The Glass Man - Lila Gray Book 1

Chapter Fourteen

Time fell still for a moment. My eyes were open, but I couldn't see anything but brightness all around me. It wasn't from the sun, a flame, or an electric bulb. This light was made up of colors that seemed to have sounds, and in the sounds, there were voices. Some were happy. Some afraid. In my confusion, I wasn't sure which ones to listen to.

"Are you with us, princess?" The velvet voice floated to me, distorted and distant. Agony rippled through my face. Someone slapped my face so hard it snapped to the side. How long that had been going on?

Something cushy under my ass. Carpet, maybe. Quiet conversations carried on somewhere in the distance. I blinked several times, my vision slowly focusing on the roof of the car. "Why am I laying on the floor?"

Parthalan's sideways face appeared above me, his black hair flowing over me, tickling my nose. "I was beginning to worry," he said with a grin. "Most scream or vomit during their maiden voyage with Sebastian, but you seemed to be listening intently to something. Tell me, what did you hear?"

"The universe talking about what a dick you are. True story." I sat up, unable to see his face clearly, but I imagined it wasn't arranged in a happy way. "Wait, if you're asking me what I heard, does that mean the colors don't speak to you?"

"Just how hard did you hit your head when you fell out of your seat?" His flexing jaw ruined his lame attempt at humor. He looked up and nodded. Someone grabbed me by the ankles and dragged me to the car door. Sebastian fisted a giant hand in the front of a blue dress identical to the one I'd bled on someone had dressed me in, yanked me out of the car, then slammed my back against the side of the Suburban.

"Still pissed, I see," I said, fighting to reclaim the air he'd driven out of me. The thought of their hands all over me while I slept induced an urge to break some necks. And besides that, dresses did not make for great getaway attire.

Sebastian lifted me off my bare feet until we were nose to nose. "If not for my king's edict, I would skin you alive and make myself a hat from your supple skin." His fists opened, and I dropped all the way down to the gravel on my ass.

I shivered at the violent image he'd haunted my head with—me as a fedora. Not pretty. Now that Big and Bad had stomped off, the adrenaline rushing through my veins began to fade. My vision seemed groggy, slow to relay messages to my brain. I struggled to my feet only to stumble back to my knees. Rourke sat on a rock several feet away, laughing it up. God, I hated that guy.

The sky, like a smear of rainbow sherbet, cast a pink glow over everything. Dawn. How long had I been zoned out in the colorful stillness? I rubbed my eyes and surveyed the rugged surroundings, recognition slowly dawning on me. The land fell away into huge craters surrounded by jagged red and beige rock cliffs, the colors surreal in the dawn light.

"Why are we at the Grand Canyon?" I asked in a breathy voice. How had we arrived half way across the country in what seemed the span of a few breaths?

"I'm about to take you home." Parthalan climbed out of the Suburban, dragging Garret by the upper arm. The boy's complexion had faded to white.

"Here? The Black City is in the Grand Canyon?" I struggled to my feet again, determined to stay there.

Rourke shared a gleeful look with Parthalan, who threw Garret to the ground. Humming to himself, Parthalan hooked his arm around my neck and pulled me the rest of the way to the edge of the nearest cliff. Small boulders and scrub brush lined the rim on either side of us. He stopped, snugged my back up to his chest, and rested his chin on my shoulder.

My brows knitted together as I stared at the gaping hole in the earth before me.

"Are you ready for eternity with me, my darling?"