Pickup Styx (Easy Bake Coven) Page 7

  I went to Sy first. He agreed to sit with Selene and Frost so Edith could come with me. Edith took more convincing.

  “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying with my granddaughter.” She remained firmly planted in her chair, clutching knitting needles.

  “But this is for Selene too,” I said gently. “Sy will be with her.”

  She glared at Sy leaning against the fireplace. “Don’t you have a job?”

  “Nothing that can’t wait,” he said. “You know I love Selene. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

  Edith looked doubtful. “Yeah, you’ve done a great job of that so far.”

  Sy stiffened. “I’m not overbearing. Selene has to live her life.”

  “She’s the only family I have.”

  “Then I guess you shouldn’t have cursed her.” Sy’s eyes flashed.

  Edith stabbed her knitting needles into the ball of yarn, and I felt a very familiar collecting of energy in the room, similar to what Selene did before she brought down buildings. “Edith, if you want to protect Selene, you need to come with me.”

  It took a moment, but finally her face relaxed. She set the yarn aside and stood with dignity. “I will come back. God help you all if anything happens to her while I’m gone.”

  Frost huffed with impatience and set her book to the side. “She’s already dead, people. What do you think’s going to happen to her aside from a little decay?” We all looked at Selene, searching for signs of decomposition.

  “Relax.” She waved a dismissive hand. “I have her for twelve hours. After that … ”

  Edith and I left Sy chatting with Frost like they were old friends. We all met back in my father’s quarters. The coven sat on one side of the room and Edith stood on the other.

  “What’s she doing here?” Jessica asked.

  Devin nudged her. “How did things go with Selene? Nothing has happened, has it? I’ve been having the strangest dreams.”

  “Everything went as expected with Selene.” I forced a smile I didn’t feel. “We brought all of you here because we need help. My father has escaped—or we think he has. We need you to help us track him.”

  “How?” Leslie asked, sending Edith a wary glance.

  “My blood,” I said. “I know we’re all worried about Selene, and things have happened in the past that may make it hard to trust some members.” I looked at Edith and she stared at the ground. “But you are the people she’s closest to. Each of you love her in your own way, and she needs your help.”

  I waited for them to each nod, Jessica going last as she continued to glare at Edith.

  “When Selene makes it back, and I have to believe she will, the last thing we need is for my father to attack her. I don’t know if he is planning anything for certain, but I can’t take the risk. He has held a grudge against her for too long.”

  “Blood will be tricky,” Devin said, chewing on her lip.

  “Bloodlines take you in a lot of different directions,” Leslie added. “It isn’t like we can pinpoint a particular strand of DNA.”

  “Just say what you all mean,” Katrina said. “We need Selene.”

  “That’s why I brought Edith.”

  “There’s no way in hell,” Jessica said. “Last time we did spells with her, she had us cursing Selene without knowing it. Find another way.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “I wouldn’t hurt my granddaughter,” Edith finally spoke.

  “Oh, besides, you know, the last time,” Katrina said, eyes bright with emotion, foot tapping rapidly.

  “Wait.” Sebastian held up his hand. “We all know what happened then.” He looked back and forth between Edith and the girls. “I think it’s time to let that go and work together. You all want to help, and right now, this is the most help you can give. Can you put aside your differences for the greater good?”

  “How can you trust her?” Katrina asked me. “Look, I was all for Selene talking to her grandma before she died, but I don’t think we should let that woman’s magic anywhere near here. She is bat-crap crazy.”

  “The spell will have nothing to do with Selene. We are dealing with me this time, and Sebastian is right. Edith had the best intentions last time. Jaron perverted those intentions into something to suit his agenda, not hers.”

  Katrina and Jessica didn’t look convinced.

  “I am asking you to do this.”

  “We’ll try,” Devin said, stepping between them. “It will be okay.”

  Leslie stepped up and took Katrina’s hand. “We’ll be extra careful that nothing goes wrong this time.”

