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)
She smiles, giggles, plays with her hair. “That’s quite a dream you had.”
She’s really not listening. “It’s not a dream. It’s just… the future.” I look around, bored. Ready to go. The only door I can find in this place is the one we came through.
“What do you mean, the future?”
“The future, Callistina.” I look up at her and meet her gaze. “I’m not a kid. I’m twenty-five. Somehow, some way, the fucking devil stole me from here, took me to a realm called Pennsylvania, left me with a strange woman called Mother, and…” I throw up my hands. “Then I got stuck in a monster’s curse, learned to do magic, banished Saturn—”
“Father?”
I roll my eyes. Can she be any dumber? “Then I went to Vinca to work for the prince over there and became a spelling prodigy. And then we stole all the wood nymphs and took them back to Saint Mark’s so Tarq could be the king and I could put you in debtor’s prison for killing my Pia.”
Callistina’s eyebrows are so furrowed in confusion, she’s got a unibrow. “What in the name of the House of Fire are you talking about?”
I point to the bag of rings tied to my waist. “And these? They open doors to other places. That’s kind of how I got here. In a roundabout way. And actually…” I sigh again. “Can I just… go now? If I can just get to a door—”
Callistina sputters and gasps. “Pianna. This is your Caretaking Day. It’s the first day of the rest of your life! You’re going to be—”
“I’m going to be a homeless foster-care kid in Philadelphia. I’m going to ditch a lot of school, go hungry a lot of nights, pass time getting drunk with college kids I don’t actually go to school with, and then be hunted by the devil.”
She places a hand against my forehead. “You’ve gone ill.” Then she looks up and around. Not finding what she’s searching for, she taps the teenager in front of us. “Where’s Mistress Ryella? My sister has gone sick.”
And then again the lights go out. But this time a spotlight immediately lights up the small circular stage in the center of the room. There is cheering, and clapping, and then Mistress Ryella walks across the little wooden bridge and stands in the center of the tiny stage with her hands clasped together.
Immediately, people go silent. So silent you can hear everyone breathing.
In this silence Callistina says, “Don’t worry, Pie. I’m going to put a stop to this. You can’t go through with it. Not while you’re ill!”
Yeah. I just sigh a third time. “You do that, Callistina. You do that.”
Meanwhile, this whole shit show has already started. Mistress Ryella’s platform is slowly spinning in place so she can address the entire room at the same time. “Thank you for joining us today for another Caretaker Ceremony for the finest younger sisters in the second generation of gryphon chimera.” There is a smattering of polite applause, but Mistress Ryella doesn’t wait it out, so it dies quickly. “As you all know, the alchemists of the House of Fire have spent thousands of years perfecting the lioness.” She really emphasizes that word. “And as you are also aware, gifts tend to accumulate in the secondborn of each new protocol. And these lovely lionesses here today represent the finest the House of Fire has ever produced. We breed these magical children with you in mind, so that they may enhance your line and bring forward your power.” She pans her hands towards the kings and queens in the tiered section of the stadium. “But before we get started, a shout and a clap for the gods and goddesses who made it all happen.”
Mistress Ryella raises her hands up in the air and claps. Just as the lights come on high at the top of the stadium.
“Huh. Like… skyboxes,” I mutter. Private rooms so they can have business meetings while their little genetically-engineered daughters can be sold off to placate royal families. Nice touch.
Even though I’m now disgusted, and bored, and so ready to go, I can’t help but scan the faces up there.
Gods.
It’s… kind of impressive. I mean, how many people in this world—or any world, for that matter—get to see the ancient gods in person?
This is the moment when some of what’s happening to me finally starts to sink in.
I am not human.
OK. I’ve had a few weeks to get used to this idea. But it’s more than that. Not only am I not human, I am… special.
It feels weird to even think this about myself for lots of reasons. Mostly because I’ve never been anything but weird. And maybe some people are evolved, or whatever, and to them weird and special are the same thing, but that’s not how I felt about it.