Page 123 of Faerie Hunted

“You never know. You said people don’t want to access the Abyss, but it seems to me like someone has gone through an awful lot of trouble to protect the entrance. So who knows. Maybe there are more people trying to get in than we assumed.”

But nothing happened on the first step, or the second or the third.

In a lot of ways, descending through the temple reminded me of the Trials, my mind drawn back to them again and again. Except here, there weren’t all-seeing orbs and a panel of judges to dog our steps.

Distracted, I tripped on the last stair and stumbled forward. My heart lurched into my throat.

My hand slapped against the wall to stop myself, Livvy and Onyx yelling behind me. A panel slid backward and the floor heaved, stone grinding against stone.

The staircase slid back into the wall and disappeared with a dusty sigh.

Noren made the leap down but Onyx wasn’t nearly as fast. He dropped, catching himself on his forearms before his skull hit stone, and he winced in pain. Livvy tried to help him up but he waved her off.

“I’m okay,” he insisted with a groan. “It took me by surprise.”

His muscles trembled, dark veins standing out to attention as he pushed himself to his feet.

Weary to my own bones, I stood apart and watched him gather himself. The stairs had melded seamlessly into the stone and left us with a view of the open temple above but no way to reach it. Especially not with our powers down to the dregs, and whatever issue I had keeping me weak.

Besides, did we want to retreat? We’d come this far.

“I suppose this proves that there is only one way forward.” Livvy pointed ahead toward the winding tunnel. Her voice remained deceptively tranquil.

No escape.

Onyx shouldn't even be here. He should be in a hospital, comfortable in a bed while he received the kind of treatment necessary to manage his pain. Except we both knew there was no end to his ordeal.

I’d broken something inside of him. It was a miracle he’d made it this far. And I couldn’t leave him behind because he was the only one who knew where we needed to go.

31

“The Abyss will try to trick you. Or rather, the path to reach it isn’t clear. You have to be strong and keep your wits about you. This might not be the only way,” Onyx insisted.

His face scrunched as pain wracked through him.

“If this place is as terrible as everyone makes it out to be, then why is it so difficult to get to? No one in their right mind should want to come here.”

“The Abyss keeps what it is given. It’s less that it wasn’t to keep people out, but more that it wants to make sure what it has taken stays with it. Which is probably part of the reason why the connection always stays there.”

I glanced back in time to watch Onyx rub his heart.

“It’s not a good place, Tavi.”

“So why did Uncle Will banish the journals there? Why didn’t he just destroy them?” I muttered. “There are less extreme ways to deal with this.”

Not like it made a difference. The reason was personal and the act in the past, but curiosity would always get the better of me.

We wound our way through the tunnel of stone with the ceiling growing lower with every step. Small sconces of fire burst to life where we stepped and promptly guttered out once we made it several feet past them.

The tunnel circled around on itself but there were no other options, no side branches to tease us. Only an endlessly dark expanse in front and behind.

“William did it because he hates me.” Livvy sounded small and far away. “He has always hated me and my kind, and not much has changed since we first met. I suppose he did it to punish me, not knowing what truth was hidden inside those pages.”

I couldn’t imagine hating someone so much to go to all this trouble.

Even Persephone and Arlyss, who had both made my life at school a living hell.Bullies.

Uncle Will never struck me as a bully but I guessed he possessed the tendencies. Because here we were.

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