Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
The name of Abigail Watkins spun through my mind.
I didn’t have time to respond before Maria continued, “Each of them were artists. And each met a questionable demise. You must ensure you don’t succumb to the same. Because that’s what you are, isn’t it? A Valient? I felt some of the same in you as I felt in him.”
A knot grew tight in my throat, and I warred with the truth. “Yes. My power appeared about a week ago. A Ghorl is already hunting me.”
Pax twitched, and I could see the aggression roil beneath the ink on his skin as he leaned toward me, his left hand keeping him steady on the steering wheel and the other gripping the headrest of my seat tight.
I could almost see her reticent nod. “I’m so sorry to hear that. But Valeen gave him hope that he could defeat this, and Charles believed his purpose was possibly even greater than he understood. He didn’t have the time to discover it, but you . . . I pray that you do. That you find the strength to end this.”
It felt like I had razors in my throat as I swallowed, and I nodded as if she could see. “I’ll fight with everything I have.”
“I’d offer my assistance, but I doubt I am of much use in this.”
“You’ve been more than helpful. You’ve answered many of my questions.”
She’d been a bolster, an encouragement, but she’d also left me fraught with more questions and fears.
“Well, at least it seems you have someone with you who might also be of help. I wish you both safety. Take care, Aria the Laven. If you ever have need of me again, do not hesitate to call.”
With that, the line went dead, and in an instant, I was in Pax’s arms. The man holding me so tight he was the only thing I could breathe, his heartbeats one with mine.
“I’m so scared, Pax. All the other Laven who were like me were—”
“Don’t say it.” The words raked at the top of my head before he leaned back, set a palm on the side of my face, and his voice went soft. “Don’t say it. Because the same fate will not befall you.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Aria
After we left the park, we headed west with no real destination in mind. The scenery blurred as we traveled, nothing but dashed rows of crops in the rambling fields and a terrain that had turned barren with sparsely dotted trees.
Tiny towns passed by in a blip.
I barely noticed anything at all since I’d been lost to turmoil and determination and a looming sense of doom.
I could feel it. Rising all around. As if each end of the Earth had gathered to see through my demise while the good was fighting to keep me here.
My mind had been tossed into a brand-new chaos that defied the logic we had found.
Fear slithered in with it, and the heaviness sitting on my chest was so close to suffocating that I felt it with every jagged inhale.
The visions of my family.
My mother’s desperation and the vacancy in my father’s voice.
My love for them called me back. Urged me to return. I had to find a way to protect them and also to destroy this Ghorl. Protect myself. Fight it the way I’d promised.
All while the information we’d gleaned from Maria Lewis confounded it all.
There had been more like me, and each time, they’d been hunted. I did my best to remain hopeful beneath the weight of it, but it was difficult to cling to that when all the evidence ripped it away.
Night had fallen, and our headlights cut across the gravel lot in front of the tiny motel Pax pulled into. We were somewhere in Texas, and we’d stopped to eat about two hours before, thankfully, for once, without incident.
Here, the area was desolate, the town barely more than a sporadic gathering of houses, a gas station, and a small convenience store across the road from the motel. The motel itself was two stories, with exterior doors facing out to the road. There were five units on each level, and only three cars were parked in the lot.
The office was a small jut-out on the far end, and an old vacancy light flashed, though the first two letters had burned out.
Pax stopped in front of it.
Tension bound. So thick we inhaled it as if it were poison that coated our lungs. There was something in the air here. Pax blew out through the heavy strain. “Maybe we should keep moving.”
“No. You’re exhausted. We should rest, and we need to get back to Tearsith to see if anyone found anything last night.”
He wavered before he nodded. “Yeah. You’re right.” Then he glanced around, peering into the nothingness that surrounded us to ensure it was clear.