Page 28 of Can you take it?

“That son of a bitch!” screamed Anna.

“Anna, no! Stop! You can’t go in there!” Eletha’s frantic voice called out.

A feminine grunt sounded next to me. “Eletha, stop!” Walter screamed.

A second grunt from Eletha, then a third from Walter right behind hers.

Then a fourth…

Chapter 9

ELI

TIER ONE: TREACHERY

Blackness, thick and dark, surrounded me, causing my other senses to immediately riot. I felt delirious and unable to decide if the darkness was from the atmosphere of the space or if I had lost my vision upon entering the tiers. Adrenaline still rampant in my system, I began to question everything. The soft rustling of moving bodies sounded in front of where I sat. Was it monsters that waited in this dark place? Or had I actually heard what I thought I’d heard after I fell? Surely she wasn’t fool enough to continue the chase to the tiers.

Or was she?

My stomach muscles tightened as my mouth opened. Every instinct within my body told me to hide and not make a sound until I collected more information about what lurked around me. The desperate recklessness I had been feeling continued. “Hello?”

“Eli? I thought for a second I had been knocked out. It’s so dark. Where are you? Is everyone okay?” Walter’s deep voice bounced over to me.

Irritation slithered up my spine. “Why did you follow me?” I said angrily. The last thing I wanted was to be responsible for any of their deaths. Burdens already weighed me down, making every decision I made harder. Habit told me to ask if he was okay and thank him for joining me, but I refused.

“To be completely honest, I wasn’t going to, but Eletha followed Anna, and I followed Eletha,” he replied.

“Idiot,” Eletha’s raspy voice said over Walter’s. “Eletha, where are you? Are you hurt?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she snapped. “I’m the Shepherd of Tartarus. I’m not a fragile doll. Anna, you are a fragile doll. Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Now why do you get to ask her that, but I get yelled at?” Walter grumbled.

“Anna!” Eletha called again.

A deep male voice answered, “Stop shouting. My head’s going to pop open like a tart.”

Gasps filled the blackness. “Who is that? Bexley, is that you?” Walter asked.

“Bexley? You rotten bag of waste. What are you doing here?” Eletha called from somewhere close to me.

“Bexley?” Anna’s soft voice rang out.

“Are you all right?” I asked her quietly. She made no answer, but I heard the rustling of clothes and armor. She was moving. Instantly every nerve in my system felt oversensitive as I focused on the sounds of her movement, fully prepared for her to try and steal the pendant from me. She just fucking had to

follow me.

“Stop talking so loud. I don’t know what happened. I was asleep in my normal spot and you kicked me in here,” the man responded with a heavy slur, running all of his words together. I heard a rustle near where his voice was and then a heavy thud as if he’d fallen. “Fuckamnit.”

“Eletha, please take everyone out of here and back to Eromreven,” I requested.

“I’m not leaving until you hand over that pendant,” Anna snapped. She had moved, but she sounded as if she’d moved to where Eletha’s voice was coming from.

“No, he’s right. This was a mistake. Let’s go back and we will work this out. Neither Eli nor Anna needs to die,” reasoned Walter.

Eletha’s typically low and silky voice suddenly sounded shrill and scratchy. “I can’t get us out of here! Why would you think I can take us back? I send fae here and assign the tier they should go to. Why would you think I can get us out of here? Our powers don’t work in here. I can’t do anything!”

“What do you mean you can’t? You’re the Shepherd. Herd us out of here,” Walter shot back with a hint of worry in his deep voice.