Page 21 of Going to Hell
Of course there wasn’t any. I was in Hell.
Hell was gross, and being a girl sucked.
Righting my dress, I stood and debated what to do next. I felt better after some sleep. My terror over my current situation remained, but I felt less overwhelmed by it. My plan from before still seemed the best course of action. Find my uncle’s soul. Find a way home. All while avoiding the monsters in Hell, which I knew nothing about.
No problem.
I silently scoffed at the impossibility of my search then silently moaned as I realized yet another flaw in my plan.
How was I going to ask my uncle for help when I couldn’t even talk?
I threaded my fingers through my hair and fisted handfuls in frustration. If I ever saw those druids again, I’d…do absolutely nothing. They weren’t worth my time or energy, and I refused to stoop to the level of the monsters that made my life so miserable.
Jerking my fingers from their nest, I paced alongside the bed. How was I supposed to get out of Hell? The chance that the druids could somehow reverse their spell was slim since sending me here had been an accident in the first place. I doubted that they even had a clue where they’d sent me. Eliana would raise the alarm that I was missing, but who would actually think to look for me here? No, they would start outside Uttira’s protective barrier since that had been where the spell was supposed to send Eliana’s mother.
It would seem, for the moment, I was stuck in Hell. Unless, of course, Megan realized her mistake and came back for me. And as much as I really, really hoped that happened, I knew I couldn’t depend on it. I needed to continue with my faulty plan and hope my uncle would understand the problem of my presence here when he saw me.
Removing the torch from the holder, I went to the door but didn’t reach for the latch. A thread of fear wormed its way through me.
How long since my crazy shadow bolted? What if he’d actually abandoned me? What if there was a different creature in the hall now?
I glanced at the torch I held. The light would give me away, but I didn’t want to leave it behind. I chewed on my dry lip for a moment then reached for the latch. All this hesitating was going to get me killed.
I heard crazy-man before the door opened more than an inch. He paused, mid-mutter about blood and pain, and watched me warily peek out the door.
“I hate games,” he grumbled, this time not contradicting himself.
When I turned down the hall, continuing in the same direction as the night before, he silently followed in my wake.
It wasn’t until I had my ear pressed against the next door that I realized the significance of what had happened the prior night.
I hadn’t died.
He’d been in the room with me while I slept, and had used his magic to put me in a more comfortable bed—at least, I think he’d used his magic. And even though the way he’d been talking about my skin while I slept still made me nervous, I had to acknowledge he hadn’t done anything to hurt me. He’d had ample opportunity, and yet, I survived.
I wasn’t sure what to think about that. My head was telling me I should be terrified. That it was some kind of trick. My gut, though, whispered that I was safer around him, which sounded as crazy as he was. I didn’t even know what type of creature or monster I was dealing with.
Frowning over my gut decision, I paid attention to the silence on the other side of the door and eased it open to more emptiness. My shoulders moved with my large, silent sigh.
“She’s unhappy. Who is next? Blood will rain,” he muttered.
I left the room and refrained from rolling my eyes at his craziness while again wondering if he’d always been this way or if Hell had slowly driven him mad. Why was he here? Was he wicked or simply a soul? Not that there was anything simple about him. And most importantly, why was he following me?
Every question that ran through my head was dangerous and something I would never dare to ask him even if I had my voice. Showing that level of interest in a creature was the kiss of death for a human like me. But thinking them helped pass the time, and Iwascurious. Even about the simple stuff, like his name.
He wore clothes from an era long past, so he’d probably had some old, obscure name that I’d never guess. I smirked as I thought of a perfect nickname for him, though.
C’adon. Short for “crazy Adonis.”
C’adon paced behind me, his mutterings and the faint click of his chains a comforting background noise in the otherwise silent hallway. If I were in Uttira, I would say that I knew better than to be reassured by his presence. But I wasn’t in Uttira and Hell probably had a whole different set of rules. Maybe.
For all I knew, he was lulling me just like he would have on earth. Yet, there was a slim chance that wasn’t what was happening here. Oh, I wasn’t dumb enough to think he was some kind of great guy. Craziness aside, I’d witnessed the way he’d locked the glutton in his chains again. Why else shackle someone other than to be cruel? And what did it say about me that I wasn’t as upset over that chaining as I was grateful that it hadn’t been me forced into the chains.
Lost in thought, I opened the next room without listening. Thankfully, it was as empty as the previous one.
I closed the door and stared at the panel for a moment, wondering how many rooms there were in this place. My gaze drifted to the curved hall. What if I kept walking in a circle, checking the same rooms?
Stepping back, I studied the door. There was nothing that made it stand out from the others I had passed. If only there was a way for me to mark it. I glanced at my torch and, from the corner of my eye, noticed I had C’adon’s complete attention.