  Jessica rolled her eyes. “I wish Selene were here.”

  “Devin, what was the last dream you had about Selene?” Katrina asked.

  I hadn’t heard that she’d had a dream about Selene. Devin’s dreams came true more often than not.

  “It really wasn’t clear enough to make sense.” Her expression looked far away. “It was a dark place filled with screams and misery. Someone was crying. Maybe a baby, maybe Selene, I really don’t know. Then I saw her fall to the ground, blood on her hands, while a man yelled behind her.”

  No doubt the beginning was the Underworld. A stab of worry twisted in my stomach. But was the second part of her dream here or there? “Did the yell sound like me?”

  She gave me a helpless gesture. “I really couldn’t say.”

  Katrina looked like her thoughts were similar to mine. Anyone could be stabbing Selene, including my father. “We’ll do it,” she said.

  “Thank you.” I ran a dagger across my palm and squeezed blood into a bowl. This had to work. Eleven hours and counting.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Simon said. “You can’t go back there.”

  “I’m not leaving him.”

  “But there’s nothing you can do to help him. Do we need him to get out?”

  I didn’t need Corbin to get out, but I also had no idea how I could help Simon escape and told him as much. If he wanted a chance, we had to have Corbin.

  “We’ll figure something out as we go,” he said.

  I clenched my jaw. That was unacceptable. I’d brought Corbin here. I wasn’t leaving him. “We’ll see about that. Wait here.” I took off back up the bridge, staying close to the wall.

  Corbin was talking to Minos like he didn’t have a care in the world, though two demons still held him by the arms, waiting for instruction while their tails swished behind them and their distorted faces said they were looking forward to whatever was coming.

  “Punishment? You’ve got to be kidding. You aren’t going to let one little transgression get in the way of what was a beautiful friendship, are you? Let bygones be bygones.”

  “I should put you in the river until the water tears the flesh from your bones. I allowed you to feed here because you delivered more than you ever took, but there are rules. Even for vampires. You need to be taught your place.”

  “You got what you wanted in the end. I lost and you won. Order remained, and I have been punished. I want to mend the bridge, Minos. That’s why I came back.”

  Minos stared down at Corbin with unblinking yellow eyes. “Then tell me, how did you get here? I closed your passage. There is no way you got through.”

  “There’s more than one way to skin a human.”

  A grotesque smile oozed onto Minos’s face. “You want to be forgiven, Corbin, and I want to forgive you. Prove you are worthy. Bring me the witches who helped you get here, and all will be forgotten.”

  “Open the passage back up and I will.”

  “We both know that isn’t necessary.”

  “How would you propose I do it?”

  “Invite your friend out.”

  My heart stuttered. Corbin was as still as a corpse. “What friend would that be?”

  Minos looked past him toward me. “The witch. The one behind you. I cannot see her, but I feel her energy. Bring her before me and all is forgiven.”

  Corbin glanced back, but not at me, his face
completely closed and blank. “I don’t see anyone.”

  “Games will not do, Corbin. I know she is there. Bring her to me now, or you go in the river and I hunt her myself.”

  “The years have made you paranoid, Minos,” Corbin said.

  Minos nodded once and the demons lifted Corbin, oblivious to his struggles, and carried him toward the river’s edge.

  I slipped my necklace off, gripped it in my hand, and blocked the demons. “No. I’ll come forward.”

  Minos laughed gleefully. “You came out to play after all. Step before me so I can get a look at you, little witch.”

  “Put the necklace back on,” Corbin hissed.

  “Let Corbin go,” I called out.

  “Very well.” Minos waved a hand and the guards disappeared, dropping Corbin to the ground. “Many try to sneak out, little witch, but few try sneak in. What do you hope to gain in there?”

  Minos didn’t seem like the type who was looking for a long answer or the type to be sympathetic. I held his piercing gaze for a moment while I boiled down what I was doing here to the base reason in my mind. “Life.” That was the essence of it. I was here because I wasn’t ready to die. I wanted a chance at happily ever after.

