“I’d hate to know what else he sees.” A shiver went down my spine at the thought. “Or how much.”
“Don’t worry, Astrid, it isn’t much! Before you ask, no, I didn’t hear you.” The sound of clanking pans came from the kitchen. “Damn, that’s hot.”
“Just ignore him.” Beckett pulled the scroll from his back pocket and handed it to me. “Before you start reading that and we leave, there’s just one more thing.”
It could’ve always been this easy between us, this playful. “What’s that?”
“Now that we’re more than friends, you can admit it.”
“Admit what?”
His tongue darted over his lips, wetting them. “That you like the way I taste.”
Chapter 42
Astrid
Liked it? Try loved it. He was so minty and fresh like a winter party in my mouth. “Let’s focus here.”
“Suurreee.” When he looked at me with that cocky smile in place, so playful, it made me want to kiss him all over again.
I held the scroll open. “So I have to read this and then spin around and then what?”
He stepped in closer to me and placed his hand on the small of my back. Electricity shot straight through me then centered low in my body. I leaned into him, letting my back rest against his chest. He reached over my shoulder and read the spell once more. “Yeah, that should be good.”
Something brushed against my hair and Beckett sucked in a deep breath. I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Did you just smell my hair?”
“Don’t be silly. Who even likes strawberries anyways?” He walked around to face me then winked. “Okay, step back.”
“Okay, here we go.” I sucked in a deep breath and read the lines.
“If control is what you seek, face those named Greek.
Choices must be made, to earn the token to be paid.
A consort of death she won’t be denied, flow her way by river side.
A crown you must claim, to face the brothers to be tamed.
Look not with eyes but with thy heart, for love tears the soul apart.
Face these challenges three, and present the prize on bent knee.
Say these lines with a spin, and your final fate will begin.”
As I read the last line I spun around and let my powers flow through me. Smoke flooded the room and the walls shook so hard that even the windows rattled. Beckett grabbed onto my hand. “Hold on.”
“What’s happening?” I yelled over the earthquake.
“I don’t know.”
Two thick metal doors materialized from out of nowhere. They hovered in the air above our heads. Each of them appeared to be put together by extra pieces of scrap metal held together by thick bolts. Beckett grabbed my arms and dragged me back. We tumbled over the arm of the couch and fell back with me on top of him. I scrambled off of him in time to see the doors swing down from where they hovered. They slammed into the hardwood floors, sending planks splintering up from the impact. Dust filled the air and the space between the two doors shimmered.
I rose to my feet and shoved. “What was that?”
“Not what.” A deep rough male voice came from the door.
“But who,” another much smoother, younger voice added.
As the dust cleared, a man stood between the two doors. He was nearly the same height as the door and wore an old Greek soldier’s uniform. A golden breast plate covered him from shoulder to hip, and deep red material covered his arms and legs. But that wasn’t the most disturbing part of the man. No, this man was neither young nor old . . . because he had two freaking heads!
I looked from one face to the other, not knowing who I was supposed to look in the eye. The one on the right side was an older man with a thick beard and shaggy gray hair that fell into dark brown eyes. Deep wrinkles fanned out around his eyes and down his cheeks. The one on the left was a young man with sandy brown hair that curled back from his face. His eyes were a crystal blue and when he smiled at me there wasn’t a wrinkle in sight.
Beckett stood by my side. “Janus, it’s . . . good to see you.”
By the tone of his voice it didn’t sound good. Young Janus chuckled and old Janus scowled. Old Janus cleared his throat. “We come at the command of Matteaus.”
“He so rarely turns to us,” young Janus added. “I’m not entirely sure this is necessary.”
I leaned back and whispered to Beckett, “Remind me again who’s Janus?”
“Dude gifted with power over doors, gates, beginnings, and endings,” Beckett muttered.
Janus threw his arms out wide, holding one in front of each door. Young Janus smiled. “We come to present a choice. Pick a door, any door.”
Old Janus cleared his throat. “Choose wisely. One will lead to most certain death.”
“No, it won’t.” Young Janus shook his head.
“Indeed it will.” Older one nodded. “Don’t listen to the youngen. He’s naïve in his ways.”
“Right, like the crotchy grouchy old man knows. You forgot your name yesterday!”
Old Janus huffed. “I did not! Poppycock.”
“Oh really? Then what is your name.” All the while Janus gestured wildly with his arms while he? They? Fought themselves.
“Damn you. I know my name!” old Janus bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“Oh yeah,” the younger one taunted. “What is it? Let’s hear it.”
“It’s, um . . . ummm.”
Young Janus threw his head back and laughed. “See, he’s got no clue. You can only die if you open up the wrong door.”
I pointed at old dude. “He just said that!”
Young Janus’ brows furrowed. “He did?”
“Bah, bah now who doesn’t remember. Old, young, doesn’t matter. Janus knows all.” The older one snickered and I wanted to punch them both in the faces.
I held my hand up, silencing them. “How can the test be to choose a door when they both look the same? This is a test, right? Not a death match.”
