odd that the worst part of “the bad place” so far was the risk of tripping over loose rocks.
“Stinks in here,” Ian commented.
From the wrinkle on Phanes’s nose, he agreed. I didn’t notice any bad smell. In fact, I didn’t smell much of anything, which was odd since the regular world was continually awash with various scents.
“I don’t smell any stink.”
Ian’s brow rose. He looked like he was about to say something, but with our next few steps, the jagged walls fell away, revealing a narrow path with a steep drop on either side. Inky darkness ran along the bottom of that drop, reminding me of rivers within ravines.
“Single file from here,” Phanes said. “Careful of the drop, and don’t let the wails distract you.”
“What wails?” I asked.
Now Ian stared at me in disbelief. “You can’t hear them? It sounds like every condemned soul in this place is caterwauling at the top of their lungs.”
I didn’t hear anything beyond the echo of our steps on the stony floor, which was already interesting since we didn’t have real bodies, so how were our steps making enough of an impact to cause echoes?
“I don’t hear any wails,” I said, growing frustrated.
“Lucky you,” Phanes muttered. “Even luckier if you still can’t smell the stench. Naxos’s farts weren’t this noxious, and he was half bull.”
Charming, but more important, why couldn’t I smell or hear what they could? It didn’t make sense, but so far, not a lot did in this place. I’d have to rely on Ian for scents and sounds, and he’d have to rely on me for what he couldn’t see.
On the bright side, I hoped the people making those horrible sounds deserved whatever they were enduring, but perhaps not. My father’s only crime was freeing the souls that Dagon trapped inside himself, and I didn’t think that was a deed worthy of this place, but here he was.
“This way,” Phanes said, gesturing to the left side of a new fork in the tunnel.
“Why can I hear that, but not the other things?” I wondered out loud.
“Not to worry, luv,” Ian said. “I’ll be your nose and ears for whatever you miss.”
It was so close to what I’d thought moments ago, I smiled.
Ian smiled back, giving my hand a light squeeze. “Least this part of the netherworld only smells like decay; an improvement from the stink tunnel.”
I didn’t catch a scent of decay. I did detect a faint scent of sodium and rock, reminiscent of an abandoned salt mine. It was so odd that I could smell that and not what Ian mentioned, and I could hear them, but not the wails.
Phanes went to the far side of the tunnel, where a chain was bolted along the wall leading down a dark passageway.
“We follow this to the end,” he said.
I was glad of the makeshift handrail as we descended. Within a few meters, the rest of the floor dropped away until we walked on only a narrow ledge. A vast expanse spread out beyond the ledge, so dark that even I couldn’t see far into it.
I paused to pick up a small rock, and then tossed it into the darkness. The rock clattered as it bounced off the wall below the ledge we stood on. I strained my ears to hear more impact sounds, but after several seconds, still nothing. After a full minute, Ian tugged my arm.
“Come on, luv. No point dwelling on how long the drop is when we’re not going to fall.”
We continued along the narrow ledge. Soon, the ground became slick, making me keep a hand on the chain as I walked. I couldn’t see where the new slickness was coming from, and I couldn’t hear the sounds of a stream or other water source. Was that my hearing failing me again? Or something else?
Either way, I might not be able to hear the source of the water that slicked our narrow ledge, but I could hear a strange, scrabbling sound coming from the darkness below our ledge.
“Stop,” I said, going very still. We were no longer alone in this place. Hearing aside, I could also feel it.
“Something’s coming,” I whispered.
A surge of air rushed up, feeling like fingertips brushing across my ankles. I looked down, and gasped.
A creature clung to the sheer wall below me. It had two arms and two legs, but the humanoid similarities ended there. It was eyeless, and its slick, pale skin resembled the bioluminescence some fish in deep waters had. It opened