Page 76 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

“Icreated you,” Osiris emphasized. “Be sure you do not forget that.”

“Of course,” the demon answered through gritted teeth.

Before Osiris left, he asked one more question. “Might you have happened to speak to the dark elemental fire king?”

“We’ve run across each other a time or two, considering what we do is quite similar,” Dolion admitted.

“True,” Osiris agreed. “Do not wait so long to check in with me again.” Osiris left without another word. He couldn’t stay any longer without ripping the demon’s black heart from his chest. There was something afoot with the demi-lord, and Osiris would find out what it was.Thenhe would rip Dolion’s heart out.

Osiris flopped down onto his throne, once again bored. “Crescious, bring me the newest souls from level one,” he told the little demon. “I feel like torturing something.”

Cresicous bowed and then disappeared. The lord of the underworld sighed as he tried not to think about the human female and the young Pharaoh. She wouldn’t choose the boy. Why would she when she could have the king of hell? “Of course, she’ll choose me,” he said as he glanced at the wailing souls in the river of lava. She’d better choose me. At least she would relieve my boredom for awhile. Perhaps I will breed her and have some spawn.Thatwould be amusing.He chuckled. Tiny, crumb-catching demons running around like little hellions. Because that’s what they would be. Yes, that sounded like an intriguing idea.

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Shelly opened several of the doors only to find empty rooms. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

“What were you expecting to find?” Ra asked.

She shrugged. “Burning cities, lakes of fire… You know, the usual hell stuff.”

She heard him chuckle from behind her. “You know what ‘the usual hell stuff’ is?”

“The rumors have to come from somewhere. Everyone knows hell is hot and full of lakes of fire. No one has ever said that hell was an ice world … or an enchanted forest.”

“That’s true,” Ra admitted.

“How’d you get to the underworld anyway?” she asked as she headed back to the room they’d first entered. She walked back over to the couch and sat down. It didn’t look like there were going to be any cool discoveries or revelations.

“The River Styx.”

“That’s real?” Shelly asked, her curiosity seriously piqued.

“That surprises you? After all you’ve learned?” he asked.

He had a point. “But the River Styx is like an ancient myth. I guess I don’t know what’s real and what’s not now, do I? Where is the river?”

“Part of it runs through the basement of Crimson Academy.”

“No way.” Shelly grinned. “That’s freaking cool.”

“You have a strange idea of what cool is,” Ra told her.

“Meh, normal’s overrated.” She shifted as she got more comfortable. Ra took a seat next to her and once again angled his body toward hers. His arm rested on the back of the couch. He played with a strand of her hair, wrapping it around his finger and then letting it unroll. She enjoyed his touch, even the subtle ones. “So, what happens when you cross the River Styx. Do you just walk through a door and, bam, you’re in Osiris’s throne room?”

“Not exactly. Any number of things can occur depending upon what Osiris wants to happen. There are seven levels,” he explained. “I ended up on the very bottom, which happens to be the worst. All levels of hell are evil, obviously, but the least evil souls are on level one, and they get darker as you go down.”

“What level was I on?” She shivered as she thought about the evil souls lurking on level seven.

“You were on one.”

“Those are what? Liars, cheats, thieves?”

He nodded. “Some, yes. The murderers and horrific people are down on seven. I had to travel through each level to make it to level one.”

“It sounds like a computer game,” Shelly said.

Ra’s lips quirked. “I suppose, from a person who hasn’t had to endure it, it does. But speaking from experience, it’s not a game I’d like to play again any time soon.”

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