What would he do if I deepen the kiss?
Bite him back?
Tug at his hair?
He pulls away, albeit reluctantly, and turns towards the others, effectively obliterating all of my naughty thoughts.
“See you on the other side.” He salutes them then bounces up the steps.
The door opens, and he disappears inside of it.
Five more seconds pass.
“I don’t understand why we have to do this,” I murmur, shifting uncomfortably. “Is it because the door is a portal? Is the portal inside? Why the five-second rule? It’s not like this is food that’s been dropped on the ground, you know?”
I’m rambling. I know I am.
But I can’t seem to stop.
Fear has twisted my stomach into tight knots.
“You’ll be okay,” Zaid reassures me, pulling me in for a hug. His arms wrap around me, safe and comforting. “Everett and Krystian will be waiting for you. Rafe and I won’t be far behind.”
I meet Rafe’s gaze over Zaid’s shoulder, and he nods solemnly, reiterating everything Zaid just told me.
“Okay.” I reluctantly untangle myself from Zaid’s embrace. “Let’s do this.”
Steeling my spine, I stalk up the stone steps and through the front door.
The first thing I notice is that Everett and Krystian are nowhere to be seen.
The next thing is that I’m not yet in the Underworld.
The air is thick with a chill that seems to wrap around my skin. Darkness stretches endlessly, only broken by the eerie glow of mirrors standing erect in the black void.
Each one reflects me, but not as I am. They’re all twisted versions of myself. They stare back at me, their faces contorted into demented grins, their eyes wild and hollow. Their smile… It’s wrong. It’s like I’m looking at someone else, someone evil. The kind of innate evil that chills you to your core.
I turn away quickly, but everywhere I look, those reflections are there, mocking me with their monstrous expressions. Some smile wider, their eyes glinting with a sinister light, while others point, their fingers rigid and accusing. They all seem to be pointing in the same direction, to the far end of the maze.
I hesitate, my heart pounding in my chest, but I can’t ignore them. They want me to go that way. I have no choice but to follow.
I walk, my footsteps deafeningly loud, and with each step, the twisted reflections grin wider, their eyes burning with an unsettling anger.
The mirrors around me start to distort even more, their edges bending and flickering like broken television screens.
I blindly move through the maze, following the direction of their fingers. Left, right, left, right, right, left. At one point, I accidentally brush against one of the mirrors, and a sharp, icy sensation crawls up my arm. I flinch automatically, backing away from the reflection that is now laughing uproariously.
Finally, after what feels like hours, I reach the end.
There’s a stand but no mirror, just an empty frame.
My breath catches.
Something pulls at my insides, a gut-wrenching sensation.
In the middle of the frame is a void, a black hole, so deep and fathomless it looks like the fabric of reality itself has been torn open. It’s so dark that I can’t see anything beyond it.
A part of me screams to turn back, to find another way, but I know that this is where I’m supposed to go.
