CHAPTER NINE

Winter

Spinning around, I survey the mist just as someone emerges from the thick gray. It's a young woman, only a few years older than me. She looks freaked out, her red hair hanging loose around her face and her green eyes wide.

"Hello?" she asks cautiously, stopping a few yards away. "Are you... are you a human?"

Not quite. I don't know what I am, really. Just that I'm some kind of supernatural with really unpredictable powers.

"Human" is a close enough description in this context, though, with wisps floating around.

I nod, my heart racing. I'm not used to seeing other people out here. "Yes," I say, trying to keep my voice steady. "Who are you?"

The woman hesitates before speaking. "I'm Lucy. I was out here on a camping trip with my friends, but I got separated from them. I don't know where they are."

I feel a pang of sympathy for her. She doesn't know she's dead, does she? She must have been killed while on her camping trip--maybe from falling down a cliff--and now she thinks she's just wandered into another area of woods.

"Lucy..." How do I say this? "We're not in the regular woods. We're in the underworld."

Lucy stares at me, her eyes filled with disbelief. "The underworld? As in... the land of the dead?"

I nod. "Yes. I'm so sorry."

Lucy looks at me with confusion. "What? No, that's not possible. I'm just lost in the woods."

I shake my head. "No, I'm serious. We're in the underworld. Have you seen any scary creatures around?"

She gasps and wraps her arms around herself. "I thought I was imagining them."

"They're called wisps... and they're not something you'd find on Earth."

Lucy looks around, taking in her surroundings more carefully now. Suddenly, she gasps. "Oh my god... I remember now. I fell... I fell and hit my head. But then I woke up.”

I feel so bad for her. “No, Lucy. You didn’t. You came here. To the underworld.”

She stares at me, her eyes brimming with tears. “No,” she whispers.

I nod, feeling more than a twinge of sadness for her. Maybe I should change the subject. Maybe telling her she died was the wrong thing to do. "Have you seen anyone else around here, besides me and those wisps?"

Lucy shakes her head. "No, I haven't. It's been completely empty."

I frown, my mind racing. If Lucy got separated from her friends and she hasn't seen anyone else, that doesn't bode well for Alec. He must be deeper in the underworld than we thought.

But how do I find him? The underworld is vast, and the dangers are endless. I don't even know what I'm up against.

"Can you help me get out of here?" Lucy asks. “And back to my friends?”

I lick my lips. "I'm headed to the River Styx. Have you ever heard of it?"

Lucy nods, her eyes wide. "Yeah, I've heard of it.”

She gets quiet and looks down. I can see the truth finally hitting her. “That's where you cross over to the other side, right?"

"Yes, exactly. Except... I'm hoping to cross the other direction. Back to Earth. I'm looking for someone at the river. Maybe you could help me and we can try to cross back together?"

“You really think I’m dead?” she asks.

I chew on my lip. “How about you just come with me to the river and we’ll go from there?”

Lucy hesitates, but then nods. "Sure. I mean, I don't really have anywhere else to go, right?"

I smile, grateful for her help. "Thank you, Lucy. We need to stick together if we're going to make it through this."

We set off down the path, the mist growing thicker with every step. The whispers on the wind grow louder, and I can feel the wisps watching us. I clutch Lavinia's potion tightly, hoping it will be enough to protect us.

As we walk, Lucy tells me stories of her life. She's from a small town in the Midwest and loves to read books. She'd never been on a camping trip before, but her friends convinced her to come.

I find her story comforting, a small bit of normalcy in the midst of this eerie place.

Suddenly, a slight wind picks up. The air changes, but in a way that's hard to describe. It's almost like it goes dead.

I stop walking and grab Lucy's hand. "Do you feel that?"

"Yes," she whispers. "Is it them?"

"The wisps," I whisper back.

I pop the lid on Lavinia's potion. There's hardly any time to process what happens next. A wisp seems to appear right out of thin air, launching itself right at Lucy.

