Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Everett shook his head, completely baffled. “No. I found it in the drawer my grandfather always kept locked. It was with this journal written in runes. But why would it be glowing like that? And fucking how?”
Dax curled his hand around the stone and closed his eyes for several long moments, and when he opened them and looked at Everett, a sort of resigned expression tightened his features. He stared at Everett for long moments before he sighed. “Everett, you’re going to want to sit down for what I have to tell you.”
“What do you mean?” Everett demanded as he propped his hands on his hips. “Tell me what?”
“Please, sit.”
Everett sank into the office chair and watched as Dax walked to the other side of the desk. He paced back and forth a few moments, his hand still tight around the hunk of jade.
Impatience tightened every muscle in Everett’s body as he waited. Whatever Dax had to say was obviously hard. He seemed to know why that stone was glowing. And how was that possible? It was an inanimate object!
Dax finally stopped and opened his hand, the stone nestled in his palm. “There’s a part of this world you don’t know about. One that contains magic.” He paused and swallowed heavily. “I’m a part of that world, as is my company, Protective Solutions. You know how you said this room made you uncomfortable? I felt it as well and have been trying to find the source. The whole time, it was because of this.” He extended his hand. “There’s magic attached to this.”
“Is that why it’s glowing?”
Dax blinked at him. “I tell you about the world of magic, and that’s your first question?”
Everett stood and leaned over the desk to look at it more closely. “What question was I supposed to ask? You’re holding a glowing stone that wasn’t doing that before, so magic is certainly not out of the realm of possibilities. I do have other questions, but yeah, that’s the first. What exactly is that stone?”
Dax looked down at it. “I don’t know. I’m concerned there’s a spell on it and that something awakened whatever it is. Triggered it, so to speak. If it’s glowing now when it wasn’t before, that means something. Something possibly bad. I need to take this in to my boss. He’s a sorcerer and will know what it is.”
“Xavier is a sorcerer? Like someone with actual…magical abilities?”
Dax nodded.
Everett’s mind was spinning. “Okay, here are more questions. How could I not know about this? How is it kept secret?”
“Magic. Preternaturals—that’s what we call ourselves—live in this world along with humans, but to keep our secret, we use glamours to camouflage what makes us look and feel different.”
“What do you mean different? Like what? Vampires or werewolves?”
“Both of those are real, as are a lot of the beings in the figurines we’ve been packing. A lot of the stories written have come from true origins. Though the lore is often wrong. For instance, vampires can’t make other vampires by biting them—they are born.”
Everett stared at Dax with his mouth hanging open before he snapped it shut, then said, “You know you sound a little…crazy…right?”
“I can easily prove it. You could come with me to the office. Whatever is in or attached to this jade has the feel of dark magic, so it’s important we figure it out fast. It could very well be the reason you were attacked.”
He narrowed his eyes. “It wasn’t a human that attacked me in that alley, was it?”
Dax shook his head. “No, Everett, it wasn’t.”
“So my dream of the chimera wasn’t really a dream.” He didn’t make it a question that time. He didn’t know why he was taking all this in as truth, but for some reason, it felt like the truth. Just as that dream of the two-headed creature with the snake tail had felt more real than nightmare. “A real live chimera attacked me. Did I dream of a snake tail that actually bit me?”
Dax’s sigh was heavy. “You were bitten.”
Horror washed over him. How had he not realized what was going on?
Dax curled his hand around the stone, his mouth tightening briefly before his shoulders slumped. “Everett, the venom would have wrecked your body if I hadn’t taken you to my office. We have someone there who healed you. I’m sorry we let you think it was something different that attacked you, but it was obvious you didn’t know about the world of magic.”
Everett narrowed his eyes. “So there are humans who do know about it?”
“A select few, yes.” Dax nodded.
Everett waited for him to elaborate, and when he didn’t, Everett couldn’t help but frown. But then he clued in to some things Dax had said. A chill crept down his spine, and he narrowed his eyes even more. “You said it has the feel of dark magic. And you said we use glamours.” He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “Are you one of these preternaturals, Dax?”