Chapter 123
“Then--”
“Listen, McReynolds,” Christian said, turning around to look at her. “Nothing is what you think it is here. A little fluffy bunny rabbit will bite your goddamn head off. You think things are solid that are actually portal openings, and there’s a layer of light around the outside of this place that reaches up and around the ceiling.” He raised his eyes, and Jo did, too, even though she didn’t know what he was talking about. Nor did she see any light above them. Like everywhere else she looked, everything was black.
“How do I find her?” Jo asked, growing tired of his riddles.
“Well, I was down there when you sent your fucking text and drew me back out again, so I’m not sure. But we’ll find it.”
“You don’t know how you got down there?” Cassidy asked.
“I think I just told you nothing is what it seems. Aaron and I stumbled upon the opening. Finding it again could take some time. All of these tunnels look the same, but beyond that, they’re constantly moving and reordering themselves. We thought it was tunnel number eight, and you can see that it’s numbered right over there, but I’m guessing it’s not there anymore now that the portals have spun around while I was gone.”
“Do you remember where eight was when you were here last?” Jo tried not to sound as irritated as she was, but it wasn’t easy.
Christian nodded. “Yeah, it was right over there, where fifteen is now.”
“So doesn’t it have to be where eight is or where fifteen is?” Scott asked.
Christian shook his head. “No. It could be anywhere. Hell, it could be in your ass. There’s no way to know.”
“Do you have to be such an asshole?” Jo asked, wanting to test Christian’s theory that he could die now more than ever.
“I do. I am. If you don’t like it, I’ll be happy to open a portal back to Kansas City and throw your ass out.” He wasn’t even looking at her as he spoke.
In fact, he was digging in the pocket of his leather jacket. When he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, Jo didn’t know if she should be disgusted or pull it out of his mouth and put it out on his face.
“If he doesn’t know where the hell the portal opening that leads to Cadence is, why do we need him, Jo?” Cassidy asked.
She opened her mouth to answer, but she didn’t get the chance to. Christian replied, “You won’t last half an hour in here without me, sweetheart.”
“Bullshit. Heather lived in here for over a hundred years,” Cassidy reminded him.
“That was before.” He pulled the cigarette out from between his chapped lips and blew smoke right in Jo’s face. She stepped back, trying not to cough.
“Before what?” Zane asked, trying to stay calm despite his obvious irritation that Christian had been so rude to Jo.
“Before Holland came in and fucked everything up. She was running around in here for fifteen years, at least, screwing everything up. Everything is messed up now.”
Looking around, Jo couldn’t possibly understand what might’ve been better before the Vampire Queen was in there. Had it been a fucking rose garden before?
“She opened a bunch of fucking wormholes,” Christian continued. “They go through to other dimensions, including the one where your mom is hidden. She was trying to tunnel her way back to earth, but the rule of one left behind hadn’t changed. She couldn’t leave until someone else came in.”
Jo had completely forgotten about that rule. How were they going to get out of there once they found her mom? “But… wasn’t Mom still in here?” Jo asked.
Christian shook his head. “No. She’s in a different dimension.”
“So how do you ever leave the portal to go look for her? Wouldn’t that mean no one is in here?’ Jo felt like they were talking in circles.
“I solved that problem.”
“How?” Cassidy asked, folding her arms.
Christian opened his mouth to answer but he didn’t get the response out before a giant black monster jumped out from the tunnel they’d just been walking through, lunging for Scott’s back since he was the closest one to it at the moment.
Opening fire, Christian shot the monster in the head and it fell to the ground.
But it wasn’t alone.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
