I closed my eyes and leaned into him.
He held me like he never wanted to let go. “I love you so much,” he murmured. “I’m so, so sorry—”
I cut him off with a kiss, and he kissed me back gently, like he was afraid I might break. His fingers caressed my skin, and I felt his love in his every movement, every touch.
But my lungs were sore and soon I needed to break away. “I love you, too,” I said, breathless. “And I’m not going anywhere. At least, not anytime soon.”
He took a sharp breath inward, like the words physically pained him.
“Julian.” I reached for his hands and took them in mine. “In the lake, before that thing pulled me under, you were about to tell me something important.”
He lowered his eyes. When he raised them again, the openness was gone. “I was about to tell you that I love you. And that I don’t want you to doubt that. Ever.”
I wished I could believe him. And despite the past few days, I knew he loved me. But whatever he’d been about to tell me, that wasn’t it.
“You need strength from the apple,” he continued. “Can you eat?”
“Yes,” I said, my mind a blur as I filtered through what had just happened. “I can eat.”
He scooped me up and carried me over to where he’d dropped the pack. I wanted to tell him that I could walk, but I held it back. Now wasn’t the time to fight about something as simple as that.
He’d thought I’d died.
If our positions had been reversed, I would have been scared to death, too.
He placed me down like a china doll, reached into the pack, and handed me a golden apple.
I bit into it greedily. My strength returned with every bite, and it didn’t take me long to finish. “You should eat, too,” I said. “Your wings are dim.”
“Just a trick of the light,” he said. “I’m fine.”
I frowned, not believing him.
But I was being unfair. Because what he’d just been through—thinking he’d lost me forever—had clearly taken more out of him than a golden apple could heal.
Something bobbed in the corner of my eye, and relieved for a distraction, I turned to check it out.
A wet rowboat draped in seaweed sat half on the sand and half in the water, like a ghost boat that had risen out of the lake.
My neck prickled, and I was instantly on high alert. “When did that get there?” I asked.
“It floated up from the lake after your electricity stopped lighting it up,” he said, and I shivered.
It was a ghost boat.
“So it rose after I killed the—” I paused, since I didn’t know the creature’s name. “Horse with a mermaid’s tail.”
I was almost killed by a mermaid horse. What a way to go.
“A water horse,” he said darkly. “Thalia should have warned us.”
“She did say that thing about a horse…”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” He clenched his jaw as he pieced it together. “You killed the horse. Then, we got a gift. According to the saying, it’s a gift we shouldn’t question.”
“So we need to get in the boat.” My chest tightened at the thought of getting near that water again.
“Yes,” he said. “I’d go myself, but I won’t leave you here alone.”
I bit back a retort that I could handle myself. Because after what had happened in the lake… I appreciated Julian’s help more than ever.
Instead, I stood up and pulled the cloak around me. “Let’s change into dry clothes and take the boat to that tree,” I said. “And then, I never want to come back to this place again.”
“Agreed,” he said.
We changed, gathered our stuff, and hopped into the boat. It smelled like rotted wood, and it was covered in a coat of slime. It was hard to get a steady grip on the paddles, but other than that, we made it to the island without a hitch.
Julian pulled the boat onto shore, since the last thing we needed was for it to float away and strand us on the islet.
I gazed up at the Golden Bough.
The tree’s leaves rustled, and the woman-shaped trunk twisted her hips around to face me. She stopped moving, frozen in her new position.
I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t experiencing some kind of post-traumatic stress after drowning. But the tree didn’t revert to the way it had been before.
I didn’t know why I’d doubted myself.
The Otherworld was always full of crazy surprises.
“Julian?” I looked over at where he was tying down the boat. It hadn’t come with an anchor, but he’d pulled a concoction of weapons from the ether to make it work. “I think the tree’s alive.”
“Of course it’s alive,” he said. “It’s a tree.”
“No.” I glanced back up at the tree. She hadn’t been smiling before, but now, she was. “I mean, it’s alive. Alive, alive.”
The leaves rustled again. She was laughing. Not with any sound, but her chest and arms were moving.
Julian was by my side in an instant. He took my hand and faced the tree. “Are you another zână?” he asked.
She tilted her head down to look at us, but her skin remained bark. “I’m a nymph,” she said, and while her voice was melodic like Thalia’s, it was also lower. “I take it you’re here for the Golden Bough?”
“Yes,” I said. “It wasn’t exactly easy to get here.”
“When is something worth having ever easy to reach?” she asked, although she continued before we could answer. “Who sent you?”
“The Sibyl,” Julian replied.
“And what type of food did Sibyl offer you when you came to her?”
“Stew.” My mouth watered at the memory of how delicious it had smelled. “Beef stew.”
“You may have the bough,” the nymph said. “But when you take it, you must break it off together. If you don’t, you’ll be separated. Perhaps forever.” She bent over at the waist, so her branches were parallel with her trunk.
