Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
I raise my eyebrows. “So you’re admitting you kidnapped me?”
“Acquired.”
Finishing my glass of juice, I shake my head, dropping this back-and-forth thing with Theo. “I just want the Order to leave me alone. Wasn’t it enough that they made me feel like an unwelcome outcast my whole life?”
Theo doesn’t reply for several seconds. His eyes narrow again and he tips his head, scrutinizing me with his gaze. “They fear you. Keeping you below them made them less afraid.”
“I get that. Doesn’t make it right, but I get it. People have been doing that forever, right? What I don’t get is why they’re still trying to control me. I’m gone. Not part of the Order anymore. And they’re still running interference, trying to make my life difficult. It’s like they’re obsessed with me.”
“They are,” he agrees, surprising me. “They hate that they couldn’t control you then, and it kills them now. You need to change your perspective on it though.”
“How?”
“The more they try to control you, the more you’re actually controlling them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it,” Theo says and raises his eyebrows. “Why would they want to control you?”
“Because they’re assholes?” I reply with a shrug.
“I don’t disagree, but it’s deeper than that. You, on your own, are a threat. Not just physically, but to their egos. They convinced you but also themselves that you need them. You don’t, and you’re thriving without them despite the constant harassment. I’ve lived long enough to know that people like that are fragile, desperately clinging to the opinion of others for their own validation. You’re proving them wrong, and they won’t stop until they can stop you.”
“So you’re saying this is going to be my life?”
“Yes.” He draws his fangs. “Unless you let us handle it. They deserve it, not just for what they did to you, but for what your sister did to Mabel.”
My lips part, and for half a second, I want to tell him to go for it. Tear the hearts out of everyone who’s given me hell over the last few years. But would that be the end? Would the Order keep sending people? How much death and carnage would it take to just be able to live my life in peace?
Maybe it should scare me that there’s a small part of me curious to figure it out.
“Cheaters don’t win,” I say, both trying to convince Theo as well as myself. “And some day, I can look them in the eye and tell them just that: when you cheat and lie and still don’t win, it’s a whole other level of embarrassment.”
“But that’s precisely it,” he goes on. “It is an embarrassment. And a frustration for them. And they’ll only come back harder. Fight dirtier.”
A sick feeling in the pit of my stomach starts to form, because he’s right—again. “I just have to believe that good wins. Eventually.”
“Maybe. But will you live long enough to see that day?” He flashes a cocky grin. “Take solace in the fact that you are—for a lack of a better term—living rent free in their heads. They are very much obsessed with you, which is why you are actually controlling them. They cannot simply go out and live their lives without thinking about you. You consume their every thought, every move, every motive. The more they try to control you, the more they are showing you have power over them.”
“I guess I never thought about it like that.”
“There’s a lot you haven’t thought about,” he says with a sign, sounding bored. “Now are you ready to proceed so we can close this exciting chapter?”
“Maybe you’ll have fun.”
“I highly doubt that.”
Shaking my head, I put my glass in the dishwasher and go upstairs to get my shoes. Devon steps out of his room as soon as I get into the hall. I bring a hand up, sparking magic around my fingers. Devon’s face falls when he sees me standing defensively.
“H-hey,” he says shyly, taking a step back, whether it’s to resist temptation or to make me feel comfortable, I don’t know.
“Hi.” Awkward tension fills the air. “Hey,” I start. “Two of the people from our list of demon-deaths had recently been recruited by the Order. Does that sound familiar?”
He shakes his head. “Sorry, but no. Also, the fuck?”
“Right?” I want to drop my guard and talk to him about this, but the bite on my neck looks even worse today. Mabel did her best to cover the bruises with makeup, but it’s still pretty obvious. The scabs are tight when I turn my head, serving as a constant reminder of what Devon has become. “I might be getting close to figuring out what you found.”
“I think I talked to someone,” he starts. “That night. I checked my phone and my search history. I called someone and we talked for seventeen minutes. The number is out of service now.”