Page 27 of Reaper Unhinged
Chapter Eleven
Keon carried Uri into the Underealm. Turned out that although celestials could fly back and forth from the Underealm, they couldn’t jump in. However, once inside the Underealm they could jump out if they wanted.
Uriel dangled in Keon’s grip as we hurtled through a river, colors swirling about us like a kaleidoscopic rainbow. My stomach twisted and flipped—excitement at the promise of seeing Azazel and Mal warring with the terror of heading into Limbo.
We exited to a night sky filled with diamond stars and a biting wind that clawed at my skin, desperate to peel it from my bones.
I always forgot how cold it was in the Underealm.
Keon flew ahead of me, hugging Uriel to him, wings beating the air as if he was punishing it. Below us, the River Enmity cut through the earth like a snake winding its way north. It wasn’t iced over as one would expect based on the sub-zero temperature, but then the human rules of physics didn’t always apply here.
The water was smooth, though, unmoving like glass. I knew on instinct that a person could be lost in its depths forever.
An urge surged up from the depths of my consciousness. The urge to swoop, to dive into the cool depths of the river and be lost, flooded me. I tipped forward, ready to take the plunge and find out what oblivion would feel like.
“Up ahead!” Keon shouted.
The urge to dive into the water shattered, and I pulled up sharply. What the hell had I been about to do? My pulse fluttered, and dark foreboding crept across my skin. The river… It had to be this place. I was probably reacting to it in some way. I bet it had some mystical pull or something.
Oh, fuck, if Keon hadn’t called out…
Focus.
Lights winked to life to the far right of the river. A village. Probably what Keon had been alerting me to. He veered toward it, and I followed, shaking off the strange tingling sensation that had taken over my limbs a moment ago.
Azazel and Mal were at the tavern waiting for me. Fine, so they might not have made it yet, hell they may not have gotten the message Keon sent, but I needed to believe they had.
Positive thinking had power, right?
They would be there to greet me. I was going to see them again after what felt like forever. Okay, fine, so it had only been three days, but still. I’d missed them way too much.
Uriel winked out of Keon’s grasp and appeared on the riverbank, and then Keon picked up speed, landing a few meters from him. I came in next, tipping back fluidly to land lightly on my feet.
“Good,” Keon said appraisingly. “Good landing.”
“Thank you.”
I glanced back at the water, serene and unthreatening now, and then quickly walked up the bank away from it before it could work its weird river mojo on me.
Keon rolled his shoulders and looked over at Uriel. “I thought you’d be lighter.”
Uriel was too busy studying his environment with a frown. “The air smells familiar,” he said.
“You never forget what the Underealm smells like,” Keon said.
Uriel frowned. “But I’ve never been here before.”
“You’ve never been to the Underealm?” Keon looked surprised. “Not even to liaise with the Dominus?”
“Only ever to the bridge,” Uriel said. “And that’s not part of the Underealm.”
Keon frowned. “Strange.”
I wanted to get going. I wanted to see my guys. “Which way to the tavern?”
Keon shot me an unreadable look, narrow-eyed, almost speculative, and then he shook his head.
“Follow me.” He set off, his footfalls muted by the snow.