The Golden Bough was a branch at the center of the leaves, right in front of us. It was arm’s length long, and the gold leaves on it were the only ones that didn’t rustle when the nymph moved.
I wrapped my right hand around the branch, and kept the other in Julian’s. “On three?” I asked.
“On three.” He reached for the branch with his free hand, counted off, and together, we snapped the Golden Bough off the tree.
22
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The world spun around so quickly that I had to tighten my hold around the bough to make sure I didn’t fly straight off of it.
Just when I thought the apple I’d eaten was about to come back up, I landed on my knees on a bearskin rug.
Julian was next to me, one hand on the bough and the other in mine. He was pale, and his wings were dim. He must not have enjoyed being flung in circles any more than I did.
“Welcome back,” someone said from off to the side. Sibyl. “I had a feeling you’d make it. I moved the furniture just for you.”
I let go of the branch and sat back on my heels. The room was circular, like the one where we’d had dinner with her last night. Couches, chairs, and a coffee table were pressed against the walls, which were mostly lined with books. Stacks of books were piled on the tables, too. The stone hearth was familiar, as was the set of spiral stairs and the delicious smell of warm stew wafting up from below.
“We’re back in your tree,” I said, unable to hide my disappointment.
I’d hoped the Golden Bough would take us straight to Queen Gloriana in the Underworld.
“The library,” she said. “My bedroom’s a floor up, the guest room’s a floor below, and the kitchen’s on the ground floor. The rug makes this room the easiest for the landing.”
I ran my hand over the soft fur. “Do visitors teleport into this room often?” I asked.
“‘Often’ is based on perception.” She smiled knowingly. “Immortals experience time differently. You’ll see.”
<
br /> Julian yanked his hand out of mine, took the Golden Bough, and stood up quickly. “We have the bough,” he said, his eyes locked on Sibyl’s. “How do we get to the Underworld?”
She paused to study him, and I stood up as well. “I will lead you there,” she finally said. “But first, would you like some stew?”
“Yes,” I said before Julian could answer. Because while the golden apples were delicious, they never made me feel completely full in the way an actual meal did. And I trusted Sibyl. I didn’t know why—I just did. “I’d love some stew.”
I devoured two helpings of stew.
Julian had three. It brought some color back to his face, but not much.
I probably looked pretty sick, too. Despite the gods’ magical apples, it had been one hell of a day.
“How far is it to the entrance to the Underworld?” I asked Sibyl as she cleared the plates. I’d offered to help, but she wouldn’t hear of it.
“Not far at all,” she said. “In fact, you’re standing on it.”
My eyes went to the staircase. Suddenly, the basement felt a lot more sinister. “You said the kitchen’s on the ground floor,” I said. “What’s below that?”
“The Underworld,” she said, and chills ran up my spine. “I’d offer you rest after your long day, but the spirits of the Underworld need no sleep. Neither will you, while you’re there. Plus, I know you’re eager to leave.” She looked at Julian specifically when she said that last part.
“We are,” he confirmed.
She walked to the pantry and pulled out three lanterns. “The stairs are a shortcut to the Underworld, but we’ll still need these,” she said as she lit them up. “And the Golden Bough, of course.”
Julian picked up our pack and swung it onto his back.
Sibyl eyed up the pack. “Charon will throw that into the River Styx if you attempt to bring it into the Underworld,” she said. “You’ll need to leave it here.”
Julian gripped the straps tighter.
Unease settled in my stomach. “We need the golden apples for the rest of our journey,” I said.
“Do you need them?” she asked. “Or are you using them as a crutch?”
“I’ve had to use huge amounts of my magic to survive out here,” I said in defense. “It drains me. It would have taken us twice the time to get here without the apples.”
“Magic is a muscle,” she said. “It’s easier to use it—and to recover from using it—with practice. But don’t worry. I’ll ensure that your pack with the apples is returned to you once you’re back.”
Julian nodded and placed the pack back down next to his seat.
Satisfied, Sibyl picked up the Golden Bough, handed lanterns to Julian and me, and led us down the spiral stairs.
23
Selena
The staircase felt like it wound down into the darkness forever.
I glanced over the rail, but there was no bottom in sight. “How much longer?” I asked Sibyl. She walked in front of me, and Julian walked behind.
“It’s only been forty-five minutes.” She chuckled. “It’ll be about twenty more.”
My stomach twisted the closer we got. Julian and I had asked her ample questions last night about what to expect on this journey, but I didn’t think anyone could feel fully prepared for a trip to the Underworld.
Venturing into the unknown was terrifying, and death was the most unknown thing of all. It was why humans and supernaturals alike fought so hard to stay alive.
But being locked in the Otherworld and unable to return to Avalon, with my only hope being to pray for the Nephilim army to come rescue me, was scarier.
I’d been gifted my magic from Jupiter. And I was going to use it to save myself. So I braced myself and walked down the rest of the steps with confidence, ready to face anything thrown my way.
Finally, we reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped onto a creaky dock.
