Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
And Pell is wearing two rings: His gold lion ring that leads to his tomb and Granite Springs. And his tiny sparkle ring that only goes as far as his first knuckle, which leads to Tarq’s office.
I can’t forget that I gave Tomas a door, and that comes with a ring, so… here is my conclusion.
Forget all those stupid rules. I only need one rule. The one rule that Pell came up with in the first place.
Magic. This shit is just magic.
Also, rings and doors are not like roads. They are like hallways. Specifically, upstairs hallways at Saint Mark’s Sanctuary.
And I think, if someone was kind enough to give me a map, I would discover that all roads lead to Rome, i.e. here.
And then my eyes sweep over the long line of doors in Pell’s tomb forest and I just have to laugh. Because of course they do. They are all right in front of me. And if they all lead here, they can lead to each other, as well.
I point up to the sky. “Ya could’ve just told me that! OK.” I let out a long breath, bring my hands up, and make a sweeping motion to clear the air in front of me. “Focus, Pie. One thing at a time.”
I need to get to Jacqueline. I need to make sure she’s OK and figure out what to do with her next. I can’t leave her in town, that’s too precarious. And I can’t bring her here, this place is downright dangerous.
So… a hotel? I remember seeing one across the road from that gas station Pell and I went to the night of my disastrous date. I don’t really remember much about it. We haven’t had to fill up the Jeep since then, and the truck holds a gajillion gallons of gas and it came with a full tank, I guess. Because it’s not low. And we haven’t really gone anywhere, so we haven’t gone back to that gas station.
It might be a really crappy hotel, but this is my best bet at the moment.
I make a plan. Take the door to Granite Springs, pile Jacqueline and her kids into that bus, maybe steal a car from the used car lot so I can follow them to the motel, check them in using magic money, and then leave them there for the night—with many promises that I will come back tomorrow—and then come home and talk all this shit out with Pell.
Yep. This will have to do.
I walk over to the Granite Springs door, grab my leather jacket off a branch and put it on, then suck in a breath and walk through.
I pay attention to the journey this time. Because on the tomb side of this door I am a wood nymph chimera. And on the Granite Spring side of this door, I am plain old human Pie.
But I’ve never felt this change and I don’t feel it now, either. Even though I’m trying to.
I come out on the hillside, just like Pell and I did that night we went on our date to the bar. It’s not snowing, but there is a lot of snow on the trees. And even though I’m wearing a coat, I’m immediately cold because… yep.
I’m wearing the slutty schoolgirl outfit.
Why? Why must the universe torture me with my Halloween costume?
But my plaid mini-skirt and leather bustier are the least of my problems. No matter what story I tell Jacqueline, she’s not gonna buy it. I could see it on her face when we left. She was going along with the whole abandoned coal-mine town thing just to make things easy.
But it doesn’t make sense and Jacqueline is not stupid. Even if she wasn’t over-educated, she would still see through this. She’s street-smart and everything about our story was screaming bullshit.
I walk down the hill slowly and carefully because there’s still a lot of snow up here. So I’m watching my boots, not looking at the town, when I finally make it to the bottom.
And then I look up and… “What the actual fuck?”
I say this out loud. Because what the actual fuck? I turn in a circle, then throw up my hands. “I give up. I seriously give up.”
Why do I give up? Because there is no town here. No town! Not even the vestigial remnants of a town like the one Pell and I saw in the fog.
Just… forest.
And I’m in the right place. That’s the side of the mountain where the candle shop was. And right there was the Honey Bean Diner with the apartment up top. And right there—
I stop and hold my breath.
Because right there is a man.
A very beautiful man.
“Hello, Pie. I knew you’d come back.”
A very beautiful man, with a very musical voice, and the very greenest eyes I have ever seen.