  A black film slipped over his eyes, but an instant later they were back to their putrid yellow. He made a slurping noise that made my stomach turn.

  “Exploring death to appreciate life…” He slapped his hand on the podium in front of him. “Risky. But so is bringing a vampire to the Underworld. You are obviously brave, but are you strong?” His slimy tongue darted out of his mouth. “Plenty of sin. I wonder how you would fair.”

  “Perhaps we’ll find out,” I said, looking up through my eyelashes innocently as I added a little pout.

  His lips pulled back from his rotten, decaying teeth in what I could only assume was a smile. “So we shall. I will let you pass without judgment, along with your guide, on one condition.”

  “What is that?”

  “You have to travel the Road of Perdition. If you can do that, I will allow you in and back out of purgatory. If you cross to Hell, you are no longer my problem.”

  “You know that isn’t possible, Minos,” Corbin said. “No one can survive that journey.”

  Minos waved him off. “What do you think, little witch? Are you strong enough? Are you brave enough?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  His tongue dripped black saliva as it traced his lips. “Of course. You can stay with me and watch Corbin get what he deserves. Another fun option.”

  I rolled my eyes. “If I say no to both of those options, what happens?”

  “I judge you and put Corbin in the river anyway. We are nothing if not fair.”

  I nodded. “And if I say yes and fail?”

  “You are mine indefinitely. You haven’t been sentenced, therefore there will be no limit on the time I can keep you before I have to let you move on.”

  I wasn’t sure if Minos could keep me when the spirits had plans for my soul, but that wasn’t really my problem. At least he was giving me a chance. He could fight it out with the spirits if I failed to come back. “Has anyone completed this journey?”

  “There’s always a first.” He smiled again, making me want to throw up.

  I stiffened my spine. I wouldn’t let him intimidate me. “I’ll do it.”

  “Wonderful. There is only one rule. Don’t stray from the path. If you do, all agreements are off.” He looked at his watch. “Tick tock, little witch. You know what I expect, Corbin.” He shot Corbin a meaningful look that Corbin didn’t acknowledge.

  Corbin took my arm and dragged me away. “What is wrong with you? Why did you come back? I had it handled.”

  “I think what you mean is, ‘Thank you for saving my ass, Selene.’ Handled? Really? They were throwing you in the river. I need you with me or I have no chance of making it through.”

  “Well, now you have a much worse problem than no guide. We have to travel through the sections of purgatory designed to punish souls for the sins of their lives, and only”—he lifted my wrist to look at my watch—“ten hours and twenty-three minutes to do it.”

  Corbin charged past Simon, and I scrambled to keep up with him. Simon fell into step with us. “Where are we going?” he asked.

  Corbin growled and then pointed at a desolate path. The sky above it was so bright that it hurt my eyes. To the left, the meager trail led into a seemingly endless desert. To the right, it led into a forest so dark my eyes couldn’t penetrate it. Sand drifted in the air that was already hard to breathe, hot and thick. In front of us, a river of what looked like red-hot embers surrounded by lava boiled and raged.

  “Which way?” I choked out.

  “Your choice,” Corbin said. “We have to do it all anyway.”

  I looked both directions once more before heading for the forest, deciding the evil I couldn’t see was probably worse than the one I could.

  “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” Simon asked.

  “No,” Corbin said, following me toward the unknown.

  “You should go back, Simon.” I tossed him my necklace since I didn’t need it anymore, but Corbin intercepted my throw, frowning. “If he’s going back, he needs the necklace.”

  “I’m not going back,” Simon said. “I just want to know where we’re headed. If there’s a chance you can get me out of here, I’m sticking with you.”

  “I told you I don’t know how to get you out. There is no chance,” I told him.

  “Don’t be modest, Selene. Of course we can help him.” Corbin gave me a meaningful look, but I wasn’t sure what he was getting at.

