Page 89 of As Darkness Fall
“Now what?” Vir snarled. “You’ve trapped us here.”
Out of the castle came Hades, the fire expanding now that it wasn’t trapped by the walls. He surged higher into the sky, blotting out everything with the fire. The souls below us seemed to react to his presence, because the wailing intensified.
“Down there,” Aaron said, pointing into the pit.
We snarled at him. Jumpinginto one of the Pits of Tartarus wasnotan escape. Our parents wouldn’t be freed from Lars if that’s what we did. They would stay there, just like we would stay here.
“There’s a ledge,” Aaron snapped furiously. “Look for yourselves, and then jump.”
Vir peered over the edge. “Shit,” he muttered, cursing for what we thought was the first time ever. “He’s right.”
“There’s a door on the ledge,” Aaron shouted, having to raise his voice over the roar of the flames as Hades towered above us, a living ball of rage and flame, gathering his strength to smite us.
We went to the edge, peering down, our sharp eyes easily picking out the ledge below. Far below.
“You’ll want to be in your other form for this jump,” Aaron said.
He was right. We shifted again, panting with the exertion.
My body wasn’t used to this. Too many changes in too short a time. I didn’t know how many more I could go through. But there was no way I was jumping to that ledge without having hands to try and grab on to something. It was going to be tough to time as it was.
So there I stood on the edge of the Pits of Tartarus, buck-ass naked and running from a god.
My grandkids–if I survived to have them–werenevergoing to believe this story.
“Go!” Aaron shouted as Hades came at us, having gathered enough power.
Fred stepped up to the edge, glanced at me, and shrugged. I heard something that sounded suspiciously like “weeee” as he jumped.
Vir followed swiftly, leaving just Aaron and me. The air was growing unbearably hot.
“Go!” Aaron shouted, positioning himself between the oncoming ball of fire and me. “Go now!”
I turned, looked down at the ledge, and jumped.
“God fucking dammit!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, hurling every ounce of faith I might ever have had into the curse.
Behind me, Aaron turned and came running for the edge, but then I dropped out of sight.
Heat washed over me, and a terrible scream of pain followed, chilling me to my core. I fell toward the ledge, bracing for impact, then sticking my hands out as I realized I’d overshot my landing point.
“Shi–oof!” I grunted as Vir reached out and caught me in one arm.
He turned as he did, and his other arm darted out and caught Aaron with the other, hauling us onto the ledge.
I stared at Vir’s other arm, correcting myself.
He’d caught what wasleftof Aaron. Most of his body, aside from a small section of his face, was charred beyond recognition.
“He’ll be fine,” Vir snapped, setting me down roughly. “Now, go! Through the door, go-go-go!”
When I didn’t move, Vir kicked me into motion. Turning, I spied the doors set into the cliff-face, and without hesitation, I dove through them, with Vir following me. The doors closed behind us, and I stood up, looking around.
“Now what the hell do we do?” I asked nervously.
Chapter Forty-Four
“Don’t look at me,” Fred said as my gaze landed on him. He had the Idol clutched to him tightly still.
