If that’s the case was the risk of losing Dax worth it? Once again, it sure seems they have shady practices. “Are you sure you’re on the good side? Because I’m not sure you are.”
His mouth drops open for a second, before he closes it and forces a smile. “Of course, I am. I’m doing this all for our kind and humanity. We must maintain the balance.”
There is no point to arguing, but we didn’t have to reap Dax. We could have found someone who’s time is up and used them as the realm jumper. They could have just transported both Dax and me. Doing this to Dax is just an unnecessary risk that ties him to the council … or is that what they want?
“I promise I’m okay. I’m ready to go on to Hell if you are. I’ve been training for weeks now, and we need to get moving.”
Wow, how long have they planned this? “Fine, let’s go.” I do want to get this over with.
“Okay, so, Christina, this process should work the same way as the other jumper.” Luke heads over to me and motions for Dax to come close. “Picture the flame in your head in Hell and when Dax touches you, project it towards him.”
That is what I did with Becca, so we had figured out the right way. I guess some things just come to you. I do what he asks, and the flame springs up in the center of my mind. The orange and blue flames cascading into one another.
“Now, Dax, reach out and touch her.” Luke’s tone is filled with excitement. “When you see the image in your head, tug toward it. When I brought you back, I added a layer of magic to you, so you should be able to transport like us, just across realms as well.”
Well, that should be more convenient than Becca. With her, she had to draw a circle and we had to step through. If he can transport us, that’s one less step, which will help if we are in danger.
Dax’s hand warms my shoulder and I push the image toward him.
He sucks in a breathes and whistles. “That’s one wicked looking flame.”
“You’re telling me.” It’s mesmerizing and gorgeous. You can almost feel the power pulsing from here.
A swirling begins around us and soon we’re falling into thin air. The air swirls and churns around us and we drop into oblivion. Soon, we land on uneven ground in a dark, cold tunnel.
Where the hell are we? This isn’t anything like what was in my mind. I reach out to find Dax, but all I grab is air. “Dax, are you here?”
Rocks crunch under someone’s feet. “I’m here. One second. I’m coming to you.” More shuffling happens and soon a hand grasps mine. “Okay, whatever you do, don’t let my hand go.”
Yeah, he doesn’t have to tell me twice. Fire powers would come in handy right now. I can’t see a damn thing.
Oh, my God. I’m losing it. Now I’m wishing I had another artifact absorbed into me when I’ve been avoiding it the entire time. It is a real possibility that I’m becoming bipolar right about now.
“Can you get a reading on the flame again?” His body’s tense and shifting as if he’s looking around.
Focus, Christina. I should have already thought of that. I lock in on the flame again and it’s shining in all its glory, but I can’t get a read on its location now that we’re here. “Dammit, no I can’t. I can see it, but no clue where it’s at down here.”
“Don’t freak out.” He lets out a sigh but keeps his voice steady. “That’s the last thing we need to do. We must keep our heads on straight. Let’s get a move on and see where it leads but keep an eye out.”
“On what?” Has he lost his damn mind? “I can’t see a damn thing.”
Loud barking echoes around us. It’s so loud that my ears begin to ring. “What the hell?”
“Well, we now know we’re in a cave.” Dax yell louds and begins shuffling us to the side. “We need to get out of the way. That sounds like those are some big dogs. We need to find a place to hide.”
No…. This can’t be happening. “Wait … we are in a tunnel and dogs are coming at us.” My mouth goes dry and I stop moving. “I know what’s coming at us.”
The barking is getting louder and now claws are scraping against the floor.
“What do you mean?” Dax stops and turns my direction.
My eyes are starting to adjust to the dark. It's strange, reapers have awesome eyesight, so for us to struggle with lighting means something supernatural is interfering with it. I bet its part of the defense mechanism. "It's the three-headed hound, Cerberus. It protects the gateway of Hell from people leaving and entering. Only people approved by the Devil himself can enter and leave."
"How do you know about this?" His eyes are wide, and he looks off to where the sounds are coming from.
"From school. They taught us our last year before the on-the-job training began." It was after we passed all our tests. Oh ... that's what he doesn't know. He didn't pass those tests, so he never gained this knowledge. But you'd think the council would have filled him in on all things Hell prior to letting him agree on coming down here.
"Well, that explains that." He pulls out his knife. "How big is this thing? I don't want to use a gun in here. It might ricochet off the walls and hit one of us."
That makes a lot of sense and I would have never thought about that. "Yeah, it's about twice the size of us or, at least, that's what they said."
A flame bellows from a turn down
