Page 2 of Fortune Academy: Year Three
“Olivia’s dead,” I said, my voice breaking on the admission.
And it’s all my fault.
“You don’t know that,” he said, pulling away as those brilliant orange eyes of his turned serious. “The Dean would want to keep the leverage she has on you. Olivia is still alive. I’m sure of it.”
I swallowed the permanent lump in my throat. “I hope you’re right.”
He let out a breath and steam puffed the air as he looked up, seeming to notice the floating skulls and black clouds for the first time as he grimaced. “We’ll find a way out of here. We have to.”
I surveyed the empty landscape and wondered where to even begin, especially now that little pockets of steam had begun boiling up to the surface. That certainly couldn’t be good.
Fuck. I really had to stop executing plans that I hadn’t fully fleshed out yet, because thissucked.
“Why don’t you try to feel for Logan again?” Dante offered after an awkwardly long moment of silence. “Maybe it’ll help us find the tunnels.”
I sighed and squeezed his fingers as I drew in his warmth. “Okay, but if I guide us into a pit of fire or something, it’s your fault.”
He chuckled. “Of course.”
The power of our connection slipped through me like velvet, making my shoulders relax despite my nerves being on the fritz. Logan flashed into my mind again and his blue eyes crossed my vision, looking straight through me and into my soul.
“I’ve got him.”
“Good,” Dante said, leaning in as he lowered his voice. “Does it feel like the sensation is coming from a particular direction?” I concentrated, then definitely felt a pull to the left, so I nodded. “That’s my girl. Follow it. I’ve got your hand and I’ll be your eyes on this end. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
Grimacing as I kept my focus, I took one step and paused as snow sizzled around my foot. The connection flashed in and out, no matter how hard I tried to maintain it. “Something is interfering,” I said as pain lashed across my temple, making me wince.
“Uh, not to frighten you, but I think I know what it is.”
“What?” I hissed.
“No, nothing. Don’t open your eyes. It’s—”
Too late.
Holy.
Fuck.
“Dante!”
It was the Hunter’s turn to cut off the blood flow to my fingers as he gripped me hard. “Relax. It’s just, uh, a stray animal.”
“That is no fucking stray animal. That’s Cerberus!”
The three-headed dog the size of a building marched through the wasteland, sending snow and dirt spraying in his wake as he headed straight for us.
Shit.
Chapter 2
Dante yanked me across the landscape as the ground hissed at our feet.
“Which way?” he barked.
“I don’t fucking know!”
A howl from behind us made my heart go in overdrive. Cerberus was supposed to be a creature of mythological proportions, a guard-dog of Hades and not actually… well, real.
