get a glimpse of a bony foot in my peripheral vision. My muscles wind tight as I turn my head.
Bodies cover the wall, wrapped in aged and torn fabric like mummies. Some of their limbs and faces are hanging out, their bodies’ pale and frail, their eyes hollow.
“These are some of the souls you’re here to save,” Alana utters quietly over her shoulder. “Try not to look at them, though. It upsets the queen.” She slows down to walk beside me, matching my steps as she leans in and lowers her voice. “And, Gemma, whatever you do, don’t give her the ring until you’ve sealed the promise for the freedom of the lost souls, the ones who ended up here because of the apocalypse.”
I jolt as one of the lost souls cries out. “Does she know why I’m here?” I whisper.
“She’s the Queen of the Afterlife, not the Ruler of the City of Crystal, so you’re going to have to explain it to her.”
I dare another look at the souls, worried that somehow one of them might be my mother. Is this where she ended up? If so, does that mean she’ll be freed when I release them?
“Your mother’s not there, and be grateful she’s not,” Alana whispers like she read my mind.
Maybe she’s right. Maybe I should be grateful my mom isn’t in this god-awful place. Still, for some reason, I just feel more heartbroken because that means she won’t be part of the souls I free.
When we reach the end of the tunnel and step into a large room, I start to get why Alana told me to be grateful. The souls down here aren’t just lost; they’re tortured.
In the room, the mummy-like bodies are being forced to drag large trailers of coffins up a dirt path as men dressed in armor beat them. Cries haunt the air, and blood stains the ground.
It reminds me a lot of The Underworld, but the difference is that these souls aren’t evil.
They’re just lost.
ALEX
“Now what do we do?” Laylen asks as he leans back against the counter and folds his arms. “I mean, there’s only so much crap we can attempt to fix before we have to admit we’re not handymen.” He looks down at the pool of water on the floor, proving his point.
I sit down in a chair, trying to think of an idea, but my thoughts keep drifting to Gemma and what’s going on upstairs.
“I honestly have no fucking clue.” I pause. “Maybe we should just go upstairs and check on things.”
“You know you’ll go crazy if you see her like that.”
“I know.”
The room grows quiet.
“Okay, so who wants to help me?” Aislin enters the room, looking as cheerful and happy as a cheerleader on crack.
“If you’re going to be cheerful, then leave,” I grumble. “And where’s Gemma?”
“She’s upstairs in her bed, completely fine. I even checked her vitals and did a spell to make sure the baby is doing okay.” She nudges me in the foot with her shoe. “So stop being a downer and come help me.”
“With what?” Laylen asks, mildly curious.
Aislin claps her hands together. “With removing your Mark of Immortality.”
“You’ve finally figured out that spell?” I sound way too surprised, causing her to glare at me.
“For your information, it’s a completely unknown spell, and most witches can’t even do unknown spells,” she says, “so the fact that I’ve gotten far enough to test it says how much of a badass I am.”
Laylen’s eyebrows shoot up when Aislin looks at him. “You want to try it on me?”
She nods almost too energetically. “It’d be much easier to try it out on you than anyone else.” She chews on her fingernail. “You don’t have to, though. I get it if you don’t want the mark gone.”
He looks down at the mark branding his forearm. “You can try it on me.”
“Are you sure?” she checks.
“I’m sure,” he says confidently.
“Awesome.” She scratches at her arm. “Then, after I’ve perfected that spell, it’s on to the shield removing spell. Although I’m not sure how I’m going to figure out if that one works without being right next to Stephan.”
“That’s not happening. No one’s ever going to be around him again,” I say and Laylen nods in agreement. “It’s a good thing you guys never told him where we were when you went all crazy.”
“That’s because I put an Interpres Incantatores on all of us, which keeps any of us from divulging our location to any person who means us