Whatever was going on with Sam had to do with Logan. Airis’s warning came flooding back in my mind.
I truly hoped that the sacrifice that she was talking about was not Logan. I would never make Sam choose between me and his brother, but if I had to choose, it would be Sam every single time.
And if it came down to that, I was very afraid that Sam would never forgive me.
* * *
“You’re sure this is the place?” Cole asked, staring at the fountain like he couldn’t quite wrap his head around the fact that it would take us into Hell.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I can feel its pull stronger than ever before,” Sam answered.
“Me too,” Logan said, his voice and eyes thoughtful. “I was here before. This is where I met China. The air around the fountain seemed to shimmer. Now I know why.”
I thought it was a little strange that Sam wanted to bring Logan. I was surprised when Sam told me this morning after I visited my mother that he filled Logan in on what happened in Rome and was bringing him along. As protective as Sam is over his little brother, taking him to the most dangerous place I could think of didn’t seem right. But when I voiced that, Sam looked at me with those whiskey eyes and asked me to trust him. He said he couldn’t explain now, but he would soon.
So, I let it go.
And here we stood at the portal. Me, Sam, my brother and his brother staring at a fountain, a pretty one at that, which supposedly led to a nasty, vile place. It was ironic really.
“So how do we, you know, use it?” I asked, looking dubiously at the fountain. There wasn’t exactly a big handle and an arrow that stated ‘Enter here to go to Hell.’
“Just jump at it. You’ll get pulled in,” said a familiar voice behind us.
Cole was the first to turn around, but the rest of us were close behind him. “Gemma.”
Her gray eyes brushed over Cole almost like she was assuring herself that he was okay, even knowing that he was, before turning her gaze to the rest of us. “You guys going right now?”
“That’s the plan,” Sam said.
“I’m coming with you.”
I smiled. For a girl who seemed to keep people at bay and not let anyone close, she sure was taking an interest in us. Or maybe it was just Cole.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Cole said, going to her side.
She nodded. “I can help. I know things that you all don’t.”
“Like what?” Sam asked.
“Like how to get out of Hell once you’re there.”
“Isn’t there another portal?” I asked, my nerves making my stomach shake. I thought there would be another portal like this one.
“No. This is a one-way portal. You cannot get out this way.”
“Then how do we get out?” The thought of being trapped in Hell, that soulless, colorless place was a living nightmare.
“You can leave the underworld at any place at any time. All you need is a Lucent Marble.”
“We don’t have one of those,” I said, frustrated. We didn’t have time to find one of these Marbles; we needed that scroll back. Now.
“They are in Hell. You can get one when you get there.”
“Where are they?” Sam asked.
“You can find Lucent Marbles at the bottom of any body of water,” Gemma responded.
“But the water there is disgusting. It’s thick and black—it looks like chunky oil,” I said, recoiling at the thought of going into the water.
“How do you know?” Sam asked, alarmed.
“My dreams,” I said simply. They were actually nightmares, but it turns out that they might be helpful.
“Of course they will be in a disgusting place,” Gemma quipped. “Did you think that the way out of Hell would be easy?”
“How do you know all this?” Cole asked Gemma.
“I’ve been around a long time. Plus, I have the books.”
“The books?” I asked, intrigued.
“Leather-bound books that pretty much tell you everything about Heaven and Hell.” Gemma continued, “The Marbles are translucent, clear. It’s why they’re called Lucent. The water is so thick it coats them and makes it very difficult to see on the bottom. Sam is the only one that will be able to get them. He alone is strong enough to swim to the bottom; the fact that he’s a hellhound and incapable of drowning gives him the time he needs to find them.”
“I’ll find one,” Sam vowed.
I wondered why she didn’t include Logan in her explanation. He was a hellhound too. Wouldn’t that make him capable of going down there?
“To leave Hell, all we need to do is smash it onto the ground and a portal will open. Move quickly because they do not stay open for long.”
“We could not have gotten this far without your help, Gemma. Thank you.”
Gemma didn’t know what to do with my sincere thanks. It seemed to embarrass her. So she said, “Let’s get this done.”
I turned away to join Sam at the fountain.
“Wait! There is one more thing you must know before we go,” Gemma said quickly.
We turned toward her once again.
“This is very important. Our time in the Underworld is limited. You cannot stay there for long.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“A human who has not died does not belong in Hell. It’s the same reason you cannot go into Heaven, only the InBetween. Your soul is still in your body.”
“If we can’t get into Heaven, why can we get into Hell?” Cole asked.
Gemma smirked. “It’s Hell. Of course it would allow you in, in hopes that you won’t get out and you will lose your soul.”
I hadn’t realized I could get any more afraid than I already was. I pushed the feelings away before Sam picked up on them. He was already worried enough and rethinking his decision to allow me to come.
Gemma spoke again, drawing me out of my thoughts. “When you’ve been down there too long you will begin to feel your insides shake. A violent shaking. The outline of your body will begin to blur as your soul begins to separate from your body. You MUST leave when this happens. If you don’t your soul will be stolen and you could be lost in Hell forever.”
