Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
There wasn’t one.
I had enough stuff to worry about. The last thing I wanted was to have some annoying voice speaking to me in my dreams, which was the reason why Agnes had woken up that night. She’d heard it too. When I’d asked Duncan about it the next morning, he had confirmed that he hadn’t, and I had wondered if his telepathy had anything to do with it.
And thinking about Duncan made my stress shoot up even more because it reminded me of the person from Alaska coming to visit, according to Franklin.
I felt sick thinking about all those balls I was trying to juggle hanging in the air… when I had no idea how to juggle in the first place.
It was a testament to how on edge Henri was, or maybe it was the breeze hitting us head-on, that he didn’t comment on my yo-yoing moods at the moment. I’d gotten used to him picking up on everything and forcing me to talk about it. Maybe it drove me a little nuts, but I sort of liked it.
I am my own worst enemy, dang it.
Much sooner than I would have expected, he pulled the UTV off to the side. Henri got out, then stopped. He turned to me, and the light slipping through the trees, golden and beautiful, struck him at the perfect angle, illuminating him like some angel who had just fallen to Earth.
But more like a warrior angel than a guardian one.
The gorgeous man held out his hand. “I don’t know what we’re going to find, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
I stared at his fingers, then at that incredible face, and walked over to set my palm in his. I gave it a squeeze.
Look how freaking cute he was trying to protect me. He didn’t squeeze back, but that was all right.
I had to walk faster than normal to keep up with him, but it was worth it. Despite holding my hand, Henri was totally focused on scanning the area, his nostrils flaring ever so slightly every time I happened to glance over at him. We hadn’t gone very far when he caught a scent of something that had him tensing. No wonder he was irritated and whoever had called was concerned. We were too close to the clubhouse and all the houses.
I whispered, “What is it?”
His eyes swept across the wooded area, his nose clearly working harder. “Smells like something rotting, but not in a natural way. Not how dead bodies usually smell.”
I wanted to ask how he knew the difference, but unfortunately, I knew exactly what he was talking about. I’d smelled something like it before. “Bogeyman?” I asked quietly.
He glanced at me. “You smell it?”
“No, but I’ve come across them before, and that’s how I’d describe them.” It had been once in Maine at a campground. I’d had an upset stomach and needed to go number two, which I never did in my camper, and had gone out to find the bathroom in the middle of the night. I’d seen the figure skulking around the campground, sticking to the shadows, trying his best to hide, which had been ballsy because what was a campground if it wasn’t clusters of people separated by feet? I hadn’t known for sure what exactly I’d seen, but I’d sensed his magic and smelled him, his odor had been so strong. He hadn’t been peeping through windows, and I’d watched him long enough to make sure he wasn’t doing axe-murderer stuff. At some point, the figure had caught me watching him and then just about basically melted into the shadows of one of the RVs.
The next morning, while I’d been coming out of the shower facility, I’d brushed by a well-dressed man in his seventies whose magic had felt identical to the being’s from the night before. He recognized my face and must have instantly identified my bracelet for what it was, because he apologized for being seen. One thing led to another, we had breakfast together a couple of days, and he’d explained what he was.
A bogeyman.
Henri hummed in response. “We’re getting closer.” He squeezed my hand. “Want to go back to the UTV?”
This man. I went up to my tippy toes and gave his cheek a peck. He’d shaved that morning, and his skin was smooth and warm. “You’re a good man, Henri, but I’m coming too. I’ll be fine.”
The expression on his face said he wanted to argue, but something else won because he nodded. If it was a bogeyman….
Bogeymen didn’t just smell like the streets of a city in times when people would toss their crap and pee out of their windows. They were what most people would call a monstrosity in their magical forms, and to most, just looking at them made them sweat, if not have a meltdown in panic. They terrified adults and children at night for a reason. I wasn’t sure if they sucked up their fear like a succubus was supposed to feed off sex, but from all I’d heard, they did thrive off it. The older man hadn’t spilled his beans to me, so I never got clarification on how exactly his magic worked.