They both froze and put their hands on their hips. They gazed off in opposite directions as though looking out over the horizon instead of opposite sides of the ceiling. Young Janus was the first to speak. He muttered to his other half. “Were we supposed to not kill this one?”
“Yes, no,” the other answered.
“That isn’t an answer, you old fool.” He swung his head back and smacked his cheek into his other half.
Older Janus huffed and the hand on his side of the body flew up and wacked the other one in the face. The smacking sound echoed around the room as his head snapped back. An angry red handprint rose on the young one’s face. “That hurt, you old bastard!”
“I got more where that came from.” The older one curled his hand into a fist and took a wild swing at his other half.
“Give it a rest, old man.” He chuckled. “You’re not fooling anyone.”
“Ugh.” I nudged Beckett. “We have got to get out of here before they kill themselves.”
He nodded. “But which door? I’m pretty sure they messed up and one of them could kill us.”
They abruptly stopped fighting and older Janus nodded. “Yes, one leads to death.”
Young Janus chuckled. “It absolutely does.”
I threw my hands up. “Well, which one? The right or the left?”
“Right,” Young said.
“Left,” Old said at the exact same time.
“Well, which is it?” Beckett snapped.
“Left.”
“Right.”
Again the two of them answered at the same time. I reached behind Beckett and shoved him toward Janus. “I think you have a few more questions, don’t you?”
“I do?” He glanced over his shoulder at me. I gave him a single nod. His eyes flared for a second and he faced Janus. “That’s right, I do.”
Beckett motioned toward the doors. “Now, gentlemen, if it were you, which door would you choose?”
Again with the rights and lefts. T
hey discussed the make of the doors, the way they smelled, who made them why there were made and yet we still came back to the left and right discussion. If the door opens from the right or from the left. What does it mean if they open the door from the right or left? Janus walked around each door like he was examining a car. Beckett followed along with him. He crossed one arm over his stomach and rested his elbow on it.
We’d stand here day and night debating things with a two-headed supernatural with two different minds. Right? Left? Right? Left? The three of them walked behind the door. If ever there was a time to pick a destiny, it was now.
I stepped up to the door on the right and wrapped my hand around the knob. “Beckett?”
“Yeah?” He peeked around the side of the frame.
I extended my hand out to him. “Time to go.”
He took my. “But what if?”
As I turned the knob, my magic flared to life, my chest burned, and smoke poured from me. “This is the one.”
I shoved the door wide-open. Beyond there was nothing, only darkness. Beckett squeezed my hand. “I’m ready.”
Janus moved to stand behind us. Old Janus whispered, “I don’t recall this, do you?”
“No, do you?” The younger one breathed on my neck.
“Enough.” I took a step forward. “Here we go.”
Beckett smiled down at me. “You jump, I jump.”
And then we did . . .
Chapter 43
Astrid
My stomach dropped into my feet as we fell into the blackness. A scream ripped from my throat and Beckett yanked me to him. Blue orbs fired from his free hand right below us. They grew bigger and bigger as we fell toward them.
“Brace yourself!” he yelled over the wind whipping past us. Or were we whipping past it?
Terror flooded my body and smoke billowed from me. My body slowed from a free fall, to a slow drift. Beck chuckled beside me. “Whooooo, you did it.”
“Not on purpose. It was like a sneeze pee, total accident.” My arms flailed as we drifted down onto Beckett’s platform. I landed flat on my stomach with a thud that sounded like a tennis ball hitting glass. Beckett stepped onto the platform like he was walking down the street. He bent down and grabbed my arm, helping me to my feet.
“Sneeze pee?”
“You don’t want to know and we’re going to forget I said anything.” I sucked in a deep breath and glanced around at the nothingness. It was pitch-black all but for the faint blue glow of Beckett’s platform. My stomach went from being in my feet right up to my throat. The wind blew my hair back from my face. If it wasn’t for that, I would almost think we weren’t moving at all.
Blue light illuminated Beckett’s face. “Where do you think we are?”
“Black sink hole of death?”
“I’m not sure if this is the death one.” He walked over to the edge of the platform and leaned to look over the edge.
“Are you crazy?” I waved for him to come back. “Don’t do that.”
“Worried I’ll fall?” Why did he have to smile and flirt with me when we were falling into nothing? And be so damn cute while doing it.
“No.”
“I think I see something.” He leaned farther over the side and this time I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“Let’s just chill with the jumping over the edge thing.”
“I’m not kidding. I did see something.” He pointed to a pin prick of light below us. It grew bigger and bigger as we drifted down to it.
Every time some extreme emotion hit me, my magic rose to the occasion. Was this mission part of teaching me not to do that either? I looked down at my smoking palms and shook them out. Okay, stop now.
Beckett reached over and intertwined his fingers with mine. “I like when they do that.”
“You do?”
“Yep.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
“Beck, why the change in heart? Like why are you okay with us now?” His hand swallowed mine, warm and comforting in this moment of chaos.
He shrugged. “Tired of fighting it, I guess.”
Yeah sure, that explains it all. I rolled my eyes. “You’re right, we’ll talk about it later.”
