“The Lakes of Fire,” one of the rowers yells.
I see fire and brimstone ahead. “And here I thought it couldn’t get much worse.”
Kherty’s big hand lands on my shoulder. “This is just the beginning. Once you make it through this cavern, you’ll reach the Outer Darkness, a place located in the deepest recess of the Underworld, outside the created world.”
“Yay,” I fake cheer. “Go me.”
“Remember,” he says. “I, along with half the Ennead, am rooting for you, Princess. Go, now.” He steers me toward the ramp. “We shall meet again soon enough.”
Chapter 36
Nisha
Flames and darkness, blaze and smoke—the cavern is dominated by black and red. Shouldn’t surprise me. It’s kind of in the name—Lakes of Fire. The gods who created this mess might have as well called it hell. It sure is the closest thing to what humanity defines as such.
“Stay close,” Seth urges, refusing to let go of my hand. The edge in his voice is alerting me to possible danger, but what really boggles my mind is his sudden change of heart. Not long ago, he wouldn’t even look at me. After finding me along the Nile, he won’t let me out of his sight.
A charred branch snakes around my ankle. I lose my balance.
“Watch it,” he hisses, his kindness nothing but a distant memory.
We’ve been here for less than ten minutes, but already I feel like I’m drowning in heat and darkness. Doesn’t matter how many times I attempt to blink the blurriness away, everything is still hidden behind a veil of smog. I won’t even mention the sting I feel every time I draw a breath. The desert wasn’t as hot as this hell.
Quietly, we move along a narrow path lit by small fires, starting all by themselves. The flames roar to life, as if the branches had been hit by lightning. Only they haven’t. It’s the air itself that lights them.
Seth watches me from the corner of his eye. His lips part, then close. He clearly has something to say, but it takes several attempts until he finally speaks up. “Are you….” He clears his throat, nervously fidgeting with his hands. “Are you okay?”
Is he for real? “I’m not sure one can be okay when walking through hell.” Let the record show, I didn’t try to be a bitch or piss him off. It’s simply the truth he asked for.
“You’re not walking through Hell, my love.” He sounds so casual, and looks so at ease, I’m starting to envy his recklessness.
The stench of putrefaction—sour, rotten, and extremely gross—climbs up my nostrils. Keeping my gagging reflex under control becomes extremely difficult. “Sure feels like it.” I pinch my nose to keep from puking my guts out.
Seth scans the path. His body is like a weapon made of steel and stone, ready to crush whatever attacks next. Funny enough, being so close to him, the man who murders without conscience, the closest thing to a serial killer, makes me feel safe and protected when it should be raising the hair on the back of my neck.
“Hell,” he says, pulling me along, “is much bigger than this.”
Hold on. I’m confused. “Didn’t you say we’re not in Hell?”
“I did,” he replies. “But technically we are.”
“You lost me.” Not that I have a lot of brain cells left to work with. They were fried sometime between jumping through this portal and wandering the desert by myself.
The conqueror offers me a sweet smile. “Think of it as a globe. Hell is a continent, the Underworld merely one of many countries on it.”
“Wait a second.” I force him to halt. “Are you saying the devil is real?” If that’s the case, I’m officially going to retire any and all attempts at understanding this god stuff. I mean, how can there be an Underworld and a Hell? And how is it possible there’s a devil and a Seth? It just doesn’t make any sense. Like at all.
“The devil?” Seth’s eyes sparkle with mischief. “Well, it very much depends on which devil you’re referring to.”
“There’s more than one?” I half yell, fear chilling my bones.
“Shh.” He looks over his shoulder. “Watch your tone. We wouldn’t want to draw the attention of the wrong creature, would we?”
“Sorry.” The last thing I need is another demon encounter, so I whisper, “Please tell me there isn’t more than one devil.”
“But there is,” he says evenly. “There are thousands of impure souls in Hell. One is standing right in front of you. But I assume, what you truly want to know is, who rules Hell?” I nod. “He’s known my many names, but you know him as Lucifer.”
