Purple lightning whipped through heavy clouds. It was so cloudy and hazy that the lightning looked florescent as it flashed. Sam pulled me behind him, placing his body directly in front of mine and Beelzebub laughed.
Then, like an orchestra conductor, he brought down his hands, a quick sweeping motion and with them came the lightning. It hit the ground with such force that the rocky floor exploded around us. Sharp pieces of shale flew everywhere and dust blew in my eyes. A loud booming sound filled my ears, the ground shook and I was falling…
Everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Heven
I heard my name being called. The voice was urgent and pleading. It was a raspy voice, a voice I liked, so I opened my eyes.
“Thank God,” Sam groaned when I looked up at him.
“What happened?” I said, blinking and looked at Cole, who was leaning over Sam to stare down at me.
“We all blacked out and he locked us up in here,” Cole answered, grimly.
I sat up, my head swimming. “Easy,” Sam said.
“I don’t feel right,” I moaned.
There was a light tug in the center of my chest and I wondered if it was my soul starting to separate from my body. I glanced at Cole to see if maybe he was feeling the same way and he nodded once. His eye was swollen and beginning to blacken and the rest of his face was covered in soot and dust from the explosion. It was a stark contrast to the rust-colored trail of dried blood running down the back of his neck.
“We have to get out of here,” I said, pushing to my feet.
Then I realized where we were.
In his castle. In his dungeon.
We were locked away behind iron bars. How long would he try to keep us here? My only comfort was that we had the Lucent Marble, so really, we weren’t trapped.
“I know where the scroll is.”
Even though the voice was raspy and low, it was familiar. Stunned silence froze us all for one long second. Then, Sam and Cole whipped around and I looked past them to peer into one of the dark cells across the hall. Kimber stood in the shadowed doorway, behind the bars. Her hair was matted and dirty, hanging around her gaunt, white face.
“Kimber?” I whispered.
“Turns out you were right. I chose the wrong side,” she said, the words seeming to scrape from her throat. It was painful to watch.
“That day at the airport…” I said, thinking of the dark car she was climbing into—how I hadn’t seen her since.
“I tried to get it back. I tried to make it right. I’m sorry.”
They made her a prisoner here. They used her and then turned on her. Pity and sorrow filled me. Our friendship might be over, but I didn’t want this for her and I still cared about her.
I rushed toward the bars. “How do we get out of here?”
She shrank back into her cell, darkness enveloping her and I wanted to scream out in frustration. But then I realized she wasn’t trying to tease us.
She was hiding.
Beelzebub appeared, followed by a figure dressed in a blood-red robe. The hood was pulled forward, hiding the person’s face, but I knew it was Hecate. She stopped in front of Kimber’s cage and turned toward us. I couldn’t see her stare, but I could feel it and I shivered.
Beelzebub looked completely unruffled and not the least bit dirty from the explosion as he stepped in front of our cage. I stumbled backward.
“Ah, you’re awake.” He was holding the bronze tube in his hands, the one containing the Map. “Tell me, little one. How is your soul fairing? Is it wanting out?”
“Please let us out,” I said, no longer above begging for our lives.
“So it is,” he said.
A low growl ripped from Sam’s chest.
“Careful, kitty,” Beelzebub taunted. “Make me angry and I will reconsider letting you out.”
The iron door swung open and I lunged forward, but Sam pulled me back and once again put himself in front of me as he and Cole walked out of the door first. When it was my turn to go through, Sam put a hand on my arm as if to anchor me to his side—like he was afraid I would be snatched away at any moment.
Maybe I would be.
We were at the very end of the long hallway, the only light coming from flame-lit torches that lined the walls. Our cell was to the right and just in front of us where the hallway ended was a wide door, arched at the top and made of black steel. It was to this door that Beelzebub strode, throwing the lock and yanking the heavy door open wide.
Intense heat rushed at us through the opening. It was so hot that it took my breath. There seemed to be no floor and no walls inside the new room and the back of the door was blackened—scorched.
It was a fire pit. An endless hole of fire that I knew never went out.
