Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
“Who’s gone soft now?” I say to no one.
I grab one of the many hair ties on the sink and pull my braids up before leaving the bathroom. The kitchen is my next stop. After raiding the fridge, I find soup and make myself a bowl. I can hear the tub’s water running downstairs as I eat, and when I’m done, I clean up after myself and go back downstairs to do the laundry.
Seth sings “High School” the entire time he bathes.
It’s one of Aurelia’s songs that he learned while we were at the camp, and I know why he took to it. Aurelia sings about all the things she missed chasing a dream, and Seth—in his own way—can relate. He never had a childhood or any of the normal experiences that Thor, Zeke, and I had. It’s not the first time I’ve considered that each of us might have more in common with Aurelia than sex.
I’m wrapping up the laundry by the time Seth finishes his soak, and I’m still fucking restless. I’ve been trying to put Thorin and Aurelia, and what they might be doing other than hunting, out of my head by keeping my hands and mind busy, but it’s not working.
Seth disappears inside his destroyed bedroom to get dressed, and when he returns, he’s not dressed to relax.
What a coincidence. Neither am I.
“Going somewhere?”
“I’m going to go find Sunshine, and you’re coming.”
“Oh, am I?”
“Cut the bullshit, Khalil. You know you want to see her.”
I roll my eyes but don’t object when Seth grabs my sleeve and pulls me out of the laundry room. I follow him upstairs, and together, we gear up and leave the cabin. We haven’t been home in two days, and it still feels that way because our home is out there somewhere—hopefully not driving each other crazy.
Seth and I search Thor’s usual hunting grounds but come up empty on each one. As we get further away from the cabin, I tell myself that Thorin wouldn’t be this stupid. The next spot we search is a large meadow near the lake that separates the Cold Peaks from the road to Hearth.
I sure as fuck hope Thorin wasn’t reckless enough to take Aurelia this close to civilization. The search is over, but we’re not in the clear yet. The Cold Peaks are still crawling with SAR while they break down the camps.
Seth and I argue about it the entire trek there.
I argue that Thor knows better.
Seth argues that Aurelia can be persuasive and can melt the mind with those soul-sucking eyes.
Madness.
We’ve all gone mad.
We’re nearing the meadow when the avalanche tracker in my pocket starts beeping. It startles the shit out of me because I don’t remember bringing it. I must have grabbed it without realizing it, hoping to pick up Aurelia and Thorin’s trail with it once we got close enough.
Two hundred feet.
She’s close.
Hearing the steady beep, Seth stops, too, and cocks his head. “Sunshine?”
“I don’t see them, but they’re close.”
Pulling out the tracker, I turn this way and that, taking a few steps every time I switch directions until the number on the screen starts to count down.
Coming to a stop once it tells me I’m within a hundred feet, I turn my head this way and that, but I still don’t see her.
Before I can switch directions again, something rustles nearby. A moment later, I spot the bushy tail of a white rabbit as it darts from the bushes up ahead and runs toward the meadow. It barely makes it ten feet before the whistling sound, like something cleaving the air, reaches my ears just before the shunk sound of something sharp piercing its hide.
The rabbit falls over and slides a few feet across the snow.
Before I can investigate, another rabbit—this one gray—is startled from the same bush. It runs in the opposite direction—toward me instead of away—and as it passes, I hear that whistling sound again. This time, the arrow lands in the snow two inches from my foot.
My foot.
My goddamn foot.
“Hey!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “You better fucking watch it!”
Hearing a soft giggle followed by a deeper chuckle, I turn toward the offending sound and see Thorin and Aurelia walking toward us.
Thorin is holding his crossbow, and I immediately know it was he who shot the first rabbit, but what perplexes me is Aurelia. She stands next to him with another arrow notched in the compound hunting bow while she aims it right at me.
“You fucking missed!”
“No, she didn’t!” Thorin shouts back.
Not finding a damn thing funny, my lip curls as I say sarcastically, “Oh, so you’re suddenly an expert shot now? After two days?”
“Actually, it’s the first shot she’s made in two days,” Thorin dryly corrects. “Aurelia needed the proper motivation, so I bet her she couldn’t land the arrow within a foot without hitting you.”