"Run!" I jump in front of Lucy and fling the potion at the wisp's face.

The liquid hits the wisp and it screeches in agony, recoiling and dissipating into the mist. I sigh with relief, but then I hear more wisps coming our way. They're converging on our position, drawn by the sound of the screeching wisp.

And unfortunately I'm out of potion. I used it all up in that one toss.

"We need to move," I say, grabbing Lucy's hand and pulling her along. "They'll be on us any second now."

We start running, but the wisps are quick and relentless. They dart and weave around us, their cold tendrils snaking out to try and grab us. I swerve and dodge, trying to keep them at bay. Lucy is panting and gasping beside me, her face twisted in fear.

We can't run forever. We have to figure something out.

A wisp pops in front of us. On instinct, I raise my hands. Energy pulses in my palms. The wind picks up, twisting the wisp's cloak around itself.

I try to increase the wind, to create a tornado like the ones I have before. The wind doesn't get there, though. It only tumbles the wisp over and over, knocking him into a tree.

I stare at my hands, feeling the power build in them. It's different, though. Tuned down. Almost like they're operating at fifty percent.

Damn powers. They've been unpredictable since they emerged, but this is new. Does the underworld affect them somehow?

Another wisp comes at Lucy, and she ducks. I grab its cloak and spin it around, then slam it into the ground. My foot comes down on its head and it disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving nothing but the cloak behind.

The wisps keep coming, but I'm not sure how much longer I can keep fighting them off. I hear Lucy scream and look over to see a wisp wrapped around her waist, pulling her towards the ground.

"No!" I scream, feeling a burst of anger and fear. I lash out with my powers, sending a shockwave through the ground that knocks several of the wisps back. There are several still standing, though, including the one that has Lucy.

Its bony arm grabs her face and turns it towards the cloak's opening. Lucy stares at the wisp, as if transfixed. Her face goes pale, and she starts to go limp.

I feel a wave of panic hit me as I see Lucy's body wilting in the grasp of the wisp. I know I have to act fast, or it will be too late. I close my eyes, reaching deep inside myself to find the source of my power. I feel the familiar hum of energy coursing through my veins, but this time, it feels stronger than ever before.

I open my eyes, staring down at the wisp and Lucy, and I know what I have to do. I take a deep breath and focus all my power into my hands, raising them slowly towards the wisp.

A blinding light erupts from my palms, and I feel a surge of energy leave my body and flow towards the wisp. It screeches in agony, dropping Lucy as it recoils from the intense light.

The other wisps panic and turn, floating off into the trees. I rush over to Lucy, scooping her up in my arms.

She's white as a sheet, her eyes closed. "Lucy!" I shake her. "Wake up!"

She doesn't stir, but she starts fading, as if she’s being erased from existence.

“Lucy,” I gasp.

A few moments later she’s vanished, as if she was never here.

A terrible chill hits my core.

What was it Lavinia said about the wisps? That they eat people's souls?

"Oh my god," I choke out.

I stand up, my heart aching. I still can't believe that just happened. Lucy was here one moment and then gone the next.

The wisps have taken her soul, and there's nothing I can do to bring her back. It's a cruel fate, and my heart breaks for her.

I take a deep breath and stand up, my eyes scanning the area for any sign of the wisps. They've disappeared into the mist, leaving us alone in the eerie silence of the underworld.

I close my eyes for a moment and say a silent prayer for Lucy. If Lavinia is correct, then her soul is gone. Does that mean this is the end for her? That there's nowhere for her to go now? No afterlife after the underworld?

It's too much to bear. I only just met Lucy, but I can't help but feel partly responsible. If only I had my full powers, maybe I could have saved her.

Wiping away the tears, I square my shoulders and look around. And with a heavy heart, I start to move forward, knowing that I still have a mission to complete.

Alec is waiting for me. I didn't save Lucy, but maybe I can save Alec. And maybe, at the end of all of this, that will mean something.