Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
I pulled my hand from Daemon’s, and the chill immediately overtook me as I let the shadow fall from both of us.
“It’s like watching a battery drain,” Daemon said, looking at me.
“What?”
“You looked reasonably well-rested when you first came to get me. Now, you look exhausted again.”
“I haven’t figured out how not to let the shadow take so much from me,” I admitted. “Okay. Now, I figured you could go off in that direction,” I said, waving. “And I will go this way.”
“Shouldn’t we stay together?” he asked, head cocked to the side as he watched me.
“That would defeat the purpose of having help,” I said, even if the urge to stay at his side pulled at me. “But if you think you find something, we should have a way of trying to contact each other.” I should have thought to get burner phones or walkie-talkies or something.
“Any chance you can whistle?”
“Sure.”
“Like this?” he asked, releasing a bird-like sound, but higher-pitched.
I parroted him. “But how is that going to help? These woods are vast.”
“I will hear you.”
“But I won’t hear you.”
“Okay. We’ll use the whistle for distress. But how about we meet halfway through the night at…” he started, looking around, then finding the tallest tree. “There.”
Objectively, I knew we would be wasting time by doubling back. But we would also be wasting time if one of us found something, and the other spent the whole night looking in the wrong direction.
“Okay. Agreed. Here,” I said, reaching to remove my watch from my wrist. “I imagine demons don’t have a great handle on time. And I have my cell to check.”
Daemon slipped it into his pocket since his wrist was too large.
“Hey, shadow girl,” he called when I was about to walk away.
“Yeah?”
“Be careful,” he demanded.
Then he was off, moving faster than any human could.
For the first time in days, I had something resembling hope.
With this demon’s help, I might just be able to find and free Nemesis.
And possibly save mankind.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Daemon
I damn sure wasn’t going to tell sweet shadow girl about the shit that had happened to me while I’d been in that basement.
About the lashes, the punches, the scratching and stabbing.
Worse yet, though, the mental doom that filled me, sucking out anything akin to joy or hope.
It was like shadows filled my mind, blanketing any light in darkness, making me sure that all I would ever know again was pain and emptiness.
But it was the darkness itself that, somehow, saved me.
Darkness conjured images of shadows. Then, out of those shadows, my little shadow girl. And all of her warmth, her goodness, her selflessness. And, yeah, all that pretty didn’t hurt either.
In my emptiness, I reached for her, that little voice whispering in the back of my mind.
Mine.
And, just for the duration of the torture, I went ahead and let myself believe that.
It got me through.
The doom teased around the corners of that fantasy, but couldn’t penetrate, couldn’t overtake me.
Then it was over.
And there she was.
Stepping out of her shadow.
Shedding a tear for the state of me.
Mineminemine.
It was a good thing, I guessed, that we were to spend the night away from each other. It would give me time to separate the fantasy that had helped me get through the torture with my mind intact and the woman herself.
One who didn’t want me.
She was laser-focused on her mission.
Finding her sister.
Saving mankind.
Or, at least, as much of it as she could.
I couldn’t crush her spirit, tell her that this was bigger than her siblings, that there were clearly other gods to contend with. This was the one thing she felt like she could control. And, who knew, maybe Nemesis would bring some balance back to things.
So I mustered some motivation and started to tear through the woods, checking every rock formation, abandoned building, and cave I came across.
But there was nothing.
There wasn’t even a hint of power around. Though, to be fair, if Nemesis was around and bound by some sort of spell, there was a chance there would be no noticeable trace of her.
I checked Nox’s watch several times. She’d been right about my concept of time. When you lived forever, whole weeks or months could pass and feel like just days. Hours, in particular, were harder for me to keep track of.
When we were closing in on the halfway point of the night, I made my way toward the towering tree. Even in the darkness, it was easy to find and follow.
I got there first and found myself leaning against the tree and frequently checking the watch, getting more and more concerned with each passing moment.
Those feelings that Oizys had inflicted on me—the tight chest, the pounding heart, the choking sensation—came back with a vengeance, strong enough that I was sure the god herself was making her way in my direction.