Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Though Kierse had never been to this part of Sansara, everything looked the same past the atrium. They had the same hardwood floors and cream walls. The same oak doors. The same sense of peace about the space. But many of the rooms were open and revealed workspaces and offices. And Graves navigated it like he’d been there all his life thanks to the map from Winston’s mind.
All was quiet since they passed the guards, though. It felt too easy.
“There’s no one else here,” Kierse said as Graves opened a door that led to a stairwell.
“I know,” he said, saying the truth aloud. “It’s a trap.”
He pulled a gun from his suit and held it before him. She did the same. “Just in case.”
Her hands were steady around the gun, but her insides churned. She was still trying to process the mess they’d left in the market and worried about whether or not George was even still alive. The trap they were walking into only made her more sick with fear.
Especially when she covered Graves as he yanked the door open, and once again there was no one there. Just a long, hardwood hallway to nowhere.
They exchanged a glance. Not good.
All that was left was the door that led to the hidden room that Winston claimed held their prisoners. Kierse swallowed, training her gun on the opening, as Graves kicked the door inward.
Maya’s feet were kicked up on an oak desk. Her corkscrew curls were down to her shoulders, and the circular frames she wore were pushed high on the bridge of her nose.
“Maya,” Kierse said. “Where’s Jason?”
“Haven’t seen him. Probably off stealing shit and reliving his glory days.”
Kierse nearly snickered at that. “He took something that belongs to us.”
Maya leaned sideways to see Graves at her back. “Hi, Graves! You took long enough. I’m glad you came together. Why don’t you come inside?”
“We’re here for George,” Graves snapped. “Don’t make me take the answers I need from you. Where is he?”
Maya threw her thumb sideways. “George! They made it!”
They both startled as the door on the opposite side of her office opened and revealed George, holding a bowl of spaghetti.
“Hey, guys,” George said with a wave.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“What’s going on?” Kierse asked, lowering her weapon.
“I’m glad you made it,” Maya said. “He was eating us out of house and home.”
“You’ve just been living here?” Graves asked.
“Well, technically, I was taken captive against my will,” George said. He set the bowl of spaghetti down on Maya’s desk. “But Maya has been taking care of me and keeping me away from Jason. So there’s that.”
Graves narrowed his eyes, still training the gun on Maya. “Let me read you.”
“Sure thing,” George said, taking a step toward Graves, utterly unconcerned by the fury on his employer’s face.
Graves took George’s hand in his grasp. His eyes flared wide at whatever he saw, then moved back and forth as if he were watching a particularly interesting movie. Maya sighed and crossed her arms as if she was waiting for the show to be over.
Kierse didn’t know what to make of it all. She thought they were walking into a trap laid by Jason. That they were going to have to fight their way out. But here they were with George safe and sound and Maya apparently calling the shots?
Graves slowly dropped the gun to his side. “You have persuasion.”
“Not exactly,” Maya said.
“How do you explain him walking into the market with you as if of his own free will, then? George is trained to close his mind. You would have had to be particularly powerful to get him to come inside.”
Maya put a hand to her chest. “That’s so nice to hear from you. But, no, I just ask questions and people answer them. I’ve done it since I was a kid.”
Graves slid his gun back into his holster. This was a different sort of enemy. Kierse double-checked her absorption was up against Maya. If Kingston’s persuasion didn’t work on her, Maya certainly wasn’t going to get through her defenses.
“We’ve met before,” Graves said.
“You remember,” Maya said, dropping her feet and smiling. “I didn’t think you did.”
“You’re a Druid,” he said. “You were just a kid when you came to me asking for training.”
“Well, I wanted off the streets, and the streets said that you were the way to fix all your problems. You told me to find a rogue Druid, Cillian Ryan. You seemed…unimpressed by my power. Are you impressed yet?”
“No,” he said flatly.
“What can she do?” Kierse asked.
“I ask people questions and they give me the answer I want. And when I can ask them enough questions, they continue to do the things I ask of them. George here really didn’t want to answer,” Maya said. “You trained him pretty well.”
“Persuasion,” Kierse also concluded.
“Well, it doesn’t work on you or you would have stayed with us at Sansara,” Maya said with a smile.