Into the Abyss

by Brenda K. Davies

  They didn’t care about anyone beyond the jinn, but they loved each other.

  “Come, Vya, Eron, we’ll start the search for Amalia. If we find her first, we’ll bring her back to Absenthees and keep her safe,” another jinni said.

  I shifted to flatten my back against the wall as the rest of the jinn departed down a pathway I hadn’t seen before, but they must have taken it to get here. I remained where I was, the cloaking spell in place as I tried to understand what I’d witnessed and what it meant for us.

  • • •

  Amalia

  Magnus had been unusually subdued since we left the place where we encountered the jinn, but then, I didn’t know what to say or do either.

  Since we’d seen the jinn, I was certain they would be waiting for us around every turn we made. I loved my family and the jinn, but I couldn’t stand by while they killed so many innocents, and I would not allow them to attack Magnus.

  I was also exhausted and disheartened by the amount of lightning striking the monolith. Were the bolts all lives, or did some of them mean something more?

  I felt a blast of energy from each of them, but I held out hope they might mean something more than the death of someone. Maybe I was delusional, but right now, I was okay with delusional.

  Trudging behind Magnus, I contemplated what I’d done by choosing me and leaving with him. My parents still loved me, I knew the other jinn did too, and they would accept me back again, but I’d taken my first step into severing myself from them and going to live with the Faulted.

  And it was a step I had to take. If I stayed with them, they would tear me apart. Not on purpose, they would never do that, but as upsetting as it was, I did belong with the other Faulted more than them.

  And I couldn’t deny a part of me did it because I wanted to stay with Magnus and make sure he made it out of this place alive.

  What did that mean? And why must one more complicated thing be heaped onto this entire mess? Why couldn’t it all be simple?

  Like it was behind the seal? Because that was about as simple as it got.

  I didn’t want seal simple again, but just yesterday or maybe the day before—I didn’t know how much time had passed since we entered the Abyss—my life was straightforward. I woke up, explored Earth, stayed away from anything the jinn might be trying to trap in the Abyss, avoided the craetons, and waited to age into my immortality. Sure, I had some problems, but they weren’t this big or confusing.

  Welcome to life, Amalia, something you wouldn’t have had behind the seal, not really.

  And that was true. I would have stayed alive and unbothered behind the seal, but I never would have gotten the chance to live and experience anything beyond that small world.

  “How did they know where we were?” Magnus suddenly inquired.

  I frowned at his back as I puzzled his words. He didn’t turn to look at me while he strode onward. “Maybe they just lucked on us.”

  “No. Maybe one or two of them would have lucked on us, but not all of them. They wouldn’t all leave the monolith at once.”

  “We’re just assuming that’s where they all are.”

  Magnus tilted his head back to gaze at the distant, foreboding structure. “That’s where they are.”

  “Yeah, it is,” I agreed, feeling the truth of that in my bones.

  “So then how did they know where we were?”

  “I don’t know.” My eyes narrowed on his back. “I didn’t somehow tell them, if that’s what you’re trying to insinuate.”

  He glanced at me over his shoulder. “It’s not, and I didn’t say you did, but if they have some way of locating us in this place, we’re in danger.”

  “I think they would have found us sooner if that were the case.”

  “Maybe they can only find us at certain times, like when one of the wishes is unfolding.”

  “But we’ve encountered others going through something like Dana was, and the jinn never found us then.”

  “I know,” Magnus murmured. “That’s what makes it more confusing.”

  I didn’t know how to respond, and I had no answers for his question. How did they find us?

  Turning another corner, I clasped Magnus’s hand to draw his attention to me when the distant, familiar scent of water caught my attention. Tingles of awareness raced across my flesh when we connected.

  I almost lifted his hand to rub his fingers over my breast when lust like I’d never experienced before rocked me. His gaze fell to my lips before he looked away from me.

  Keep it together, Amalia. Remember where you are.

  “This way,” I forced myself to say.

  I made myself release his hand and turn away from him. Hurrying down a side path, I zigged in and out of rocks sharp enough to take out an eye. The scent of water grew stronger until I stepped into a circular clearing.

  “Oh,” I breathed as I took in the beautiful sight.

  A few hundred feet over my head, from the top of one wall, a waterfall crashed and tumbled over the rocks before spilling into a pool. The water in the pool looked dark because of the stones surrounding it, but the spray coming from the waterfall was clear.

  A small bubble of hope replaced the heavy weight of despair weighing me down as I realized even in the midst of this stark landscape, there was still some beauty to be found. Tears pricked my eyes; I ducked my head before Magnus could see them.

  “Come,” he said and clasped my hand.

  “Where are we going?”

  If he answered me, I didn’t hear it over the thunderous crash of the waterfall as he led me closer to it. Water sprayed my cheeks and dampened my clothes when Magnus pulled me into an alcove behind the waterfall. A good five feet of space separated the wall from the waterfall, but the place had a cozy, safe feeling to it. It was almost as if we’d entered a private world here.

