Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Magical spells tumbled through his mind. Attacking spells. Killing spells. He’d need speed and power today. Accuracy. He’d need to take them down as speedily as possible.
He started walking quickly into the meadow, wanting to check in with Nessa before all of this kicked off.
“Sebastian, wait.” Jessie caught up with him. Her eyes glittered with ferocity. “Stay here for a moment. There’s a perch for you. It won’t give you a lot of maneuverability, but it’ll give you eyes.”
She leaned a little more toward him. He could see her gargoyle’s intense hostility peeking through her gaze. The lead blanket fluttered, wanting to reveal a reaction. Somewhere in his mind’s eye, he thought about shrinking away. But that wasn’t how Elliot Graves did things.
“We’re their backbone, weird mage,” she said with a little smile, using the nickname many of the others had adopted. The one he felt strangely proud of, especially because of how well it fit. Her magic pounded through him, shoving aside the lead blanket and reaching a place deep within him, a dark place, full of insecurity and feelings of inadequacy. It was a sensitive place, one that he tried to hide. One that he fully ignored when he was Elliot Graves.
As if she could read his mind, that spark in her eyes glowed brighter.
“Elliot Graves is a hollow mask granting you an excuse for courage. If this gargoyle is a part of me, then that courage is a part of you. Time to embrace it. The worst that can happen for you is to slip on that persona again. You need to find your courage another way. Me? I’m trusting Austin to make sure I don’t fall in too deep.” A wry smile twisted her lips. “I feel very vulnerable right now. You do too. Let’s do this together. We can trust in Austin. He’ll pull us all back from the brink.”
She held out her hand, palm and elbow even. Her power kept pounding into him, hitting that place inside of him.
Jessie knew his struggles. She probably knew he hated all of this despite the life he’d led—the darkness, the battles, the violence. She wasn’t judging him, though. She was trying to build him up, like a leader should. Like a good leader did.
In that moment, he didn’t love anyone else in the world the way he loved her. Thank God it wasn’t sexual, or it would’ve been the scariest moment of his life due to the horror of what that big polar bear could do to him.
His hand shaking, he fit his palm against hers. She drew him a little closer, making him latch on to the ferocity in her eyes and soak in those pulses of deep, penetrating magic like a security blanket.
“We can do this,” she said, finishing with a soft hiss. Pulse. Pulse. “We’re more powerful than those mages. We’re more insightful. More cunning. You’re way more of a nerd. Your knowledge cannot be surpassed. We’ll do everything—anything—to protect our family. You heard the basajaun’s name. You’re part of our family regardless of whether you sit in our circle. You expect nothing. I expect nothing. We expect everything. Help me. Don’t let me brave the darkness on my own.”
Pulse.
Pulse.
She stared into his eyes. Yelling and shouts erupted from behind them. The enemy had come, but she ignored it completely as she said, “You don’t need a crutch. You are enough on your own.”
Sebastian would never know how she understood his crippling insecurity, his fear that after his sister died, he was only whole with Nessa. But she did, and when she touched the middle of him and said those words, it was like she’d blown on a tiny spark in the middle of tall, brittle grass. It only took a moment for that spark to catch.
She nodded, squeezed his hand, and then led him into the trees.
I don’t need Elliot Graves. The thought was foreign, but in that moment, it seemed true. I’m enough on my own.
“You’ll have to do a little climbing,” she said, weaving between the redwoods. She stopped short as they ran into the basandere. “Why are you still here?”
“I was invited to see Buln’dan’s new family,” the basandere replied. “I intend to.”
“What you’re really saying is that you’ll make sure no harm comes to him, and until you have to act, you’ll enjoy the show.”
The basandere didn’t flinch. “Yes.”
“Great,” Jessie said. “Well, make yourself useful. Show him to that perch. We’re out of time.”
She turned and started jogging away.
The basandere looked down at Sebastian before turning and continuing to wind through the trees.
“I have heard you have great power, mage,” she said before stopping at a small, rocky hill. “I can feel it within you. You have found a place of belonging with this family. They will help you to flourish.” She jerked her head up the incline before moving off through the trees.