the contents into his mouth and swallowing what’s inside, usually in one go. Green beans. Plums. Corn.
“Oh my god, do you even have a gag reflex?”
He looks my way, wipes his mouth with his forearm, and burps. “What’s that?”
I shake my head and laugh. “Never mind.”
I head to the big brick stove in the corner that’s used for both warming the cabin and cooking. Fresh logs are stacked up to one side, thanks to Layden’s morning efforts. The logs go in the bottom, and the burners for cooking are on the sides. Before this week, I hadn’t used one of these old village stoves in a long time. Well, I never used it, but I saw my mom use them sometimes when I was young.
Some of my best memories are from places like this, with just Mom, Dad and me hidden away in little cabins in nowhere nooks of the world. Hiding away where my Grandfather couldn’t find us. It even worked for a while, too.
“Phoenix?” Layden’s voice brings me back to the present, and my head jerks his way.
“What?”
“Where were you just then?”
I scowl and reach for the cast iron pan to cook the eggs I brought in earlier. “Nowhere.”
Wisely, he doesn’t keep asking.
I cook my eggs while Layden continues opening and downing cans from the cupboard. He finally stops and turns back to me right as I’m plating my eggs. “The couple whose cabin this was. You used your compulsion on them.”
I shrug. Duh. Obviously.
“What did you tell them?”’
“To leave immediately and go to a relative’s house for two months.”
His face brightens. “So we have two months?”
I drop the iron skillet hard back onto the brick stove and eat my eggs from the pan while standing. “You looked pretty bad, and I didn’t know how fast you’d magically mend. But I guess now that you’re better, you’re welcome to squat here until they get back.”
He squints at me. “And you? Will you leave now?”
My eyes drop to the smooth, packed earthen floor.
“Where would you go to?” he asks, voice softer. “Where are you from, wild Phoenix? Or did you just burst forth from the air? Maybe I’ve hallucinated all this,” he finishes, murmuring to himself. “Maybe this is what happens when I finally snap and lose my mind. Not an altogether unpleasant madness.” He looks around the cabin, his translucent gray eyes finally settling on me.