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)
Her eyes went to Maddox and Caleb. “It’s not great, I’ll tell you that. Apparently, those Moriarty paintings you both destroyed… they weren’t a map to Niazatos’ prison. They were an actual lock. Well, a portal to the actual lock. When the paintings were destroyed, a magical shock wave erupted and broke the lock behind it, along with the amphitheater you two were in.”
Jaws dropped all around the table. It grew as silent as a graveyard. Caleb blinked a few times as if there were dust in his eyes. “Seriously?” he asked.
“Seriously.”
Robby had a hand over half his face as he asked, “How do you know?”
“One of my close friends went to the site of the prison herself to check. She found the lock shattered.”
“Your friend… knows where he’s kept? And she was brave enough to go?” Warrick asked, sounding shocked.
“Not exactly. She astral projected. It took her a lot of energy and skill. She almost died in the process. And she’s still not entirely sure of the physical location of the prison. But it was successful, and she came back with the knowledge that, yes, one of the locks had been shattered.”
“Shit,” Maddox grumbled, head falling into his hands. “I knew a huge earthquake underwater wasn’t a good sign.”
“You most certainly did not,” Caleb said. He dropped his head into his hands with a sigh.
“Fuck,” Xavier said.
This was a worst-case kind of scenario.
“How many locks are left?” Cassius asked.
“Three,” Claire answered. “And with one gone, those other three are weakened.”
“Fuuuuuck,” Xavier said. He ran a hand through his curls. The gold scales around his wrist shone under the light of the chandelier hanging above us. “So now, on top of having to worry about a group of sadistic assholes wanting to go back in time and stop Niazatos from ever getting jailed, we also have to worry about the present-day Niazatos breaking free.”
“Not great,” Dawn said. She rolled her neck, stared up at the ceiling. My anxiety started to rise up again. My blood pressure spiked. I could hear the pulsing in my ears. How could this be happening? And how had I landed in the center of it? This was supposed to be a fun summer full of California sun and grad school shenanigans, not death and destruction and the promise of a world-ending evil being unleashed.
“Okay, let’s focus on one thing at a time,” Damien said. He appeared to be the most levelheaded of the brothers. Not that Xavier was a loose cannon, but I could tell that the siblings all turned to Damien for some guidance. He had that air to him, like someone who constantly had his shit together even when the sky was falling all around him. “How can we stop this Time Turner group from using the starlight dagger? You said they had a laboratory? That has to be where they’re holding the dagger.”
“Yeah, but we don’t know where that laboratory is,” Xavier said. “And the one person who may have been able to tell us is dead.”
“But we did get a name,” I said. “The Carpenter’s real name is Simon.” I turned to Cass as I said it. He winced. Barely noticeable, but I didn’t miss it. I knew my best friend. And I knew he had recognized that name from the moment it was said. I could choose to let it slide, not put him on the spot, but if he knew something that could help us, then he had to say it.
Why wouldn’t he?
“Who is he, Cass?”
Everyone’s focus in the room shifted. All eyes went to Cassius.
“You know him?” Xavier asked, shocked.
Cassius swallowed. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He looked down at his tightly clutched hands. His tan skin went pale around his grip. He shook his head.
“He’s my uncle.”
Chapter 20
Family Ties
Xavier
Cassius had stunned the room with his admission.
“Uncle?” Blake repeated. Not even his best friend had known this fact.
“Yes…” Cassius looked down at the half-eaten pizza crust on his plate.
“How did you not recognize him during the attack at the White House?” Blake asked.
“The last time I saw him, I was a kid. He and my dad had a huge falling-out. I don’t think I ever saw him in his wolf form, much less in that fucked-up half-wolf, half-human face he had on. He’s twisted now. Different. He’s changed. But the second I heard his name, his real name, it all clicked. Especially because he loved woodworking when I was a kid. He called himself ‘the carpenter’ back then. It’s him. For sure.”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. How had we been traveling with a direct family member of the man we were hunting down without even knowing it? And what did this mean for our mission?
“Do you know if he and your father have communicated at all?” Damien asked. Robby sat next to him like a statue, eyes trained on Cassius. Dawn exchanged a glance with Claire, who was spinning her bracelet around her wrist as if she wanted to tighten a screw.