Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 140940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
And worst of all, one slid across her face, obscuring her features with its scaly form.
I picked up my pace.
The masked figures snapped their views my way.
The air grew even colder, seeping into my bones and numbing me from within.
And then I just couldn’t move anymore.
I wasn’t frozen in fear.
I very much wanted to fucking get to her, but I couldn’t.
The power to move, to breathe, to even blink, had been cruelly stripped away from me.
Come on!
This sinister energy sparked on my skin.
Move! Move!
A force, invisible yet unyielding, had seized me, pinning my body in place. My arms were locked at my sides, my legs rooted.
What is this? Am I that high? Or is this really happening?
I strained against whatever it was, muscles corded with effort as I attempted to push forward. But it was like trying to move through a wall of dense, solid cemented-air.
Only my heart continued to pound.
I stood there, frozen and choking.
Powerless.
A mere pawn in a twisted game of torment.
Oxygen whooshed back into my lungs, allowing me to breathe.
I gasped on air.
My chest rose and fell, but that was all that moved.
Although my vision was blurred, I could make out another masked figure emerging from the darkness.
It was a small-framed, short person wearing a mask that was a grotesque parody of an evil elephant. Jagged menacing tusks protruded from its large snarling mouth. The eyes were black holes, hollow and dark.
The person raised a bone in the air that was slick with crimson stains and patches of red flesh.
Is that a. . .human bone?
Then, Delphine’s voice sounded from the elephant mask. “Calm yourself, lion.”
I couldn’t open my mouth to speak. I tried to will my legs into action, but they remained as immovable as stone.
Lowering the bone, Delphine prowled my way. “Now we’re toward the end of this, and the only way you can stay down here is if you follow my rules.”
I’m going to fucking kill you.
“I said to calm down.” Delphine stopped four feet in front of me. “And if you think, you can kill me in this space, you are not as smart as I thought you were.”
My rage stilled.
“Now I’m going to let you talk, but it better be pleasantries and sweet words coming out of that big mouth of yours.”
The invisible force loosened its grip on my throat, and I sputtered, taking ragged breaths as I finally gained control over my vocal cords.
Delphine moved her head to the side. “Get over here, nephew.”
Shuffling sounded behind me, and then Maxwell got to my right. “Listen. . .I don’t really need to be here.”
“As she heals, nephew, you will heal.”
“Yeah, but this scene is not my thing.” Maxwell stirred.
“Sweet words?” I hissed between clenched teeth, my rage simmering just beneath the surface but held in check by the horrifying reality of my situation. “I have nothing sweet to say to you.”
The elephant mask turned my way. “I expected as much.”
Although by her side, the bone in her hand glowed mockingly in the candlelight as if pulsing with energy.
My stomach twisted.
The figures continued to sway and chant near Emily. I had no idea what language the words came from.
Delphine spoke, “Let me tell you a story, Kazimir—”
“Get my mouse out of that circle and—”
“If I pull her out before the first set of healing is done, then she will not be your mouse, and she may shatter some more—”
“And how can I trust you?”
“Too late for that now.” Those holes of the elephant mask glowed.
Maxwell got close to me and whispered, “Maybe, we shouldn’t have smoked before coming down here.”
I tried to lift my hand. “Why can’t I move?”
Delphine shrugged. “Maybe, if you hear the story, you’ll be able to move.”
I gritted my teeth.
“Once upon a time, in a land not unlike our own, there existed a lion, mighty and feared, the undisputed king of his domain.”
I could tell she was smiling under that mask, and it made me even more angry.
Delphine’s voice took on a rhythmic cadence, as if the story itself held ancient power. “This lion believed in the strength of his fangs and claws above all else, convinced there was no creature he could not conquer, no challenge he could not overcome.”
My rage continued to simmer just beneath the surface.
“But then,” she continued, “into his territory wandered a rootworker, a being not of claw and fang but of air and shadow, of enchantments woven with words and gestures.”
“You know what?” Maxwell’s bottom lip quivered. “I actually think I heard this story already, so I’ll head upstairs.”
Delphine pointed that bone toward him and continued telling the story. “The rootworker sought passage through the lion’s land, a request she posed with great respect.”
Finally, I could move some of my body. My fists clenched at my sides.
“The lion, in his arrogance, saw not a formidable adversary but a mere nuisance. So, he barred her way, with a growl and a flash of teeth, determined to show his dominance.” A dark chuckle escaped from behind the elephant mask. “But the rootworker, she did not cower. She did not flee. Instead, she offered the lion a warning, one he was too proud to heed.”