“I was just having fun, but fine. Whatever. And she will turn on us. Eventually.”
“Just… please, stop being nosey.”
He snorts in my mind. “I’m not nosey, I’m Snoopy. And Lukah’s Dopey, and you’re definitely Grumpy.”
I let out a large sigh. With him, I’ll never get anywhere.
His mind disappears from mine. Just as he had promised, we enter a state of silence. Meredith’s mood seems to lift. Her steps are almost lighter by the time we reach the end of the maze of tunnels, stopping at a large, round steel door.
Meredith turns to us as everyone piles in behind. “Once we pass through this door, we will officially be in hell.” A slight shiver passes through her shoulders. “This place will make you feel things. See things. Do things you never thought you would. It’s the birthplace of all the awful in the world. The melting pot for every nightmare you never want to face.” She pauses, taking her time to look right in the eyes of those she can see. “You thought you were tough, thought you were prepared, but no amount of training could have prepared you for this.”
Weldon rolls his shoulders and hops back and forth on his feet, like he’s prepping himself for this, and I can only imagine why. These two are about to enter the very place they sought to escape.
“How’s it looking on your end?” she asks Weldon.
His eyes flash gold for a second, and then revert back. “I don’t sense anything.” He looks over his shoulder at me. “You sure you’re ready for this, mouse?”
I nod… despite the small voice in the back of my head telling me to turn and run for the hills.
“How about you?” he asks Gavin, and then Jaxen. They nod as well, and then Gavin does a quick headcount and reminds everyone to remain in the formation we discussed last night.
This is it. Once we cross this door, there will be no turning back. No giving up or giving in. There will be fighting… until the death.
“Let’s go,” Meredith says, pointing to the door. Gavin grabs onto a corroded lever attached to a circular metal hatch and grits his teeth as he presses down with all his weight. The lever spins and then the door pops open, smoke and heat hissing through the seam.
Meredith turns, her eyes as black and vast as the night sky. “Welcome to hell.
She crosses, then Gavin, then Weldon, until it’s my turn. Jaxen takes my hand in his, squeezes and nods reassuringly, and I’m so grateful I’m not alone. Bracing myself for whatever may be on the other side, I step through, thinking of my mother and everything she said. Everything I must do.
I feel the moment I cross planes. The darkness surrounding my skin as we step from our world into theirs. It’s like the warmth of the sun disappearing behind rain clouds. Like falling into a bath of ice and waking in a pit of scorching fire.
Weldon reaches out behind him. I take his hand and squeeze, knowing this isn’t easy for him. Proud to be the friend and partner of someone so brave.
We’re in some kind of rock quarry, only the rocks aren’t rocks but skulls. A fiery mass, belching out flames miles away from us, is in the center, sending waves of stifling heat through the air. The smell of sulfur hangs heavy. Small bits of broken skull tumble into the depths of the pit below from every step we take, and I do my best not to think about who we’re walking on or what could have possibly happened to create such a build-up.
“This is pleasant,” Weldon remarks as we follow Meredith’s steps with careful precision. “You look so comfortable walking on them. Why is that?”
Meredith doesn’t answer.
I stiffen, half-expecting him to continue pushing her, but he doesn’t because a large flame bursts up from the center like water from a geyser, directing his attention toward it.
“And the pyrotechnic show begins,” he mutters, walking just as easily over the skulls as she is.
“Link hands and keep close together,” Gavin calls out to everyone, and then turns back to Meredith. “I thought you said there was a tunnel system. What the hell is this?”
“The cover band to the main event,” she spouts off as she continues forward, not bothering to explain anything more.
Every intake of air feels like I’m breathing through a heated, wet towel. We’ve only walked for a few minutes, and the majority of us are already drenched in sweat.
I keep checking over my shoulder, scanning as far as I can see, sending out small waves of volation. There’s an eerie silence I don’t trust. The kind that makes you feel like someone’s creeping up behind you. But, no matter how many waves I send out, I sense nothing, and not in the good way.
