by Lola Gabriel
“I’m not a mortal, Penny. I was born in the Hollows.”
Well, there you have it. Of course—she’s a ghost from the pits of hell. What was I thinking?
Violet held her gaze, her smile widening as she seemed to read Penny’s dubiousness. “There’s really only one way to find out if I’m telling the truth,” she said softly. “What have you got to lose?”
She had a point. Penny was basically at rock bottom now, wasn’t she? She may as well crawl into hell. She thought of the alternative: returning home to deal with her parents and the endless questions about Ryland. Oh, and her drug problem.
Penny shrugged and nodded, trying to suppress the anger that had suddenly resurfaced with the thought.
“All right,” she eventually agreed. “I’m in. How much is this going to cost me?”
But it wasn’t as much as I thought it was going to be, Penny mused, coming back to the present. She stuck close to the group as they continued to explore, their eyes darting around the shadows for signs of life.
“You must not attract attention to yourselves. Think of this as a safari. Keep your distance and don’t interact with anyone. If others see you, keep your head down,” Violet had instructed them. “Stay together. There is a safety in numbers down there.”
“Down there?” a woman about Penny’s age of twenty-five demanded. “You aren’t coming with us?”
Violet smiled and shook her head. “You are on your own. If I am ever caught doing this, I will be banished for eternity.”
“Banished to where?” Penny heard herself ask, and she knew then that she’d fallen into her story fully. Dumbass. Be grateful that there’s no one you know here to witness your further humiliation.
“Purgatory,” Violet answered simply.
There were only six of them in the group, the other five who had been in the church previous visitors who had not been cleared for a second journey.
“What do you mean, ‘cleared’? What does someone have to do to get cleared?” Oddly, it wasn’t Penny who voiced that question, but the inquisitive girl, who Penny later learned was named Lotte and was a year younger than her.
“You are required to take a serum, which will protect you through the portal.”
“Protect us from what?” That query was a full chorus by anyone who had not been to the Hollows before.
Violet seemed to be expecting the question, and Penny was starting to believe that these tours had been done many times previously.
“The portals contain a deadly contagion that will kill you the second it touches your pores. This was one of the reasons—” Violet cleared her throat, seeming uncomfortable. “—that things went awry with that group I mentioned.”
Suddenly, Penny’s doubts came flooding back, but she reminded herself that it was all an elaborate game. So she and the others downed the clear liquid, which tasted vaguely of honey and chamomile, before following Violet toward a hole in the floor.
“Remember,” Violet instructed them. “You are on your own from here. If anyone asks how you got there, forget my name.” Penny highly doubted that Violet had given her real name, anyway. “I will meet you in the Hollows to give you another dose of the serum before you return at 6:00. Don’t be late—if you are, you’ll have to remain there, or you’ll die coming through the portal alone.”
Hilarious, Penny had thought, but she really wasn’t finding it as amusing as she had at the start.
“There’s something there!” Lotte pointed, and the group stopped dead in their tracks, bringing Penny back to the present.
“What do you think it is?” the oldest man in their cluster demanded. His name was Duke, and he reminded Penny of a retired cowboy.
“A demon?”
Penny giggled. No matter how Violet had spun it, she couldn’t accept for a second that they were in hell. For starters, it was far too cool.
“Shh!” Lotte warned, and suddenly, a massive figure emerged from the darkness, flanked in the alley of two strangely shaped buildings.
“What are you doing down here?” he boomed, his sonorous voice ricocheting off the Hollows walls. “How did you get down here?”
Let the funhouse attractions begin, Penny thought.
“We come in peace!” Jerri, the older woman, called, her voice wavering in terror. “We only wanted to see how you live down here.”
Penny would have laughed at her phrasing, but a peculiar sensation of fear and awe had overcome her. The huge man advanced on them, and for a fleeting second, Penny was taken aback by both his sheer size and his stunning attractiveness.
