Page 62

ELI

TIER TEN: PRIDE

As soon as we stepped through the doorway, we fell into the abyss.

My stomach seemed to crawl into my throat with the uncomfortable feeling of falling.

The air felt cool and crisp in the darkness.

I wanted to reach out and hold Anna’s hand as we fell but thought better of it.

Even in this moment, it didn’t seem like a good idea to prolong something that couldn’t last—something that had no hope, that had to end.

The thin air quickly turned heavy, and I felt my body begin to slow down until the air felt so thick, it was as if I were floating instead of falling.

Eventually, I landed on my feet, somehow managing to stay standing.

I looked around and found Anna only a few feet away from me.

Before I could ask if she was okay, she nodded dismissively.

We both knew what came with this tier, and neither of us was looking forward to it.

Mixed with the thought that I would be leaving and couldn’t stay with her was the knowledge of her growing desperate for the powers in the pendant.

Would she lash out in a last-ditch effort to try to do something to make me hand it over?

I wasn’t sure. I wouldn’t have blamed her.

As a matter of fact, had it been me, I would have already been planning something .

I looked around the space to see brick walls surrounding us, all painted with a glossy white sheen, looking crisp and tidy.

A glance at my feet showed a shiny finished wood floor, stained almost black.

It felt uncomfortably modern and immediately made my skin itch.

The room was mostly dark, save for a few small flickering lights on the walls.

Upon further inspection, each light seemed to be shining down on a painting.

We were in a museum of sorts. I remembered Cal taking me to one in the human realm that felt oddly familiar to this.

We walked to the end of the space to find another corridor and another large room lined with paintings, and a few stone podiums in front with statues, also well lit.

Relief settled in my bones when my eyes caught sight of the others.

Bexley smiled as soon as he saw me, and we all greeted each other, genuinely happy to have made it here together.

“I told you,” Walter said. “I told Eletha. She didn’t think he’d make it out of Lust.” He smirked.

Eletha raised her eyebrow and put her hands up in surrender with a smile. “I don’t know how you made it out of there. I’ve seen the way you’re staring at my sister.”

I smiled, even though I didn’t feel like it.

“So what is this?” I asked, looking around with the others.

“This is Pride,” said Anna, holding her hands out at the tier.

Her demeanor was noticeably dampened from what it had been earlier, and I felt guilty knowing that I was the reason for it.

Why did this have to be so unfair? We couldn’t stay in the tiers together forever, and truthfully, I didn’t want to.

I wanted to do things for myself for once, something I’d have to remind myself of once I was back with my mother in the Elysian Fields.

It was time I did things I wanted, not out of duty or pressure, but because I wanted to do them.

“So what are we supposed to do?” I asked.

Bexley raised his hands in a shrug. “We don’t know. We’ve been looking around here for hours. It’s just a bunch of paintings.”

“The paintings have been portals in the previous tiers. Do any of these look like they could be portals?” I asked, and Bexley scowled.

“You think it would be so easy?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ve been here before. You tell me.”

His eyes grew serious. “I told you, it changes each time for each person. Apparently, this is a collective experience,” he said, waving his arms at the group. “I’ve never been specifically here before.”

“Cal had her baby,” I said to Walter. “Cal and Mendax had their baby,” I corrected.

His eyes lit up. “What? I didn’t know they were expecting,” he said, his face filled with joy.

“It’s a girl. She’s three months old, and they’ve named her Ten,” I said with a grin.

“Ten,” he said thoughtfully. “Do you suppose it’s for Tenebris, Mendax’s mom?” he asked, and it dawned on me that I hadn’t even asked about the baby’s name.

“I don’t know, but that sounds right,” I said.

“Three months?” Walter asked. “Did you just hear about it?”

I brushed him off, not wanting to dig back up the details and feel left out again.

It was obvious that even if Cal and I could talk more regularly, they were alive and we were dead.

There was only so much I could be a part of in their lives.

Even though I clung tight to the feeling of having them close to me, I wondered how long it would last—how long before they got busy with life and didn’t reach out anymore.

I gripped the pendant around my throat and tucked it under my shirt, stealing a glance at Anna.

