He smiled broadly, but concern clouded his usually brilliant eyes.
We clasped each other’s hands and offered our friends tight smiles that weren’t returned. Every single one of them were freaked the hell out that we were about to enter the underworld—voluntarily.
“We’re coming for you, Cass,” I declared, and dove feet-first into the opening of the gate.
17No one fucks with my bestie and lives
As Brockand I stepped through the crack in the gate, a heavy, oppressive heat wafted up from the hard rock of the cliff we stood on, clamoring against my lungs. Resisting the urge to claw away the invasive heat, I tried to make sense of my surroundings, but didn’t manage to make out much. It was so dark!
Pivoting, I slipped and started to slide down. I caught myself on the ledge and pushed myself back up. With a groan, I turned in search of Brock. We were on a fucking cliff.
“Ah,” I yelped, when I found him right behind me.
“Are you all right?” he barked urgently, running his hands up and down the sides of my arms. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” I said with a hand to my heart to steady its frantic thumping.
He continued running his hands along me. “You’re sure you’re okay? You almost fell!”
I did almost fall off a cliff in the underworld. That would have been bad.
“Totally.” I patted my gun and katana to make sure they were in place after the drop. I hadn’t bothered with my badge. It wasn’t like underworlders would respect my authority. Down here, power trumped all, and power was determined by physical and magical strength.
“Okay,” I said, looking around us in a circle. Though a faint orange glow illuminated our surroundings, it wasn’t clear in which direction we should head. Small campfires glowed in the faraway distance, and a magical-looking light red haze colored the sky, but that was it.
“Let’s make our way down this small cliff first,” I suggested.
Brock nodded, and after about two minutes of treading carefully across rough ground, we were standing on the sandy floor of the underworld.
“Don’t call out to Cass aloud,” Brock cautioned me, even though I already sensed that wouldn’t be a good idea. Though I couldn’t see anyone, I also couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched, and I had no desire to draw attention to us.
‘Cass?’I tried through our mental link, but even before silence drew out in reply, I knew he either couldn’t hear me or he couldn’t respond. Something was interfering with the telepathic connection Gran had set up between us.
Drawing Cass’ sequined, iridescent booty shorts from the back pocket of my jeans, where they barely fit, I squeezed them in one of my hands and closed my eyes, paying attention to whatever sign they’d give me.
There!
It was slight, but there was an undeniable draw pulling me straight ahead.
“That way,” I whispered to Brock, pointing with my head. I stuffed the booty shorts back in my pocket, swept my long hair into a ponytail, and steeled myself for whatever lay up ahead.
The landscape was the same in every direction: dark and bleak. Black lava stone surrounded us. A deep orange glow illuminated the rocks from below, suggesting that lava might actually run amid them. Sharp crags divided up the landscape, limiting our view in any one direction. Beyond the orange glow slashing macabre shadows, there was no other source of illumination.
“What a cheery landscape,” Brock mumbled under his breath.
“Let’s find Cass and get the hell out of here. I have a bad feeling about this place.”
“You’d be crazy if you didn’t.” He brought a gentle hand to the small of my back and urged me forward, bringing either hand in close proximity of a weapon.
He had to be feeling it too, like there were eyes in the great walls of rock.
A bead of sweat trickled down my back, and I picked up the pace, following the pulsing of Cass’ booty shorts forward. Dodging a few large boulders, I stopped to scout the area.
“Where is everyone?” I whispered to Brock. “This is home to every nasty creature of our nightmares. It shouldn’t be so quiet.”
“I know.” Brock didn’t meet my concerned gaze, and swept our surroundings without ceasing. “Something is definitely off. We should have run into something by now.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want to disappoint you,” a voice I knew all too well called down to us. Calista’s voice bounced and echoed across the hard surfaces, enveloping me in her energy.