Who knew demons were so handsome? The thought made her blush, and she tried to turn her eyes away, but she found herself transfixed by the blue of his irises and how they seemed to glow against the dim light. A scruff fell around his lips, and they were fuller than any man’s should be: plump, juicy and ripe for kissing.
Penny was finding it difficult to breathe, her eyes reluctantly moving across his dark blond stubble and along the pulsating lines of his throat, her eyes widening more with each detail she took in. She was tall, at five-foot-eight, and yet she had nothing on the massive frame of the shockingly handsome stranger before them.
He had yet to look at her, and Penny silently willed him to cast her the smallest gaze, if only for a second. She wanted him to feel the warmth seeping through her body, even if it was just through a locking of their eyes.
But that wasn’t in the cards. His angular jaw locked at Jerri’s words. and he began to breathe heavily, looking behind him as he rasped.
“You can’t be here,” he growled. “Get out of here. Now!”
Jerri, Lotte, Duke, and the others turned to flee, but Penny stood in place, unsure of what to make of the man. Even though he certainly sounded serious, surely it was all part of the gimmick.
It was only then that he looked fully at Penny, and she felt the heat of his stare set her on fire beneath the thin shirt she wore. Chills slithered through her, and she wasn’t sure if they were good or bad. On the one hand, she was entranced by him, but at the same time, her instinct was telling her that he was not bluffing, and that they should get back into the church.
“Penny!” Lotte yelled. “Come on!”
But she couldn’t bring herself to move. She didn’t know if it was his magnetism or her mounting terror. Whatever it was, her legs seemed rooted in place.
“Who brought you here?” the demon murmured, his brow raising, though his voice was much gentler than it had been when he’d first spoken. “What is his name?”
Penny’s mouth parted to speak, but she was suddenly overwhelmed by the onset of emotions. He’s not an actor. He’s asking me a real question. We don’t belong here.
Someone grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back. Penny wrested her wrist free.
“It’s okay,” she told Lotte, who had come back for her. “I’ll be along in a minute.”
“Penny—”
“Go!” the stranger roared at Lotte, who did not need a second instruction. She flew back toward where the group was cowering, watching with horror. Fear tickled Penny, too, but she refused to back away yet.
“What is his name?” he asked again.
“Who?”
Anger flashed through the man’s face, and he ambled closer, causing beads of sweat to break out under Penny’s hairline. “Who brought you here?”
She shot her eyes back toward the group, remembering what Violet had told them about not mentioning her name.
“What is this place, really?” Penny asked quietly. “Where are we?”
The stranger’s face contorted in confusion, and he stepped back, regarding her with suspicious eyes. “You don’t know where you are?”
“Penny!”
Without warning, the man in front of her began to transform, his face twisting into an elongated snout, scales replacing his golden hue. He released a stream of fire toward the group, and a squeal of terrified shrieks filled the air. At once, Penny’s companions dispersed, r
unning in the direction of the portal, their cries echoing after them. Penny felt her knees go weak. She stumbled back, extending her hands outward as if to ward the dragon off, but just as quickly as he had shifted into the monstrous form, he fell back into the person he’d appeared to be at the beginning.
Through her peripheral vision, Penny saw her new comrades fly into the portal opening, disappearing into the dark, one after another.
“No!” Penny howled, realizing that they were certainly plunging to their death on the other side.
“Let them go,” the stranger snapped. “You can join them when I’m finished questioning you.”
But Penny was already sprinting toward the opening, her heart ready to leap from her chest in horror. She froze at the entranceway, her hand flying to her mouth. In a pile on the floor was a mass of arms and legs, motionless and covered in sores.
The pathogen had attacked them as quickly as Violet had promised.
“What the hell?” The beast appeared at her side, but Penny barely noticed, a trancelike feeling overcoming her as she stared in shock at the scene before her. “I don’t understand!” the stranger hissed. “How did you come through? Why can’t they go back?”