“The biblical version?”
“Yes and no.”
“Very helpful.”
He smirks. “Let’s say there’s a little truth to any joke.”
I’m done trying to wrap my head around Hell and its odd hierarchy. All I care about is this “country,” aka Underworld, and how I can get out of it as quickly as possible.
“You might not remember our past, Nisha, and maybe you aren’t my Nebt-Het anymore, but you sound a lot like her. She hated not knowing everything.”
I bite my lower lip. “I feel her.”
He smiles, and it’s mesmerizing. “So do I.”
Et voila, I’m blushing like a dumbass. Don’t ask me why my heart is doing somersaults or how I can still breathe, though my breath caught inside my lungs the second the words left his lips. Either way, what I’m experiencing is wrong on a million levels, all of which lead to one conclusion: Seth is my enemy.
We continue down the narrow track, avoiding flames and smoke like they’re rattlesnakes about to strike. Not long after the burning trees are behind us, we reach the edge of a lake.
The Lake of Fire.
It’s easy to make the connection, mostly because the water—a sticky, black substance—is burning bright. “Tar?” I ask.
“Something like that.”
Large black birds—they look like crows, but they’re not—fly over the blazing lake. Well, they try, but it’s as if gravity is constantly trying to pull them back. Their wings are beating continuously against an invisible force, holding them back.
Near the water, the scent of rotten meat and spoiled eggs is a stomach-turning mixture. I will never be able to un-smell this. Never.
“This is—”
“Just the beginning of the Dark Regions,” Seth says, adding fuel to the NASCAR of fear racing through my system.
I draw a much-needed deep breath. “Sounds bad.”
“It’s worse,” he admits as we continue along the shore. “Do me a favor? Be alert. Don’t lose focus.” His eyes grow darker. “Beings inhabiting this part of the Underworld are ruthless and downright evil.”
So, no unicorns in the Dark Regions, huh? “Got it.”
My amulet—the one Seth gave me after past me gave it to him—sears my skin. It emits a faint red glow that gets stronger by the second. “I don’t think this’s normal,” I say.
“May the gods have mercy,” he says, jaw clenched.
I follow his gaze, my mind going blank the instant I spot them. “We’re so dead.”
Them refers to the blazing, rotting corpses. And they are coming toward us, eyes like milk, teeth like those of a shark.
“Listen to me.” Seth spins me around, clawing my arms. “Those things are mindless and hungry. They will kill and devour whatever they get their hands on.”
“Great.” I swallow hard. “I’ve been transported into the middle of a Walking Dead episode.”
“I do not know what you speak of, but they will end you if you don’t fight.”
“Fight?” I scream. “How am I supposed to fight that?” I point at the army, thousands of them marching toward us, mouths agape, teeth gnashing.
“Hey, Nebt-Het was trained by the best warriors. She was better than anyone I’ve ever seen. Better than me and the M—traitor. I know you don’t want to be her anymore. Maybe you still question you ever were. But I need you to toss all that doubt and rationality in the trash and dig deep in your soul for the part of you
that defended your people from armies.” He pauses. “Can you do that?”
“I don’t know.” Blaze’s face flashes across my mind. “But I will try.”
Seth frowns. “I wish I could—”
He never gets to finish this sentence. One of the flaming corpses—his face is half gone, and the remainder of his skin is charcoal leather—is launching himself at me, his yellow, rotten teeth, aiming for my neck.
Seth steps aside. I manage to duck.
In a matter of seconds, I’m surrounded by an army of dead. Each and every one of them is eager to eat me.
“Fight,” Seth yells as they reach for me. “You have to fight.”
Easier said than done when one of them is trying to tear a large piece of flesh off your arm and another is pulling your hair, scalping you.
Seth won’t help you, my inner voice says. It’s time you help yourself. Pick up the sword and slay your dragons, Princess.
