Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“It’s from Damien,” I said. “Dinner’s ready.”
Blake stretched his arms over his head. The sleeves of his light blue shirt fell down, a tuft of armpit hair showing.
Damn. That turned me on. I swallowed and shut my laptop. “I’ll message the journalist. See what they say.”
“We’ve got this,” Cassius said. He stood between us and threw his arms around our shoulders. “Now, let’s go get some food. I’m starving.”
Family dinner was a relatively new thing for us. We’d always been a tightly knit rainbow flight of siblings. Of course we had our fights (namely me with Madds, but could I really be blamed when he had a boulder for a head?), but nothing ever serious enough to fracture us.
Dawn suggested it the evening after Maddox and Caleb had made a harrowing escape from what would have otherwise been an underwater tomb. Our family had experienced much too many close calls. So that night, when we were all gathered together, safe and sound, Dawn tossed out the idea of making it a ritual.
And so far, it had stuck.
The dining room was loud with the thrum of lively conversation and clinks of glasses and silverware. My mouth watered from the sweet scent of honey-baked ham and spiced garlic rice that filled the air.
I grabbed my usual seat near the head of the table. Blake sat next to me, chatting it up with Robby. Something caught my attention from their conversation.
“Shades?” I asked.
Shades were never a reassuring dinner conversation. They were the embodiments of the Chaos King himself. Monstrous creatures draped in black cloth the texture of shade, with spider-like appendages and nightmarish mouths that were designed to siphon out someone’s intestines through whatever orifice they latch onto first.
“It looks like they’re getting bolder,” Robby said. His vampire teeth glinted in the bright light from the modern chandelier hanging above the long dinner table. “There’s reports of them attacking out in public spaces. An entire concert in the Hollywood Bowl had to be evacuated because of one. Two people died. Could have been way worse.”
“It could have,” I said.
Claire, Dawn’s girlfriend and close family friend, leaned over Robby. “I’ve been hearing whispers. It’s not looking good out there.”
“Could it have something to do with the paintings?” Caleb asked. He had been with Maddox when they destroyed the Moriarty paintings, said to reveal the location of one of the locks of the Chaos King’s cell. “Maybe with us destroying them, it knocked something out of balance?”
Claire cocked her head. She steepled her fingers, golden polish shimmering. “Maybe… I think I want to look into it some more. What exactly happened when you guys destroyed the paintings?”
“Chaos,” Maddox said, jumping into the story. He had an arm around the back of Caleb’s chair. “There was that massive quake, and the glass amphitheater started to crack. I knew the ocean was about to swallow us whole, so I shifted and saved Caleb.”
“Do you two remember anything else? Anything random? Any tiny little detail?”
Maddox and Caleb looked at each other and shook their head in unison. “That’s pretty much it,” Caleb said. “I guess there was that weird moment when it didn’t seem like anything was happening. And it looked like the Crimson Ring didn’t even bother running toward the paintings. You’d think if the portal were active, one of them would have tried to leap through. That always bugged me.”
“Really?” Claire sucked her teeth. Dawn joined the table with Damien and Warrick in tow. All of us were here now. Tonight was family-style, with a Caesar salad already sitting on our plates. “Interesting…”
“What?” Robby asked.
“It’s just, from what I’ve read about hidden maps, they don’t normally have such a big effect when destroyed. Maybe this one’s different since it pointed to Niazatos’ prison, but it’s unusual.”
“Great,” I said. “Now we have to worry about the very fabric of time being altered and something happening with Niazatos’ prison.” Blake crossed his arms. “I’m not sure this can get any more complicated.”
“Oh, I’m sure it can,” Damien answered as he shoveled a spoonful of mashed potatoes onto his plate.
“But we destroyed the map. How could the prison be compromised?” Madds asked.
“We’re not a hundred percent sure it is compromised,” Claire rebutted. “I have to ask around.”
I swallowed a mouthful of salad and croutons before speaking. “While you’re asking, can you find out what this symbol has to do with the dagger?” I unlocked my phone and showed her the screenshot I had taken.
“Hmmm.” Claire bit her bottom lip. “I haven’t really come across it much, if I’m being honest.”
“Let me see that,” Caleb asked. I passed him my phone. He looked it over, wineglass swirling in his other hand. “I’ve seen it.”
“You have?” Blake and I both asked in unison.
“I have.” Caleb handed the phone back. “A client I worked with would wear something like this quite often. I asked him once what it was about, and he went into a long diatribe about time and meaning. I tuned him out.”