SUNNYVALE

(60) TO HELL AND BACK

"No way..." Abby breathes out, her eyes going wide at what she was seeing at the moment. 

Inside one of the most guarded tower of Hell, where she and her sister were at the moment, was a special room all in transparent glass, where one person was sitting in the middle of it. All around the small chair and the human form were white spots lightening the room only to certain places, leaving the rest of it completely dark. 

Long, blonde hair were hanging out in front of a closed face, although Abby recognised it immediately and almost had a heart attack. 

Kelley smirks. 

"Yes way: you guys really thought a memory-less witch would create another dimension while being absolutely unaware of her powers?"

"Wait, how-" Abby starts, but her sentence is cut short by Kelley's cold and amused explanation:

"How is Shelina trapped in Hell? Well, this, my dear sister, will be a story for another day - but let's say she is prisoner of her own mind."

"I-Is she dead?" 

Kelley smirks again, cruel.

"Not yet - but soon."

Abby's heart stops: if Shelina was in Hell - like, actual Hell - where were Sam and Christen?

***

Kristie was convulsing during her sleep, until Tobin woke her up. 

On the best right next to her, where Julie was sleeping only seconds ago, the same bodily reaction happens as the two blondes were groaning. As soon as she realises it's Tobin, Kristie immediately stops and wakes up fully, her body crossed over by shivers down her whole spine, whereas Julie, who was chained to her bed, couldn't move and did not seem to come back to reality. 

Tobin, not sure whether Kristie was fully awake and conscious, decides to slap her - which Kristie obviously disliked.

"Ouch, that wasn't fucking necessary - especially since I haven't done anything for once" the blonde lets out, outraged. 

"Well, you're never too careful" Tobin only responds, not sorry for a microsecond. 

Before Kristie can fight back, and door opens as Tierna and Crystal burst into the room, breathless. 

Their eyes were so telling that the other girls didn't need to ask anything in order to know that it was related to their friends stuck in the In-Between. 

They hear wings noises, and immediately go to the living room, where Mapi, Danielle and Ingrid now are, their wings vanishing behind their backs. They, too, seemed to be quite in utter panic, as Mapi was just taking a few deep breaths, trying to show the less of it. 

Before any of the angels could say anything, Tierna blinks and lets out:

"Oh my God: our dead friends were never ghosts, were they?" 

As her friends turn toward her, utterly surprised by this sudden reaction, Danielle nods her head, before saying:

"There has been a distortion in the deepest layer of Hell: we've been alerted and given a mission"

"A mission? What mission?" Crystal asks, raising her eyebrows. 

Ingrid sighs, visibly bothered by this utter loss of time.

"We are servants of God, and She is alarmed that Her brother is losing his throne, therefore threatening the whole equilibrium" Mapi quickly explains, before turning toward Tobin. Obviously, the brunette being the only human in the room with Kristie, she felt attacked when the Spanish continues: "This means that Kelley has played us, and already detains Shelina's powers."

"Wait" Tierna lets out, her eyes going wide, "God is a woman ?"

Ingrid smirks. 

"Haven't you listened to what Ariana Grande was singing?" she coldly lets out, rolling her eyes. 

"Back to the point, please" Crystal interrupts their passive-aggressive feud, deeply confused. When she gets the whole attention of the room, she asks: "Where would she detain Shelina exactly? 'Cause I'm going there to get her"

"I am afraid this is impossible, mi galante princesca (English: my gallant princess): your girlfriend is in Hell, and nobody survives there if they aren't related to Samael."

"... Or God" Ingrid mutters under her breath.

Crystal's eyes go wide. 

In a desperate effort, she walks forward and grabs Mapi's hand in order to take a glimpse of her memories. The whole, long life of the Spanish then passed before her eyes: her childhood in Heaven being trained to join God's guard, the angels ; her troubled adolescence realising this would be what her life would be like for the rest of eternity ; the moment she laid eyes on Christen Press and realised she would never been able to feel anything for anyone else ever again ; the dreadful expression on her face when her master, the Almighty God, told her and her fellow warriors the biggest reveal yet: 

God's heir was walking amongst the living, and she was mistaken for a witch centuries ago already - for a witch, but also a mad queen in the 16th Century, a schizophrenic patient in a mental institution in the 60s America... and so on and so forth, for each of her reincarnation, leading up to this moment: her final form. 

The images stop spreading in front of Crystal's eyes, as she falls on the ground, Mapi's eyes throwing daggers at her after pushing her away with an incredible strength. Remaining on the ground, Crystal starts crying, as the other girls (being Tobin, Krisite, Tierna and the other two angels) watched in surprise - Crystal never cries.

Mapi sighs, before saying in an honest voice:

"I am sorry you had to find out like this: I was trying to find the right words to tell you..." the blonde tries, but it is too late.

Crystal refuses her helping hand, before getting up on her feet and bursting out of the room, the door making a loud noise quickly after she left. 

Highly confused, Tierna stares at Mapi, who shakes her head. 

"Find out what?" the youngest girl aggressively asks, frowning.

 Mapi takes yet another deep breath, before revealing the painful truth:

"Shelina is God's heir."

***

"RUN!!!" Christen yells, as Sam follows her.

The whole scenery starts to change, as the place that looked just like Sunnyvale starts to shatter into pieces: the ground would fracture under their feet, while thousands of ghosts would just float in the air, straight at them, murderous eyes.

Sam then sees the truth: behind the false decors were hidden the painful sighting in front of them: desolation and pain, as screams could be heard from afar. The ground was almost all shattered, as Megan and Becky were approaching quickly, not themselves anymore. 

Christen and Sam exchange a look, as they were surrounded by ghosts.

But before any of them could say anything, a light submerges them, lightning up the whole dark place for a second, before a form emerges from it: even from afar, Sam could recognise the shadow in any circumstances.

"Abby!" she screams, as the ghosts were now only one step away from them, their eyes glowing red in the dark. 

Abby's face turns toward Sam and Christen - or, at least, what was left of it, as most of it was light or fire, her eyes revolving light as well as her whole body.

She looks down at them, her body fully turned toward them, before raising her hand in front of her and smiling. 

Of course she was staring at Sam more than at Christen, as she says in a whisper that sounded loud inside Sam's ears:

"Take care of Tierna."

And, just like that, everything disappear, as both Sam and Christen harshly fall onto the real ground of the Black Forest in Sunnyvale - the real Sunnyvale this time.

They've been to Hell and back.