Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Tossing him away, I spun around and slammed back into the room—locking it behind me just in time.
The backlash from the sub bond hit hot and fast, searing blistering punishment up my arm, through my neck and across my face.
I was out before I hit the floor.
Four Weeks Later
CHARLOTTE
“And they’re sure about this?”
“They’re sure.” Nik passed me his notebook.
The two of us were on the carpet before the fireplace, studying his notebooks. But that didn’t mean there were only two of us in the room.
Sauda, Raven, and the princesses all posted up in various spots—watching us like hawks.
“I left the academy and went all the way back home for this information,” Nik went on. “I wouldn’t have returned with it unless I was sure.”
I hummed, squinting at his tiny, squeezed-together writing. “So the fire hallow is a dragon?”
“The father of dragons,” Nik corrected. “The legend says that the very first dragon was born from the breath of the fire god, and whoever slays him will receive the same blessing the fire god bestowed on the dragon father.”
“The same blessing? Are we talking about breathing fire and sprouting scales?”
“I don’t know about scales, but the legend says you’ll become impervious to flames.”
I whistled. “So a creature that was born from a god and will grant you a gift from a god if you slay it? That definitely sounds like what we’re looking for.”
“More than that.” Nik tapped a paragraph toward the bottom of the page. “The spell says to light the pyre and burn the sire. Well, another word for sire is—”
“Father,” I finished. “Like a father of dragons.”
Nik bobbed his head, beaming away. Knowledge and research really got this guy going like nothing else. “The only thing my mothers didn’t know is how you’re supposed to burn a creature that can’t be harmed by fire.”
“That is the question.” I wrote down Father Dragon in my own notebook. “What about the sea hallow?”
“My mothers say it’s the siren, and with that being the case, you need to steal a siren’s voice.”
I sat back, considering that. “That does make sense. A siren does freely sing to her victims, which could be seen as giving her voice, so taking it would be stealing what she has given thee.”
I wrote down Siren too.
“And the hallow of the wood?”
“Elves,” Nik said confidently. Santino was right about him being the one to ask. Oh, how I wish he was here for me to thank him. “Elves are in the same family as fae, except they don’t fly. Elves are the guardians of the wood. No one else could be the wood hallow except them, but before you ask, my mothers have no idea what it means to shackle yourself to an elf’s manhood.” He winced. “Except for the literal meaning.”
I winced right back. “I’m really hoping that’s not where the spell was going with that,” I said. “And as for the air hallow? Was I right about them being an angel and an angel feather?”
“You were right. A powerful item from a powerful being. Not to mention a true angel feather is blessed with divine magic. The kind of thing you want when you’re trying to become a god.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “That’s—”
“Good. Are we done?” A hand flashed and snatched my notebook from my grip.
Raven marched it and herself to the door. “I’ll be back with the dragon ash, feather, voice, and severed elf balls,” she announced. “You be ready to make me a goddess when I do.”
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, Raven?” Ursula charged off after her. “Make me a copy!”
“Make five!” Eris shouted.
With that, they were gone and out of my room. They didn’t need me anymore.
I traded looks with Nik. “Thanks for taking time off just to go all the way back home and ask your moms about this.”
“No need to thank me. The break from this place was welcome.” Nik did that cute little face-scrubbing thing with his cupped hands. “It’s gone to shit since you made your announcement.”
I wished I could say that wasn’t true, but Nik was actually putting it lightly.
I wasn’t going to pretend that Abaddon Academy was ever the pinnacle of organization and education, but ever since I told all of hell that I was a dark messenger sent to raise a god who’d unleash hell on earth and bring about the dominion of the witches, everyone stopped pretending like they cared about anything else.
Classes ground to a halt because everyone from the students in my class, to the students in other classes, to the professors pelted me with questions every minute of every hour—demanding to know more about the hallows, the final completion of the All Hallows, and more clues to figure out the spell.
And that was just the people who wanted the power to be found. From the many potential assassins who had to be carried off and pecked by carrion crows, to the ones in school who charged me and were exploded in a shower of blood and guts—it was clear some people did not want the power of the All Hallows to be found. I couldn’t be sure who sent them, but I knew what they were after.