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)
Isla is looking at me like I’m an idiot. She glances at Batty. “Is he slow? I don’t understand what’s going on with him. At first it was kinda cute, but now—”
“Do not call me cute!” And again, the sanctuary rumbles. This time, many walls fall down and there are shrieks and gasps from a couple dozen nearby monsters and nymphs.
Isla puts up both hands with a scornful look on her face. “Sor-ree. God, you’re so temperamental.”
Batty side-eyes Isla. “Let me handle him. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Isla is about to object, like perhaps they are not done with the argument I strolled in on, but then she lets out a breath, shoots him some kind of knowing glance and backs down. “Fine. You know where to find me.” Then she points at me. “We’re going home to Vinca. Today, monster.”
Not sure who Isla thinks she is, but she doesn’t give me a chance to answer, or inform her that she is not the one giving orders around here. She just turns her back with a swish of her hair and saunters off.
I let out a long breath and look skyward, so tired of these people.
“You really don’t know who you are, do you?”
“What?”
“You think you’re”—Batty pans his hands down my body—“this. Don’t you?”
I look down at myself. I’m shirtless—I hate shirts even more than I hate pants, but actually, the pants are growing on me. So I’m wearing them right now. They are leather because I like the leather. It’s good for working in the smithy. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Then I look back up at Batty and study what he’s wearing, comparing us. “I look better than you do.”
Batty has always been partial to clothes. Sometimes he wears capes, like he’s Batman. Other times he wears a coat and nothing else. But today he’s wearing a whole outfit: a t-shirt—it’s tattered and ragged because it needed to be modified to accommodate his wings, and from the looks of the end result, he must’ve done it himself—and some kind of canvas pants.
“Not your clothes, you simpleton. You, as in… you.” He waves a hand down the length of me. “You have no clue, do you?”
I sigh. “Clearly, I have no clue. So why don’t you fill me in.”
“How do you think you got here?”
“Ostanes made a book. A very powerful book—”
“The one Tarq had. The one you’re hiding in your tomb.”
“That book. Yes. There was a divorce between Juno and Saturn, they fought over their shit, blah, blah, blah. Moves and countermoves. Me, a caretaker, and the tombs.” I wave my hand in the air. “Story time over.”
“Well, I guess it went like that. But who do you think Saturn is?”
“A god. The god of… something. It’s been a long time since I thought about this shit.” I snap my fingers. “Oh. Time. Fuckin’ time. He’s the god of time. Which is why I’m still alive after two thousand years.”
Batty cocks his head at me. “You really believe that.”
It’s not even a question. “Really believe what?”
“The god of time? Giving you… what?” He almost giggles. “Eternal youth?”
I shrug. “Fits.”
Batty guffaws. “Boy, I’m not sure what really happened that day because, as you are aware, I had a hood over my head because they were about to chop off my wings, but what is your excuse?”
“Excuse for what?”
“For why you’re so dumb.”
“You know what?” I step forward and poke him in the chest. He recoils in pain. Chest-poking is actually very uncomfortable, even if you’re joking. But I’m not joking. I put in an effort.
“Ow, you asshole! I’m trying to help you, ya know.”
“Help with what?”
His hands go out in a clueless shrug. “Help you get your life back? But you know what? I don’t even care what you believe. We don’t want to be here, Pell. We want to go back to Vinca. You had no right to make Tarq king.”
“Well, it worked, didn’t it? So I guess I did.”
“You’ve fucked it all up! We had a deal with the devil! This needs to be rectified. I’ve been helpful and patient. Here’s what’s gonna happen.” He actually puts a hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off and he retreats a step. “You’re going to take us all back to Vinca. You’re going to help us retake that city. You’re going to—”
“No.” I don’t even say it loud, but again, the whole sanctuary rumbles. Many things crumble. And this is when I notice that all the things that have crumbled from my voice over the past day or two aren’t being rebuilt. The rubble is just… piling up. I squint my eyes at Batty. “You’re working with him, aren’t you?”
Batty just laughs.
“You’re working for the devil, aren’t you?” I yell it and the tallest spire on the back side of the cathedral comes toppling off and crashes onto the decorative pavers lining the garden patio. Many wood nymphs and monsters go scattering out of the way, but one…