Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
King’s form flickered. “When I was alive, I collected tens of thousands of rare objects. Some had material value while others had power. When I decided to find Mia and my family in the afterlife, I destroyed my arsenal. All but one item, which I kept as insurance. It is a chalice.”
I frowned. “Why are you telling me this?”
“A few moments ago, you asked me to end your life because the woman you love has just died. Your pain cannot get any worse than it is right now. Yet you did not turn your rage on the world. You did not unleash death on everyone.”
“No. I did not. So stop fucking talking, King, and kill me before I change my mind.”
“Perhaps I was wrong about your fate, Draco. Maybe you deserve a chance to have a life. God knows you cannot make a bigger mess of things than I have. Just look around at what is happening in the world.”
“What are you saying?” I asked.
“I hid the chalice under the staircase in Piper’s house—or what used to be my and Mia’s home. It is an Incan artifact that can bring a person back from the dead, but I would hurry. It works best on souls that have not crossed over yet, and I cannot imagine that Piper’s soul is one to linger long. She is not tormented by unfinished business and her past as I am.”
“Are you…fucking with me?”
“I am not. Unfortunately, I cannot be there to assist you in using the chalice, and getting inside the house will not be so easy. They will want something in exchange.”
“Who will?”
“I may have entrapped the souls of some rather powerful and vicious Seers inside.” He shrugged.
The sound of helicopter blades pulsed through the air, and I looked up. They’d sent a rescue for me.
“Your ride is here,” said King.
“I’m not going to barter with the Seers. How do I get inside the house?” I asked.
“I would let you in, but I do not have much time left because someone took all my power.” He shrugged. “I was done with it anyway. Good luck.”
I stood there speechless.
“And, Draco, if you could do me a favor? End Ten Club and the Seers once and for all. I would very much appreciate it. This has gone on long enough.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
After being rescued from the hotel, I resisted the urge to hunt down Ansin and Jeni. They would be long gone by now, anyway. My only goal was to get inside Piper’s house and find the chalice before it was too late.
On the plane ride from St. Thomas to San Francisco, I went over every word King had said before unceremoniously disappearing into thin air. Had he really changed his mind about allowing me to live because of Piper? Just like that? It felt too easy given how he’d tried to kill me.
Regardless of his true motives, I had to get Piper back. Losing her that way was more than enough to break me. Maybe it still would.
In the meantime, I had to convince these Seers to let me into that house.
I knew something was wrong with that place. The Seers had stayed hidden when I’d been inside, but I’d felt something watching us. A cold, heavy something.
Ten hours later, just after three in the morning, I stood on Piper’s porch. I did not know what I expected, but it was not finding an unlocked door.
I let myself in and flipped on the lights in the foyer. “Hello?”
An unnatural stillness was in the air.
“I know you are here, so show yourself. Don’t show yourself. I do not care.” I walked down the hall and found the basement stairwell just off the laundry room near the kitchen. If the Seers were going to do something, let them. But until someone stopped me, I intended to get that chalice.
I went down the wooden staircase slowly, taking time to inspect each section. As I descended, the air grew colder, and my breath came out in puffs of steam.
“I am the fucking anti-Christ. You really do not scare me, ladies,” I mumbled under my breath, running my hand under each step.
I got to the bottom step. Where the hell is it? King had said the chalice was hidden under the staircase. Perhaps he meant underneath the entire thing. “Where’s a damned shovel?”
I turned my head, hoping to find one.
Standing in the middle of the room were eight women in beige-and-brown tunics. They had long dark hair except the one in the middle with streaks of silver. Their expressions were drab and their skin leathery, like they had spent too much time in the sun when alive.
I took a deep breath. “I was wrong. You are quite frightening. Now tell me where the fucking chalice is.”
“You will not find it here, Draco,” said the silver-haired one. “Piper took it.”