Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
One after the other, they are pushed over. And as the boys fall, they scream. They curse their makers. And the boys behind them—they cry. Harder and harder with each step forward.
One thousand of us were made and I am number nine-nine-nine.
And when I get to the edge, I want to be brave. I do. I really, really do.
But I am ten years old and I am not brave.
They push me off, just like they pushed the others.
And it doesn’t even matter what happens next.
Because we are gods and we cannot die.
So they will torture us any way they can to get what they want.
The next thing I know there is a loud banging and my eyes fly open, banishing the dream. For now.
“What the fuck is that?” I ask. Callistina is already running towards our room door. “What are you doing? Don’t answer it!”
But either she doesn’t hear me, or she doesn’t care, because she pulls the door open and on the other side is the dog-man who works here at the inn.
He grabs Callistina by the shoulders. “They’re coming! Get up, get out of here! They’re coming for you.”
I can see him through the open door of the bedroom and when he says the word ‘you,’ he’s not looking at Callistina.
They are not coming for her.
They are coming for me.
Gods on the loose.
It hasn’t even happened yet.
I don’t even have wings.
Not here in this room at the inn.
Not up there in Building One.
Not on that roof in my nightmare.
But it wasn’t really the wings they wanted.
It was the feathers.
CHAPTER TWENTY - CALLISTINA
Everything that happens next plays out in slow motion. The dog-man is grabbing my shoulders, shaking me. “Get up! Get out!” But he’s not looking at me, he’s looking at Eros.
“What are you talking about?” I’m frantic.
Eros is up, out of bed, naked, and walking to the terrace. The dog-man and I both join him out there. But none of us need to see anything to understand what’s coming down the road.
We can hear them. The clopping of hooves on cobblestones.
And when I look down the road to my left, I can see them too. They are not far and they are not few. It is a small army of Apis bull chimera holding weapons that appear to belong in some other world. They have donned full-body armor, despite the strict rules about clothing.
The slow motion stops and the world just ceases for me as I try to make sense of what I’m seeing and what is going to happen next. What is this? Are they going to arrest us? Kill us? Why are they coming?
It really doesn’t matter. This is no ordinary army of chimera. This is the Army of the Gods. I would know them anywhere. A mythological military institution that terrorized the world in the time of Chaos and their stories of battle were passed down through the generations in books, and paintings, and spellings so that no one—not chimera, not human—no one would ever forget the past.
The Glory War.
Some of the many mysteries about this entire trip through the hallway doors begin to make a little bit of sense. The Glory War is not coming. This is not a future event. Because we are in the Age of Fire. And this is the year that the bloodline for the royal beasts was started.
Everything started here. Right here.
Is it a coincidence that there are no royal beasts in Glory Rome aside from me?
Is it a coincidence that this is the actual point in historical time where the bloodline started and I am here at the same time?
Did I… start it?
Probably not. But the fact that I am here, in the beginning, is meaningful. Somehow.
“Ho-lee shit,” I say, cursing in the manner of Savage Falls humans. Because suddenly I feel the fate inside me. The bloodline of Fatum.
Eros looks at me. “I hope that fucking potion is ready. Because we’re gonna use it right now. We need to get the hell out of here.”
“I…” I’m shaking my head. “I don’t think we get out of here, Eros.”
“What? Of course we do.” He grabs my arm and pulls be back inside the room. Then he points at the dog-man. “Get everyone out of this building right now. I can’t guarantee that we won’t blow the fucker up as we exit.”
The dog-man just stares at Eros, struck dumb from his statement. To be fair, I too feel struck dumb.
“Did you hear me?” Eros roars this. “Get. Everyone. Out!” He points at the door.
His command snaps the dog-man out of his stupor, and he bows. “Yes… yes…” Then a panic strikes the dog-man because he’s not sure how to address the man before him, who is clearly not a man. But not a king, either.
“Just go!” Eros bellows.
The dog-man bows out backwards and Eros slams the door in his face the moment he crosses the threshold. Then he turns to me. “Whatever you need to do to make this shit work, do it now.” He’s pointing at the bottle.