Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Is this a grand romantic gesture? Or an extravagant asshole move to show me he’s right and I’m wrong?
Maybe he really does just want to give me peace of mind and he has the means to fly us out to Hamden.
“How long will it take to get there?”
“The flight time to New Haven is about an hour and forty minutes as of right now. And then it’ll be a twenty or so minute drive to Hamden, depending on where we go.”
“Okay.” I nod, channeling my inner hunter. I’m used to marching into battle, so to speak. You can’t think too much about what could happen or you’ll psyche yourself out, but you also have to be prepared for the worst. It’s a delicate balance of thinking without overthinking. “Let’s go.”
I’ve never been on a private jet before. Hell, I’ve only been on a plane a handful of times even though we travel all over. But it’s kinda hard to get a suitcase full of demon-hunting weapons through security without raising questions.
Mabel would be filming this, I’m sure. I can almost hear her voice in my head as I follow behind Xavier. The flight crew greets us and brings me a glass of champagne as soon as I’m seated. I’ve only seen private jets in movies, and this plane is no exception to what I thought it would look like. Well, I guess with one modification to be light-tight, making it safe for vampires. But tonight, the window shades are up, and I stare outside, looking at the busy airport. It was weird, being driven right to the plane with no security checks.
The rich can really get away with anything.
“Nervous flyer?” Xavier’s hand lands on my thigh, and instantly I feel calm.
“No,” I say, and quickly down the Champagne, putting the empty glass on a little shelf behind me. My hand lands on top of his, and my heart flutters again. “Okay, maybe a little,” I go on, but only so I can blame my fluttering heart on that and not on how I can’t get Xavier’s words out of my head.
I make him feel alive.
That terrifies me more than anything because it’s making it hard to deny how I feel about him. Beauty always falls for the Beast, but is he really capable of loving her back?
“It’ll be all right,” Xavier tells me and I think maybe…maybe he already has.
“Thank you,” I whisper, giving his hand a squeeze.
“Of course, Wren.”
“You didn’t have to do this.”
“I know,” he says simply. “I wanted to.” His eyes meet mine and my heart swells in my chest and it hits me that maybe I was wrong about love. I used to think falling in love meant just that: falling hard and fast with the world spiraling around you. I mistook anxiety for passion, ignored my intuition for the sake of butterflies, disguised my nerves as excitement. But the fall shouldn’t be a fall where you’re waiting and hoping for someone to catch you. That’s not love. Love is letting someone take my hand and slowly walking the path together, proving through time and consistency that they will be there.
Love is a choice.
The plane starts to taxi down the runway and I keep my fingers laced with Xavier’s until we take off. Time moves fast and slow at the same time. I’m anxious to get there but still so nervous. An hour and a half later, we land in New Haven. There’s a car waiting for us after we deplane. There’s no driver, so it’ll just be Xavier and me.
I put in a random address for a landmark in a populated area of Hamden and have to remind myself to take in a slow, steady breath as the GPS calculates.
Twenty minutes.
That’s all that’s separating me from my parents.
Twenty. Minutes.
Xavier starts to drive and my heart leaps out of my chest. Finally, after all this time, I’m going home.
CHAPTER 39
Closing my eyes, I hold my hands over the crystal. “Ostende mihi viam,” I chant. Through my closed eyelids, I can see the light emanating from the stone. I imagine my parents’ faces and repeat their names in my head.
Felicity Blackwood.
David Blackwood.
Mom. Dad.
I open my eyes and look at the clear quartz crystal in the map in front of me. I used a spell in the book to make this an enchanted compass. The closer I get to what I’m searching for, the brighter it gets. And I repeated the locator spell and have narrowed the area down to just a few blocks. We parked in an empty lot on the first block, and we’re about to head out on foot.
“How do you know you’re close?” Xavier asks as I start walking down the sidewalk. It’s late, but not the middle of the night, so there are a few people out. If anyone sees what I’m holding, they’ll assume it’s some sort of battery operated toy.