Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
“Obviously, there was a shadow market here recently,” Hadriel muttered.
“Fuck,” I ground out, altering course and heading toward the man.
“No, love, let them handle it.” He hurried after me. “No, no. Aurelia, they’ll get him, don’t worry.”
“They aren’t doing it right. It’s likely I created this situation. I have an obligation to fix it. It won’t take more than a moment.”
Reaching the wolves gathered around the man, I stuck out my hand to keep them put.
“Back off,” I barked. One of them snarled, making my stomach clench in unease. I didn’t slow, though, wedging myself between the various parties.
“Foul toadstool!” The man slashed, his knife cutting through the air straight for me.
I twisted out of the way easily; he was a bit slower than Raz, and much slower than some of the people I’d fought on the way here. Child’s play.
“He’s in a nightmare,” I told the wolves. “It’s fine. Get me a big, dark tarp or a thick blanket or something else that will fit over him. It needs to cut out the light.”
“You vicious shroom!” The man flared his arms, which were bent at the elbows, and dropped his head while bending over—a very strange sort of pose. “You harbinger of fungus!”
I noticed Hadriel walking closer, stopping at the corner of the alley. He wore a grin. He did love odd things.
One of the wolves pushed forward, its growl rising.
“Back off,” I said again, looking off to my side so I could stare down the obvious leader. He stood just in front of the others, and they took their cues off his movements. After being around Weston, I knew the signs.
“Give me some room,” I commanded, needing them to just fuck off so I could get this done quickly. They were a distraction no one needed. “Send someone to get that blanket. Now!”
The lead wolf hesitated for a moment before sending one of the other wolves. The man swiped again, stepping forward this time, hellbent on cutting me.
I turned at the last moment, just out of reach, letting the knife harmlessly glide by. Hadriel’s eyes widened, and I wasn’t sure why. This was a walk in the park.
Now to get the man’s attention so that I could talk him down.
“Hello.” I swung my hands up over my head and clapped them together.
The man’s eyes narrowed in my direction. “Don’t you dare hello me. Hah!”
He thrust, and I sidestepped, twisting again. I brought my hands up into another clap. “Hello?”
“No!” the man said, flaring his arms and moving like some sort of bird. “No hello for you.”
If I wasn’t worried it might set him off, I would’ve laughed. Raz was always so filled with hate around me. He was never this playful.
I clapped once to the side and then did a little jig, my eyes never leaving his. “If the fungus grows, we stomp. We shove it down! Hello?”
He slowed, watching me, taking my cues to gradually shift in his journey. He looked at my feet, unsure what to make of my movements. That was perfect. It meant he was malleable.
“We must stomp it down. Hello!” I did the jig again.
“Yassssss.” He didn’t stomp. His motor skills weren’t totally in line with his eyesight, it seemed. He just kinda shimmied back and forth a bit. “Hello, toadstools.”
“Hello, toadstools,” I mimicked, actually having a bit of fun. “Goodbye.” Another jig, then a clap. “Goodbye!”
“Goodbye!” the man roared, shaking his limbs against the sky. “Begone, fungus of the fire. Spore of eternal stink.”
“Oh look.” I lifted my hands like he had, drawing back his attention. I pulled them down, elbows first, bending my knees at the same time, making myself into a sort of square. “Look.”
“Look,” the man said in wonder, watching me. I started to sway. He followed suit as though mesmerized.
“Lo-ok,” I drew out, swaying with my whole body. “Look!” I pointed skyward. “We are the sun. Oh my! We are the bringers of the light. Or are we a cave?”
I bent and tilted my head at him.
“Or . . . are we . . . a cave . . .” he said hesitantly, again not quite sure.
“The sky collapses into a cave.” I made a popping sound and started to shrink.
He, utterly transfixed, followed, getting smaller, then smaller still. It occurred to me that he didn’t have the drooling, strange, sightless quality that the man in the city I was captured in did. He certainly didn’t have the same level of malnourishment. I wondered if that meant he was new to the product. Maybe he could still be salvaged if they could keep those shadow markets out of the area.
I splayed my fingers wide, and he followed, the knife dropping and clattering away. He didn’t notice.
A man—probably the wolf from a moment ago—jogged up with a large woolen blanket. He slowed as he neared, his face a mask of confusion at the scene. He clearly had no sense of humor.