As I watched the flames lick through the door, Beelzebub lashed out, grabbing Cole and dragging him toward the flames.
“Cole!” I cried, rushing forward only to be yanked backward by Sam.
“You have a choice,” Beelzebub yelled as Cole fought and struggled to no avail. “You can open up this scroll case and give me the Map or watch as I send him to a fiery grave.”
“Don’t do it, Heven!” Cole yelled as sweat dripped from his forehead.
I wasn’t about to let my brother die. I looked at Sam, his face set in a grim expression. He knew I wouldn’t allow my brother to die, and after what just happened to his brother, he wouldn’t ask me to.
“Okay,” I said, my voice barely audible. But he heard me and smiled triumphantly. He took a few steps away from the flaming pit and I let out a breath. Cole was shaking his head, but I ignored him. I had to do this.
Acting nervous (not that it really was an act), I put my hands into my pockets and lowered my head, allowing my hair to fall and curtain my face, letting my shoulders shake—like I was trying to get it together.
“Now!” Beelzebub screamed.
My body was shaking now, and it wasn’t from fear.
Hell was trying to claim my soul.
I yanked my hands out of my pockets, gripping the single remaining Lucent Marble and reached back toward Sam, pretending to want his comfort. He reached out and I dropped the Marble into his hand and turned back to Beelzebub.
When I get my hands on that scroll, bust that Marble and let’s go.
Sounds like a plan,
Sam answered and I didn’t dare look at him for fear that Beelzebub would get suspicious.
“Let him go,” I said, motioning to Cole.
Beelzebub narrowed his eyes.
I took the chain that held the key from around my neck, pulling it out from beneath my shirt. I swung it between my fingers, taunting my tormentor. “Let. Him. Go.”
He shoved Cole away roughly and he smacked against the wall with a sick thud. I didn’t look at him or Sam as I stepped toward Beelzebub and held out my hand. He ignored my outstretched arm and grabbed me roughly, yanking me against him. He wound his arm around my waist and I felt the hard metal of the scroll case through my T-shirt. With his free hand, he reached up and caressed my face.
I recoiled.
Behind us a menacing growl ripped through the air.
“You are a beauty,” Beelzebub murmured as he ran a single finger down the left side of my face exactly where my scars used to be. “But I liked you better when you wore my mark.”
I gasped.
We always thought maybe China hadn’t been acting alone and now we knew for sure. My mother had been right all along. I had been marked.
Marked by evil.
Behind me I heard a scuffling sound and I knew Sam was about to shift—to attack. Beelzebub lifted his hand up as if to stop him. “You change right now, I will toss her into the fire. I prefer you in your weak human state.”
Sam wasn’t weak in any form. But he was more vulnerable to injury in his human form so I said, “I’m fine, Sam. Stay back.”
Beelzebub looked at Hecate. “Keep him in line. Keep him back.”
“My pleasure,” she said from within her hood. My stomach knotted.
“Open it,” Beelzebub snarled, grabbing me by the neck and holding me toward the fire. I looked down into the flames that seemed to go on forever. I might be holding the scroll in my hands, but Sam couldn’t throw that Marble down because the minute he did, Beelzebub would toss me in the pit. I had to open it, make him think I was doing what he wanted so I could get away, get closer to Sam.
I held up the key and brought it toward the lock, but my hands were shaking too badly to insert. “Please,” I said. “Can we move back? I’m scared.”
Beelzebub sighed dramatically, but he did move back and I sighed in relief. I took a chance and roughly pulled away from him, but he kept hold of my arm. I inserted the key into the lock and listened as the inner mechanism clicked and the lid popped off.
Beelzebub laughed.
It was now or never.
I swung the tube upward, hitting Beelzebub in the face and jerked free, yelling. “Now, Sam!”
Beelzebub roared and Hecate flung out her hand, sending Sam flying backward and crashing into the hard stone wall. The Lucent Marble rolled across the stone floor.
“Cole! Get the Marble!”
Cole was already moving, already diving at it, but he was too late and the Marble rolled into a darkened cell, behind iron bars. Out of reach.
“No!” Cole screamed, reaching out his hand. A hand that no longer had a true shape.
