Year Two: Rebels - Cara Wylde Page 0,74

me.

It was an honest to God earthquake, and I couldn’t believe they happened in Hell, too. Or maybe they didn’t. As I stared into the skull’s empty eye sockets, a thought crossed my mind: what if I’d just caused it?

“What the fuck, guys? Get out of there!” Valac screamed from above.

“Corri, do something. Fly away, save yourself.”

“I can’t fly!”

And that was when I noticed that even though she was flapping her wings like mad, she couldn’t lift herself out of the coffin. We were both trapped, except we couldn’t see the force that was keeping us down, keeping us inside with the skeleton of the demoness.

“Guys, I’m out of here! Sorry!”

Fucking Valac. He was such a coward. But just as I was thinking that, the earthquake intensified, and he fell on top of me.

“Owww!”

He was so heavy! I was pretty sure he’d broken my back. The second all three of us were in the coffin, something completely unexpected happened. The bottom of the coffin opened, and we fell through it. It was dark, dusty, and it felt like we were going to fall forever. We landed hard on a floor made of black, cold stone. Valac was on top of me again, and I pushed him angrily. I crawled onto my hands and knees, trying to figure out where we were.

“Oh shit,” I heard Valac behind me. “Oh shit, we’re in deep trouble!”

“What? Why? What is this place?”

“Can’t… fly…” Corri complained as she flapped her wings uselessly.

There were candles in the four corners of the chamber, and my eyes slowly adjusted to their dim, flickering light. I stood up, checking that my bones were intact. The horn I had stolen had fallen a few feet away, and I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. No matter how this was going to end, I couldn’t lose it. We’d already gone through so much to get it, and it seemed that our little abominable adventure wasn’t over.

“This is a trap.” Valac was freaking out. “This is a motherfucking trap!”

I looked around me. It seemed that we were inside a stone box underground. The ceiling was tall, the candlelight could barely penetrate the darkness, and on one of the walls there seemed to be an altar. I approached it carefully. First, I saw the coffin. Not the one from above. This one was made of the same black stone that surrounded us, and inside it lay the demoness, as if she’d just fallen in by magic. She was missing a horn, but her dress and jewelry were intact. Above the coffin, a painting depicted her in her youth, alive – tall, beautiful, dressed in an impressive crimson gown, her bare neck and arms glittering with jewels. She had golden hair and red eyes. Her horns were adorned with strings of black pearl beads, the intricate arrangement making them look like a crown upon her head. Under the painting, a plaque.

Here lies Kore, the Concubine of the great Belphegor, Prince of Hell, Commander of a Thousand Armies, Chief Demon of the Sin Sloth. Kore’s beauty proved to be treacherous. When her lover found out about her numerous infidelities, he killed her with his bare hands and buried her in an unmarked grave with the gems he’d gifted her in life. Regretting it later, he came back and built her a secret grave worthy of the love he’d once felt for her.

Anyone who dares to desecrate her grave and steal her riches will be punished. They will be buried alive with her, never to see the light of day.

Thus has decided Belphegor, Prince of Hell.

“Oh no,” I whispered.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Our powers had been rendered useless. Nullified. Corri couldn’t even fly, let alone do magic. I couldn’t teleport, and Valac couldn’t either. As a demon, he must’ve had some interesting tricks up his sleeve, but when he tried to do something, nothing happened.

“Cursed,” he said. “A cursed grave. That’s just great!”

“Calm down. They will come for us.”

“Who will? Nefertari fucking Maat? I heard that when you got lost in Heaven, she returned to the Academy without you, no problem. She won’t come looking for us.”

“Domina lied to her. I don’t know what she told her…”

“Wait a minute? Domina broke your arm?”

“Yeah. She pushed me off the observatory atop Hotel Fortitude.”

“And how are you still alive?!”

“It doesn’t matter. I am. And this won’t be the end of us. If Professor Maat doesn’t come, someone else will. Davien. Seth.” I wanted to say Adrian, but then Valac