Total pages in book: 230
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
It had been Tink—full-sized Tink—who had found us.
And since then, since I returned home from the hospital, it was like I suddenly had joint custody of Tink. Not that Ivy or I really had custody of him, but he spent the same amount of time with me as he did with her nowadays.
“What are you doing, Tink?” I asked.
The brownie was still flat on his stomach, mid-military crawl. One gossamer wing twitched. Vibrant blue eyes were wide and blond hair a spiky mess. “Hi?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Tink.”
He sighed heavily, as if I was the one who had disturbed him, and pushed up on his small arms. He rose onto his knees. “I woke up.”
“Okay.”
“And I was bored.”
“All right.”
“Then I went downstairs to finish watching Stranger Things, but someone turned the TV off. Not going to name names or anything—”
“You know it was me, and you could’ve turned the TV back on.” I didn’t even bother pointing out that I knew he’d watched both seasons at least eight times. If I did, it would’ve started a conversation about how he was comparing the upside down to the Otherworld, and I really wasn’t in the mood for that conversation at the moment.
“I could’ve, but then I was like, that requires effort. You have no idea how long it takes these little legs to get down all those steps.”
“Couldn’t you just fly?”
“That’s a lot of work.”
“Couldn’t you just become people-sized?”
He cocked his head to the side. “But I’m cuter like this.”
All I could do was stare at him.
Tink stood and started stomping up the bed, toward Dixon. “So, anyway, then I was like, I wonder what Brighton is doing.”
I didn’t even want to know what time it was, but I figured it was either really late or really early. “Sleeping, Tink. That’s what I was doing.”
“But your light was on.” He lifted his hand, and Dixon reached out with a paw the size of his head. “So, I thought you were up. Dixon and I decided to visit you, because we’re good friends like that.”
Sighing, I lay back down.
“Guess what?”
“What?” I asked, scrubbing my hands over my eyes.
“I rode Dixon in here, like I would ride a mighty steer charging into battle.”
Lifting my hands, I looked over at him. I really had nothing to say to that.
Tink flashed straight, sharp teeth. “Ivy always gets mad at me when I do that, but Dixon likes it and I like it.”
“The world is your oyster, Tink.”
“Any-who-boo, we waited up for you.” He caught Dixon’s paw with both hands and shook it. “You were late. Super late. So, we went to bed.”
“You don’t have to wait up for me. I told you that.” I rolled onto my side, facing him. Tink was still shaking Dixon’s paw. For the hundredth time since he showed up at my doorstep a week ago with Dixon in tow, I wondered why he was still here and not in Florida. “Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything, Light-Bright.”
I grinned at the ridiculous name. “Why didn’t you go to Florida with Ivy?”
“Because she was with Ren.” He rolled his eyes.
“You like Ren. Don’t play.”
“He’s tolerable.”
I searched his face. “And Fabian went down to Florida. Wouldn’t you want to be with him?”
“I went down to Florida with him last September, and I decided after thorough exploration that Florida is the Australia of the United States. The place scares me,” he said, and I snorted at that, because it was sort of true. “He’s not going to be down there forever. He’s coming back.”
I wondered if there was something wrong between him and Fabian. “Is everything okay with you guys?”
“Of course.” Tink dropped Dixon’s paw and pinned me with a look that said he couldn’t believe I’d actually asked that question. “Fabian not only thinks that I’m the most amazing creature to walk this world and beyond, he’s so in love with me, it’s adorable.”
My grin grew as I reached over and scratched Dixon behind the ear. “That’s good.”
“Speaking of love, how was your date?” He changed the subject as he plopped down on the pillow beside mine and crossed his legs, leaning back against Dixon’s fluffy belly.
“Date?” I almost laughed right in Tink’s face. As if I ever had a date. Kind of hard meeting people when you were a member of the Order, knew that fae existed outside of Disney and fairytales, had a twelve-inch brownie who sometimes was people sized and often crawled into my bed when he was Tink sized—wait. His brows lifted. “Oh, it wasn’t that good. Nothing to write home about.”
Tink folded his arms. “You lied to me. You didn’t have a date.”
“I—”
“You went hunting instead, didn’t you?” His little mouth pursed with irritation. “You went hunting for one of those fae who hurt you, but you didn’t want me—the most awesome of awesome company to ever be blessed with—to tag along.”