The night in the shed returns to me. Blaze, along with everyone else, believed me to be weak. He thought a girl like me, the school’s favorite victim, couldn’t beat him in combat. They all thought me helpless, like the people in that vision did when I fought Blaze, who was really the Medjay. Every single person was certain I’d fail. All except—
“Let her continue,” Seth had said. “She can do this.”
I open my eyes. He’s smiling at me, nodding in encouragement. “You can do this.”
Power surges through me. I took down Blaze. I won’t surrender to an army of blazing corpses.
An unknown force takes over. It’s stronger than what I felt inside Four Seasons Bookstore, moments before it was destroyed by an earthquake I caused. I tap into it, lift my right leg, and kick a corpse halfway to the moon. The creature’s guttural groan scares the birds.
“That’s it,” Seth says, but I no longer require a boost of confidence. I’m practically leaking it from every single pore.
I avoid punches and slavering teeth, deliver precise kicks and fatal blows. Taking my time, I find myself dancing Swan Lake while diminishing my enemies. The strength is like a high I can’t get enough of. A drug I could easily get addicted to.
“Behind you,” Seth warns.
I whirl and see two corpses running at me. I quickly drop to the ground and punch them in their guts so hard, I can feel their testicles.
A bony arm wraps around my throat. I step forward, shift my balance, and toss the skeleton over my shoulder.
I can fight, but can I win? No matter how often I take them down, they keep getting up. Not exactly rocket science, I guess. They are dead. Killing them isn’t much of an option, is it?
“The lake,” Seth shouts. “Throw them in the lake.” Maybe the man of my nightmares can read minds, after all.
I smash my fists into a corpse’s chest and send him flying into the black, sticky water.
The lake is alive, breathing blood into the air. It wraps itself around the corpse, and pulls the detonator.
It explodes.
Chunks of charred skin and rotten meat sprinkle my skin and hair, but now isn’t the time to be disgusted. It’s time to send these unholy things to hell.
One by one, I end the army. When the last one has met his maker, I draw a much-needed breath.
“No!” Seth says. “Behind—”
I turn and see a silver blade driving toward me. Instinctively, I throw my hands up, trying to deflect it, but deep down, I’m aware it’s too late. It’s going to hit hard.
Only it never does.
The amulet glows like the sun. Its fiery light sends my attacker into the lake, ending him instantly.
Seth drops on his knees beside me. “Are you all right?”
“I am.” I gape at the amulet. “Thanks to this.”
He reaches for it, hugging it in his palm. “It’s special.”
“I made it for you.” Our eyes lock. “To protect you from all evil.”
He searches my face. “You remember that?”
I nod but give him no details, not ready to reveal what I saw in the desert.
“You thought I was going to die, that I wouldn’t come back to you. But I did, and this kept me sane when I was on the brink of losing my mind.” He drops the amulet, the warm metal gently resting against my skin. “I held on to it even when—” His eyes grow cold and scary.
I can’t understand why I reach for his cheek, why I want to assure him he isn’t alone.
He jerks back, the sudden movement startling me. At first, I think he’s rejecting my touch, but then I see it.
He pulls me to my feet, and we run as if a damn hurricane is bearing down on us. Because that’s exactly what’s happening.
We reach a massive, black iron gate. We drive our shoulders into it, opening the gate, and stumble through.
Down the Rabbit Hole
Chapter 37
Blaze
Darkness.
We fall into black nothingness.
Outer Darkness
Chapter 38
Nisha
Seth is rushing like the devil is treading on our heels, but what’s chasing us is a hurricane, eager to tear us apart.
Once we pass through the eerie black gate, the spiraling winds are gone. Soon, we learn we merely exchanged one enemy for another.
Darkness, so thick we can’t see a foot ahead.
Lightning slices through the charcoal sky, blazing shocks of red forking to the ground. The intermittent flashes illuminate our path but not much of our surroundings. For once, I welcome ignorance of the unknown.
Seth laces his fingers through mine. “Hurry. We’ve got to get to the Chamber of Fear before—”
Something hisses behind us.