“Every time I send out a wave of volation, there’s a sort of static blocking me from detecting anything around us.”
“The Underground will do that to you,” Weldon says. “There will be parts where your magic won’t work.”
“Great,” Jaxen mutters, his hand beginning to perspire against mine.
“The only things you need to keep your eye out for are firelings,” Meredith calls over her shoulder. She draws back the arm of her cloak and reveals a deep-set scar in the shape of long, spindly fingers, as if something very hot had grabbed a hold of her and wouldn’t let go. “One grabbed me on my way out.”
Weldon looks over at me and rolls his eyes. “You poor thing.”
I scour back through my memories, searching for some kind of trigger from something I read about them as her warning passes down the line of Elites and weres, but I don’t think I’ve ever read about them before. Books on all things that dwell in the Underground aren’t exactly passed out.
“Firelings?” I finally ask, wanting to be prepared should one appear.
Weldon snorts. “They’re sneaky little bastards. This is a bad idea.”
Jaxen’s hand tightens on mine. “You keep saying that.”
“And I’ll continue to because it is. Why did I let you talk me into this again?”
I punch him in the arm and he scowls at me, pulling his arm against his chest.
“They’re similar to sprites—the little fairies that cause havoc above ground—only they surround their bodies with fire and are controlled by the demons they make deals for. The best way to avoid them is by shutting up. They’re drawn to noise, so don’t talk unless you have to.” Meredith stops, looks around for a moment, and then turns to the edge of the cliff. “We descend here.” She crouches, grabbing onto the skulls for support.
“How the hell did you get up this slope?” Weldon asks, watching as she preps herself to slide.
“Fairy dust and pixie wings,” she quips, staring stupidly at him.
He narrows his eyes on her, cocking his head to the side.
A heavy huff. “Slowly and very carefully,” she says shortly, and then begins to sort of slide down. The slope of bones moves with her like an avalanche of sorts.
“Oh, hell no,” Jezi says a few feet back. “There’s no way in hell I’m sliding down that.”
“We follow her,” Gavin says unwaveringly, his face pinched and closed off. He drops down and takes off, not listening to the protests kicking up behind us.
Jaxen’s already turning to them, hands in the air, trying to calm them down and reinforce the necessity of following through.
Weldon moves in front of me to follow Meredith. He looks up at me with a coy smile on his lips once he’s on his butt, wiggling his eyebrows. “Nothing like taking a slip-n-slide ride on some skulls.”
I shudder.
More bones than before move with him, tumbling past the three of them as he jumps up to his feet, using Gavin’s extended hand to halt him. The bones collide against Weldon’s legs, nearly shoving him off the edge of the ledge they’re standing on, but Meredith grabs his arm and pulls him back, using the rock she’s holding onto with her other hand for support.
He looks at her for a moment in confused shock, and then quickly lets go of her hand, moving to the other side of Gavin.
After they’re steady, Weldon looks up at me. “You’re going to have to go
as slow as you can, mouse. The bones are loose now, and they’re going to move easily. We’ll catch you on your way down.”
“Great,” I say, my chest rising and falling more rapidly now.
“Faye?” Jaxen says. It’s all he has to say.
“We can do this,” I say to him, forcing myself to believe in my own words. “Help everyone here after I go.”
He nods and then turns, taking on the lead to walk everyone through this.
I wait for Meredith and Weldon to move out of the way so Gavin can catch me, and then do exactly what they did, trying my best not to think about the skulls beneath my palms as I slide. Every muscle in my body is tense as I slip over the uneven, jagged slope. Sharp shards of bone and skull pierce at my hands as I dig them in, trying to slow my pace.
Gavin reaches his hand out when I’m close and grabs on, pulling me to my feet as a small avalanche of bones moves past us into the fiery pit below.
Meredith’s eyes scan every inch of the place. “That was a lot of noise.”
“You’re the one who said we had to descend there,” Weldon says, looking around.