  Magnus examined the rock wall before releasing my hand and pointing up. I followed his gaze to what looked like an opening in the stony face about fifty feet overhead. Before I could say or do anything, he grasped a rock, lifted himself, and scaled the distance in seconds. He disappeared into the opening before coming back and descending to join me again.

  Leaning close, he pressed his lips to my ear as he spoke. “There’s something you should see.”

  I frowned at him, but I wasn’t willing to try yelling over the waterfall to question him. Nodding, I stepped away from him, and he gestured for me to climb ahead of him.

  When I shook my head, he returned his lips to my ear again. “In case you fall, I will be behind you to stop you from hitting the ground.”

  I couldn’t argue with that as breaking bones in here could prove disastrous for continuing. Turning, I gripped a pointed stone and pulled myself off the ground. I could levitate up, but I’d never climbed before and wanted to try it. My hands found grips to lift me higher, and my feet settled on the stones beneath me. When I glanced down, my head spun a little, but the height and the experience thrilled me.

  Before I knew it, I was pulling myself up and into the opening. Rising, I ran my hands over the front of my dirt-streaked dress while I lifted my head to take in my surroundings. My hands froze as I understood what it was Magnus wanted me to see.

  CHAPTER 21

  Amalia

  Not much light filtered past the waterfall, but it was enough to reveal the stones lining the walls, ceiling, and floor in here were far different than the ones throughout the rest of the Abyss. I pressed tremulous fingers against a pink stone before resting my other hand over a yellow one.

  I rubbed the rocks with my fingers to see if the color would come off or if maybe they were an illusion, but they remained solid and the colors bright. This beauty didn’t fit into this world of despair, but somehow, it did. None of it made sense, yet somehow it all made sense.

  Confused and feeling a little disoriented, I pulled my hands away and strolled further inside. The rushing water quieted the deeper I traveled until the alcove dead-ended after a hundred f
eet. Turning, I made my way back toward the front as Magnus’s fingers curved over the entrance to the cave, and he hefted himself inside. He glanced behind him before coming to join me in the secluded space.

  “We’ll rest here for a bit,” he said.

  “We have to find the others,” I protested.

  “And we will, but you need a break.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “The dark circles under your eyes say otherwise. We have no idea how much time we’ve spent in the Abyss, and you’re exhausted.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. You won’t do anyone any good if you’re too exhausted to go on.”

  He had a point. I was also hungry, but I didn’t tell him that. I hadn’t seen any wraiths in the Abyss, and we couldn’t waste the time it would take to return to Earth and feed. I wasn’t so famished that it couldn’t wait.

  Leaning against the rock wall, I slid down until I settled on the pretty rocks that were as out of place in this land as the grassy field. Lifting his hand, Magnus rested his fingertips against the ceiling and stretched his back as he studied the entrance. His posture remained casual, but he couldn’t hide his tension from me.

  I couldn’t help but admire him as he moved. I desired this man, but I was also beginning to realize, I liked him too. Maybe not in the beginning, but the more I got to know him, the more I admired his strength, determination, and loyalty to his friends. He’d stepped into the Abyss fully distrusting me and believing he was putting his life in the hands of an enemy, yet he still did it. There weren’t many who could claim they would do the same.

  He’d also sought to protect me by placing himself in between Olgon and me when he had to know Olgon would be more likely to go for him than me.

  When he turned back to me, I glanced away and focused on the rocks again. “These rocks, that field…”

  “What about them?” he asked when my voice trailed off.

  “They don’t fit here.”

  “No, they don’t.”

  “But somehow, they do fit. Does that make sense?”

  Magnus’s gaze ran over the walls before settling on me. “No, but you feel things more deeply than me, and you are tied to this land.”

  “I am,” I muttered not overly thrilled by the prospect. The grass, these rocks, and the waterfall were beautiful. The rest of this place made me itch to scrub the skin from my body.

  Resting my cheek on my knee, I gazed at the rocks as I tried to puzzle out their presence here. Sleep tugged at my eyelids, I resisted giving in to it, but I wasn’t sure I could stay awake for much longer.

  “What is Absenthees?” Magnus inquired.

  “Huh?” I asked and lifted my head to blink at him.

  “The jinn with your parents, they said they would find you and bring you back to Absenthees. What is that?”

  “I don’t know,” I said and stifled a yawn. “That’s the first I’ve ever heard of it.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve been wondering about something since we escaped the jinn. The jinn are called forth by desire—”

  “A very strong desire. It’s not a simple one but one so deep it’s all-consuming.”

  “And when the jinn finds this yearning creature, they get them to make a wish and ensnare them.”

  “Yes.”

  “So how were they able to draw everyone in camp into the Abyss if only one person or demon made a wish?”

  “The wisher must have worded it in such a way that their wish included more than themselves in it. A group wish can draw more than one into the Abyss,” I said.

  “So, if someone said something like, I wish everyone in the camp was anywhere but here, it would affect everyone?”

  “Yes.”

  He raised his other hand until they both rested against the ceiling. The short sleeves of his brown shirt fell back to expose the muscles in his biceps as well as his forearms. When he leaned toward me, a lock of platinum hair fell forward to curl at the corner of his eye. I suddenly wasn’t so tired as my fingers itched to brush that lock aside.