Dear Lord, not another monster snake.
My prayer is answered. If only I had worded it more carefully. It’s not a monster snake I see when a fireball comes flying at my feet, barely missing me. It’s a fire-spiting monster snake.
I think Seth screams something, but I can’t be sure, mostly because the snake—red and black, with a touch of dragon—slithers over the rocky ground toward me, its mouth open.
“What in the name of the Almighty are you waiting for?” Unlike me, Seth isn’t frozen. He runs, and I quickly follow.
We flee as fast as possible, evading the snake’s attacks. My lungs burn. My feet are numb. I struggle to keep up with the conqueror.
We run for miles, never stopping, never catching a breath.
Suddenly, I hear no more hissing, no more slithering, and risk a glance over my shoulder. The fire-spitting devil snake isn’t coming after us anymore. It stays still, its glowing red eyes looking us over. A moment later, it slithers back to where it came from.
Don’t you think that’s weird? my inner voice asks.
It may be, but the Underworld is a breeding ground for weird. One minute something wants to eat you, and the next it simply vanishes.
Gasping for air, I lean against a dead, charred tree.
“What are you doing?” Seth says.
“I need a minute,” I choke out, hands on my knees.
“Have you gone mad?” He cups my elbow. “We can’t rest. Not here, not now.”
We’re surrounded by darkness. I can’t tell what’s making the Lord of the Underworld so jumpy. What I do know is I could use new feet, a new pair of lungs, and while we’re at it, how about a lot more stamina?
“You don’t understand, do you? Maybe this will help.” He turns me around. A second later, lightning flashes. This one is so bright, it reveals, mere feet away, dead, rotting humans walking upside down. Yes, on their heads. I’m aware this is physically impossible. Damn, I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. But I do see it. Half-severed legs dangle above them. Some have their hands tied around stakes behind their backs. Others are feasting on their own excrement.
I swallow the bile rising up my gullet. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“No you won’t. You will straighten your spine and move on. L
ook straight ahead. Never look back.” Our gazes lock. “Do you hear me? You will get through this and slay your demons.” He puts his hands on my shoulders. “Are we clear?”
I blink my fear away. “Yes.”
“Good.” He smiles. “Now go, and don’t stop for anyone!”
Lightning strikes more frequently, illuminating the gross scenery. I long for blackness. Wishes, though, right?
We run past severed heads and limbs. Past men with knives, skinning people alive. Past sorcerers performing wicked spells, separating souls from bodies as if they were a Kit Kat that could be broken in two.
We run until we can run no more. We face an ocean of rotting corpses, lying in their own shit, gazing at the dark sky, and crying, “Ra! Help us.”
The dead have no shadows. No souls. Their only drive is a hunger that forces them to eat their fellow men, their own damn excrement.
Demons—half human, half animal—torture them. It’s so vicious and gruesome, even the torturers cry in agony as they unleash their punishment on those poor bastards.
Jesus Christ. Hell doesn’t quite cut it. No word in my world could describe such horrors.
“We have to cross the Field of Torment to get to the Chamber of Fear,” Seth explains, clearly as happy about it as I am.
Crossing this field means going through blood and gore, zombies of the worst kind, and demons with knives all too eager to use them to add to their flesh collection.
“Let’s do it.” I sound confident only because the other option would be to dig a hole and disappear inside it.
He squeezes my hand. “On three?” I nod. “One—”
“Three,” I yell. No one ever pulls the Band-Aid off on three. That’s an unwritten law.
The sound of teeth on teeth echoes through the darkness. Corpses grab for us. Knives try to pierce us. But Seth and I are in sync, pirouetting around our attackers like Russian ballet dancers—with precision, talent, and experience.
When we jump over the last corpse, who’s trying to snag my ankle, I spy a black door. It just stands there—no walls or frame—in the middle of nowhere, as if it belongs there.
Book of the Dead (Gods of Egypt 2) Page 20