Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Soon, that was exactly what Daisy would do. They all would.
27
Lexi
The various colors of spirit lit Lexi’s way as her soul moved beyond the veil, stepping out of the physical world and into the metaphysical. Daisy was alive, but her tension had increased. She was in a holding area of sorts. That couldn’t be good. She was separated from the fae that had gotten her there and so far kept her alive. Lexi didn’t know Daisy’s situation with that fae, but he hadn’t harmed or mishandled her. That was something.
Now, however, she had a new challenge to face.
Panic welled up. Because of some spirits they’d met along the ever-winding and -shrinking trails, they knew how to get to the Obsidian kingdom’s royal castle. They knew the landmarks to look for and a hazy set of directions. But it would still take days, and if Daisy had been thrown into a more dangerous situation, days might be too late.
Lexi coasted within spirit, learning about this new realm and how things worked. Souls lingered but stayed somewhat removed, feeling her “otherness.” Her “humanness.” The fabric of this place didn’t support her spirit in the same way the human world did. The makeup of it was different. The structure. But it was the same idea, and so she’d quickly learned to navigate through it.
A strange reverberation contracted the space around her. Echoes of a more prominent being put pressure on Lexi’s spirit. Shit. The maker or guardian of this place had realized she was moving through. It would most certainly check on her, and she wasn’t sure how a fae would react to a human hanging out in its territory.
She yanked herself more quickly toward her body, currently guarded by Kieran and the crew. It was a dangerous thing, leaving one’s body in the wilderness as she’d done, with no locks or walls or anything to keep danger away. But she’d had no choice. She just had to hope they had her covered.
The pressure increased. The spirit around her blistered into darker colors, peeling away to reveal her. A strange feeling, like a poke to her forehead, made her reel.
She put all her energy into the escape, increasing the danger of her journey, but wanting to get the hell out of there. She tumbled toward her body. Slammed back into it.
Her eyes fluttered open as a roar startled her, deep and loud and much too close. Fire crackled nearby and everyone had their weapons out, looking through the darkness between the trees.
“You let us know when she is back in her body,” Bria said, crouched and ready.
“I’m here,” Lexi said, feeling the creature’s soul. It waited just off to the right, but she couldn’t see it. It was perfectly hidden in the deep, black night.
“Where is it?” Zorn asked, his machete in his hand. “It keeps throwing its roar.”
Lexi grabbed hold of the creature’s soul as the Line blazed to the right. Iridescent colors wafted in the dark night, and a person-sized shape filled the space.
The creature in the darkness gave a pained roar and charged. Bria turned that way, and Zorn spun, but Lexi ripped the soul from the casing. The creature fell, and Lexi hurled the soul at the being staring out at her with furnaces for eyes. The soul and spirit blasted the being, but it didn’t so much as step back. Instead, it waved the bombardment away.
“What magic is this?” it asked, its voice everywhere and nowhere. In her head but all around.
Kieran started, reaching out for her. Because of their connection, he could see the being, the veil, and ghosts, but he was lost to the finer elements of her magic. He was of no use now.
She pushed up to her knees as Zorn and Bria ran to get the creature. They’d decide if it was edible. No point in hunting when the predators came directly to them.
“I am here for my ward,” she told it. “I’m human. The Celestials granted us passage.”
She barely kept from holding her breath. This thing felt powerful. It felt like it could reach right into her chest with the power of Hades and take her spirit with it. It had to be a god.
Her body started to shake in the silence. “I have to move through spirit to find her,” she added. “I don’t stay long and I don’t disrupt—”
“I know very well what you do in my domain, human!” it bellowed. “You did not ask permission to enter my space.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know I should have. That’s not a requirement where I am from.”
Its blazing eyes surveyed her for a long moment before it looked around the clearing. “What other of these humans can use this magic? That one is looking at me. Can it?”
“Just me. I’m a Demigod of Hades, our god of the underworld. I traverse the spirit. Only me.”