Fire cracks and pops in the air. The heat keeps building, as if it senses our presence and feeds off the sweat its generating.
“Shh!” Meredith says, dropping to a crouch behind the large rock next to her. “If they hear us, we’re going to have to make a run for it. The moment they’re aware of us, the demons who are attached to them will be too.”
Weldon drops down, his lips pulled into a tight line. “Where are we headed to? In case that does happen.”
Meredith points to the geyser of fire.
Weldon’s head tilts sideways as his gaze flattens. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Dead serious. It’s a doorway to the next layer we have to pass through. This place is a country compared to Ethryeal City. But you wouldn’t know that since you didn’t escape from here, now would you? Claire made it easy for you when she made the deal to get you out. I bet it was like a snap of the fingers, and you were on the streets above again, weren’t you? No looking over your shoulder. No praying that the exit would be through the next doorway, only to find it’s another gruesome layer you may not make it through.”
I swallow a million different things I want to say to him to ease his ache. Tuck away the nasty words creeping up the back of my throat meant to cut her down. With one statement, she’s reignited the sad tiredness in his gaze. She struck a nerve in him many wouldn’t dare strike. And about a subject he has no control over, no less.
Anger flashes like lightning in Weldon’s eyes as team member after team member piles around us, the sound of tumbling skulls beginning to echo louder and louder around us. His muscles are practically jumping beneath his skin.
“Sensitive subject?” she says cockily, bobbing her head back and forth.
“She isn’t worth it, Weldon,” I say as I grab onto his arm, holding him back. I find her eyes over his shoulder, my pulse skyrocketing as I add, “She’s just a sad, lonely outcast who doesn’t know where she belongs.”
Her nostrils flare, eyes hardening, and then she turns and peers around the corner of the rock, busying herself with checking for any sign of firelings. “I think we’re good. If we follow this ledge, it will wind down to the pit.”
“And if we do stumble upon one, what do we do?” I ask, going through my mental checklist of all the weapons stored in my banshee bag. Someone latches onto my arm. Katie. She’s listening just as intently as I am, sweat lining her face.
“We run. If you can summon water, do so, and aim it at the fireling. It will put out the flames and allow you to stab them with a silver dagger. You do have one, don’t you?”
I’m already pulling mine out of my bag by the time she finishes speaking, sliding it into one of the narrow pockets on my suit. Weldon doesn’t move at all. His fists are still clenched at his sides, teeth grinding, and I fear he might murder her before we ever have the chance to make it further.
Meredith doesn’t stop to address this. I wouldn’t expect her to either.
After I get his dagger out of his bag and hand it to him, and make sure Katie’s set up, we wait for the last of Evangeline’s pack to struggle their way down the slope. When we’re all together, Jaxen and Gavin worm their way through the tight-knit pack and take their original positions near me.
I quickly fill Gavin in on what Meredith said, and Gavin turns and relays the message to everyone, asking them to take out their silver daggers.
Jaxen kisses my forehead. Picking my hands up, he looks at the scratches left behind from the skulls.
I pull them back and run them over the legs of my suit, wiping off the blood. “I’m okay.”
He smiles. “Of course you are.”
“Listen up,” Gavin says as harshly and as quietly as he can after Meredith whispers something in his ear. The chatter behind us slows to a stop. “We have to cross through the fire.”
Angered, unsure voices pick up behind me.
“Silence!” Evangeline hisses, her motherly tone striking everyone right in the chest.
Gavin nods a quick thanks in her direction before adding, “You won’t get burnt. You won’t die. You’re going to put on your game face and stick to the plan.”
“She could be lying!” one of the Elites sent with us says from the back.
“This was never in the plan we went over,” Toby throws in, adding more fuel to the pot.
The cords twang in Gavin’s neck. “Keep your voices down!” He balls his fists at his sides and paces back and forth in place for a second, like he’s trying his hardest to keep a grip on his self-control.
