I smiled back at her, trying to reassure her that I was all right. “The important thing is that we’re both here, alive and well,” I said.
The events from the night before suddenly rushed at me, and I gasped: knocking Drea out and locking her in a closet, the four portals, demons had been everywhere, Shades fighting Lumens, and then I’d gotten shoved out of a window by a hellhound.
Wait… had Gage been there as well?
My memories were foggiest where that was concerned. I reached out to probe the back of my head and my fingers brushed over a thick, bumpy scab.
“They said it was lucky you have advanced healing powers, otherwise you’d have needed surgery and staples in your scalp,” Gran muttered.
I exhaled in relief, but then my brain kickstarted. What if Drea was still in that closet? I might be alive and well, but what about everyone else?
Throwing the blankets off my legs, I was a half-second away from jumping out of the bed when I realized I was in a hospital gown and nothing else. There was definitely a chill running down the center of my back. With a frustrated growl, I flopped back on the bed as I squeezed my hands into fists. Not ideal.
“How is everyone else?” I quickly asked. “Are Aurelia and Theo okay? Where’s Drea?”
My friend was probably so stinkin’ mad at me right now, but that wasn’t what was important. I needed to make sure she’d stayed in that storage closet the whole battle. Skye’s warning about Drea dying rang in my head. I didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if she’d woken and gotten out before the fighting was over.
“Drea’s fine, but we lost a master Lumen,” a tired voice announced from the doorway. I jerked my head up to see Aurelia standing there. The normally well put together Portal Master had dark circles under her eyes, her usual perfectly-styled head of tight curls flattened in some areas, and she wore the same clothes as the night before. “It was a bloodbath,” she admitted, scrubbing a hand down her face as she entered the room.
I was relieved to hear that Drea was okay, but a person died and that was on me. We never would have been in that building if I hadn’t insisted we contact my mom. I was warned it would be dangerous, but I never for a second believed it would result in a loss of life.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Aurelia said, easily reading the look on my face. “It’s not your fault.”
I shook my head. “It really is, though.”
Gran covered my hand with her own. “You can’t blame yourself. Not a single one of us is guaranteed tomorrow. We’re Lumens. It’s the job we signed up for.”
“Joelle is right,” Aurelia said. “And Todd agreed to the mission, he volunteered for it. His sacrifice won’t be in vain.” Aurelia took a deep breath. “But I have news about your mother. The connection was a bit shaky, but I was able to let her know we’re coming for her.”
I looked over at Gran. There was a smile on her face. Her eyes were shiny with unshed tears. “Thank you for contacting my daughter,” she said to Aurelia.
Aurelia nodded in acknowledgement. “It was the right thing to do. In fact, I wish I’d tried sooner, because what I learned from her in return is priceless. She told me that Apollyon has been diverting human souls to the Netherworld to consume them for power. He must be stopped.”
Gran gasped, and I furrowed my brow in confusion.
Both Gran and Aurelia had read my mom’s note. We all knew Apollyon had souls in the Netherworld and consumed them to get power. But… diverting souls? Was that a thing? From where? What did that even mean? I didn’t know enough about where a soul went when it died to know how this was an issue. The only soul I knew was Skye, and she went straight to Avalon. But maybe that’s because she was a Lumen?
“Diverting souls? My mom’s note didn’t mention that,” I croaked, imagining my psychotic father leaning over Skye’s ghostly form and slurping her up like a soup.
I shivered at the thought. No wonder Skye didn’t want to go to the Netherworld to relay a message to my mom.
Aurelia nodded. “Emery’s note revealed he’s been consuming souls, which in and of itself is horrific, but she probably didn’t know where he was getting them from when she wrote it. According to your mother, he’s been stealing souls that are not bound for the Netherworld. That must be what Aurum meant when he charged you with freeing the trapped souls. I didn’t realize they were souls that never should have been in the Netherworld to begin with.”
The gravity of what she’d just said hit me like a ton of bricks.
“Where were they supposed to go?” I asked.
Aurelia and Gran exchanged a wary look. “For centuries, Lumens have been tasked to fight evil and protect humanity here on Earth, but eternity… that’s another matter altogether. We’re not privy to that mystery. But from what your mother said, Apollyon found a way to intercept souls that were intended for somewhere else and drag them to his domain.”
That sounded awful. What if a soul was supposed to spend eternity in peace in Avalon but instead was taken to a Hell-like realm and eaten? Maybe Skye knew… I mean, she was technically dead.
“And that’s not all,” Aurelia went on, “your mother also knowshowApollyon is diverting the souls. We got cut off before she could tell me though. It was always a priority to rescue Emery from the Netherworld, but now it’s even more so. She has information that could stop all of this, and if innocent souls are being taken to and trapped in the Netherworld, then we need to help Tatum release them. I’ve moved up the timeline. We’re going for her in two weeks. You have a lot of catching up to do before then.”
I was both excited and terrified by the change in plans. I wanted to rescue my mom… like, yesterday… but I’d just got my butt whipped by a hellhound. Was I really ready to face whatever the Netherworld could throw at me?
I caught my breath.
The hellhound. Gage!