  I glared in reply. Simon couldn’t come back with me, and I doubted Corbin would share his method of return. I didn’t even know what Simon would be if he made it back. I paused before entering the tree line, took my necklace back from Corbin, and held it out to Simon once more. “You should go back.”

  “If it’s all the same, I’m staying,” he said with a wink. “This is the most fun I’ve had with a pretty girl in years.”

  “One finger on her, redshirt, and your part in this story is over.” Corbin peered into the forest. “Can’t see a damn thing, can you?”

  I shook my head.

  “We need to stay together. They’ll try to separate us, but don’t let them. The only way out of the forest will be to repent.”

  “Repent what?” Simon asked.

  “We’ll find out soon enough. Perdition is designed to cleanse. It will be different for every person who enters. So whatever your issues are, they’re about to try to floss them with your intestines.”

  “Then how can we stay together?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but it’s better if we do.” His eyes met mine with furious intensity. “We must.”

  “Okay.” I glanced at the forest then at my watch as time ticked away. “Corbin, if we start running out of time and it looks like succeeding will be impossible, I want you to…” I didn’t know how to ask this. The words jumbled in my throat.

  He nodded, understanding what I couldn’t say. “I’ll take your soul rather than leaving you here, but it isn’t going to come to that, pet.”

  I smoothed my hair and straightened my shoulders. He was right. I was definitely going to make it home. “I’ll lead. Stay close.”

  “Wait,” Corbin said, grabbing the back of my dress before I could step through. “If we do get separated, don’t wait. Keep going. I’ll catch up with you. Always move forward.”

  Simon nodded too, though I was pretty certain Corbin wasn’t talking to him.

  I couldn’t make that promise. I’d brought Corbin here and Simon had only come because he thought I could help him. How could I just leave either of them? Besides, Corbin was my ultimate backup plan, and I didn’t intend to lose that either. I didn’t want to spend an eternity in Hell or in that cemetery.

  “Selene?”

  I didn’t say anything. He glared at me, neither of us wil
ling to give an inch.

  “Don’t be slow,” I finally said. Then I stepped into the darkness. Visibility was next to nothing. The outlines of scorched trees nearly in front of my face were the most I could see. Corbin grabbed my arm. I took tiny steps, my free arm stretched out in front of me. My watch ticked loudly in the silence, reminding me once again of the time slipping away.

  Corbin’s hand gripped tighter, shifting me to the left. I squinted, trying to see better, but it looked no different than the direction we had been facing.

  “Can you see?” I whispered because it seemed wrong to speak in normal tones.

  I was met with silence.

  “Corbin?”

  A cool trickle of doubt spread through me, and the hand holding my arm warmed. I pulled away, but the grip tightened. Blisters rose and burst on my arm. “No.” I fought harder against the scorching hold of whatever was following me. “Corbin!” I shouted.

  Silence rang out around me. I had to get away. That was the only thing I knew. I planted my feet and yanked as hard as I could. My flesh peeled away as I lurched free. I fled blindly, paying no heed to what lay before me, my lungs screaming for air, adrenaline pumping my muscles. Welcome to Hell.

  “Blood’s not going to work,” Devin proclaimed after an hour of deliberations.

  Great, we still have no leads. I paced the room. The killer couldn’t have just vanished. There had to be a way to find him.

  “But we have an idea,” Katrina said. “If you want to do it.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “We can’t use your blood because there’s no way for us to follow it,” Edith said. “Only Selene could have done it because she is a half-elf and could have transported herself to the location. However, we could use you as a conduit.”

  “How?” Sebastian asked.

  “We could cast a spell on Cheney that would show him where his family is,” Leslie said.

  “Show me?”

  “It will be like a vision. It will happen fast and you’ll need to remember exactly what you see, which is harder than it sounds,” Devin said.

  “And that will be all I have to go on?”

  “At least it’s something,” Jessica said, though she didn’t look pleased either.