A man in a grim reaper cloak stood in the back of a long, wooden canoe. Charon—the ferryman who brought the recently deceased to the Underworld. His hood hid his face completely.
Water dripped from the ceiling of the cave into the river below, which was covered in a floating shroud of mist. I wrapped my cloak tighter to shield myself from the ghastly chill, but it didn’t help.
The chill was coming from inside of me. Not from my surroundings.
Charon’s shoulders rose as he took a long, deep breath. “Only the dead may cross into the Underworld,” he said, his deep voice echoing throughout the cavern. “The three of you are not welcome here.”
Sibyl stepped forward, the Golden Bough in her hand. “You will bring me and these two chosen champions to Elysium,” she said. “We brought you this to secure our passage.”
Charon removed one hand from his paddle and pushed down his hood. His pale, saggy skin made him look ancient, and his orange eyes swirled like fire.
I nearly gasped at his appearance, but I controlled myself. Julian maintained his composure, too.
Charon made a sound of approval and pulled his hood back over his head. “Get in,” he said. “And leave your lanterns on the dock. You won’t be needing them.”
We placed our lanterns down and hopped into the canoe. The ancient wood creaked under my feet, and I settled myself in the middle row. Sibyl sat in front of me, and Julian took the row closest to Charon in the back.
Charon pushed off the dock with his paddle and steered us down the river. The lanterns in the front and back of the canoe lit our way. Their eerie glow tinted the mist yellow, and the low lighting made the tubular cavern feel smaller than it was. The drops of water that occasionally dripped on me from the ceiling made the chill worse. And on top of everything, ghoulish, shadowy faces flashed in the mist.
The souls of those who had jumped.
I forced myself to look straight forward so they wouldn’t haunt my dreams.
The Underworld was a universe of its own, separate from the universe of the living. The universe of the living was full of different realms—Earth, the Otherworld, Mystica, Heaven, Hell, and more. The universe of the Underworld ran parallel to ours, and all souls crossed into it after death.
But like the universe of the living, the Underworld had different realms. Some were straight from nightmares.
Finally, we reached a fork in the river.
The cavern on the right was three times larger than the one we were in. Torches on the walls lit it up, and the current and the mist were both pulling that way.
The cavern on the left was dark, and so small that we’d barely fit through.
Charon steered us toward the small one. “A shortcut,” he grumbled in his low, gravelly voice. “To bring you directly to Elysium.”
We passed through the entrance of the small tunnel, and the current picked up. The canoe flew across the water. Cold air rushed past my cheeks, and I had to hold onto the sides of the canoe to stay somewhat balanced. My already jumbled stomach rolled even more. It was a miracle we didn’t crash into the walls, which were less than a foot away on both sides of us.
A white woven archway with vines and flowers wrapping around it appeared in the distance, and we slowed as we approached.
Through the arch, stone paths wound through a colorful garden full of trees, fountains, and more flowers. People wearing all types of different clothing from various times in history were tending to the gardens, reading on benches, playing games, having picnics, playing music, and painting the surrounding scenery. Mountains loomed in the distance, taller than the ones Julian and I had crossed in the Otherworld.
The chill in the air disappeared, replaced with perfect weather. I didn’t need my cloak, but I was comfortable with it on, too.
We docked, and I waited for Sibyl to get out of the canoe.
“This is where I’m leaving you,” she said.
“You’ll be waiting here when we’re finished?” I asked.
“No,” Charon said. “This is a one-way trip.”
I looked to Sib
yl in panic. “Then how will we get back?”
“Don’t worry.” She smiled. “You’ll find your way.”
“How?”
Maybe I’d been wrong to trust her. If we couldn’t leave, we were as good as dead.
Julian hopped out of the canoe and took my hand. His steel-colored wings were back to their normal brightness, and his face was no longer pale. “You heard her,” he said. “We’ll find our way back.”
“And if we don’t?” But as I asked, I was already letting him help me out of the canoe. We’d fought hard to get here. I wasn’t going to turn back now.
Once both of my feet were on the dock, Charon and Sibyl departed into the mist. I had no idea how Sibyl was going to get back to the Otherworld, but surely she had it covered.
“If we can’t find our way back, then there are worse things than being together in Elysium for all eternity,” Julian said.
I froze, unsure I’d understood correctly. “Are you saying you want us to stay here?” I asked.
He took a deep breath of the crisp, fresh spring air. “It’s beautiful here,” he said. “And here we can be together, forever.”
I yanked my hand out of his, unable to believe what I was hearing. “We were granted immortality when the gods gifted us with their magic,” I reminded him. “We’re going to be together forever in our universe. With our families.”
His eyes darkened, and he turned away from me.
What was going on with him? Was something in the air here making him think these crazy things? The Julian I knew would never abandon his family.
I didn’t get to ask. Because two familiar people—one with gold wings and one with green—ran down the path toward us.
Bridget and Cassia.
24
Selena
The Faerie Wand (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 4) Page 9
