Page 21 of Haunted Heart
My nerves don’t.
“Genevieve?” Jonas’s head tips back, and he looks at me like he’s drunk and just come out of a blackout.
“Hey,” I say, stopping and taking a moment to breathe. “How you feeling?”
He grimaces and says… “I don’t think you want to know.”
“Tell me anyway.”
Wincing, he says, “You know how they tie up bulls to make them buck in bull riding? Yeah… it’s like there’s a rope pulling me the opposite direction you are.” He steps away from me and his head snaps toward the ravine.
“I can’t let you go back there.”
“Why not?”
“There’s no gentle way to break this to you… but we’re in Hell.”
His eyes finally clear and he looks all around. “Oh.”
I expected more. I expected…
He flinches, breaking my grip on one hand but I grab him again, as quick as I can.
“What is that?” He takes a step back. Away from the ravine, not toward it.
“This is Julia.”
“Julia the poltergeist, Julia?”
“Yep.” I test letting go of him, and he starts to sway toward the maze exit. I don’t even think he’s doing it on purpose.
“So… we summoned her, and she dragged us to Hell?”
“No. The summoning worked, but… a different spell messed up. You and Dylan got pulled down here so we came to get you back.”
“Rescued by a poltergeist, that’s a new one.” He laughs, but it cuts off abruptly when he looks back.
“Jonas?”
His face snaps to me and he opens his eyes wide, head weaving.
Julia drifts close beside me, staring at him. “If she lets you go, Hell will try to drag you back to your specific entrance.”
He flinches, looking at her like he’s not sure she’s really there. “Oh, you can talk.”
And he can hear her.
His eyes dart around us. “I thought we were already in Hell?”
“We’re in Limbo,” I say.
“Wait.” He gets to standing and sways a little. “Limbo… Does that mean this is like ‘Junior year of high schoolDante’ Hell?”
“Kind of.”
He doesn’t pull away from me as much now that his back is to the ravine.
Brows pinched, he scowls… “What Hell am I destined for?”
