𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟱𝟯𝟵
Continuing to read the first half of Wolves of the Calla, Part Three, Ch II: The Dogan, Part 1.
It's a lengthy chapter, but it appears as if the action is starting to pick up. We left off with Eddie having travelled back to New York in order to convince Calvin Tower, owner of The Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind bookstore to give over the deed to the vacant lot where the rose (the lynchpin to all of the many universes) resides.
“𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘔𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪,” 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦. “𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.”
“𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴,” 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. “𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘐 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘴𝘪𝘹 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴.”
James Joyce is one of my favorite authors and I just couldn't imaging him signing his books. But he did!
𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪’𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘕𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪, 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥.
What a change in Eddie along his journey! When we first met him, he was easy prey to these thugs. Now, he's an apex predator.
“𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘴?”
𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦-𝘜𝘨𝘭𝘺’𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥’𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥. 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘬𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴?
I had totally forgotten about Andolini's eventual fate!
“𝘈𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯—𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯—𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘭𝘺𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵. 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦?”
The mark of Gilead! I AM LOVING THIS!
“𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵…𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺.”
𝘏𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱.
“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵?” 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘱 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘨. “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨?”
...
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘑𝘳.
And that happens to be the name of the suspected traitor in Calla Bryn Sturgis!
With that, I'm done for the day. I am now 75% of the way through Wolves of the Calla.
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