“We're not pressing charges, so no thank you.” Dad gave a quick smile back, and began to shut the door. Officer Michaels foot blocked it.
“Are you sure? He had a gun pointed at you and your family.” Officer Young stared, locking eyes with my father, smirking. No one broke eye contact.
From one of the chapters going live tomorrow:
“You said that they didn’t matter because they weren’t real,” The Destroyer said. “Why does it cause you such distress if they’re fictional like us?”
“They aren’t real,” Jenny sobbed. “And it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. But I can’t stop seeing their faces! Why can’t I stop seeing their faces?”
“Is that it?” Aryan asked, arms crossed as he looked the tree up and down.
“Admittedly, it’s a bit disappointing.” Taja agreed, circling the tree like it might do something spectacular.
“You look different.”
Gabriel gave him a wry smile, gesturing to August’s father and sister, who were nicely outfitted and eying them from their table through the window. “I figured they’d probably frown upon hats wherever we were going.”
From the final part of my novel that I'm gonna post this week on Tapas:
“What the hell is wrong with you, man?! I can’t believe you’ve let Kade go. I’m so disappointed in you.”
"That’s what you wanted.” I rubbed my scalp, bewildered. “Shouldn’t you be happy?” That earned another smack to my shoulder.
Constable Jackson: "You see that guy over there, wretching his guts out. That's the new guy."
Sergeant Leo: "...Oh for Christ sake."
I'm going to drop a bombshell preview from this coming Friday's chapter...
Atria sat back. “What is it?”
Kaguyama took a deep breath. “I can’t give you your happy ending.”
“My, my, Ivy.” Izara spoke through me. “Are you really going to cause such a ruckus after being asleep for so long?” my hand moved to where hers laid on my skin. I felt my fingernails dig into the back of her hand a bit before twisting it off me, and simultaneously, receding all the vines that were on Aryan, Taja, and myself. “Do you need to be reeducated?”
Ivy’s passive face exploded into a grin. Her first true expression since she crawled out of the tree. She didn’t seem to care that Izara could have been harming her. “Milady,” she spoke, breathily. “Oh, my apologies. This is not the form I am used to. How can I—”
From the chapter going live in just a couple of hours...
“I’m not the one about to murder two people,” Cap stated. “But, if you walk away, we can forget any of this ever happened.”
“Now there’s the problem,” the man in the suit said. “My associates have to deal with a god walking among men. There is no world in which that is a fair fight. There are few things I can stomach less than an unfair fight. So, we need more allies to make it a fair fight. And are you really going to try to convince me that these two are unarmed? They’ll shoot me the minute my back is turned.”
He lifted me on top of our ‘ride’ and climbed quickly behind me. “If you fall off, I’ll never hear the end of it from the witch. So, do me a favor, and don’t.” he said just as the sphinx began to take off.
Feeling momentarily bold, and knowing I would feel embarrassed about it later, I moved my backpack to my chest, and leaned back against my familiar. “Don’t let go then.”
“That mirror would still be intact if you had woken me up sooner, Cervus!”
The deer rolled its eyes. “If a certain someone hadn’t shot and killed me with a crossbow, it wouldn’t have been in this situation.” He answered.
“Keep that private, Antoine!” The Marchioness whispered to the Marquess in French.
“But they exchanged locks of hair like we did in Versailles.” The Marquess was a romantic gentleman when he served for the late-King Louis XVI.
From the chapter going live on Friday:
“It will be okay,” Kaguyama said. “At the end of it all, it will all be okay.”
“I’ve lost every fight I’ve been in since I got here,” Atria said, wiping a tear from her eye. “I’m getting so tired of losing.”
“Steady, Iola.” Nesmir hummed in her head. “Brace yourself for impact, and push back.”
“Yes, my love.” She smiled. “Together, we can.”
“But nobody in my world is happy,” The Destroyer said. “The story you wrote for me is one of misery.”
“Do you seriously expect me to explain the basics of narrative to you?” Matoyami sneered. “Nobody wants to watch a story about everybody being happy. They want conflict, and they don’t care what it looks like so long as lots of people get hurt in it. The bigger the conflict, the more they enjoy it. And for that, the story needs a devil king, and that’s you.”
“Oh, Kadrek!” Rubia cried excitedly then quickly began smoothing out her tattered dress in embarrassment.
“So Kadrek, all well with your blood debt?” Hari asked.
“Yes.” The towering Diabaine nodded. “Eldrek is well pleased by my work. He approaches now to address you.”
“I could lift you up...” Tomas hummed softly as they pedaled.
“I could show you what you want to see And take you where you want to be…” Axl maintained their tradition of singing while they went to school.
“How’s Izara?” Samara asked, staring up at Aryan before gifting me a small smile.
“Seriously? You sleep for two days and the first thing you ask about is the goddess that put you in this state?” he rolled his eyes at her, which, honestly, surprised me. He seemed to have no energy to even feign distaste towards me, but suddenly, he has all the strength for Samara?
