The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism Novel - Chapter 249

The silence lasted exactly one point three seconds. I know because my brain counted it involuntarily, the way you count the gap between lightning and thunder to figure out how far away the storm is.

This storm was zero feet away.

Rina’s mug slipped from her fingers. The ceramic hit the seat fabric with a dull thump and rolled, chamomile tea spreading across the padding in a slow brown circle that she did not notice because her purple eyes had gone so wide they’d consumed her entire face. Her horns caught the fluorescent light and her tail went rigid, pointing straight up like a startled cat’s.

Eden stood up from his chair. Just stood. His lighter clattered to the floor and his mouth hung open in a perfect circle, and the sound that came out of him was something between a laugh and a sob and a word that might have been "holy" but never got the rest of the sentence attached.

"RADIANT!" Koda screamed from wherever she was watching. That voice carried from the hallway, through a closed door, and somehow arrived in Room 214 at concert volume.