Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
He doesn’t budge, his magic reaching for me, tugging at my mind. I point at him. “Stop digging around in my mind. I don’t like it.”
“What did you see, Ember? If you want my trust and my help, you have to tell me.”
“What is yours?”
“Panther.”
It fits him. His grace, speed, and agility.
“Your turn,” he presses. “What did you see?”
“Micah—”
“Ember,” he bites out, irritation clear and present.
“A snake,” I blurt. “I saw a snake.”
His gaze sharpens, his eyes almost glowing, before he pushes off me and sits up. I sit up with him. A moment later, he’s on his feet and pulling me around to face him. “Are you sure?”
I nod roughly. “Yes, I’m sure.” And hoping for some new meaning, I dare to ask, “What does it mean?”
“A snake is a demon, Ember.”
My hand grips my throat. “That means I’m evil. That’s why I was hidden away. That’s why Jeremy wants me.”
“What it means is that you and I are leaving this place now.”
Part Two: Elysium
The Sacred Book of Nephilim
Your familiar will find you, live within your soul, fight with you. This animal chooses you based on who you are on the most primal of levels, who you are meant to be. Do not fight your familiar. Fight with your familiar.
Chapter seventeen
We’re leaving now.
The steel in Micah’s words doesn’t unsettle me, but the urgency with which he acts gleams with the heat of sunlight over a volcanic eruption. He captures my hand and starts walking toward the training room door, allowing me no room to debate or decline following.
I blink, and we’re at the exit, and he pulls me closer. “Do not talk about this anywhere but my quarters and outside of the garrison. And even then, use caution. Understand?”
The severeness of how he speaks his command gives me pause, and I nod my agreement. “I understand.”
His attention cuts through me, sharp as a blade meant to cut an enemy, as if he seeks the truth in my answer. Seconds tick by, and he must have decided I’m either telling the truth or that I’m worth the risk, as he opens the door and motions me forward. With my heart playing a marching band’s explosion, I step outside. He’s instantly by my side, and he doesn’t find a reason to stand in one place. He’s moving, and I am instinctively in step, traveling the narrow hallways toward our destination, the twists and turns of our path seemingly eternal.
My mind swims through dark shadows and sharp warnings, replaying everything that has happened and what it may or may not say about me. No matter how I twist and turn inside my own thoughts, I land no place comfortable. A thick breath is lodged in my throat when we reach his door, and I’m stunned as he pulls me in front of him, his big body at my back even as presses his hand to the panel. I’m bursting in every possible way when the door clicks open. I rush into the foyer and past the threshold, waiting on him when he joins me.
I whip around and face off with him. “Are you guarding me from them, or them from me?”
“If I knew that answer, I’d already have decided on any action other than leaving.”
His reply is salt in an open wound, and I pant out a breath. “You think I’m evil.”
He surprises me then, stepping into me, his hands settling on my shoulders, his eyes meeting mine. “No,” he says. “I do not feel darkness in you.”
Of course he doesn’t, or he wouldn’t have brought me here, but still, there is no relief in me, not even a tiny fleck of anything remotely resembling relief. “What if it’s hiding? What if—”
“Don’t do that. Don’t go there. We’ll find answers.”
“What does it mean to you?”
“The serpent is never good, but to me, it means Jeremy’s attached himself to you in some way that must be shed. Made himself your familiar.”
My mind chases the past and tracks back to the old woman. I’d just signed Jeremy. Had he marked me? Had he claimed me in some way? “I need to be rid of him. How do I get rid of him?”
“I don’t even know if he’s the problem. We need to start by leaving the garrison and seeking out someone who can help.”
“Who? Who can help?”
“No one here, that’s for damn sure. We leave in exactly twelve hours, when the community is asleep.”
“Twelve hours?! A lot could happen in twelve hours.”
“Not if we stay in the room.”
I blink in confusion. “Wait. You want us to stay in this room together for twelve hours?”
“I’ll go out to make a showing at some point. Otherwise, yes.”
“What are we going to do for twelve hours?”
“Eat and read,” he says, walking toward the kitchen. “I’m starving, and we need to find the answer to our problem sooner than later. If the books can do that for us, we’ll both be better for it.” He opens the refrigerator. “Sandwiches will have to do. It’s all I have.”