Instead of answering, Penny opened her mouth and released a loud wail of trepidation.
“You killed them!” she howled. “You murdered them all!”
8
The dream he’d had earlier filled Reef like a tsunami, and as the redhead from his subconscious flailed at him, her accusations ringing through his ears, Reef fell backward, his head swimming at the devastating loss she’d just witnessed. He couldn’t understand what was happening, but more importantly, he knew he had to keep her quiet before she attracted any more attention to herself.
There was going to be hell to pay when someone stumbled upon five mortals dead in the portal on the Hollows side.
And if anyone sees her here, there will be six.
Without wasting another second, Reef scooped her into his arms, clamping his hand over her mouth, and sprinted from the access door, deeper into the Trenches. He wasn’t sure where he was going to take her. He just knew that he couldn’t bring her anywhere near the palace.
The beings in the Trenches minded their business. If someone did happen to catch a glimpse of the beautiful ginger who had fallen into his territory, the residents here would be a lot less likely to go to the Authority.
You are the Authority, Reef reminded himself, but he was having a hard time focussing as the girl writhed furiously in his arms. He kept his hand firmly over her mouth and ducked through the alleys, noting how the locals averted their eyes. They knew who he was, and seeing him striding through the crooked roads with a capture in his arms was hardly uncommon. They didn’t want any part of what was happening, and they wouldn’t ask questions. At least, that is what he hoped.
Half-flying, Reef finally found himself at the edge of the Trenches, leading into a lower-middle-class neighborhood where he stopped, panting.
“I’m going to take my hand away, but if you scream…” Reef didn’t feel like he needed to finish his thought aloud. The redhead stared at him with terrified eyes, but she managed to nod slightly, and Reef reluctantly removed his hand. To her credit, the girl didn’t scream, though the look on her face spoke of sheer mortification.
“What’s your name?” Reef demanded, wishing he could strike the aghast expression from her face.
“P-Penelope C-Carling.”
“Do you know who I am, Penelope?” She shook her head, her lower lip quivering. Inexplicably, Reef had an overwhelming desire to embrace her and tell her everything was going to be okay. He didn’t, of course, knowing that such an action would lead to more hollering. “I’m Reef Parker. I’m in charge of the Hollows Authority.”
He was met with a blank look. The dread in her eyes, however, was unmistakable.
She has no idea where she is, Reef realized. She wandered into the Hollows without having a clue as to what could happen. How does one convince another to do that?
“You need to answer a few questions for me, Penelope.”
She shuddered and closed her eyes. “This is just a sick joke,” she babbled to herself. “Violet and you and Lotte and Duke… all con artists. You’re just a bunch of sick bastards! I’m getting a refund when I get back, and I’m reporting you to the police! I’m filing charges. This is so wrong, so sick!”
Tears slipped down her wan cheeks, and Reef felt a fission of compassion for her. He couldn’t let her fall apart. “You need to focus, Penelope. How is it that you could get down here, but they died going back?”
“What are you?” Penelope asked in the way of a response. The spark of appreciation Reef had initially seen in her eyes had vanished, and she was staring at him like he was a monster.
Although, to a mortal, I suppose I would be a monster, he thought rationally. For thousands of years, he’d lived among the mortals, well before he and his brothers had gained access to the Hollows. He knew exactly what his mortal counterparts thought of him and his kind. He didn’t know why he was moderately hurt by Penelope’s judging eyes.
“Where do you think you are?”
Suddenly, she gasped, falling back against the brick of the building they had sheltered themselves between.
“Hollow Earth,” she choked, as if she had abruptly realized something she hadn’t thought of before. “I’ve read about this. The Hollows. This can’t be real. This is some David Avocado Wolf rhetoric.”
Reef gritted his gleaming teeth together and tried not to snap at her, realizing that she was trying to process what was going on in a worse way than he was. “Penelope—”
“Can you call me Penny?” she interrupted, turning her head up to stare at him. He was unable to speak when their eyes met again.
