Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 120029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
I chuckle, wincing when the cold water pours into one of my boots. “He’s just a horse,”
This time, Tristan doesn’t answer, instead pulling me deeper into the small pool running parallel to the dry path that led us here. I’m about to protest, anticipating more of that icy sensation on my foot, but instead there’s a pull, and I shriek when we both fall.
I grab onto him in panic, but as I expect cold water to envelop me, take my breath away and keep me hidden forever, we find ourselves in a pool of something what has the consistency of water but feels dry. I screech into this void when in the corner of my eye I spot Stone jumping in behind us.
Gravity shifts, and I regret having that nut bar before our trek, because it rises in my throat. All of a sudden, we’re no longer falling. Instead, Tristan is moving his legs to propel us up.
I have no idea what’s going on until our heads pop up above the strange, dry water. Tristan pulls me along the surface, and just before panic can set in anew, my knees hit the bottom of this shallow pond.
I’m gasping for air, and my heart is pounding, as I look up to meet the face of the largest moon I’ve ever seen. I crawl forward, suddenly terrified it might crash on top of us. “What the—”
“I know, it’s a strange feeling. Take deep breaths. If I explained it, you wouldn’t understand anyway.”
Tristan helps me stand up in what looks like a pond with a whirling fog nearby, where we first emerged. I yelp and fall right into his arms when a horse skull breaks the surface followed by a giant body with a black shiny coat, and a wet mane.
“That’s just Stone,” Tristan says in a reassuring manner, but when I meet the kelpie’s watery eyes, it finally sinks in for real that this is happening. I have crossed into a fantasy world called the Nightmare Realm, and for the first time I’m considering what the ‘nightmare’ part in the name might mean.
“W—what happened to him?” I stutter out, backing against Tristan, because I need to see this terrifying creature at all times. Strands of purplish vapor float around us, adding dimension to the night, but I can’t feast my eyes on this new reality until I know it’s safe.
“I have said he’s a kelpie. This is his true form. If one may call it that. People argue all the forms he can take on are ‘true’. After all, he can grow a fish tail—Really, don’t worry about it. All you need to know is not to touch him with your skin.”
“Is that you, Prince Tristan?” someone yells from farther away.
Tristan looks into my eyes. “Make sure no one sees Lady,” he whispers to me and waves at a man approaching us in a cloak identical to the one he’s wearing. “It is indeed I!”
I can’t stop looking around now that my immediate fear of Stone is replaced by fear of everything around me. The whole place is like a movie set of a gothic fairytale. A giant red frog leaps from the shore into the not-water with a nasty burp. A cool breeze is whispering through the reeds, and a building straight out of the Grimm brothers’ grimmest stories is a dark silhouette against the background of the moonlit sky. Green light flickers in its windows ominously, so I hold the duffel bag closer to my chest, praying for Lady to not make a peep. Because what happens if she does? Do they eat dogs in this Nightmare Realm? Because if they do, I should have never brought her here in the first place!
“It is me, Crowers. I have returned and fetched Captain Gloombane’s promised,” Tristan says, leaving the not-water with a swish of his cloak. “I brought something for you too,” he adds, stepping in front of the other man, who narrows his eyes at me with a dubious expression.
“Truly? This is Captain Gloombane’s—”
Tristan straightens up in front of me, and it feels like he’s a wall between me and any danger we might encounter. I… never felt this way since childhood. I have a protector.
“Why? Is there a comment you’d like to make about the captain’s choices?”
Only that I wasn’t Gloombane’s choice. I’m weirdly self-conscious when I glance back at my shadow. It seems pale in comparison to how it looked in my world, almost watered-down. Now that its inadequacy has been mentioned again, it’s drilling a hole in my brain. Have I really followed Tristan to a strange place where I will be valued even less than in my own world? I take pathetic solace in the other elf not being nearly as handsome as Tristan
Crowers clears his throat and bows so rapidly I almost expect to hear his back cracking. “No, of course not, Prince Tristan. Do carry on.” He spins around, but just as I hope to never see his face again, the man returns, pulling a scroll out of his cloak. “I almost forgot. This came for you earlier, ser.”