  “And this group wish would work to affect them all even if the wisher didn’t specifically name the people or demons they wanted to be involved in it?” he asked. “Because I sincerely doubt the wisher named every single victim caught in here.”

  “I doubt that too.”

  “Are there enough jinn to pull off something like that, and are they strong enough to do so? They took a lot of palitons in what had to be a short amount of time as most of the victims were close to each other.”

  My fingers dug into my legs as my mind spun. “Well… no,” I realized. “Everything has been so go, go, go, that I never stopped to think about it before, or since entering here, but they aren’t strong enough to pull off a group wish of this magnitude. The jinn usually have to deal with their victims one-on-one, some can handle two at a time, but there are only forty non-Faulted jinn—the Faulted would have nothing to do with this!” I yelled as I sat up straighter and leveled him with a stare that dared him to disagree with me.

  “I believe you, continue.”

  Taking a deep breath, I drummed my fingers on my shins. “There are forty jinn compared to how many from your camp?”

  “There were a hundred twenty-five of us, one hundred twenty-one entered here.”

  “So many trapped souls,” I murmured. “One jinni could bring one or two victims here, then wait until they were stronger before returning to Earth for another, but it would take time for them to gather so many.”

  “Someone would have noticed something before all of them were put under.”

  “Yes, they would. Even with a group wish, that’s too many people and demons for the jinn to get all of them here without some help.”

  “What kind of help?”

  “If those affected were somehow more susceptible to the jinn’s form of mind control, then the jinn could get into their minds easier and wouldn’t tire themselves out as fast. But, I have no idea what would make them all susceptible to that kind of mind manipulation, and there would still have to be a group wish.”

  I could practically see the wheels spinning in his mind as he tried to figure this out. “More susceptible how?”

  “Well, like if they did all yearn for the same thing as the group wisher, and the wisher worded their desire in such a way as to include more than themselves in the wish. Then the jinn might be able to get into the minds of the others more easily too.”

  “What do you think the odds are of everyone involved in this all wanting the same thing?”

  “Zero.”

  “I agree. What if the others involved didn’t want the same thing as the wisher, yet they’re still here?”

  I rubbed my forehead as I tried to think of other ways the jinn could have manipulated so many with such ease. “The group wish could have taken out some of them, and the rest could have each made their own wish, but I’m sure someone would have noticed something before that could happen.”

  “So am I. Is there any other way?”

  “If they were unconscious and more vulnerable to manipulation, then the jinn could get into their minds easier if there was a group wish. But they’d have to be deep under, and I’m assuming not everyone at the camp would be asleep at the same time.”

  “No, they definitely wouldn’t be. It was the middle of the day, and we always have lookouts posted to keep watch for any threat.”

  “And it would have to be a deep sleep.”

  He stared at me for a minute before his eyes widened and a wave of fury washed off him. I braced myself as I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever realization he’d just arrived at.

  “Sloth,” he hissed.

  “What?” I asked in confusion.

  “Sloth. The horseman. He could have left something or things near the camp that, when touched, put the toucher to sleep. Greed did something similar to us not too long ago. Or Sloth could have gotten close enough to the camp to put so
me to sleep while the jinn used their powers to trap the rest.”

  I’d never understood the saying “my blood ran cold” until it felt like my heart pumped chunks of ice through my veins. A horseman? The jinn had worked with a horseman to do this!

  It was so much worse than I’d expected.

  “The jinn might not be able to get into the minds of everyone the wish included, not normally, but if they were already in an unnatural slumber, they would have an easier time slipping into their minds,” I said. “But if Sloth is involved, why didn’t they kill everyone once they were asleep or in the Abyss? Their bodies were about as vulnerable as it gets.”

  “Because I’d bet that to get the jinn to join them, the horsemen and Astaroth promised the jinn lots of toys. You yourself said the jinn don’t do well following orders or obeying anyone outside themselves. Do you think their hate for Kobal is strong enough for them to play second-fiddle to Astaroth if it got them the number of victims they have now? Especially if all those victims followed Kobal.”

  I bit my lip to withhold the tears welling in my eyes. Now was not the time to cry, but as the true depth of how entwined the jinn were with the craetons came to light, I felt hollow inside. I’d picked up on their anger over being imprisoned, but I hadn’t expected for them to do this.

  “Before today, no; but now, yes,” I admitted. “What an awful mess.”

  “I have to go back and alert the others that there’s probably a horseman involved in this.”

  Biting back a groan, I rose and walked over to him. “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Magnus

  When we returned to the cave, I was relieved and dismayed to find three more humans awake and five dead bodies. Caim and Raphael were lifting two of the dead to take them deeper into the cave when we emerged from the Abyss. These five must have died right on top of each other if their bodies remained here.

  One of the dead was Halstar, our newest telepathic demon and our communication link with Kobal. We’d have to send someone back for another telecommunication demon soon, most likely Raphael again, but it would have to wait until we resolved this mess.