She came to me in my dream. I knew her in my dream. Have I met her before? It seemed unlikely, but Reef could not think of another explanation for why the connection he felt to her was so strong.
If she had been anyone else, his instinct would have been to kill her. Wouldn’t it? He didn’t feel remorse about the dead mortals in the access. Reef’s plan all along had been to kill them, and yet the thought of harming the fair, gorgeous ginger in front of him made him almost physically ill.
I hadn’t really wanted the other mortals to die, either, he thought, but better them than her.
“Penny,” he said quietly. “I know this is a lot for you to understand right now, but I need you to stay with me, okay? First, I need you to tell me how you found out about the portal. Who told you about it?”
Penelope— Penny inhaled shakily and eyed him. Reef could see she was debating whether to tell him the truth before she seemed to realize that her options lay directly in his hands.
“Her name is Violet—or, at least, that’s what she said her name was. I doubt it’s real.”
Reef frowned, wracking the Rolodex of his mind for anyone he knew by that name. “What did she look like? Where did you meet her? How did you find her?”
Penny threw up a hand, and Reef bit on his lower lip to contain his impatience. “I— one question at a time. Please.”
“Penny…” He steeled his temper. “I can’t explain to you how much danger you’re in right now. You just have to believe me when I tell you that if I don’t find this Violet and stop her from bringing more of you down here, more of you will die.”
“You sent them back through there!” she protested. “You’re the only threat I see!”
Reef bristled at the words, and he glowered, his face inches from hers. “I just saved your life, and if I’d known the portal would kill your friends, I wouldn’t have sent them through it. Every second you stay down here, you’re asking for trouble.”
“I’m leaving,” Penny muttered. “If you’ll let me. And I’ll take you to Violet, too.”
Relief swept through him, but he was wary about her promise. She didn’t seem to trust him. Nevertheless, she was his best hope at the moment.
&
nbsp; “You expect to see her again?” Reef asked, trying to keep the excitement from his voice. “When? Where?”
“Yes,” Penny answered, her voice barely audible as she spoke. “She’s supposed to meet us at the portal at 6:00 to give us another dose of the serum so we can travel back home.”
“So there is a serum,” Reef sighed. “I knew there had to be something. What was in it?”
She stared at him. “I have no idea. I’m not a…” She stopped talking, her jaw locked, and she shifted her eyes away from him. “I have no idea.”
“We have to find out,” Reef told her grimly. “We’ll meet her at 6:00, and I’ll arrest her.”
“What will you do to her?”
“I’ll get the serum from her, and then she will be punished.”
“Punished? How? Why?” Penny demanded, her face paling at the idea. Reef blinked and stared at her in disbelief.
“Why do you care? She’s no friend of yours. She basically sent you here to your death.”
Penny didn’t have an answer, and the energy seemed to slowly drain from her body as she sank further against the wall, her knees apparently failing her.
“Oh, God,” she muttered.
“What?”
“What if she doesn’t show?” she whispered. “What if she comes through the portal and sees everyone dead? What if she doesn’t come back for me?”
Reef’s neck stiffened. “She’ll come back,” he insisted firmly. “And we’ll be there waiting for her.”
“But what if she doesn’t?” A note of near-hysteria filled Penny’s voice. “If no one down here has heard of this serum, and if there’s no other way for me to get home…”
Reef knew what she was thinking, but he refused to entertain it for a second. There is no way she is staying trapped down here, he thought grimly. Because even if I don’t kill her, someone else will for certain.
“We’ll cross that bridge if we get to it,” Reef told her. “But she’ll show.”
Penny stared at him with wet eyes, her complexion almost translucent. “What do we do until then?” she murmured.
“We lay low and we wait,” he responded, and even as he said it, his eyes moved up toward the eye cameras peering down at them.