33. Lorraine
Chapter Thirty-Three
Lorraine
I looked around me. Where was I? I was standing on the banks of a river I’d never seen before. Everything around it was gray and dead. The stone beneath my feet was smooth, with no proof of life having ever existed here. There was no grass, no vegetation, no trees. Only rocks, towering all around me.
The river’s water was black and churning.
A ferry came toward me, and on it stood a man with a long stick, propelling the ferry forward. When he pushed the ferry onto the shore, he stepped off. He was tall and muscular, with dark skin and eyes that were darker still. He had no hair, and he was hunched over.
“You’re early, child,” he said.
I frowned. “I didn’t realize you were expecting me.”
“I expect everyone, eventually.”
I shook my head. “Who are you?”
“They call me Charon,” he said. “I’m here to take you over the river. Do you have your fare?”
“What fare?” I asked. I shook my head, confused. “Where am I? I’m not supposed to be here.”
“If you don’t have your fare, I can’t take you over. I don’t work for nothing, you know.”
“Where am I?” I demanded again. I spun around. My voice echoed all around me, and everything felt wrong. I wasn’t meant to be here. I was meant to be somewhere else…
I racked my brain, trying to remember where I’d just been. Something nagged at me. There was something important back where I’d come from. I just couldn’t remember what it was.
“Come, child, I don’t have all day. Do you have the fare or not? Check your pockets. Your loved ones would have given you a coin for the road.”
I patted the tunic I wore. “I don’t have any pockets.” As I said it, I found a pocket hidden between the folds of the tunic. I pushed my hand into it. Instead of a coin, I found a piece of twine. When I took it out, it shone.
“Will this work?” I asked, holding it up.
“Oh,” Charon said, bouncing back from me. “You’re not supposed to be down here.”
“Where am I supposed to be?”
“Do you know what that is?”
I shook my head. Nothing made sense. I didn’t know anything. I just knew I wasn’t supposed to be here, but I couldn’t remember where I belonged.
“That’s a bond with an immortal. It stops you from dying. I can’t take you over. Not with that.”
“Where am I supposed to go?”
Charon shrugged. “All I know is that even if I could take you, Hades wouldn’t have you.”
I frowned. “What?”
“Go home, child,” Charon said. “I’m sure your people will be happy to see you.”
Home… where was that? I couldn’t remember anything.
Something tugged at me. It was subtle at first, so that I barely noticed it, but the tugging grew stronger and stronger. It yanked me backward.
I tried to fight it. The tugging was a sensation that didn’t feel right, and I wasn’t ready for it. I wasn’t ready for any of this.
As the tugging got stronger and stronger, I started to remember. A face flashed in front of me.
Ash.
Suddenly, I was jerked backward. I cried out, and Charon lifted his hand.
I blinked my eyes open and looked up at a bright sky. Ash’s face was stricken with grief, and Philippa’s head was bent over me.
“Ash?” I asked in a creaky voice.
Ash looked at me, and his eyes widened. “Oh, gods, you’re alive.”
“What happened?” I asked. “I don’t…” I was going to say that I didn’t remember, but it all rushed back to me. The guy chasing me. Philippa coming after me to save my life. Ash being shot, and me wanting to go to him.
The searing pain in my chest, and the aching knowledge that it was all over.
I frowned. “Why didn’t I die?”
Ash shook his head. “I don’t know, but right now, I don’t care.”
“What did you see?” Philippa asked.
I sat up. Ash let go of me, but he took my hand like he was scared I would be yanked out of his grasp again.
“A ferryman,” I said. “Charon.”
Philippa pressed her fingers to her lips.
“He asked for money, but I only had a piece of twine,” I continued. “It glowed, and he said he wouldn’t take it.”
Philippa looked at Ash, and a silent conversation passed between them. I swayed, feeling lightheaded.
“Come on, let’s get you inside,” Ash said.
“The others…?” I asked.
“They’re gone,” Ash growled.
Philippa’s brows knitted together, and she worried her lower lip between her teeth. “Let me go ahead,” she said.
Ash nodded curtly. I had the distinct feeling there was something they didn’t want me to see, but I didn’t care. As I stood, the world tilted on its axis.
“I’ve got you,” Ash said. He picked me up and carried me back to the cabin.
Inside, he grabbed some bandages for my wound and put me on the couch. He walked to the bedroom and brought back the quilt from the bed, throwing it over me.
“I’ll get the room cleaned up,” he said.
I mumbled something, but my tongue felt thick, and I couldn’t say the words I meant to.
Ash lowered himself and dropped a kiss in my hair. “I’ll be right here when you wake up,” he said.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and then I fell asleep.