“Oh shit,” said Eletha under her breath, catching the movement.

Suddenly, soft footsteps sounded in the room we had just come from. We all exchanged looks and prepared for the worst, not knowing if it would be a servant bearing the finest desserts we’d ever had or a monster prepared to lop our heads off .

Apparently, it was much closer to the latter, for when the owner of the footsteps came into view, panic shook the group. The large figure with the rabbit-head mask stepped in. Walter moved in front of Eletha, and I took a step in front of Anna, but Bexley beat me to it.

We backed up as far as we could into the wall, knocking into one of the paintings. It fell to the ground with a clang. “You should be more careful,” said a feminine voice from the creature.

My forehead wrinkled in thought, and I wondered if I was crazy or if the voice sounded familiar. “Well, at least we know they’re not portals,” said Bexley, poking at the painting with his foot, likely wishing he could fall through it as he had in the other tier.

The creature took a few more steps and stopped in front of us. This close, it was easy to see that it was a mask covering someone’s head. They raised their hands, palms flat, and suddenly, we were all separated in different parts of the room.

I stood next to the creepy creature near a painting with a light hanging over it.

My eyes sought to find Anna as quickly as possible.

Relief washed over me when I saw she wasn’t alone; she was standing with Walter and Eletha next to a painting on the other side of the room.

She looked so gentle in contrast to Eletha’s and Walter’s dark and somewhat vicious countenances.

I turned back around to see Bexley. A small door that I hadn’t noticed before was open, and Bexley stood in front of it.

It looked like a poorly lit closet, but if I squinted, I could see what looked to be a moving, flashing, lit-up painting in the back with a gold frame.

“Congratulations,” the voice said. I looked down at my side, struggling to recall where I’d heard it before.

It tickled something in the back of my mind, but no clear answer came to me.

“You have made it through the Ten Tiers of Tartarus, and since Pride does not conflict with your values, you are free to leave. ”

Gasps sounded in the room as we all looked at each other.

“Unfortunately, not you,” the creature said, pointing to me.

“Those of you who have made it past the tiers may continue through your portal. The three of you stand in front of the portal to Eromreven. Am I correct in assuming that’s where the three of you would like to return? ”

Anna, Walter, and Eletha looked at each other, then to me, nodding at the creature.

It turned its head toward Bexley. “I’ve heard that you would like to be returned to the human realm.”

“Uh, yes. Yeah,” said Bexley.

“The human realm is typically forbidden, but for you, I’ve made an exception.”

I looked at the painting in front of me. It depicted clouds lit by a bright sun. Sitting on them were my mother and brother, along with several other people I once knew. They were still and unmoving, but seeing my mother’s face rattled me.

“You have not yet passed this level,” the creature said, eerie when its eyes and mouth didn’t move. “The rest of you may go. Simply step through your portal.”

We all looked back and forth, realizing this was it. This was the end of our long journey together. It was odd to think about separating after all this time together. We had all grown closer than any of us had expected.

We looked back and forth, wondering who would go first. We all looked to Bexley. “We love you, Bex,” shouted Anna.

He turned toward her and waved, his eyes welling up with emotion. “I guess this is it,” he said. “I’m going to do some good in the human realm.” He paused for a beat to take in each of our faces. “I’m going to make you all really proud,” he said, his jaw tensing.

“We already are,” I said.

Anna broke free from where she was and ran to Bexley, giving him a hug. Walter and Eletha followed, saying their goodbyes before moving back in front of their painting.

I moved to say my goodbye, but the masked creature grabbed my shoulder. “I’m sorry, but you must remain here until you pass this tier.”

“I can’t even say goodbye?” I asked. “No,” they snapped.

“Could I please go to my friend and say goodbye?” I asked.

I felt Anna’s eyes on me, her gaze on me at the word friend in reference to Bexley, but it was true. We had all become friends. Through all these tiers and all these journeys, part of me wondered if I wouldn’t emerge with more than I had gone in with.

The rabbit mask nodded once. Before it could change its mind, I sprinted over to Bexley, giving him a hug and a slap on the back. He looked excited and a little nervous.