Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 112001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
“You got some recovery of your own to do. You don’t need to worry—”
“I’m ready for a distraction. Trust me.”
Daniel opened his mouth. Closed it.
In the silence that followed, Gus crossed his arms over his chest—then grunted a curse and dropped them back to his sides. “What do you want to know?”
Daniel paced around the bed. Made like he was checking the vitals’ monitor—not that he knew shit about the graph of heartbeats or the numbers off to the right. “I, ah… I’m really sorry about what happened to you—”
“Stipulated. I’m really sorry you got cancer. What’s on your mind?”
After a moment, Daniel said, “I have a question about medication.”
“Oh.”
As he put his palms forward, all crap-shit-sorry, the cane clonked on the foot of the bed. “Ouch. I mean, fuck. Now isn’t the time—”
“No, no, I’m glad, actually.” Gus went to push himself up a little higher on the pillows—and then obviously rethought the idea. “I’m ready to think about something else. What we got?”
As Daniel tried on a variety of dip-the-toe-in-the-water responses, he told himself he needed to drop his pride. Like his doctor hadn’t seen him in pretty much every compromising position possible?
“I… want to ask about the little purple pill.”
Gus’s bandaged eyebrow went up. Or tried to. “Prilosec?”
“Is that what it’s called?”
“You having indigestion?”
“No? I mean, no.”
Tilting his head to the side, Gus demanded, “What body part is the problem.”
Daniel took a deep breath. Then pointed to his crotch. “I want to know how to get this working again. And if I have to run the risk of an erection lasting longer than four hours, I will happily take myself to any ER if it happens.”
TWENTY-ONE
UP ON THE mountain that was called Deer, Blade’s eyes remained fixated on the ghostly entity before him. He was not sure how to defend himself. The gun was going to be useless—indeed, bullets only worked against corporeal targets. He could run, but he knew without further information that he was not going to beat whatever it was in a footrace. And dematerializing? He was certain that was not an option without even trying.
He was too scattered to calm himself sufficiently.
A static charge was upon the air, one that emanated from the old woman, and it was not merely agitating the molecules of oxygen, it was in him. The effect was a heightening of his sight, his hearing, his sense of smell, and that information load funneling into his brain was creating a buzzy chaos: The pine boughs were too clear, each needle among the countless numbers a green knife piercing him, the trunks made of sandpaper, and the loose stones on the ground a tactile nightmare, even as he did not touch any of them. Additionally, the perfume that the entity carried was roaring in his nose, as if a meadow in spring with a rushing river beside it was actually inside his sinuses.
And then there were the howls in the air. The wolves’ voices entered his ears and echoed into a cacophony that redoubled until he wanted to cover his head to block it all out.
So no, there would be no dematerializing. He was locked in to whatever was happening next.
“I am glad you came,” she said in her voice of birdsong. “Your long journey ends up here, and I sense you are ready for it all to come to its conclusion.”
The nape of his neck tightened, sure as if a hand had landed hard upon it and was gripping with the strength of a warrior.
“I do not… know what you’re talking about.”
Some symphath manipulator he was. He was not playing chess with her, choosing his words carefully, engineering an outcome he would patiently execute and then enjoy. No, he was on his back foot and then some, stumbling over his words, grappling for logic, lost in his surroundings.
“Yes, you do know that to which I refer.” The smile was calm and ancient. And yet he was not reassured. “But then destiny transcends words, does it not. It transcends everything.”
“Why…” He cleared his throat and indicated the fissure in the boulders behind him. “Is this your… home? The cave?”
“You are welcome to take shelter in it for however long you wish. The male who resides there is on his own journey and far from the mountain.”
“Oh.”
“I saw what you moved in earlier.”
Blade’s left eyebrow started twitching, the spasms causing his vision to disco. “I was not aware I had an audience.”
“I didn’t intend for you to know my presence.” More with that smile. “You brought your most precious possessions. You take care of them so well.”
There was no replying to that. Absolutely not. “I shall move out—”
“Not at all. You are precisely where you are supposed to be. Where you are needed.” The old woman looked over to the rocks. “And you have what you need. For what comes next.”