Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
“You’re in Trengrave Woods.” He spoke slowly, enunciating each word as if he were convinced I’d knocked all the sense right out of my brain. He was probably right.
Trengrave Woods sounded familiar, but it didn’t conjure up any images of a spot on a map. I couldn’t have even guessed what state I was in. It wasn’t anyplace I’d visited before. Remember, I was an author and an introvert. That would make me an indoor human, not an outdoor one.
“I-I don’t know it,” I mumbled.
That was when I made the mistake of peering down at myself. Gone were the sneakers, jeans, and sweater I’d picked out for my lunch date with Georgie and Jack. I was dressed in clothes similar to my companion. Boots, black pants, and a navy blue tunic. Even a fucking cloak! I grabbed at it only to find that I was wearing a pair of supple black-leather gloves that came halfway up my forearms.
Holy shit! A group of rogue Renaissance LARPers had kidnapped me!
“Trengrave Woods runs along the borders of the Kingdom of Wolfrest and Edros,” my companion continued, oblivious to how I was freaking out. So, naturally, he found a way to stop my heart.
My voice shattered. “What?”
“Trengrave Woods runs along the border of Wolfrest and Edros,” he repeated. “Do you know it?”
Do I know it?
Of course I knew it. I’d fucking created it.
That was why the name of the woods sounded so familiar. I’d cobbled the name together weeks ago, along with the names of the six kingdoms. They were from my book!
A loud wheezing sound filled the area, and it was only when Blondie kneeled beside me and placed a firm hand on my shoulder that I realized the sound was coming from me. I was hyperventilating, but I couldn’t stop. Nothing made sense. I’d fallen off a bridge and landed in my own unfinished novel? How the hell did something like that even happen?
Sure, plenty of people fell in love with a good story and wanted to live in that world, but who wanted to get stuck in an unfinished book of tangled up plotlines, red herrings, and characters who still needed their arcs developed?
No. No. No.
This can’t be happening.
The fringes of my vision darkened, and I was on the verge of passing out. I almost welcomed it. Maybe I’d wake up in my bed, and this whole crazy adventure of me leaving the house would turn out to be just a bad dream.
But I couldn’t let myself pass out. What if I woke up somewhere worse? Or what if I fell off that bridge and didn’t wake up at all?
“What’s wrong?”
“I-I don’t know how I got here,” I panted. They seemed the only safe words I could say. If I babbled about how I’d created this world for a book, he’d think I was crazy and leave me alone in these woods. Alone was a bad thing. This indoor human didn’t know how to forage for food or build shelter. Fuck, I was pretty sure I couldn’t start a fire even if someone supplied me with a book of matches.
“You can’t remember?”
I shook my head, still trying to get a handle on my all-consuming panic. Freaking out would not fix anything.
“Not even your name? Where you came from?”
“My name.…It’s Adam. Adam Lockhart.” That was safe enough. “Everything else is sort of blank.”
My companion wrinkled his nose. “That’s an odd name. Not one I’ve encountered, but then, I haven’t met too many humans in my lifetime.” He had barely finished speaking when a sudden shift in the breeze rattled the leaves in the trees. He turned his head to glance about, as if making sure the wind was the only thing making noises, and gave me a very clear view of his pointed ear poking out from his golden-blond hair.
Elf!
Fuck.
Elf. Elf. Elf. Elf.
I was talking to an elf.
A real, honest-to-God elf.
I was dead. I had to be dead. How could I be alive if I was sitting in the middle of the woods talking to an elf?
But if I were dead…
Before I even finished that thought, I lifted a gloved hand and pinched the bridge of my nose. A yelp of pain jumped from my lips and my eyes watered. Pain meant I wasn’t dead, and I wasn’t dreaming. This was something else.
The elf’s eyes snapped to me, and his smooth brow furrowed. Yep, I was making him question my sanity. Not that I could blame him. Nothing that had come out of my mouth or even my actions since he’d first set his eyes on me could be called normal.
“Lockhart?”
“Yes? I…” I stopped on a sigh, not even knowing whether I should tell him to use my first name or just let it go. My brain was turning into cold gloppy oatmeal, and there wasn’t enough brown sugar in all the world to save it.