“Here we go.” The darkness slowly lifted like someone raised the dimmer switch. We dropped out of a hole in a cavern, a massive cavern. It was like flying over an entire universe deep within the earth.
In the distance a castle made entirely of onyx stood in the middle of it. Beyond that was a bright shining land with the fields looking like spun gold. Beautiful houses rose up all over and faint peaceful music carried on the wind along with the smell of the sea.
“Where are we?”
“The underworld.” Beckett growled. “We have to stay together down here. Okay?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t turn to face him. Instead, I faced the other direction where the world grew dark. Pained wails drew up from the darkest part of the underworld. Glowing molten lava flowed through dark rocks and around a deep pit. The platform drifted to a stop and we bounced a little.
“Astrid, I’m serious.” Beckett tugged me over to the edge. He stepped down off of it first. Then waited for me to follow.
“I know you are.” The moment my feet hit the ground I had the overwhelming sense that everything was mundane. I wasn’t scared, or excited or happy. I just was. “Whoa.”
“I know.” All personality left his voice.
The field around us swayed with wildflowers and tall golden grass. It was beautiful, but everything felt so ordinary, like there was no magic in the world. Things were neither good nor bad. “What part of the underworld is this?”
“Asphodel meadows. Where souls who were neither good nor bad, come in the afterlife. Their lives were just unremarkable.”
As I listened to his words, souls from all time periods sprang up around me. A civil war soldier walked by on my left. A man dressed in bellbottoms and white fringe shirt passed on my right. The field filled with people all walking around. Silence hung heavy in the air and I didn’t know if I should move or not. “Beckett?”
“Come on, the dead don’t interact with the living. We have to keep moving to find out why we’re here.” The blades of grass rustled with each step we took.
I felt we weren’t getting anywhere, simply wandering. Until I looked out over the field of souls and spotted a single beacon of white among the mundane. “This way.”
I moved through the meadow, walking around souls I could see through, stepping over rocks and twigs. Not even my footsteps on the gravel made a dent in the heavy silence.
Beckett followed close behind me as I came upon the small white flower. The petals were closed up tight and I reached out to touch it. When my finger brushed against the delicate petals, they unfurled one at a time, revealing a small trumpet-shaped center that was such a bright and cheery yellow even in this place.
“How beautiful.” I bent down lower to examine it when the flower next to it opened up. Both of them equally beautiful, then another and another. When they spread across the meadow in a straight line heading toward the horizon. “I think this is a hint.”
Beckett motioned for me go first. “Follow the yellow brick road.”
“If that makes me Dorothy, then does that make you the Tin Man?” I bumped him with my hip.
“I think I could muster up something stiffer than tin for you.” He chuckled.
Heat flooded my cheeks and I couldn’t stop the laughter bursting from my lips. “Maybe I’ll go with the scarecrow next time.”
“Also a dude who works with a pole. You’re making this too easy for me.” He winked.
I smacked him in his arm playfully. “Okay, you win.”
He started to chuckle then drew up short. I stopped and gazed off in the same direction he looked. The flowers continued to bloom all the way down to a river bed where they flowed out on top of the water in the shape of a raft.
“You don’t think . . .”
“Oh, I do thi
nk.” We walked in silence down to the river and stood before the raft. Becket bent down and pressed his hand on the flowers. “Seems sturdy.”
“How do we even know this is where we’re supposed to go?” I looked up and down the river. There was nothing, yet the life seemed to be coming back the farther we got away from the meadow. A small wooden sign materialized just beside the raft. Words were carved into the single plank and I read it out loud. “Ride the tides and a crown will become your prize.”
“Okay.” I shrugged and took a step onto the raft. Beckett hesitated just off shore. “Are you coming?”
He gave me a single nod. “Astrid, no matter what’s about to happen, you have to stay on the raft, okay?”
“Yeah, like I’m going to jump in. I’ve heard of the rivers in the underworld. I might not know as much as you, but yeah, I agree no jumping in.” I plopped down in the center of the raft and crossed my legs.
“Good.” He stepped up onto it and grabbed the pole at the back to push away from the shore. We slowly drifted away from the shoreline and Beckett guided the raft to the center of the river.
It was a slow methodic ride, where the only sound in my ears was the water tripping over the rocks. Then came the first whisper, a hissing voice low in my ear. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” He looked farther down the river and his eyes widened. “Hold on.”
They all assailed me at once. So many voices screaming at me. I hunched over and pressed my palms over my ears. I rocked back and forth. “No, no!”
He doesn’t care about you, just to control you.
He wants you for the dreams.
He’s just toying with you. He likes to play.
Toying with you.
Plaything, nothing more.
He’ll leave you like everyone else does.
You’re not important to him.
He’s using you!
“Astrid? What’s going on?” Beckett reached out and touched my shoulder.
I turned and only saw red. Rage rolled through me and I wanted to kill everything. I gathered my magic in my hand and leapt right at him with my fingers curled into claws, aiming for his face.
Wicked Wish (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 2) Page 21