“Gav,” Jaxen says, reaching for Gavin’s arm, but Gavin yanks it away.
“Don’t touch me!” he says, his whisper grating. He spins on the rest of our group. “We are here because we were chosen as the best of the best. As the men and women who could handle the intensity of this situation. I suggest you take a good look inside yourself and decide now if that’s not who you are. If not, there’s the door.” He points to the entrance we came through way up above us. “Good luck on your way out.”
Everyone looks to one another, seeing if someone else if going to say something.
No one else contests him.
Meredith’s face grows leery. “We’re making too much noise. We need to move,” she says to Gavin.
He nods, turning and following her steps.
I reach out for Jaxen’s hand, but feel something at the back of my neck. Something a lot like heat. Every nerve ending in my body sounds off like warning bells, and I think Jaxen feels it too because he stiffens and then slowly turns.
“Don’t move,” he says through his teeth.
Katie and Jezi shriek behind me.
It takes Meredith a second to realize we aren’t following them anymore. When she does, she spins around and her eyes widen.
“Run.”
IN HELL, THERE ISN’T TIME for second-guessing.
On an inhale, I throw water I conjured at the fireling. On an exhale, my dagger sinks into its chest and then falls with a heavy clank to the ground as the fireling disappears into a whiff of smoke.
“Go!” I shout, watching in horror as a wave of fire seems to swarm toward us. A drove of firelings move like wasps heading in our direction as we scramble to make it down the rest of the ledge toward the pit, slipping and tumbling over the uneven, broken skulls.
My heart’s in my throat, threatening to leave me as my mind pulls into focus.
“We have to get to that pit!” Meredith shouts, picking up speed as the swarm nears us. “We can’t let them follow us in! It will draw too much attention.”
“Get to the pit!” Gavin shouts out to everyone.
Heat presses against my back as hot as the sun and I run harder, faster than I thought I could. The impact from every elongated step I take jars through my ribcage. I’m not thinking about the skulls anymore. Just that we have to make it out. We have to get to the pit. br />
I try to pull on their energy, hoping it will slow them down the same way it does the demons and witches I’ve fought. Bad idea. It sears my insides and nearly stops me in my tracks as I stumble and lose my footing from the scalding pain boiling my insides. Jaxen notices because he has a tight grip on my arm, keeping me on my feet, pulling me forward until I gain momentum again.
Weldon’s voice cuts through my mind like cool water. “Faye! You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I lie, focusing on moving my feet forward.
“Got any handy spells in that book of yours?” he asks as he stumbles over a cluster of rock and skull. I reach for him, but he already has his footing again, picking up his speed.
My heart thunders through my chest as I call to my Grimoire and ask for a spell that can help us make it out of here, but every few seconds, I have to dodge left and right to keep the tiny fireballs the firelings throw from hitting me.
Someone screams from the back, and I wish I didn’t look back as one of the Elites assigned to us that I only just met is picked up and swallowed into the swarm of firelings. His death seems to make the swarm stronger.
“Move!” Evangeline shouts as the swarm nears the edges of her pack, which hold up the rear with a few other Elites.
A few times, we drop to our butts and slide down, letting the skulls carry us faster than our feet will move us.
One of the balls of fire hits the side of my arm, and I instantly want to hug whoever made this suit because it only singed the outside layer. A second later, Meredith hollers out in pain, and then tumbles over her own feet, landing face-first into the skulls. Smoke sizzles up from the back of her cloak. She was hit, and she isn’t moving.
Weldon’s a machine on autopilot. He comes to a hasty halt beside her, snatches her up, and then throws her over his shoulder, carrying her as he continues forward.
“To your left!” I hear Lukah shout as the swarm moves in on Damien’s side. I glance back over my shoulder just in time to see Bianca casting a water spell and Toby throwing silver daggers. They’re only able to get a couple. I try to block out the screams as another Elite is taken. As Damien roars out in pain from the ball of fire shot at him that Bianca wasn’t quick enough to put out.