Aldonra's constant struggle as they over the mouth of Sygnus brought fresh bolts of pain in Kat's back, but she didn't let go. She kept her arms locked around the queen's waist, letting momentum and gravity take over and swallow them whole.
Amidst the deep, rumbling hum coming from the void, she heard was Calix's muffled protest, the scratch of the sandy ground as he struggled to get to his feet.
"Kat!" he called out, and she only had time to see his fearful, bloody face before she and Aldonra disappeared over the brink.
Darkness. There was only darkness. It was thick and opaque and encompassing, coating Kat's skin like a breeze, or like thin satin. It was almost unnerving how it had an actual texture, coupled with the gravitational pull of the endless vertical tunnel that grabbed onto her ankle like a vice.
She looked up as her hair whipped around her face. The mouth of the void was ascending far away from her in an unbelievable speed, yet she kept falli
"Kat!" Calix's face sharpened in Kat's blurring vision. "Kat, stay with me.""I'm not going anywhere," she assured him, surprised that her vocal cords even worked. Her throat was parched; she couldn't even swallow. "Not going. Not leaving."The battle had long been settled. It seemed that the moment Aldonra vanished, her hold on the corpses had gotten lifted too. All of them were laying on the battlefield again, more damaged than before. They took many of the allies with them, though, and that made Kat wish she had done this sooner."Amicus!" Calix was yelling. "Amicus, help!"Footsteps rumbled around Kat. Around her, people started to gather. She could see Thisbe's horrified and concerned face, an expression that mirrored Byron's. Lady Gethen and Lord Odion stood next to their son, both of them looking devastated. Amicus loomed into view, taking out his assortment of medicine with trembling hands. The confidence he had on his face when he'd attende
† TWENTY YEARS LATER †To open or not to open. That was the big question.Calix stared at the cardboard box on his bed. He'd shut himself in his room in the Circle of the Councilmen, right after going to the mortal world to retrieve the box Kat had left at her father's glass case with his ashes. For twenty years he'd been going back there to continue what was supposed to be tradition, and for exactly that long he'd ignored the box.And even though for some reason he'd taken it home, he still didn't know what to do.He sprawled onto the cotton sheets, closing his eyes momentarily. He couldn't quite believe that he'd done that. Since Kat's death, he'd been avoiding everything that remotely related to her, and still that hadn't been enough to bury the pain.And how could that be possible? She was the first thing he'd see when he opened his eyes in the morning, the last thing he'd think of when he'd crawl to bed at night. Th
On the last day of her life, Kat woke up with hundred dollar bills clenched in her fists and two hot men curled up on both of her sides.Was she in heaven? she wondered. Since money and men were two main requirements of her ideal nirvana, she considered saying yes to her own question. However, a quick, more thorough sweep of her surroundings proved her wrong.Well, first off, the men snoring on either side of her were too provocatively dressed to pass off as angels. Unless of course the new fashion trend was black latex briefs and studded leather harnesses, which she was sure they were not.Also, there were no clouds, just pink and blue neon lights dancing on the textured ceiling, burning her crusty eyes. Instead of harps being played, a hip-hop song was being blasted on a loop, its cranked-up bass making the place hum. The vibrations reached the circular couch she was sprawled on, and it did nothing to ease her headache. If anything, the rumble made her realize where she was and what
To say that Kat was surprised would be an understatement. In fact, she gasped and staggered back, her heart doing cartwheels inside her chest.The cloaked man had the face of a model: high cheekbones, a straight nose, well-shaped lips, and the most flawless pale skin. Even though his swept-up hair was platinum blond, his thick eyebrows and lashes were brown. His jaw was so chiseled it could probably cut diamonds. His irises were pale gray, the color of storm clouds, and the
"Your death is overdue," Mr. Michaels recited as he reached for Kat. "Hell is waiting for you, Katalina Donovan."Kat couldn't be more perplexed, but she also couldn't be more pressured. Because of this, sharp instincts she didn't know she possessed had taken over her body. Instead of screaming (which was her go-to response to dangerous situations), she grabbed her rock-hard pillow, smacked Mr. Michaels across the face with it, and lobbed it at his crotch for triple damage.
Kat's vocal cords retraced into her throat and disappeared completely."I am Calix." The man calmly rose from the couch. "There is no use for stealth and subtlety now, so I will not bother with it anymore. Today is the last day of your life, and I have come to take you to the Underworld. To Hell, to be precise."She gaped at him, but she studiously avoided looking directly
Kat's go-to principle in life is to keep fighting. Keep struggling. She always told herself that if she'd go down, she'd go down swinging.She tried to stay true to that now, with the blade of Calix's spear pointed at her throat. Oh, she was scared, but there was no way she'd just give up.Calix felt her need, her fear, but forced himself to hold his position. He didn't wa
With a thud, Kat and Calix landed right into apartment B3, crumpling down on the hallway like a pair of marionettes whose strings were snipped off. She fell on her knees, him right on his face. The door didn't close by itself, but one look confirmed that the weird room was well away now. Staring back at her was her parents' bedroom, dark and unbelievably dusty but otherwise normal. No gold, no candles, no antique tables, and definitely no non-red schnitzel Demons.Kat never thought she'd consider the scrape of t