by Tara Fuller
We walked a few more blocks, the city air so humid I felt like I was suffocating. Despite my skin feeling like ice, sweat caused my dress shirt to stick to my frame. Noah stopped in front of an old abandoned warehouse. Windows were shattered and spiderwebs clung to the dusty brick.
“What are we doing here?”
Noah turned to face me, the look on his face deadly serious. “Do you know what happens to the souls that reapers take?”
I shrugged. From what Anaya had explained, there were several ways a soul could go.
“Some go to Heaven. Some go to Hell.” He glanced back at the rotting building behind him and pressed his lips together. “But these kinds of souls. The escaped. The banished. They don’t even get those options.”
“Wait…” A streak of blue light zipped past one of the broken windows. “There are souls in there?”
Noah nodded solemnly. “Yes. And do you know what happens to them after the decay sets in? After they have wandered this place long enough for the darkness to take hold?”
A hiss drew our attention to the crumbling brick wall at the top of the steps. A shadow, dark as oil, slithered into a corner where it was met with three more just like it.
“Them,” Noah said, motioning to the shadow. “That’s what they turn into. I can save them from that. Take them to a place where they will never have to watch the darkness eat away at everything they once were. A place where they will never have to live in fear of becoming just another eternally hungry monster. Where I take them, they will never wander lost or alone. They will never become a shadow demon. I can give them peace.”
Shadows had begun to gather around the base of the building. Drawn in by Noah and me or the buffet of souls inside, I wasn’t sure. I did know that whatever Noah’s intentions were with me, he needed to get those souls out of there unless they wanted to become dinner for some sick shadow demon.
“There are your choices, Cash,” he went on. “You can help me give souls the peace they deserve, or you can aid in delivering them into an eternity of torment. That is if they even decide to keep you around for that. For all I know, your other option may very well be eternal death.”
I nodded, feeling numb and confused. I didn’t know what to think. Who to trust. I just knew in that moment, I wanted whatever option got those souls out of here before it was too late.
“Just think of how many we could help if we worked together,” he said.
“What do we do?” I stumbled back a few steps as the shadows closed in tighter. Knowing they could hurt me was enough to kick my fear up a notch. Noah didn’t budge, allowing them to surround him like a second skin. He glanced up to one of the windows where a set of luminescent eyes peered out at us before disappearing back into the dark.
“I’m going to take care of them,” he said. “And you’re going back home. You’re not ready for this yet.”
“But—”
Noah clamped his hand over my shoulder again and the words got caught like peanut butter stuck to the insides of my mouth. The ground vibrated under my feet and the world around me began to blur. Noah smiled at me and winked.
“No worries, friend,” he said, sounding distorted and muffled. “I’ll see you soon.”
Darkness engulfed me in an instant and then the slap of cold tile exploded against my cheek. I opened my eyes, feeling like I’d gone ten rounds with a heavyweight and the heavyweight had won. Bile rose up my throat and I scrambled for the toilet to choke up the pills I’d swallowed earlier. When I collapsed back onto the floor, unable to move, my thoughts slowly came back in pieces. A few blue pills lay the in the coffee-colored grooves of the bathroom tile near the toilet. The bathroom. I was back in Emma’s bathroom. I didn’t have much time to contemplate what any of it meant, because by the time I took my next breath, a thick hazy darkness was pulling me back under again.
Chapter 14
Anaya
I couldn’t believe I was about to do this—cross over to the one place I’d vowed never to go. Hell was only a fall away, and fear swam inside my chest at the thought that I might not make it back. But I had to go. I needed answers. I had to do this for Cash.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
I let my gaze drop to the puddle of swirling screams that opened up in front of us, then looked back up to Easton. He looked worried. Like I should have been. The underworld wasn’t a place for someone like me. To them I’d be a shiny new toy. Or even worse, dessert. I pushed the thoughts away.
“Yes,” I said. “I need to see what I’m dealing with.”
