Page 35 of Going to Hell
Unsure where that left me, I returned to our game of “check the rooms,” but cut some corners. My attempt to reduce the amount of touching at each door made him restless and easy to anger. And he started doing things to provoke a reaction from me.
First, he conjured a chaise lounge with a tray of peeled grapes in an empty room. I didn’t even know that peeled grapes were a thing. But he’d done it anyway.
After I snubbed those, he tried a table in the center of the room but the only thing on it had been another rustic, but wickedly sharp, knife. The moment it appeared, his cryptically uttered, “I would rather bleed,” took on an even darker, more disturbing meaning, and the shock factor of that almost caught me off guard.
The random room filled with lush plants and enough humidity to feel like a jungle had been equally surprising, but in a less “Run for your life!” way. It hadn’t been easy to turn my back on that reminder of Earth.
However, dismissing the offering seemed to be the straw that broke him. The floor and walls started shaking again. Rather than try to pacify him and feed his need for acknowledgement, I sat on the floor and hugged my knees to my chest.
The rumbling stopped, and he squatted down in front of me.
“I hate games.”
You and me both, buddy,I thought, feeling equally frustrated.
While I hadn’t thought finding my uncle would be easy, dealing with C’adon’s mind games while searching was making my efforts feel twice as pointless.
Wiping a tired hand over my face, I set my chin on my knees and stared down at my dirty toes. The first threads of exhaustion tugged at me. No doubt, hunger would come soon, too. A few meals and the need for sleep seemed to mark a day here.
It was hard to tell with no daylight. Without actual days and nights, did time even work the same in Hell as it did on the surface? I had no idea. All I could do was listen to what my body was telling me. How many times had I slept in Hell now? Two? Why did it feel like so much longer? Because I had pushed myself past the point of exhaustion several times. So maybe it’d been more than two days.
I silently sighed and almost jolted when C’adon leaned forward. His face was inches from mine, blocking my view of my feet. I stared at his lips and waited for what he would do next.
“Blood will rain. Don’t be selfish. But look at her. So sweet. So tempting.”
He shifted closer, and his nose brushed my temple as he inhaled.
“Smells like the sun. I need her. Just one touch.”
He growled and jerked back, staring at me, an angry frown marring the perfection of his gently bowed lower lip.
“See me. Be real,” he demanded angrily.
I tipped my head to the side, resting it on my knees and closing my eyes.
“She’s weary. Yes. She must rest. A bed.” The satisfied sound he made when he said it let me know I was in for a world of trouble when I finally gave in to sleep.
Likely, there would be no rest for me.
He stood abruptly and disappeared into the nearest room. I quickly got to my feet and moved to the next closed door. I went through the same motions of listening and setting my forehead to the wall, but I didn’t pat the stone when I peeked around the corner.
“No!” C’adon said loudly as he strode toward me.
The souls cowering away from me jumped like I wanted to do, and I tiredly smiled at the irony…they looked like they’d seen a ghost.
“I have given her everything. Why—”
His words died when he caught sight of my lingering smile.
“No.” Fear robbed the word of volume. “I offered. She shunned the knives.”
That got my attention. So did the weird way he backed up a step. Then, another.
“I failed. How did I fail?”
C’adon continued to retreat from me.
I stood there, stunned by the understanding that my smile had freaked him out. And not for the first time. He’d reacted like this once before. But why fear my happiness when he’d seemed so upset by my tears? And hadn’t he once rambled something about giving anything to see me smile?
