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)
We are lined up in the hallway two by two and when the pair in front of us begins walking, so do we. Even though I know where I end up—sitting on that bathtub looking down at Pia. Who is brand-new today. That’s kind of a cool detail—I still don’t understand how the devil and my mother actually get me out of here. I mean, there are no humans here. And I get that the devil isn’t human—he’s an eros or maybe the Eros. But my mother is a human. So my mind is spinning with possibilities of how the two of them manage to get me out of this world and into that one without a single person in this place stopping it.
This is when I realize everything has gone eerily quiet in front of us. It’s like everyone is holding their breath. And just as I think that, Callistina inhales loudly. Like she knows what’s coming and it’s a big, big deal.
Is she excited? Is she terrified? I can’t tell.
But I don’t have to wait long because the pair in front of us passes through the door. And then we’re there, right on the threshold. And that silence—I’m stuck in it for a moment. It’s a little bit comforting. But also foreboding.
Because it’s the silence I feel just before I step through a magic door. And the space on the other side of that door has nothing to do with the space on this side of the door.
We cross over the threshold and my foot hasn’t even touched the ground yet when the screaming and yelling fills the world.
Callistina squeezes my hand and even though I can’t hear it, I know she lets that breath out. Excited.
Because people aren’t just yelling and screaming. They are cheering and we are in some kind of ancient arena, the kind you might find in Rome or Greece. The kind left over from long-ago times.
Someone with a big, booming voice yells, “Princess Callistina, Princess Pianna, House of Fire!” Like we’re at a debutante ball and must be announced.
The crowd cheers. For us.
I look around, my eyes wide and wild, trying to understand what is happening here.
Are we in the Coliseum? Are we being thrown to the lions? Are we going to be killed by gladiators?
No. Nothing like that. Nothing like that at all. The room is actually not that big. There are lots of people, for sure. All chimera. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but from here all the men look like satyrs and all the women look like nymphs. And they are crowded together—shoulder to shoulder—on the center floor. And in the middle of that crowd is a small circular platform and over their heads is a bridge made of wood that leads towards where all the lion-girls are standing lined up along the outside edge.
But there are other people in the room too. These people sit on chairs on elevated platforms that are terraced up the sides of the circular space. They are chimera. But… different. And this difference isn’t just in their clothes, or their jewels, or their crowns.
It’s… everything. No satyrs, that’s for sure. But there are minotaurs. I thought Tarq was sleek and sexy? Well, he is. But he’s just one of many here. And they’re not just minotaurs, either. There are lots of different kinds of chimera. The most attractive and regal combinations of humans and famous monsters from ancient times that I have ever seen.
No one in this group of people is shouting. They are stoic, and regal, and dressed like royal beasts.
This thought makes me pause. And then I get a little sick to my stomach.
“Ooo!” Callistina pokes me. “There he is. The Prince of Vinca. House of Bucks.”
“Prince of Vinca?” I actually say this out loud, my little-girl voice surprising me for a moment. “Who’s that?”
Callistina winks at me. “Your future husband, if things go to plan.”
“Which one is he?” I already know I’m not going to marry the stupid prince. But it doesn’t hurt to check him out.
“There.”
My eyes follow the length of Callistina’s finger and I find… “Holy fucking shit.”
“What did you just say?”
“Umm.” I look up at my sister. “I said… he’s… a hairy… bucking…” I sigh. “Never mind. But I know him.” And I do. Because the Prince of Vinca is a teenage Tarq. I’ve even seen this version of him. It was when we were running through the forest during that first trip into the hallways. Oh, my God. Is Pell here too? I scan the crowd, but can’t find him.
Callistina pokes me. “Know him from where?”
“Vinca.” I give up on the pretense. It’s not like any of this matters. This is a memory. It’s a wrap, as they say.
“You’ve never been to Vinca, Pianna.”
“Well, Callistina, actually, I have. I’ve not only been there, I worked there. I’m some kind of spelling prodigy and Tarq—I mean, that prince guy? He was my boss. And guess what? You were the queen.”