Page 95 of Half Dead

My heartbeat thundered in my ears. “How about we stay alive in the present? Then we can focus on the future.”

I leaned forward and kissed him, for what I hoped wasn’t the last time.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A layerof moisture slicked my palms as I strode across the threshold of the crossroads. I kept my hands at my sides and my chin held high in case Lucifer was watching. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me sweat.

The light grew dim as I ventured deeper. I focused my heightened senses on my surroundings, in search of the entrance I needed. The scent of lilacs drifted through a misty archway. Instinctively I knew to keep walking. Whatever that realm was, it didn’t house an ancient tablet of divine power.

A curved line of silver glinted in the gloom. Not the right shape for a door. I inched closer to investigate.

A porthole. Clever.

I pulled a lever. The smell of sea salt filled my nostrils as water spilled into the tunnel. Good thing I’d already sprayed myself and my weapons with Phaedra’s atomizer.

Keeping my mouth closed, I hooked my hands around the perimeter of the porthole and hoisted myself upward. I wriggled through the porthole into the deep, dark sea, pausing to close the entrance behind me and keep the water from flooding the tunnel.

I braced myself for the sting of ice-cold water, but Phaedra’s protective bubble kept me warm and dry. After a few long strokes, I let myself breathe. No water traveled up my nose or in my mouth.

Thank you, Phaedra.

Wherever I was in the ocean, there were no sea creatures to be found, not even a school of fish. I was moving at a rapid clip, courtesy of a swift current. Eventually I realized there was no need to swim at all. The current swept me along, and my instincts told me to let it, that the waterway was designed to guide me to my destination. Still, it was difficult to cede control and simply ride it out; it went against my nature.

The sea spat me out onto a rocky beach. Unfortunately, Phaedra’s potion wasn’t designed to protect me against the bumps and bruises the stones would surely inflict. Swallowing a groan of pain, I dragged myself to dry land and took a moment to collect myself and survey the area. Although there was no sun or moon in the ink-stained sky, the island wasn’t underwater. The bottomless pit seemed to be a realm within a realm. Maybe this was the reason Camryn seemed convinced there was no water involved.

I glanced behind me at the waves crashing against the shore. No wonder Lucifer’s other efforts had been in vain. The current only ran in one direction; there’d be no swimming against it. Even if his minions had recovered the tablet, they would’ve been unable to retrace their steps home. I set the concern aside for now. Inch by inch, as Nana Pratt was fond of saying.

The darkness was pervasive. Unlike the first trial, however, my goddess vision seemed intact here. Despite the small victory, I knew it didn’t bode well for the types of monsters I might encounter. Only certain creatures could survive in a world of perpetual night.

Good thing I was one of them.

A raging howl erupted in the distance, followed by a series of quieter ones. The hair on my arms stood on end. Although I didn’t recognize the origin of the sound, I knew that tone was primal and territorial. Whatever the creature was, it knew a stranger had arrived in its strange land and wasn’t happy with the development.

My hand moved to my sword. I listened to another series of howls that shook the tree fronds. I judged their distance as a couple miles away, unless, of course, sound functioned differently in this realm.

I looked around for any indication of the right path, an earthly equivalent to the ocean current. To my right, an enormous, jagged cliff loomed in the distance. Waves crashed against it, their efforts futile. It would take centuries to make a dent.

I consulted the scroll, which I’d been able to bring thanks to Phaedra’s potion. According to the map, to my left was a rainforest. I spotted a mixture of palm and emerald trees amongst the others. Straight ahead was a series of caves. I decided to go left for now, in the opposite direction of the howls. It would be easier to hide in the thick of the trees, although it was more than likely the creatures tracked by scent. With that in mind, I picked up handfuls of mud and rubbed my face and body with it. I tried to think of it as nature’s facial. The smell was remarkably pleasant, a combination of sea salt and licorice with a hint of ginger.

Great. Now I was hungry.

I bolted between the trees. It didn’t take long to encounter my first creature. A bird with one, two, three…nine heads. And I thought Cerberus defied gravity with three heads. Magic was the only explanation for the bird’s ability to stay upright.

All nine heads tracked my movement through the rainforest. Thankfully the beaks remained closed.

I heard a faint buzzing sound in the distance and kept walking, using my sword to cut away vines and carve out a path. If I traveled north then east, I might be able to circumvent the territorial creatures.

The buzzing noise intensified. If an entire stadium full of violinists played at once, this was how they would sound. I searched frantically for a place to hide. There were no bushes or caves, only trees.

The insects swooped down from the treetops.

Locusts.

They swarmed. My sword sliced through the air, but the blade was ineffective against the sheer volume of insects. The more I hit, the more seemed to appear. Their tiny bodies pressed against me, forcing me to the ground. They buried themselves in my hair and in the creases of my clothing. One climbed up my nostril and I snorted it out. If I was suffocated by a mound of insects, I was going to be deeply unhappy. I deserved a better death than that.

A scorching heat passed over me, and I felt the locusts disperse. Another flash of warmth quickly followed. I peeked between my fingers and watched my attackers drop to the ground; their charred bodies disintegrated upon impact with the earth. Those that didn’t flew away before the next heat wave.

Slowly I raised my head for a glimpse of the source. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of the serpentine dragon hovering between the trees.

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