One step inside, and I knew it: humidity clung to my skin, thick and miserable. My boots sank slightly into the spongy ground. The air was stifling. Each breath was like trying to inhale soup.
My stomach cramped hard enough to double me over.
“Okay, okay,” I panted, gripping my side. “No steak. Got it.”
After a moment, I tried fading to Grim’s woods—nothing. That told me everything. I was still in Hell. Just…a different corner of it.
“Figures,” I muttered, glancing behind me. The rip I’d come through was gone. Vanished like it was never there. “Are you kidding me?”
Hot and hungry. A cursed combo.
Still, food was pulling at me. I couldfeelit, the way my curse lit up like a flare under my skin. A jungle meant animals. Maybe even something edible. Hopefully not somethingalive and screaming, though I wasn’t sure I’d stop myself at this point.
I wiped sweat from my forehead and pushed forward through the brush—until ascreamripped through the air.
My head shot up. A man. Then—thump. Thump. Thump.
The ground shook beneath me. Branches snapped. Trees groaned. Something massive was tearing through the forest. Even the birds stopped chirping. The buzzing quieted.
Everythingstilled.
Something was coming.
And whatever it was, it wasn’t runningfromsomething. It was hunting.
What horrible reality had I thrown myself into? Luke created an individual hell for his prisoners. Could it be—
A dirty, half-naked man burst from the trees, charging straight at me. He kept glancing behind him, like something was chasing him—until he saw me. Then he stumbled, his beady eyes widening as he hooted and grabbed at the pathetic excuse for a loincloth barely covering him.
Absolutely not.
His thick brow bone jutted forward, huge teeth curling over his lip, and his forehead bulged like evolution had skipped him entirely. Not a modern human—something older. Way older.
I threw my weapon straight at his chest. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Only to reappear ten feet away.
I killed him again. And again. Each time, his corpse stayed behind, but a fresh version of him popped up in a new spot.
“Oh, Hades,” I muttered, yanking my sword back into my hand. “Nothing can die around here.”
The man hooted again and slapped his lips together as he sprinted toward me.
Nope.
I sliced the air open, tearing into the fabric of the realm again. Another hole unfolded like paper peeling back. I didn’t look where it went— just leapt.
I hit the ground hard and rolled, springing upright fast.
Night surrounded me.
A crowd of humans with torches marched toward me in the distance.
Well, the air smelled better. That was something.
Until someone threw a pitchfork at my head.
“What’s this?” A cold feminine voice sneered behind me.
