32

G E O R G I E

✿

I was floating in nothingness, couldn't breathe, see nothing, feel nothing. Then, less than a split second later, I hit a hard, uneven surface.

I moaned softly. Then I pushed myself unsteadily off the ground. It was dark. Pitch black. I blinked, waiting for my night vision to turn on while breaking out in a cold sweat.

No panic. Don't panic. I reassured myself, but that was easier said than done. My pulse was racing, blood was pounding in my ears. I looked around as small pebbles dug into my palm. I was in a covered walkway. A deep cap ceiling, torches extinguished. Not a soul was here.

I scrambled to my feet, and the portal travel must have thrown my balance because I stumbled and caught the wall at the last moment.

Something sharp pressed against my skin. I slowly took my hand off the wall and took a closer look at it as I cried out like a spit.

This was no ordinary wall. Neither brick nor concrete. It was a wall of bones. human bones. And the pointy thing that pricked my skin was a skull tooth.

I ran. My boots hit the ground. The bony wall stretched the entire corridor. Then I turned, through a large arch and entered an underground, spacious vaulted complex. My steps faltered as I parried the individual indented niches containing burial mounds carved into the wall. I knew what that place was.

Catacombs.

I was in an ossuary, an underground burial chamber carved into rock. I turned on my own axis. I didn't know where I was or how to get out of here. How I found my way back Fear tightened my throat.

I walked down the dark corridor. Think about it. Think about it Georgie. I didn't have the crystal with me, so calling a portal was out of the question.

Georgie, this way! We are heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The shadow voices echoed through my head as a large, round mirror appeared on the floor in front of me, in the middle of the aisle. Curiosity grabbed me and I stepped closer. It wasn't a mirror, it looked more like the frozen surface of a lake.

I knelt down, my dark hair falling around my face like a curtain, and my reflection stared back at me. I reached out my hand, wanting to touch the smooth surface. The shadows were already appearing.

Let's out. Out! We will also fulfill your deepest wish.

Yes / Yes! What do youuuuuu want?

Tell us, tell us!

I flinched. The Shadowen danced beneath the surface. The disc separated us, but I still heard their voices in my head.

He comes, oh he coooooooommt!

The shadows darted around, faster and faster. "Who?" I bent lower over the mirror. "Who comes?"

They didn't tell me. Just laughed cynically. Then I heard several footsteps. A torchlight illuminated the junction at the end of the corridor. I jumped up abruptly, ran back down the wide main corridor and quickly turned into one of the alcoves. I squeezed my eyes shut, pressed against the patchy bone wall, and held my breath. The round heads of the skulls pressed into my back. Pitte, oh please moon goddess, don't let her find me. Whoever was here. Wherever I was right now.

“I said you should bring me the girl! What's wrong with that?” a deep, rumbling voice echoed through the branching tombs.

“The pack is too strong. I will not again send my people into the territory of the King of Semeera that has a Lycan on their side. We will wait until an opportunity presents itself. That's our strategy, that's the way we always do it.”

I carefully peeked through the small gaps between the skulls. Two men walked down the spacious vaulted complex. One wore a long, dark blue seal with a hood covering his face, while the other man was dressed all in black with a silver mask in his hand.

“You serve me, you will do as I say. Or have you forgotten how many coins I promised you? I want the girl!” the hooded man snapped, almost waving the torch in the other man's face.

This seal. That impulsive temper. My black workout clothes suddenly felt too tight as I looked at Hades.

“We won't attack them in Semera.” His face didn't move a muscle, though the fire must have nearly burned him. "Give us an opportunity, a convenient place, and a distraction, and we'll bring it to you," he said, tilting his face in my direction.

I froze. I knew these trains. Those stormy gray eyes. They were the same eyes as those in the grotto. And now I realized who he had reminded me of. That lithe walk, movements as if he were a shadow himself. I thought of the icy, calm beta officer I'd never heard a word spoken.

Arrow.

It was Arrow without his scar.

"Good. Now get out of my sight!” spat Hades.

Arrow pulled out a crystal, the exact same crystal that Isaac gave me. Then he disappeared through the portal.

So that's how Isaac had the stone. Arrow must have left him there.

Hades hurried down the wing with firm steps. His seal flapped as he walked, and dust whirled up. He stopped in front of the glass mirror. "Show me."

Show something? What, what, show what? Tell me what?

Speak! Talk to uuuuunnssss!

Ah that deaf good-for-nothing!

Deaf, deaf, deaf! Georgie hears us, right? Georgie, you hear us!

My heart was beating and I thought I was caught, but he didn't seem to hear the shadows. Hades let out an angry roar and swung the torch stick into the mirror. “Now finally show me! Show me the girl I must find!'

The shadows cried out under the impact of the staff. But the mirror did not shatter and remained intact. Then the shadows swirled beneath the surface and an image emerged. I didn't dare to breathe.

I was seen in the mirror.

"Find Georgie, she's the key." A loud voice came. Where she came from and who uttered the words remained uncertain. "She's the one who's going to open the gate."

The hooded man bent down. Draw a line across the image in the mirror. I got sick. “I'll find you, Georgie. And you will help me summon the demons."

It was said that the voice was the first thing to be forgotten. That might be true, the memory of the deep, hollow sound of his voice had faded. But these cloaks were under his command. he was looking for me Wanted to summon demons. And then this seal. A seal like the ones he always wore in the underworld. How she grinded through the cell passages. Dripping full of blood.

Hades whirled around, his cloak flapping, and he left the catacombs with rapid gait.

I counted to three, then sprinted to the mirror, pressing my hands against the smooth ice. I shiver. "Bring me back!"

As if they were just waiting for me to come back, they pressed themselves under the pane.

Nooooo. Hahahaha!

I looked up, making sure he didn't come back. My hands got wet. My heart pounded against my chest. "Now damn it get me a portal!"

Let's out! let's raaauuuus!

"NO!" My hands lit up, bright light radiating from them against the mirror. It all happened much too fast, the fear pumping through my veins drove me on, revived the old urine smell in me.

The Shadowen shrieked, flinching as if burned. Okay, ok, ok! Back with light! No light!

I jerked my hands back and they obeyed me. A black vortex rose from the mirror into the air, forming a portal. Without further hesitation, I reached inside. Just thought of a name I clung to.

Beau. Take me to Beau.