The Key to Erebus (The French Vampire Legend. Book 1)

Chapter 33

  I was falling.

  I waited, holding my breath for the moment of impact, for the pain of broken bones, but it never came. I felt the air rushing past me and wondered why I hadn’t hit the ground. I opened my eyes cautiously and saw nothing but the dark. I was in the blackest depths. I couldn’t even see my own hand. Angling my head up I searched for some glimmer of light but there was nothing. With terror building in my chest, I looked down but the darkness yawned on. It was then I started to scream.

  I screamed until my voice was gone, but even then I couldn’t stop, my mouth open in a noiseless O like the victim in an old silent film. My hands clawed at the air for something to grab hold of, but the darkness swallowed me up and I fell for hour upon hour. In the end I gave up, I was falling forever. I couldn’t stop it. Exhaustion and hopelessness crawled through my bones and I passed out.

  When I awoke nothing had changed, there was still no noise except for the air rushing past me. I was neither hot nor cold, not hungry or thirsty. I felt like I had stepped out of time into some gaping black hole that would never set me free. I wondered if I was falling into the mouth of hell, maybe this was my own personal hell, designed especially for me.

  In the end I gave into sleep as much as I could. In my waking moments I thought about all my friends, particularly of Rodney and how much I wanted to free him from his new form. I thought about Amelia and how I would have liked to have known her better. Then thoughts about my family took over and I wished I could have understood them all, especially Mum and Gran. Most of all though, I thought about Corvus, I wondered what would happen to him when he realised I wasn’t coming back and the thought broke my heart. Yet the more I thought about him, the faster I fell.