We had no way out of Hell.
We were trapped.
And we were out of time.
My vision was beginning to blur and my teeth were chattering as Sam lifted me to my feet. The bleakness of the situation pinched his face and eyes.
“You shouldn’t have betrayed me!” Beelzebub screamed and ripped a length of chain hanging from the wall.
This wasn’t the first time I had seen his anger. I knew how violent he could be so I anticipated his next move. He would go for Sam, the one thing that could hurt me most. Somewhere inside me, I found the strength and agility to move quickly and throw myself in front of Sam and take the hit intended for him.
“No!” Sam shouted and tried to shove me out of the way, which saved me from taking the full lash of the chain.
But the end of the chain still connected with my flesh and pain exploded through me.
I hit the ground. I was bleeding. I could feel the warm liquid ooze from my split face. I tucked the scroll beneath my body as Sam leapt into the air, shifting and landed on four sturdy midnight-colored paws. He planted himself in front of me, snarling.
Hecate held up both her hands and whispered a few words beneath her breath and flung Sam backward into a cell, the iron bars closing behind him.
I ran after him to let him out, but Beelzebub grabbed me, lifting me off my feet and carried me toward the angry flames. He was going to throw me. I was going to die.
Sam was throwing himself against the iron bars with all his weight and the metal was groaning under his intense weight and strength. A splitting sound went through the air as one of the bars cracked. In moments he would be free.
“Heven!” Cole ran forward, but he too was flung back with whatever magic Hecate was using.
It was up to me to save myself.
Using my teeth I pulled the loosened cap off the scroll and tossed it aside. Then I shook the case, flinging the Map out onto the floor. Beelzebub released me and went for the scroll, but I beat him to it, scooping up the delicate paper and holding it out. He froze and licked his lips. He wanted this so badly I could practically see the desperation dripping from him.
“Give it to me,” he said, his eye fixated on my hand and what it held.
“You know, I’m pretty tired of this thing,” I said, taking a step closer to the fire pit. “Who would have thought that a little piece of paper could cause me so much trouble?”
“What are you doing?” Beelzebub said and lifted his hand like he was going to do that little voodoo trick and fling me.
“Ah, ah ahhh,” I sang. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You take me down and I’m taking this precious piece of paper with me.”
Anger flared in his eyes, but he dropped his hands to his sides. I held the scroll out away from me like I was going to release it and I looked back at him. “Sure does suck to be the one who isn’t calling the shots, doesn’t it?”
My taunting set him off just like I knew it would, and he let out a roar and charged me. I took a step back from the door opening, flung the Treasure Map away and kicked the empty bronze case that once held the scroll into Beelzebub’s path. He tripped and reached out for me and being the good girl I was I helped him.
Right into the pit of flames.
Just before he plummeted, our eyes met and I made sure to smile. His own eyes widened in disbelief as he realized that he had been outsmarted. Even though I hated him, even though he was vile, his tortured screams were hard to hear. It was a long way down and we all heard every single one of his cries.
But I got over it. He deserved what he got.
Hecate grabbed the unprotected, fragile scroll off the floor and smirked at me. “I cannot wait to see how he makes you pay for that.”
You mean that wasn’t going to kill him? I shuddered. What exactly was this guy capable of?
I reached out to try to snatch the scroll from the witch, but was distracted by my arm. The outline of it (of my whole form really) was no longer there, and I knew that if we didn’t leave now, my soul would be ripped away from my body and I would be trapped forever.
“Here, take this,” a voice from a nearby darkened cell called. Something rolled across the floor as I turned.
The Marble.
“Kimber,” Cole said, picking it up.
“Get out of here while you still can.”
Hecate said something low and the door to Kimber’s cell swung open. We all watched as Kimber’s emancipated form floated out of the opening, suspended in mid-air. Even with Hecate’s spell holding her up, her body still sagged in defeat. She looked like an empty shell. As we watched something else floated out behind her… what could only be her soul.
Kimber’s soul had separated from her body.
But how was it still here? I just assumed that once a soul was released it would wander away and be corrupted by Hell.