Easton hesitated, as if he were waiting for me to change my mind. I shut my eyes, still able to feel Cash’s face buried in the hollow of my neck. His breath against my lips. If Balthazar wasn’t going to give me answers, I’d go after them myself. I refused to deliver Cash into his hands not knowing what he would be used for.
I grabbed Easton by the hand and stepped up to the gateway to the underworld. He squeezed my fingers in his. They felt impossibly hot.
“You don’t have to do this,” he whispered one last time. “It’s not too late to let him go.”
“Just don’t let me go,” I said. Easton linked his arm through mine to get a better hold.
“I won’t.” Easton stepped forward, pulling me with him, and the world fell out from underneath us.
I was swallowed by screams. Awful, gut-wrenching screams that rattled my insides. The blackness was so dark it ate up my light, so I squeezed my eyes shut. Easton’s arm remained twined with mine. He tightened his hold a little when he realized I was trembling, and suddenly heat exploded beneath me.
“Anaya,” he said, shaking me. “We’re here.”
I opened my eyes and realized there was solid ground beneath my feet. Letting my arm fall away from his, I tested the rocks. They weren’t very sturdy, toppling and tumbling around under the soles of my sandals. I tried to focus and change back into elemental form but nothing happened. I was solid. Easton must have seen the terror in my eyes.
“You can’t do that here,” he said. “Once you cross into this place, you’re flesh.”
“Why?”
Easton raised a brow. “Do you really have to ask?”
No, I didn’t. This was a place fueled by torture. It would be a little hard to torture a soul in elemental form. I shuddered at the thought.
Easton strode forward and I followed, overwhelmed by the smell of ash and sulfur and Almighty only knows what else. Dark gray clouds that looked more like smoke than part of the sky rumbled with thunder overhead, but no rain fell. Easton stopped at the edge of a stony cliff. Rocks crumbled where the toes of his boots pressed against the ledge.
“That’s it,” he said and pointed ahead. “Umbria. Shadow demon central.”
I placed my hand over my mouth to hold in the sound. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Unlike anything I’d ever wanted to see. Black frothy waves battered the cliff side. Enormous, hollow stones carved into skulls lined the places where the cliffs met the sea. And then there were the shadow demons. Everywhere. Scouring the cliffs. Diving into the sea only to emerge searing in flames. Screaming and writhing in agony as they scrambled up onto the thick ice around the base of each skull. I flinched when a swarm of crimson-colored butterflies fluttered between Easton and me before disappearing into one of the skull-eye caverns. I touched my shoulder where one of their wings had brushed my skin. Blood.
“Blooderflies.” Easton grinned.
I gaped. “You find this funny?”
He shrugged. “You become numb to it all after a while.”
I shook my head and wrapped my arms around myself. A bitter-tasting wind that burned my skin whipped my braids into my face.
“This must be Hell,” I whispered.
Easton laughed. “This?” He folded his arms across his chest and looked out over the sea. “No. This is paradise compared to what’s past those gates.”
“Gates?”
Easton clasped his hand over my shoulder an
d turned me around. A mountain towered over the barren land of stone and ash. At the base were two blazing gates of fire. They stood open as a steady stream of souls marched in between them, each disappearing into the black billowing smoke inside. There were so many. My heart ached for each of them. They’d never know peace. All that awaited them was pain. I wrapped my arms around my waist. The wind carried screams and moans that swirled around me, tugging me toward the flames.
Easton’s attention was elsewhere. He pointed to a boy standing at the edge of the cliff a few yards down from us.
“I’ve been doing some digging,” Easton said. “There are only a few in existence. Balthazar has one of them. Your human will be another. And him.”
“A shadow walker?” I breathed, staring at the boy on the cliff, whose blond hair blew in the heated breeze.
He pressed his lips into a tight line and nodded. “Balthazar never got his hands on that one. He never even had a chance. I’m not sure how, but the shadow demons caught him early.”
