Page 37 of The Road to Hell

I turned back.

His gaze was steady and serious. “You know this won’t be easy, right?”

I swallowed. “Yeah. But nothing worth doing ever is.”

After a beat, he nodded. “Then let’s do this.”

ChapterTen

LILY

Every minute we spent in Hell reminded me how much it sucked. Or maybe it just made me realize how much I missed Earth. Yes, the minus-frigidy temperatures sometimes made life there challenging, but at least Earth had never actively tried to kill me. In Hell, if it wasn’t the heat, then it was the terrain—a sadistic mess of craggy paths filled with serrated rocks and random geysers that loved to spit fire and lava at random intervals.

And then there was the other problem—the one silently padding along behind us.

A hellcat.

It’d been stalking us for the past ten minutes, slinking through the shadows and keeping just out of reach. Its glowing eyes tracked me like I was its special treat. I hadn’t mentioned it to the others yet because, frankly, I kept hoping it would lose interest in us and find someone else to terrorize. No such luck so far though.

Even Purrgy must’ve picked up on it. His carrier had gone suspiciously silent, which was never a good sign. Normally, he’d be grumbling about the heat or my uneven pace, but right now, he was deathly still. Great. If my lazy, overfed cat thought we were in trouble, we probably were.

Hellcats were nothing to mess with. Imagine a tiger, but far more intimidating. They were about the same size, but hellcats had sleek, jet-black fur that shimmered like oil, and they moved with a lazy confidence that only came from knowing they could murder you without breaking a sweat. Then there were the not-so-fun bony spikes jutting from their backs, running down the length of their spines to a barbed ball at the tip of their tail. Because their teeth, claws, and sheer size weren’t frightening enough, apparently.

Then there were their eyes. Yes, they glowed, like most everything in Hell,butthere werefourof them. Just enough to make sure they never lost sight of their prey. Their fangs curved out past their jaw and every so often some sort of liquid dripped from them that hissed when it hit the ground. Without having ever experienced a bite, it was clear those teeth were venomous.

“Hey, Meat Sack, you’re falling behind!” Vol called from Eliza’s shoulder, where he’d perched himself a few hours back. After the events in the cave earlier today, Vol had decided Eliza was his new best friend. “Any reason for that?”

I shot Vol an annoyed glance. I wasn’t “falling behind.” I was keeping an eye on the predator tracking us. A predator Vol apparently hadn’t noticed.

Rathiel, walking a few feet ahead, glanced back at me. His expression was as serious as always, but concern narrowed his eyes when he spotted the distance between us. “Something wrong?”

I glanced over my shoulder. “We’ve got company.”

Rathiel’s gaze followed mine, and his body instantly tensed. “Hellcat?”

“Yep.”

Eliza fell back in line with us. “What’s a hellcat? Should I be worried?”

“Very much so,” I said.

The beast padded closer, slipping out of the shadows just enough for me to catch a better glimpse. Scales that gleamed like obsidian covered its sleek body, and flames licked at its paws as it moved. Its eyes burned orange and watched us with unrelenting focus.

“Options?” Eliza asked, flexing her fingers in preparation for a fight.

“We can try to scare it off,” I said, already doubting my own words. “Or we can fight it and hope we’re faster and stronger.”

“Hellcats don’t scare easily,” Rathiel said, his wings stretching slightly, his body ready to spring into action. “I’ve hunted them before. They’re not easy prey.”

I shifted my pack higher on my shoulder and received an agitated cry from deep inside Purrgy’s carrier. “How far are we to the nearest outpost?” I’d lost track of our location once I’d noticed our feline stalker.

“Fellmoor is just beyond that sulphur basin,” Rathiel said, nodding toward a wide, shallow crater in the near distance, its surface encrusted with yellow deposits that hissed and bubbled in places. Clouds of noxious steam coiled into the air like ghostly serpents, and the ground shimmered with heat distortion. “If we push hard, we can hopefully make it in ten minutes.”

“We aren’t goingthroughthat, are we?” Eliza asked.

“Not if you like your skin where it is,” I mumbled. “The sulphur in there will strip you to your bones.”

“Hard pass,” she said, grimacing.

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