Page 10 of Wicked Warlock
His lips parted in a half smile. “I have to admit, you have balls.”
“Of steel.” I returned his smile, yet there was something behind his eyes that wasn’t quite right. A devilish look I’d only seen one other time… in Unseelie.
“Come on. Let’s try to find the others in the chaos.” He looked behind us and gave a shudder. “I don’t think they’d land outside the underworld. But I did think we’d land together.”
As I looked at all the glowing spirits fluttering down from the dark sky and landing, I studied each face, looking for some kind of familiar feature. Logan’s long messy blond hair, Cross’ vivid glowing green eyes, Soto’s small frame, or even Nova’s long white-blond hair. Ashryn’s calm steady gaze. Yet I saw no one. It was only Beckett and me.
“How the hell are we going to find them in all of this?”
I motioned to the wide expanse before us where souls seemed to be walking into a wall of darkness. Cerberus, that hulking three-headed black dog, paced back and forth in front of the entrance to the underworld. The head to the right held a bright pink couch within its massive jaw. Puffs of cotton floated down from the couch like balls of snow. The head to the left grabbed one side of the couch and began to tug. All the while, the head in the middle barked and drooled while the other two chomped the couch into pieces.
Each step he took shook the ground under my feet. Then suddenly a red ball appeared, floating across the sky. All three heads snapped up their eyes, locking onto that ball like it was the end-all and be-all of everything. It’s tail swung back and forth, thumping into the rocky archway. Boulders fell to the ground, landing on of a group of spirits. They scrambled away in fear of being crushed. I threw out my arms, wanting to stop it, waiting for my power to flow through my body. I wanted that gold explosion of magic I’d grown so used to, to come to me. There was nothing I could do, and the spirits weren’t fast enough to dodge the falling boulders. I froze in horror for a moment. Then it hit me. They’re dead… I’m dead… We’re all dead.
Their ghostly bodies evaporated into a foggy mist, reforming just on the other side of the fallen rocks. Every muscle in Cerberus’ body tensed and he sprang for the ball. The middle head caught it while the others kept tugging at that bright pink couch.
“Astrid.” Beckett caught my attention. “Astrid, come on.”
He waved me forward and suddenly my body didn’t feel like my own. It was like I had to move and walk in the direction I was given. I turned and fell into step beside Beckett. “Why am I moving like this?”
“In the underworld, you’re compelled to move forward. Imagine if spirits dipped out and were like, ‘nope, I don’t want to be here. I want to go back.’” He glanced around. “Come on. Keep going.”
“You’re not doing this?”
He shook his head. “It’s not me. It’s this world.”
“Okay. Cool, cool, cool.” I was trying not to panic, trying to stay calm in a moment that I didn’t understand. Was I dead for real? Was this how it ended for us? Nova said she could bring us back, but there was no sign of her. Did that mean we were caught in this world for all eternity?
“Hey.” Beckett caught my eye. “It really will be okay.”
I wanted to believe him, to ask him to take me in his arms and hold me there, if only for a moment of comfort. But there was just something… off. Was he my old Beckett, or was that darker side lurking beneath the surface? The one from the Unseelie realm, who was power-hungry, ruthless, and uncaring.
Just then a loud squawking broke through the music, and my eyes were drawn up toward the sky. A winged woman streaked across the sky. Feathers floated down from her chicken-like legs. She had talons for feet, and long willowy arms that seemed to move with each flap of her wings. Dark brown eagle feathers fanned from the sides of her face around her head and across her back. Black soulless eyes gazed down at the souls walking toward some ultimate end I still didn’t understand. Three others joined her as they circled over us like vultures around a carcass. One swooped down and plucked a soul from the lines. The soul screamed and flailed within its tight talon grasp.
“How can they grab us, but we can’t grab each other?” Another one swooped down low over my head. I dove to the ground, barely avoiding its predatory grab.
Beckett, too, landed on the floor next to me. We met eyes and his face mirrored mine in a what the hell just happened? kind of shock. “Stupid beastly birds. Harpies can do shit we don’t understand.”
Like turning ghosts corporal, dropping them, and letting them turn ghost again… riiiiggghhttt. “Yeah, that seems natural.”
He glared at me.
“So, this is the underworld?”
The voice was so low, so casual. Like there wasn’t torturing harpies overhead picking up souls and dropping them down to see them smash to the earth only to go ghostly once more. Their screechy cackles filled the air, and I huddled down once more while peeking up, looking for whoever spoke.
“Soto?”
“Ya.” She stood unafraid just watching the Harpies.
Soto had her hands shoved into the pockets of leather pants. She didn’t appear as ghostly as myself or Beckett. Instead, the underworld seemed to agree with her. Her face was calm and peaceful as she watched the harpies dive bomb the spirits. Her skin still held that slightly green tint, like she’d spent all her life playing among flowers, and the underworld had no effect on her. A shining scale print ran around her right eye and down her cheek. Scales covered her neck and shoulders but were only visible just above the collar of her black t-shirt and down past the sleeve. They were so delicate and glossy in an entirely beautiful way, like a mermaid trapped on land. Her short black hair stood in soft spikes from her head and a single long braid ran down the side of her head and over her shoulder. Sweeping bands of hair fell across her forehead and curled around the side of her face.
“What are you doing?” I waved to her. “Get down.”
“Oh, that?” She pointed toward the harpies. “Interesting looking birds you have here.”
“Yeah… birds.” If I could’ve grabbed her and pulled her down, I would have.
“They aren’t shit compared to Unseelie world.” She glanced around. “Matter of fact, this is kind of nice.”
