To Hell and Back by L.B. Gilbert

Chapter Thirty-Four

Valeria knew she was falling, but it had gone on too long. She should have hit the ground already.

And why did it feel as if she were being slowly compressed to death? Except it wasn’t just her chest. The clamping sensation extended from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

Mierda. I’m dead. It was the only explanation. Valeria had hit the ground and died on impact. That was why it was so dark.

Except it wasn’t totally black. There was color at the edges of her vision, an oily sheen tinged with brilliant blue, magenta pink, and emerald green. She was just beginning to wonder about those unexpected tints when the world exploded into light and color—sort of.

Instead of a rainbow-tainted black, she was suddenly surrounded by dirty orange and brown sky. She could tell it was sky by the wind whipping past her so fast that her cheeks flapped like she was in a wind tunnel.

And I’m still falling. Shiiiiit. She could see the ground far in the distance. It was rushing toward her with a finality spelled with a capital F.

Rhys will catch me, she told herself.

Her eyes were watering so much she couldn’t see him. Still, she should have been able to make something out—his house or the boulders surrounding his home.

But there was nothing. Not even a single pine tree. It was only the filthy sky and rust-colored dunes interspersed with cracked flat ground that she was about to get very up close and personal with.

Her cry was in her brain because the wind was rushing around her so fast that she couldn’t even scream. Thoughts fragmenting, she tried to bring up images in her mind so her life could flash behind her eyes, but she was moving too fast. The speed was rubbing everything off like her brain like sand whittling away at a wooden sign.

The ground was close now. She could see individual markers—scars on the dunes and bits of stone or possibly concrete sticking out of the ground. Squeezing her eyes shut, she cringed with her entire body, tensing in preparation of going splat.

And then she stopped moving altogether. Valeria counted to ten, but the pain she’d expected at this point didn’t materialize.

Holding her breath, she cracked one eye open. The ground was right where she left it—about nine feet below her head. She was hanging upside down, suspended in mid-air.

A voice spoke and she jerked, the bodily equivalent of jumping out of her skin had she been on her feet.

Twisting her head, she caught a glimpse of the bottom of a robe.

Flashing hot and cold, she waited, but no more words were forthcoming.

“Uh, excuse me?” Valeria cleared her throat, the blood rushing to her head making her throat tight and thick. “I realize you can’t understand me. That’s okay—I can’t understand you. But I’m hoping you can help me down?”

The being didn’t move. I guess altruism was too much to hope for. Story of her life…

She couldn’t see the being’s head, but she thought its weight shifted as if it were cocking its head.

At least she thought it had a head. Given the voluminous cloak, she could be looking at any kind of life form. She didn’t even know how many legs it had. Or how many mouths…

“All right then. Given the landscape, fresh meat is probably at a premium. Are you going to be dragging some wood out here to start a little bonfire? Will I be served barbecue or rotisserie?”

This time, there was a sound, something suspiciously like a snicker. Then she was spinning as her body flipped the right way round.

The hooded being lifted an arm, and her entire body floated forward toward it. Except for the expansion of her lungs allowing her to breathe, Valeria couldn’t move at all. She couldn’t even kick her legs.

Clawed fingers appeared out of the sleeve, each tipped with a razor-sharp nail. They touched her chin, pricking her skin. She smelled her own blood and braced herself.

But the hand withdrew. Those claws took hold of the hood and brought it down, but she saw nothing except light. It was so bright she had to close her eyes.

Then the creature spoke again. Without the blood rushing to her head, she could hear it.

The voice was the purest and most beautiful thing she’d ever heard. It made her soul sing.

Valeria’s brain flinched. “That’s not right,” she slurred before passing out.