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Where will I go when I reach the top? What if there is nothing up there? No way out? How will I get out of this wretched place and back to my girls? To my Gran. Abuela. What if I’m not even home anymore? Not in the world I know but in another one like the one we pulled Asmodeus from. He said there were countless realms.
My blink was slow as I swayed and took another quick step.
All the answers were stolen from my mind when I was yanked back.
I hit the ground hard, my mouth opening and closing but no air getting in. A weird sound came from my throat. A bark of breath that sounded inhuman as I struggled to breathe. My eyes watered as I rolled onto my side, my hands wrapped around my middle as I prayed to whoever would listen for a single breath. Just one.
“You!” The word was a curse as the witch appeared above me. Shimmering threads were wrapped around her hands, glowing and ominous. “You dare!”
I wanted to say something smart, the itch to annoy her even more one I was petty enough to want to scratch right now, but I couldn’t get a single damn breath to put behind my words.
“You’re more than I thought you’d be… just barely.” She ran a hand over my bloody arm, revealing the healed flesh beneath. “Let’s see if I can break you of that spirit.” Threads shot from her hands and wound around my arms. They were so thin they rivalled a spider’s web, only coming into view as orange magic shot through them in an odd pulse.
My arms were yanked away from me and held out. The threads wound and wound, tightening until they pressed painfully into my skin.
A gasp finally rocked me as my flesh burst and the blood on my arms returned in a steady stream. I couldn’t even enjoy the return of air in my lungs. The relief lasted only a moment and was quickly followed by agony. My body was lifted, suspended in the air. My weight did me no favours as it pulled against the threads. Pain radiated through me as my eyes went to the archway again.
I was so close. Close enough to taste freedom, as unlikely as it was.
Call for me.
Why couldn’t I? Every time my mouth opened, his name was stifled.
The witch stood below me as my vision wavered and darkened at the edges. Her sinister smile ripped me open. I hated this woman, and even if it took everything I was, I wanted to see her dead.
It was a thought I never had before. Sure, I sometimes wished people the day they deserved or wrote a silent letter to karma asking for her to do a drive-by on the people who needed it, but I never wanted something so wholly. Something so damning.
“What? Nothing to say now?” she chided.
My eyes dropped to the open hole beneath me. A tunnel of treacherous darkness.
That wasn’t foreboding at all.
I had a lot to say, but hanging there as weird thread cut into my skin, I knew it was all pointless. There was no getting out of this now. Even if I somehow got free from this, I would end up dropping into the well below, and who knew where the hell that led?
My lips quivered and my chin wrinkled as I realized just how screwed I was.
“Come now. Don’t go quiet on me. Here I thought you had a lot to say.” The threads lowered me so I hung just slightly above her. She reached out a treacherous hand and grabbed my chin, yanking my face toward hers. “That’s alright. I much prefer screams anyway.”
39
ASMODEUS
Iwas in a void.
“Lulu. Catalina?” Where did the exhausting mortal women go? If I misplaced them, Eden would never let me hear the end of it. Her unhappiness would drown me, of that I was certain. “Sarika? Alicia?” I paused, wondering if I wanted to find Olivia and Imani. I might be more likely to find Eden without them constantly getting in the way.
Of the mortal women… they were my least favourite.
Lips pursed, I turned slowly to observe the darkness. It was a chasm of nothingness. Even the air felt like it lacked anything. It wasn’t hot, it wasn’t cold, it wasn’t heavy or dense. It just was. It felt like I stepped behind my eyelids when my thoughts escaped me. I existed in that space. With the nothingness.
Think, Asmodeus.
Pain surged through me and brought me to my knees. My hand whipped up, fisting the fabric of my shirt over my chest as it swelled. My eyes glassed over, tears fogging my vision.
“Eden!”
Desperation clawed at me. Something was wrong. Her pain was a fist in my chest that kept slamming against my ribs and dropping to hit me in the gut. It was an assault on my insides that stole my breath. I needed to figure out where the hell I was so I could get back to her.
