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)
“Granite Springs? Pell, it’s like… haunted. And you said the devil is living in the bar.”
“I didn’t say it was a good idea. But it’s all I can think of. They cannot come to the sanctuary. You understand this, right? It’s not a place for kids.”
He’s right. Maybe, with some work and due diligence, and a lot of bribing, it’s possible that we could get these monsters under some kind of control. They were much better before the nymphs came. But I think that was because of Tomas. I think those monsters knew that Tomas wasn’t what he appeared and they were kind of afraid of him. Hell, I think I’m the only one who didn’t get it.
But I do now. “I do, Pell. I get it. We can’t bring them there yet.”
“Yet?”
“Or… maybe ever. But for sure, not yet. Granite Springs might be our only option, but how are we going to explain what’s going on there?”
“Tell them it’s a ghost town.”
“Where do you think we are? Wyoming?”
“Just tell her it’s an old company town. From… railroad days. And the sanctuary owns it now so it’s all perfectly fine and legit.”
“You do realize there’s this thing called the internet? She can look this shit up.”
Pell gets growly. “Well, it’s either this or send her on her way. She’s not coming to the sanctuary.”
I sigh. I love my new life. I really do. I like the monster side of me. And I love Pell. I have daydreams about having his monster babies. But this world I’m now part of comes with so many… problems. It’s continuous. But this is it. This is his final offer. “And the devil? How am I gonna explain the devil in the bar?”
“Tell her to stay out of the bar.”
“I doubt that will be enough.”
He shrugs. “That’s all I have.”
I lean back in my seat, thinking. “What if I… did a little spelling?”
“What kind of spelling?”
“Something to make them stay out of the bar, obviously.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Will it work?”
I shrug. “My spells seem to be pretty powerful these days.”
“Right.” He eyeballs me and I know what he’s thinking. They are very powerful these days. But he knows I’m not really in control of it. “It’s up to you.”
“OK. That’s our best solution. Take them to Granite Springs and spell them into staying out of the bar. Wait here. I’ll go explain.”
Jacqueline is surprisingly receptive to the idea of living in our privately-owned, former-company ghost town. In fact, she tells me that she was looking for the town—because I told her where I was when I made that phone call after my disastrous date with Russ Roth—and there was no such town on the map. She was just driving the backroads looking for it when they got a flat tire and had to pull over.
So this narrative—that it’s all private and left over from railroad days, or whatever—kind of fits.
Here’s the part that bothers me. She was looking for me. And if she had traveled five more minutes up the road, she would’ve gone right by Saint Mark’s. All she had to do was look to her left and she would’ve seen the sanctuary. Because she was looking for me. And I’m a hundred percent positive this matters in the whole ‘no one can see us’ magic happening there.
What if she had pulled over at the gate? Would the gate be locked?
I don’t know. I don’t understand all the rules of Saint Mark’s.
Back when I first got there it felt really safe. There were those big walls, and the magic, and it was just us. Russ Roth put a little dent into my safety rating, but still. He’s one guy.
Now, though? Now we’ve got a hundred new magical beings living there with us. And Batty can leave whenever he wants. He just flies up over the walls. And he’s not the only monster with wings.
This is the moment when I realize something important. I don’t feel safe at Saint Mark’s since the monsters and nymphs came. And it’s not really them, it’s all of it. It doesn’t feel like a sanctuary anymore. It feels like a… like a trap. I’m constantly thinking about doors. And that’s another thing. Pell and I can’t be the only ones able to work magic portal doors. There have to be others.
The doors are only locked if you don’t have the rings.
Isn’t it possible that there are more rings out there?
Isn’t it possible that these ringbearers could come right through their doors into our world, the same way Pell and I walk through our doors into someone else’s world?
This is what I’m thinking about as Jacqueline’s blue bus follows our hay truck back into Granite Springs. But this time, when we pass over the city limits, there is no old-timey sign declaring this place to be Savage Falls. It’s just the same ‘Welcome to Granite Springs’ sign that’s always been there, so that’s hopeful.