“Thanks for the pep talk,” Cole quipped when we all stood there a little freaked out. “Way to give us some courage.”
Gemma shrugged. “I never said this was easy, but knowing what you are walking into will give you greater odds of walking out.”
I nodded.
“Let’s go,” Sam said, taking my hand. Stay close to me.
Lately his protective nature made me bristle, but not this time. This time I was grateful for it.
“Just jump at it?” Sam asked Gemma again, glancing at the fountain.
She nodded. “It will recognize you because you are a hellhound. It only opens for those it recognizes. As soon as you jump, it will open and we’ll follow.”
He glanced at me then back at the fountain.
Together we jumped.
* * *
Going through a portal to Hell didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel good either. It was like being sucked through a giant vacuum and then being pushed out the other side. I would have fallen on the ground if Sam had not been there to catch me.
I rested my cheek against his chest briefly before he set me on my feet, trying to make the moment longer than I knew it could be. Cole followed me through the portal and hit the ground with an oomph. Gemma, of course, landed gracefully.
The portal snapped shut, instantly leaving us trapped in Hell.
We are not trapped, Sam reminded me before turning back to our first view of Hell. Well, their first view.
We were silent as we took stock of our surroundings. The place was as I remembered it: a completely colorless, barren landscape that appeared to have been destroyed by fire. The sky was sunless with nothing but gray, threatening low-hanging clouds. Beneath our feet was not grass, but dirt and sharp rock. The entire place spoke of despair and pain.
�
�I think we should find at least one Lucent Marble before we do anything else,” Sam said.
“Good plan,” Gemma agreed.
“Let’s go,” Cole said, clearly ready to do what we came to do.
We walked for what seemed like hours, but was really only minutes before we came to a wide river running through the ground without purpose or cause.
The thick black water was disgusting. The thought that Sam had to swim in that mess made me break out in a film of cold sweat. We all stared down at the slow-moving sludge as it went lazily down the river.
“Pretty gross,” Cole observed.
“Smells too,” Logan said.
Sam pulled off his shirt and handed it to me, then kicked off his shoes. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Wait!” I cried. How could he just dive in there? Just like that? But there was no other choice.
He bent so that we were at eye level and looked me straight in the eyes. “I will come back.”
“There are those crocodile demons in there,” I whispered, trying to sound confident.
He nodded.
Then his body shifted as he dove into the water.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sam
The water was thick, sludge-like and coated my fur, pulling and yanking, almost like it was trying to claim me. For a mere second, I was tempted to give up the fight, to surrender. It would be easy. Simple.
I am better than that.
Even as I thought the words, the hound in me stretched out arrogantly and my limbs pushed through the sludge like it was butter.
This is what I was made for. I could do this.
All I had to do was reclaim the scroll, save the Map and then go to Airis. She would get that thing out of Logan once she saw all that I had been through. Then everything would be okay.
Except that you lied, a voice whispered in my head. I had lied. I lied to Heven. And it haunted me.
After Logan confessed what he did to her mother, after I figured out what was going on with him, I made him swear not to tell anyone. Including Heven. It wasn’t that I wanted to lie to her, but I didn’t know how to tell her. I was torn between my brother and my heart. Heven was rightfully upset about her mother—I was upset about her mother, but I couldn’t undo what happened. I could protect my brother and protect Heven from more pain. And it was going to kill her when she found out who put her mother in the hospital.
I was going to tell her. But first, I wanted to get that thing out of my brother. I wanted to prove to her that he hadn’t been himself. And truthfully, I wanted to prove to myself that I was right. I didn’t want to believe the truth, but I had no choice. I’d buried my head in the sand for too long and I couldn’t anymore. I loved my brother and so I had to do this.
A demon materialized beside me. It was completely adept at swimming in this thick, nasty “water” and it reached for me. I bit its hand off. It shrieked, but I couldn’t hear a thing. Its mouth moved, but no sound reached my ears. In fact, it was utterly, eerily, silent here. There was no sound at all—the only things I could hear were my own thoughts.
With the loss of its hand, the demon shrank away, disappearing into the black void of sludge. I kept pushing downward, toward the bottom, wondering how deep this was, but not once stopping. I also took a moment to marvel at the fact I could see down here. It was pitch-black, almost suffocating in darkness. Combine the vast nothingness with the absence of sound and this place was like a void. Which, actually, was more frightening than anything I had seen on land in Hell so far.
My paw hit something solid and I kind of slid-dropped to the solid surface of the bottom. The “water” moved so lazily, so heavily, that I was able to stand on the bottom without difficulty. I began pawing the floor, looking for anything that felt round and hard.
The floor here was not sandy or rocky like other bodies of water. It was rock. Solid rock that didn’t give way to my insistent paws. I moved off to another area and began searching again. Finally, I felt something roll beneath my front left paw. I hadn’t given much thought to how I would pick it up and I stopped, pondering the thought briefly when my back paw rolled over what felt like two more balls. Taking advantage of my flexibility, I rolled the balls beneath my back paw up toward the front one. Then, with impatience, I bent down and took a huge mouthful of sludge. I swished (as good as you can swish sludge) around and confirmed that there were marbles in my mouth.
