Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
“The only humans in this place are the cultists. So use your magic to get them out of there.”
“How do you know my magic will work on them?”
Graves grinned. “Because you’re one of the good guys.”
She avoided his gaze, and the point he was making about how sacred trees work with Fae and Druids, not warlocks. She hoped he was right, though. “Fine. A lure you’ll have.”
He released her, his face inscrutable as ever, but she didn’t miss his eyes dipping to her lips.
“Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need it,” she heard him murmur behind her.
She steeled herself for what she was about to do. She had been a prospective acolyte before in Sansara. She remembered how Maya had treated her that time when she had believed that Kierse was a young, wayward soul.
She didn’t look over her shoulder. She didn’t want to see Graves drumming up trouble until the trouble was almost upon them.
Instead, she focused on her pixie lights.
She let the magic flare to life in her hand. A soft blue flame that she fiddled with from finger to finger. Her pixie lights were her lure. Now she just needed to sink her hooks into her prey.
The noise behind her increased in volume. Goblins brandished cudgels, clubs, and bats. The mer postured next to them, holding bronze tridents before their territory. Shifters were transforming into enormous leopards, flashing teeth at anyone who came too near. It was all posturing for now, but it was at the edge of boiling over, a riot waiting to happen, and the only reason Kierse had agreed to do this was because she hadn’t seen guns. While plenty of monsters fought with them before and after the Monster War, fangs and claws and muscle were twice as likely.
Thankfully, the cultists were oblivious to the heated tension.
“Hear the good name of Sansara!” a man cried. A few of his fellows danced in a circle behind him, holding up fliers with the tree logo on them.
Another woman said, with just as much enthusiasm, “Preach the good word. Be saved from your hardships. Know the truth at the center of the market.”
Brain mush.
Kierse cleared her throat and tried to look as lost and damaged as she had that time. She put her arms around her waist and ducked her chin to her chest. “Hi,” she squeaked.
The woman turned to her. “Hi, I’m Katherine. Are you here to hear the good word of Sansara?”
“Uh…yeah,” Kierse said.
The man pushed Katherine aside. “I have this one, Katherine.”
She glared at him and then stomped aside. “Whatever.”
The man brightened to full zealotry. “How may I assist you?”
“Well, everything is terrifying right now.” She glanced around then purposefully, now that he was looking at her. “The monsters are going to k-kill me.”
“Not if we have anything to say about it,” he said gallantly. “Have you heard the good word of Sansara?”
“Uh…I have. I was interested in joining. Anything to get out of here.”
“Sansara provides for all,” he said. His eyes were bright like a zealot. High on his own importance. She’d seen it in the Druids and with Jason’s thieving circle. The light that kept them alive.
She released her lure. The light was only visible to magic users, and she hadn’t seen or smelled anything on the acolytes except human. There were seven of them, and she needed to get her clutches into them all.
Her nerves rattled as she waited to see if Graves was right. When the first cultist came into her lure, she released her breath. Plan B was on.
“I have a friend who wants to join, too, but she’s nervous to be seen. Her boyfriend is kind of controlling, and he’d never understand if she wanted to join up.”
Kierse pointed off toward the darkened alley where she agreed to meet Graves. The noise was getting louder. Her hands shook, and it wasn’t feigned. Any minute this place was going to burst like a bubble, and they needed to get out of there. She pushed her powers into each of the cultists, offering a silent apology for forcing them to do this. If it was any consolation, she was saving their lives.
The man’s hand went to his chest, his eyes dimming. The magic swept around him, and she clenched her teeth to keep from releasing it too soon. Even the pixie light was too much to handle for long periods.
“How frustrating. Sansara can help her get out of such a stifling situation.”
She almost had them all when the snarl of a shifter split the air as a cudgel came down upon the beast from a goblin nearby. Kierse looked up in time to see claws slash across the goblin’s face as he fell backward.
And in that moment, the bubble burst.
Pandemonium ensued as all of the monsters rallied to action at once.
“Fuck,” she cursed.