Page 68 of Underworld
For now.
The light crested like molten gold over the horizon, building into an explosion that rushed over the barrier. The pearlescent wall held, but shimmered at the barrage of golden specks. Everything in the vicinity puffed into ash, instantly disintegrating from the shockwave of power.
This wasn’t heat, I realized, but Heaven’s purity lashing down onto Hell’s shore.
Was this end-of-times shit or what?
Heat billowed out in the aftermath, a soft breeze managing to get through the barrier. We stood in shock and awe, the reminiscent brilliance washing over our skin.
“Everybody okay?” Kaito asked, his voice raspy.
“Fine,” Dante agreed.
“Yeah, I guess.” Hendrik sounded pissyandpissed off—so, basically, no changes there.
Forcing myself to lift my wings, I drew in a deep breath and then blew it out. “We need to check that out before Cole comes back.” I could still sense Cole like a distant memory, but he had gotten to the tunnels in time as if he’d known what was coming.
All of this with Hendrik and Dante, it was almost as if he’d been trying to steal me away before it was too late.
Before Purgatory merged with Hell, too.
I looked up again at the distant golden pillar that bored into the ground, blinding out everything in its path.
Could any of Purgatory’s inhabitants have survived? And my soul artifact, what did that have to do with this? I sensed it now, not that far from us, safe and sound.
And with someone.
Or… someones.
“There’s no way we’re going to get close to it without being burnt to a crisp,” Hendrik said, wiping sweat from his brow. “That almost decimated the barrier and it’s still emitting some kind of radiation. We need to talk to the Dean.”
It surprised me that Hendrik would ask for help, but in magical matters, he tended to think logically.
In matters of the heart? He tended to think with his fist… or his dick.
“Agreed,” Kaito said as he offered me his hand. “Let’s go, Lily. Whatever has happened, the Dean will know what we should do next.”
How ironic it was that the person who had killed me was my Virtues’ first thought to seek aid at a time like this, but if we were tracking murders and sin, I wouldn’t have the best scorecard, either.
“Very well,” I agreed and slipped my fingers through his.
Chapter 20
Ahead, a golden fog billowed, growing thicker the closer we got to the barrier. There was magic in it—magic that called to me
Students glanced at me as we strode across the campus. None of them looked eager to approach the fog.
“Either of you ever seen anything like this?” I asked softly. “Do you know what it is?”
“No,” Kaito said, voice clipped. “But I suspect we’re about to find out.”
Dante simply lifted my hand to his lips for a quick kiss.
Then we walked into the fog.
Finding our way to the tower, we pushed in through the main door. Inside, everything had a strange sense of calm that didn’t sit right with me.
“Can’t say I was expecting this,” Hendrik murmured, an odd echo to my thoughts.