I looked at the shadow walker. The turned-up collar of his gray coat framed a face made of angry angles and a furrowed brow. A group of at least ten screaming souls trailed behind him. He gripped the wrist of a girl, shimmering and brilliant against the darkness, and pulled her away from the rest. Her red hair looked like a flame waiting to be snuffed out. She wailed and tried to jerk away, but he held on to her as if it were as easy as breathing. He stared down into the waves where shadow demons crawled up the cliff. Across the water they began to melt out of the gaping eyes and nostrils of the skull caverns, moaning, screaming, hissing with the need to feed.
I stepped forward and reached for my scythe. Easton squeezed my shoulder to stop me.
“Don’t,” he said. “We’re not here for that.”
“We’re just supposed to stand by and watch while that innocent soul is fed to the scum of the underworld?”
“Yes.” Easton slid me a sideways glance. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do. Do you honestly think we could take on all of them?”
My gaze drifted beyond Easton to the shadow demons clambering up the cliff. There were thousands. They looked like a single entity, moving as one, all with the same goal in mind. Feed. I flinched when the blond boy shoved the girl over the cliff edge and released her wrist. She flailed for a heart-stopping moment, her pretty blue dress plastered against her like a second skin as the wind enveloped her. The shimmer around her exploded with panic as she disappeared into a sea of writhing black shadows, her screams blotted out by the hungry hisses and growls. The boy jumped out of the way as shadows clawed their way over the edge and pulled the wailing souls in one by one. The shadow walker watched for a moment, as if to make sure the deed was done, then turned to walk away. He stopped and met my gaze, his eyes cold and gray. Deluded by madness. He grimaced and looked to the sky.
“Stop!” I shouted taking a step forward, reaching out. Pleading. “You don’t have to do this.”
He hesitated, only for a moment, then whirled, his long gray coat spinning out around him, and disappeared.
My hands were shaking. My legs felt weak. I stumbled back and Easton’s warm chest stopped me. His hands settled on my shoulders.
“Why?” I whispered. “Why would anyone agree to do that?”
“They got their claws in him before he knew any better. Now it’s him or them. Feed or be eaten,” he said. “What do you think Cash will choose?”
I shook my head, feeling sick inside. Sick and helpless and cornered.
“Balthazar will be using him, too, you know?” Easton offered. “Maybe not to this extent, but that kid is never going to have the peace you want him to have.”
Peace didn’t seem to matter in that moment. I couldn’t let this be an option. Yes, Balthazar would use him. But it had to be better than this. Anything had to be better than this.
I shook off Easton’s hold on me and stared up into the sky. Drops of fire began to fall like rain from the billowing gray clouds above. Somewhere in the distance screams created a staccato rhythm that rang of pain and death. I closed my eyes, unable to look at this place another second.
“I’m going to make sure he doesn’t have that choice.”
Chapter 15
Cash
The guest bedroom of Emma’s house was suffocating. Unfamiliar. The shadow demon perched on the end of the bed wasn’t helping matters. At least it wasn’t touching me. As long as it was just the one and it wasn’t making a move, I could think. The only problem was, I wasn’t sure I wanted to think.
I glanced out the window, at the starlight and steady glow of the moon filtering through the parted blinds. Vertical lines of twilight painted stripes across the green comforter. I couldn’t help but wonder where Anaya was. Heaven? Hell? I sort of felt like I was both places when I was with her. Maybe she didn’t know what I was. What happened when she found out? I let my gaze drift to the shadow demon sitting in the dark, a twisted gargoyle with holes for eyes. Its black mouth opened into what I could only guess was its version of a grin. It made me sick.
“Who did you used to be?” I said, searching for something, anything human left inside of the thing. I twisted the comforter in my fist and glanced around the otherwise empty room. “Your friends call in sick?”
It just stared at me, unmoving.
“What do you want?” I groaned, letting my head plop back onto the pillow.
“Youuuuu,” it hissed into the dark.
