Page 42 of Till Death

And regret. That I wasn’t strong enough to free him from this torture. Eli had called it torture and as much as I hated to admit it, he was right. I’d failed too.

“He’s not the only one who needs to move faster,” Tamara called out over her shoulder.

My adrenaline hadn’t faded completely but enough had for me to feel every little ache. The big ones hurt worse, like the wound on my leg. The gash protested with each step and my knees threatened to give out and send me straight down on my ass.

No time to think about it, though. I gritted my teeth and swallowed down my own agony as I forced myself to do as suggested andhurry.

My eyes watered but there were more important things to worry about than my own discomfort. Cole did his best to keep up but the strain of keeping the transformation from claiming him entirely must have been too high. Most Halflings were quick on their feet. Not him. Call me strange but his slow pace gave me more hope than it probably should have.

The hallway came to an abrupt end, splitting off into two different directions. Eli made the choice to take us to the left and we followed him. No more waiting. Who knew if we even went in the right direction, or what end point we hoped to find.

Another maze. Another choice to make and hope it was the right one.

“Please tell me you have some sense of direction.” This from Lisa, who had given up her position at the head of our little pack so Eli could lead.

He paused for a moment, his eyes snapping to the left before taking us there. “I’m trying. It’s a little difficult to get a feel for things down here. It’s like the hallways are changing, circling back around on me.”

I thought, as I let out a long sigh, I was happy I’d stopped pushing people away. It was a long process and one I’d fought against for a long time. Fought against the need to lean on anyone other than myself. Except now, walking with this group, a sliver of pleasure took me by surprise.

These were my people.

They cared about me, they believed in me.

“Jade, are you okay, girl?”

“Hmm?”

Lisa’s concerned gaze also took me by surprise.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked.

“You’ve been through a lot. What we walked into back there…I can’t even begin to guess what you were talking to that demon asshole about. I just want to make sure you’re fine.”

I smiled at her and forced the immediate dismissal back.

“I’m trying,” I answered honestly. “All of this is starting to feel like a little more than I can handle but I’m trying.”

Taking a risk by stepping closer to Cole than was probably acceptable, Lisa patted me on the shoulder. “If anyone can make it through this unscathed, then it’s you. You came down here to save me. No normal Archangel would do that for a ghost.”

“Thanks.”

Doors lined the hallway, and I knew—I think we all knew—what lay behind them. Souls, trapped in an endless loop of suffering, their own personal torments. Half of me wondered if this, traversing these halls with no end in sight and no way to save Cole, was my own hell.

I really couldn’t think of much worse.

There were no growls at our back. There were no sounds of a scuffle following us. Yet the feeling of foreboding grew with each new step. It deepened, darkened. Grew until the pressure inside of me threatened to burst out through every pore.

“Oh, Jade.”

My name, whispered intimately close to my ear in a sing-song tone, had me stumbling. I tripped over my own feet and slammed into the nearest wall. Hissing, I gripped the top of my arm when pain radiated out from the area.

“Are you missing something?” It was Amon speaking, but I didn’t see him anywhere.

Fear seized me. At once the hallway went dark, spinning around me until I felt like I was falling. Tamara and Lisa cried out at the sudden change. I tried to see through the blackness to Eli, to Cole.

More games. Except this game was absolutely terrifying. I closed my eyes against the swirling, pressing one hand into my stomach and the other tightening on Cole’s shoulder.

The spinning stopped abruptly. The soles of my feet slammed down onto solid ground though it took longer to steady myself.

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