Underland(65)

Kira’s legs weakened, and her world started to spin. “You’re wrong. You have to be.”

“You think the gauntlet and the ring are horrible. You haven’t even seen the Labyrinth.” The woman looked worried. “We must get you away from here.”

“Can you help me get home?” Kira asked feeling a shred of hope.

“I do not have the power to send you back home, but I know of one who can. Come.” The woman left the weaving room, and Kira couldn’t help but stare at the one called Atropos. Was she really the same woman who appeared to her in the alley or just a projection of her?

“Really, I can go home?” Kira asked. She felt like Dorothy at the end of the Wizard of Oz. All she had to do was click her red ruby slippers together and she could be back on the surface.

The surface.

Following the woman, she paused at an open window and looked out of Olympus Tower. So many lights were scattered for miles in the darkness. The main overhead lights were dimmed, so it must be the allotted night time. One of those lights came from the silo, where Zeke and Den were.

She pressed on, an ache in her chest.

She hadn’t gotten to say goodbye. She even missed Chaz and—she hated to admit it—Warrick. Wow, now she really felt like she was reliving a book, because the thought of leaving those three really made her pause.

For once, she had friends. And she couldn’t honestly call her feelings for Zeke friendly. They were something so much more. If she left, she might never see him again.

No, she definitely wouldn’t ever see him again.

She’d never find her way back to Underland. Everything she’d learned here seemed impossible. Like she was reading a fairytale. Not a fairytale. A Greek myth. It was surreal.

They went down the set of spiral stairs until they ended in front of a black wooden door. “There’s only one person I know of with the power to send you back to your home.”

“Who is it?” Kira asked as she stared at the door. Deep scratch marks marred the wood, and she feared that this was a trap—that behind this door was another monster.

“Knock, Kira Lier, and enter,” the woman spoke. “Don’t be frightened. For you’ll soon be home.”

She stared at that door and felt a moment’s hesitation. Home. Where was it going to send her—to her mother’s? Back to the streets?

“Why do you hesitate?” the woman asked.

“My friends. I didn’t get to say goodbye.” Kira turned and felt her stomach drop. “I can’t go without—”

“Listen to yourself,” she scoffed. “Are you telling me you prefer living here as a slave? What kind of life is that? You are a human. You belong with your kind.”

Yes, she was right. As much as she could talk herself in circles, there was no future for her here. If she stayed, she’d eventually end up dead, or eaten.

But the reality of going home felt so daunting to her. She knew, no matter where she went, it wouldn’t be home. Home is where the heart is. Currently, that was down in Underland with a certain undead monster.

She really needed to figure out how to fall for normal people, someone mortal. Someone human.

The woman stepped back, and Kira reached out her hand and knocked on the black door. It opened inward and she saw nothing beyond the lighted path in the doorway. “Hello?” she called out.

Something moved beyond the door, and Kira stepped inside. Every part of her wanted to run away, but if the woman said this was the only way to go back, then she needed to speak to the man who could send her there.

“Come in,” the voice echoed. It wasn’t a terrifying voice. It had a pleasant tone to it, like a grandfather speaking to a child. Kira took another step inside.

The door slammed behind her, encasing her in black, nothingness. Something touched her and she felt herself falling—

Down

Down

Until she hit bottom.

The raindrops felt like ice as they touched her skin and rolled off the back of her hand.

Rain?

She shivered and opened her eyes. Blinked. She was lying on the cold wet street. The sound of a distant car horn had her covering her ears as she looked around in confusion. Where was she? She looked up and saw a brick two-story building and a light from a window.

A hiss from the sewers had Kira scrambling to her feet. Everything looked foreign, but at the same time strangely familiar. She could smell the scent of fresh baked bread. She knew exactly where she was.

She had made it back to the upper world. She was back in Portland.





Chapter 31

Life had resumed. Although not much had changed since she’d come back from Underland. Madame Fortuna’s shop was closed, gone out of business. Kira had gone to the post office to see if the old woman left a forwarding address. But the attendant behind the counter told her there had never been a fortune teller at that address.

Kira mostly spent her days wandering, looking for meaning. She stepped into a pub and watched the football game on TV. It felt odd. She couldn’t help but look at her wrist and see the spot where her brace would have been. She pulled the sleeve of her jacket down over her bare wrist and felt as if she was missing something.

As crazy as it was, she had earned and lost more freedom tokens down below than she had ever earned surviving on her own. No, she didn’t miss fighting to earn them, or almost dying. But she did miss that—for a moment—she had something. Something that was hers.