Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“I wish,” I said.
“Who’s in charge of the movement?” Xavier asked. He took a step forward. His presence was one that commanded attention, but Kalen didn’t offer it to him. He continued to fawn over the figurine in his hand. He turned around, the kaftan he wore billowing around his bare feet. He delicately set the figurine down on the cluttered mantle.
“He has red eyes. Like blood. A monster who’s ready to spill it, ready to make the skies match his eyes.”
The air in the room chilled to icy levels. Those red eyes Kalen spoke about flashed across my vision. It felt like they were suddenly pinned to the small of my back. I tried to shake off the feeling, but it was only getting worse. I flashed back to my stalker, to the sensation of always being watched. My chest tightened, and my palms grew clammy. Maybe this was a mistake? Maybe I should have listened to Xavier, should never have gotten involved with this…
Xavier pulled out his phone and opened up the photo he had of the red-eyed shifter. “Is this who you’re speaking of?”
Kalen turned around. I noticed then that he had small marks up and down his arms. They were tiny dots, lighter in color than the tan skin that surrounded them. Needle marks. What had they done to him?
Kalen glanced at the photo and froze. The feathers behind his ears pinned backward. His pupils flared, his teeth bared. “That’s him.”
“What’s his name? Where can we find him?” Xavier asked.
“He calls himself the Carpenter.”
Cassius gasped. I turned my head, seeing the shock play out on his pale face. What had caused my friend to have that kind of reaction?
Xavier shifted his attention to Cass. “Do you know him?”
He blinked a few times, as if he was trying to clean a slate. He shook his head. “I… the name is familiar. I’ve heard it before. But I… I can’t remember exactly where.”
Xavier’s gaze narrowed. Cassius was nervous, that was clear. He squeezed his hands, his expression clearly showing the spiral he was undergoing. I knew my best friend like the back of my hand. He had a terrible time at hiding his emotions, and today was no different. It was why we’d get in trouble as children. He could never play it cool. I used to find it admirable how he didn’t care about hiding how he truly felt.
Now, he seemed to care. He took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders, lifted his chin. He pulled down the hem of his T-shirt. Kalen cocked his head, curious as the rest of us.
“If you met him, if you knew him, you would remember,” Kalen said. He wrapped his arms around his chest. Those needle marks extended up his forearm. They were around his neck, close to his eyes. “He is a soulless monster. Psychotic. He gets off on torture. And he wants the world to suffer. He wants every single soul walking this Earth to feel pain, to feel despair. It’s why he wants the Chaos King to reign again. Some even say the Chaos King speaks through him. That the binds that stop him from manipulating this world are beginning to break. And I believe it.”
Xavier slipped his phone back into his pants. He looked worried, which didn’t exactly help quiet the fears that bubbled up inside me. It was never a good sign when the bodyguard appeared nervous. “Do you know where we can find him? Where were these tests run?”
“Somewhere underground. I don’t know where.” Kalen turned to the mantle above the fireplace. He collected a few of his Rachel figurines and cradled them in his arm. He brought them to the couch and sat. He began to coo at them, almost as if he could hear crying coming from the tiny carvings. “This is upsetting Rachel. I think I’ve spoken enough. You should leave.”
“What did they do to you?” I asked. He wanted us to leave, but this was the closest we had gotten to answers so far. How could we just walk out?
“They broke me. Every day. Every hour. Every minute. They have entire laboratories, running experiments that are akin to torture. Injections of burning fluids, rooms that would fill to the ceiling with rotten smelling water, captured Shades that would tear some participants apart and leave others alive.”
“Shades?” Xavier asked.
“Yes. The Carpenter commands them. He must have some kind of connection to the Chaos King for them to listen. And that’s not all; he also has plans to create new forms of those abominations. Experiments that combine them with others, like yourself.” His eyes settled on Xavier.
Controlling Shades was never a good sign. They were the agents of the Chaos King. Demons that walked the Earth, shrouded in shadow with legs like a spider and a mouth that siphoned bones out through any orifice they could latch onto. Their only purpose was to destroy, to create terror. They had gone to hiding in the years after Niazatos was defeated but were slowly crawling back out of their holes. If this Carpenter was controlling them, then maybe they were closer to releasing the Chaos King than we thought. And if he was trying to make them even more monstrous by combining them with other forms, then we were truly fucked…