I sat up on my elbows and watched it twitch and jerk beneath its oil-black skin. Hell to the no. Sleep was not happening tonight. I climbed out of bed and a breathed a sigh of relief when the thing didn’t follow. It just watched me as I closed the door and padded silently down the hall to Em’s room.
I stood outside her door for a minute. It wasn’t her old room—the one I’d grown up in that always smelled like cinnamon and flowers—but it was her. And Emma was home, despite everything else happening. And I was so homesick, I could barely breathe. I twisted the knob and slipped into the dark, shutting the door behind me. Her mom waking up and finding me in here was the last thing I needed.
“Em,” I whispered and stopped when a deeper voice cursed under his breath and the bedside lamp switched on. The room exploded with muted light. Emma sat up and pushed a mop of tousled blond hair out of her face and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
“Cash?”
“Finn?” I said, feeling my brows hike up an inch or two.
Finn stood next to the bed in his navy-blue boxers. I followed his gaze down to my black boxers. When I looked back up, he was shoving his legs into a pair of worn-out jeans. At least I was wearing a shirt. The lack of sleep must have been getting to me because it took me a minute to react. I finally held up my hands and laughed.
“Hey, I can leave,” I said, placing my hand on the doorknob.
Emma rolled her eyes and sat back against her headboard. “It’s not like that. We weren’t—”
Finn raised a brow at her that kept the rest of the words in her mouth.
She turned eight shades of red and looked away. “We weren’t doing anything. Finn can’t sleep at—”
“Emma,” Finn cut her off. She looked up at him, surprised, and he just shook his head. Now that I looked at him, I could see the damage that lack of sleep had left behind. The bruised look under his green eyes. The lines worn into his face. So Finn wasn’t sleeping, either. I wondered what could possibly keep Death himself up at night.
Emma sighed and looked back to me, her sleepy blue eyes softening in a way I didn’t deserve. Not after the way I’d been to her lately.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
Yes. Everything. Instead of telling her the truth I just said, “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Join the club,” Finn grumbled. He leaned over pressed a soft kiss to Emma’s mouth. I couldn’t watch it. It felt…wrong. I guess I always wanted her to find someone, but I never really thought it would happen. Emma was always so hell-bent on being alone.
I still didn’t know how to feel about this. How to accept it. How to share her with someone else.
“Think I can use the bathroom without waking the warden up?” I had a feeling he didn’t really have to go, but I nodded.
“Use the one by my room so they think it’s me,” I offered.
“Just don’t get caught.” Em waved him off with a grin. “I’ll be grounded for eternity if mom finds out about our slumber parties.”
I nodded my thanks and Finn slipped out of the room.
Emma flung the right side of the covers open. “If you’re gonna wake me up and chase my boyfriend off, then you’re at least going to come talk to me,” she mumbled into her pillow. I crawled in beside her and bunched the spare pillow up under my head so I could look at her. Dr. Farber was wrong about a lot of things, but he was right about this. I had alienated one of the most important people in my life. And I didn’t want to lose Emma. Not before I had to.
“So?” she said through a yawn.
“I’m sorry.”
Emma grinned and flipped a lock of hair off of my forehead. “I know. You couldn’t have told me that tomorrow?”
“There’s…” I swallowed. “One of those things in my room.” I closed my eyes and breathed in a scent that didn’t belong to Emma. That scent belonged to Finn. One more thing telling me that this wasn’t where I belonged anymore. But I knew that before I came in here, didn’t I? No matter what Noah said, the only place I felt like I belonged anymore was with Anaya. She could push me away all she wanted, but when she looked in my eyes, I could see it. She felt it, too.
“Did it follow you?” Her gaze flicked to the edge of the room and I shook my head. She relaxed into her pillow. “Good. You can sleep in here if you want to.”
“No way. Your bed smells like a dude,” I said.
She laughed that sleepy laugh that reminded me of when we were kids camping out in the backyard, hopped up on marshmallows and chocolate.
“How many times have I had to endure the various god-awful perfumes left behind in your room? Payback’s hell, isn’t it?”