Defying Destiny (Afterword Academy #3) - Katie May Page 0,40

It feels weird to ask him for guidance, but he’s lived thousands of years down here.

“Search,” he replies simply. “Hell is cunning. Deceiving. It wants to trick us, to lure us. But we mustn't let it.” His misty form swirls as he hovers, moving out ahead of me. “Outwit Hell, and we win. Outwit Hell, and we save Hadley and get my body back.”

Stepping beside him, I gaze out over the sand when something catches my eye. “Do you see that?” I ask, pointing.

“I do. But the question is, is that an illusion or something real?” He pauses for a moment, turning to face me. “The trick is figuring that out before it’s too late.”

Caius moves back to Hadley, and I continue to stare at the shimmering patch of sand far from here. Could it be a trap? Sure. But standing around here won’t do us any good. Might as well go and check it out, if Had can move that is.

“I’m fine,” I hear her call as I make my way back to the others. “I can walk. I’m okay now.”

“Like hell you are,” Auston bites out. “Come here. I can carry you.”

“I said I’m fine!” she retorts, anger in her voice. I know her anger is not towards Auston but to her situation, but he still cringes at her tone nonetheless.

Marching forward, Hadley stops before me, peering up into my eyes. “You ready?”

My eyebrows arch. “Umm. Sure. Lead the way, hot stuff.”

She smiles and takes my hand before tugging me along. My legs almost refuse to cooperate as we begin the long, arduous hike to the shimmering area beyond. The day seems unending, and for that, I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad. Should night fall, there’s no telling what nightmares might emerge or how the temperature could be affected. We could freeze to death in Hell. No one has fire power anymore. Brax sacrificed his for Hadley, and she used hers up back in the ice cave.

So basically, we’re fucked.

Because the sun? It’s relentless, beating down on our backs. Blisters have formed on all of us, and I know it will only continue to get worse. I remember the aloe plant my grandma used to keep in her tiny trailer. When we’d get too much sun, she’d sneak us inside and clip an aloe branch off her plant, splitting the green pointed leaf down the middle.

The insides were filled with a green liquid that just soothed your skin. I can still smell it and remember how loved she made me feel when she did that.

Day turns into day, turns into day, and still we walk. No one talks, fatigue overwhelming us, and speaking takes up too much energy, energy that we don’t have.

But when we slide down the last dune, to the place where the desert shimmers, hope rises in my chest.

Of course it’s a foolish hope because the moment our feet sink into the place we’ve been so desperate to find, it disappears and a murky patch takes its place.

Fuck.

It was a mirage all along.

Hadley and I turn back to tell the others to stop, to scream at them not to come any closer as our feet sink farther and farther in. Up to our knees, then our hips, covering our bellies.

Our words are lost as the wind once again picks up, blowing sand all around us even as we speak. The sands block out the orange sun, the orange sky…even Hadley. I reach for her, snatching her hand, holding it tightly as we sink in the quicksand.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Chapter 17

Hadley

I’m so fucking sick of falling through Hell.

Like the billion times before, it feels as if I’m stuck in a wind-tunnel, bitter air whipping my hair away from my face. I inhale greedily, my lungs attempting to refill on air as I fall, fall, fall. Actually, I’m not just falling—I’m plummeting.

I brace myself for impact, rolling twice with my eyelids squeezed shut. My weary body feels to have gone through the meat-grinder. With great reluctance, I peel open one eye, staring at my surroundings. What is it going to be this time?

Spiders again?

A maze of clowns?

A cornfield full of devil children?

Spiders dressed as child-sized devil clowns in a cornfield?

A haunted house?

It’s a house all right, but it’s one I recognize. It’s…mine.

“What the…?” I attempt to amble to my feet, but my body fails me, sending me collapsing back onto my knees. For a moment, I forget everything that has transpired over the last few months.