I pushed off the bottom and headed up. There was no light to guide me to the surface so I just kept going up, not once panicking that I wouldn’t find the surface. I would. Eventually.
When my heart started racing and fear slammed through my chest, I knew it wasn’t my own. Heven. I began rushing toward the surface, scrambling, fighting the urge to open my mouth and call out. Something was wrong.
I tried to calm myself with the realization that Cole was with Heven. So was Gemma. But I wasn’t sure if even they would be a match for Logan if he decided that he wanted to harm Heven. So that left her, essentially, alone.
The girl I loved more than life itself was standing in Hell with my brother, my brother who, when he lost control, left chaos in his wake.
My paw broke the surface and then the other. I pushed myself out of the water with a great leap and landed on the unforgiving ground. Black goop coated my eyes and I stood there wondering what kind of view it was concealing.
Heven
Even as a hellhound I could see that Sam’s strong limbs had to work for a moment before finding their way through the thick, black sludge. Soon he had disappeared beneath the surface and I was left to pace the riverbank. Cole knew he could offer no comfort so he took up position near the water and stared down as if willing Sam to hurry. Gemma didn’t seem that worried, but I knew she was good at hiding her true feelings.
Logan was also staring down at the water, except it looked like he was waiting for something bad to happen. Like he hoped it might. I scolded myself for thinking such bad thoughts about Sam’s brother. He was probably scared and worried for Sam right now.
I went to his side and rested a hand on my shoulder. “He’ll be okay, Logan.”
“Yeah.” He shrugged my hand off him and walked a few steps away. I guess he didn’t feel like talking.
Come to me…
The voice called to me and only me. One swift look at Cole, Gemma and Logan and I was sure. I knew what that meant. The Dream Walker knew I was here. I guess he somehow sensed me. From the minute I came through the portal, a familiar ache at the base of my skull asserted itself. Up until this point, I denied what it could possibly mean, but it was hard to ignore someone when they spoke to you.
I am waiting, little one…
My skin crawled. I hurried over to Cole’s side, knowing that his presence wouldn’t scare away the Dream Walker because I wasn’t asleep, but still hoping his presence would make it easier on me.
“You okay, Hev?” Cole asked, his eyes narrowing on my face.
I nodded. “Worried for Sam.”
Cole sighed and draped an arm over my shoulders. “He’s tough, Hev. He’ll be fine.”
“Thanks for coming with us.”
“Like I would let you come without me.”
I rested my head against his shoulder and we both stared down at the water. It was really nice having a brother. “So…” I began.
“So…?” Cole responded.
“You and Gemma,” I whispered.
“There is no me and Gemma.” He glanced over to where she was standing and then gave me a look.
“You like her,” I sang.
“She’s a fallen angel, Hev.” He said it like that explained everything and pulled away to cross his arms over his chest.
“You’re a Supernal Being,” I countered.
“I’m also human. I don’t think Gemma is interested in a human. Now hush.” He turned his face away to signify he was done talking about Gemma.
I wasn’t so sure about that. I’ve seen the way she looks at him whe
n she thinks no one else is looking and she did show up in Rome at just the right moment to save him. I was about to say as much when the world around us faded and a new place took shape. I jerked and looked over at Cole, but he was gone. His comfort was replaced instead with unpolished, black granite walls that held no windows or light. It was dark except for an ancient-looking lantern hanging against one wall with a flame that was fueled by oil. The floor beneath my sneakers was the same ground all over Hell, shale and rocks.
I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. This was not real. I was not trapped in a dungeon. Screams bounced around me, horrid, tortured screams. I suppressed a whimper. “Cole?”
All I needed was to hear his voice. To know this wasn’t real.
“Heven?” Cole answered, but his voice was so far away. Above me, like I really was in a dungeon and Cole was up above, looking for me.
I resisted the urge to scream, because I knew that I was really right beside Cole on the bank of a nasty black river in Hell and I was waiting for Sam.
Sam! What if he needed my help and I was still stuck in this fake world? I ran to the wall in front of me and beat on it with my hands. The stone was unrelenting and didn’t budge at all. I took a deep breath and stepped back, but stumbled over something. I landed on my butt in a tangle. I spread both hands out around me, to hoist myself up, but my hands didn’t land on the ground. They formed around something icy cold and thin. I looked down.
Bones.
I landed on top a skeleton that had once been chained to the wall.
Screams echoed around me once more.
This time they were my own.
“Heven!” Strong hands grasped my shoulders and I was lifted off the pile of bones.
“Help me, Cole!” I begged.
“Everything’s fine,” he said, sounding confused and afraid at the same time.
“What’s wrong with her?” I heard Gemma ask.
I felt his hands on me. I knew I was safe, but I couldn’t stop staring at the broken pile of bones at my feet. Slowly, a few bones began to rattle. I took a step back, afraid of what I was about to see. A long bone—a leg bone—rolled away and a huge, lethal snake uncoiled from beneath. It rose and rose until it came to my shoulder and stared at me with beady dead eyes.
Charade (Heven and Hell #2) Page 32
