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)
“Well, I don’t know the specifics of the magic, but…” He shrugs. “I just asked for one and she obliged by spilling out a spell and popping out a door.” He smiles brightly at me. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
“Where does it go?”
“It doesn’t go anywhere yet. I can use it any way I want.”
“Well, make it go to my tomb. I need to get Pie out of here. I think we’re going to Vinca.” I look back at the stairwell and let out a breath. “Those monsters up there”—I turn back to Tomas—“they’re out of control. They’re all from Vinca. Did you know that Batty and the rest of them are from Vinca?”
“Of course.” Tomas chuckles. “We’re all from Vinca, Pell.”
“You say this like it’s common knowledge.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No, you—” But I refrain from calling him names, because I need him to give me that door. “You don’t understand. Batty says I’m from Vinca.”
Tomas tilts his head at me. Like he’s a confused dog. “Are you saying you’re not?”
“Of course I’m not!” This bellow of objection comes out as the voice. And once again, things begin to crumble.
Tomas looks alarmed, then rushes back into the shadows. “Madeline? Are you OK?”
A growl—a deep, throaty, angry, dragon growl—comes rumbling out from the darkness.
“Oh, good, love. There, there. Don’t mind Pell. He’s a little confused these days.”
“I’m not confused!”
An entire wall on the far side of the dungeon just slips to the ground. Like it melted.
“Stop doing that! You’re scaring Madeline.”
I let out a long breath and pinch the skin between my eyebrows. “Can you please. Make that door. Take me to my tomb.”
Tomas comes back out of the shadows. “I’m sorry, Pell. I can’t do it.”
“Why not?” The ground shakes beneath my feet.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not doing anything. I’m not in control of this voice, OK? It just happens.”
“Well, it’s ruining my dungeon. I think you should leave now.”
“Great. Just…” I wave my hand at the door. “Make it take me to my tomb.”
“No.” And this ‘no’ of his comes out very final.
“What do you mean, no? I’m the master of Saint Mark’s. This door belongs to Pie and me. We’re in charge of the doors. And I want you to make it go to my tomb.”
“Well”—Tomas folds his arms over his chest—“if you’re in control of it, then you make it go to your tomb.”
I narrow my eyes at him. We both know this won’t work. I don’t even have a reason why I know this won’t work, I just… feel it.
“Tomas.” I use a more reasonable tone. But still, things around me are degrading. I start again, almost whispering. “Tomas, listen to me. The monsters upstairs think I killed Frecks.”
“What?” He’s alarmed. “You killed Frecks?”
“No. I—”
“Frecks is dead?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Pell!”
“I didn’t do it! My voice came out like it is now, and—” The stone floor under my feet is shaking. “And then the grand spire on top of the back side of the cathedral just… toppled over. And it took out Frecks on the ground. I didn’t kill him, Tomas. I’m not in control of this voice!”
The entire dungeon shakes.
And then Madeline shrieks, and Tomas is even more alarmed.
And then a hissing sound comes from the shadowed corner. “Eggs. Eggs. Eggs.”
“What’s that, dear?” Tomas retreats back into the shadows and there is more hissing and some whispering. Then a gasp. “Oh!” Then he reappears. “You need to go. Now, Pell. You have cracked one of our eggs open! If you kill my baby dragon I will—”
He stops himself before the threat comes out.
But I’m angry now too. “I didn’t crack your egg.” The voice is different now. Still low and rumbly, but there is much more control. And nothing around me comes apart. “I don’t understand this new power.”
Tomas narrows his eyes at me. “Then maybe you should stop using it.”
“Stop speaking?”
He just shrugs with his hands. “I think the eggs will be OK. But I’m mad, Pell. I have been living in this dungeon, as something less than a person, for thousands of years. And now I have a woman and eggs that are hatching, and I will not lose these things. Do you understand me?”
His voice changes as he talks and by the last part, it’s very different from the voice of Tomas, my friend. It’s low, and controlled, and powerful.
Suddenly, the room gets a little bit brighter.
I have always known he has power. At least when he’s a real dragon and not some apparition. But Tomas is so… I dunno. Innocent. And kind. He really is kind. Also, optimistic. I know he burned the cathedral down, but that was his dragon form protecting his lair. And I know he burned Granite Springs, but that was his chimera form protecting Madeline.
But this voice he just used on me was something I’ve never experienced before.