Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
“Look out!” Mordecai shouted, sitting in the back with Daisy. He yanked her toward the center. Her seatbelt dug into her chest. Something slammed against the car again. Kieran’s window shattered, flinging shatterproof glass across his face.
The SUV jumped on the road, the tires screeching when they landed again. It swerved wildly. Lexi’s phone skittered out of the center console and fell to the floor.
Kieran yanked the wheel to keep the SUV from turning too fast and rolling.
“I can’t feel any souls!” Lexi yelled, diving for her phone. “What’s hitting us?”
The right tires bumped down onto the shoulder. Everyone in the SUV was jostled violently.
It couldn’t be Daisy’s fae, whatever it was. She’d felt his soul, as weak as she was at it. The Celestials had them, too. Lexi would be able to feel them easily and from a greater distance. She could even identify the dead. So what the hell was outside the vehicle?
Lightning rained down around them. Dylan was using his magic from the car behind them, clearly able to see what was attacking. The bright slices of white-yellow outlined a ghostly shape in a hazy cloud. It flew right at them. The face materialized into a ghoulish skeleton with gray, waxy skin hollowing in the eyes and at the cheeks.
“It’s coming!” Daisy yelled, flinging out her hands even though she had no magic with which to bat the thing away. “Kieran, you need to—”
It rammed them. Another she hadn’t seen came right after. The side of the SUV bent in, shoving at her. The force knocked the whole vehicle farther onto the shoulder. Another creature flew into the side up front, swinging them around. Kieran hadn’t stopped it, and the sides of the tires dug into the dirt. The force took the SUV onto its hood and over, rolling into the fields beside the road.
She held on for dear life as their bodies whipped back and forth with the impact. The vehicle spun and glass sprayed her side. Her blood rushed to her head; her mind became dizzied and disoriented. The sacks in the back flew through the air. Heavy objects peppered the inside of the cab. Something struck Daisy in the head and darkness rushed in.
A hard grip settled around her ankles, yanking her awake. Her body slid against a bumpy surface, pulling with her a fuzzy blanket. She opened her eyes, but fabric covered her vision, a hood on her head or something similar. Her head pounded and parts of her body ached, as though she’d been flung around. There didn’t seem to be any serious injury, however.
Souls registered all around her, none of which she knew. Ten people in all.
The primal part of her wanted to kick out and struggle. To fight. That was the mild panic trying to eat through her logic—trying to derail her training. Allowing panic to control her, though, was a sure way to die quickly. She had to keep her head and ascertain the situation she was in.
The hand left her ankle and closed around her upper arm as her body followed her legs over the side. Her feet hit the ground, and her knees buckled. The weight of her limply dropping body tore at the grip. Fingernails sliced across her skin and caught on her shirt. Fabric tore, pulling out the seam and yanking at her neckline.
Her legs hit the soft dirt, then her back, and she rolled slightly so as not to hurt herself on impact. Then she curled to the side and made herself smaller in case a kick came, shaking to mimic cowering.
“Blight,” a man said, using the word like she might use “fuck.” Soles shuffled against dirt and rock before two hands grabbed her, hauling her up. “Stand, you stinky human,” he growled, jostling her as he dangled her on her feet.
He had no problem with her hundred and thirty pounds, and he’d nearly spat the term human. Not Chester, but human.
The image of the skeletal face materialized in her mind. She recalled the flying shape and wordless scream as the creatures had descended on the SUV, strong enough to knock the large vehicle off the road. She was either dealing with one of them, or someone they worked for. Fae, in other words, but not her kissing assassin. She still didn’t recognize any of the souls around her.
Well, that’s not good, she thought as she closed her eyes again and took a slow, deep breath.
In her nineteen years on this earth, this was the second time she’d been taken captive by an enemy. After the first time, Zorn had dragged her through countless practice sessions in case it ever happened again.
And look, here she was.
Just like in practice, his teachings came easily to the forefront of her mind.
The most important rule: do not panic. Panicking only wastes time and energy.