Unexpected Anchor

Chapter Four

"Behold, the hellscape." Dorian raises his arm to a painting. I stand next to Harvey eating a Slim Jim I grabbed on our way to the academy. I had to make sure I got something in my stomach. "Mind you, the inferno is a lonely, desolate place. You might not see many monsters or demons but they're there." Dorian looks over to me as I pause with the half-eaten Slim Jim near my mouth.

He looks at me holding eye contact and I offer him a piece turning the eaten end towards him and he rolls his eyes turning back to Sabrina. Fine, I didn't plan on sharing anyway. I think to myself.

Dorian continues to speak as I rip another bite from my Slim Jim. "Find your way to the city of Pandemonium as quickly as possible. And don't forget, the incarnation I gave you to transport you back.... It won't work unless you're holding my flower." I swallow the bite of Slim Jim with a nervous gulp.

Sabrina turns away from the paintings and looks at us, "I love you guys. Also, everybody stays close. Through me, pass into the unholy kingdom. Through me, pass into—-"

I slightly lean to Harvey and whisper, "If she and Nik don't live happily ever after invite me to the wedding. This was pointless." He rolls his eyes at me as Sabrina continues the spell. A wind starts to pick up and I feel my ponytail whip around as the speed of the wind continues to pick up.

I hand over my mostly-eaten Slim Jim to Dorian without looking at him I say, "Hold this until I get back. I trust you not to eat it." I feel the Slim Jim taken from my hand and then a big whoosh as a bright light follows, so bright I close my eyes and the world turns black.

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I start coughing and hacking onto the ground. I look to notice the ground is sandy. I run my hands through it feeling the sand fall on top of my hands. The others around me also cough as they slowly stand on their feet. I hear waves crash and moans. Not the good kind, moans that are crying out in pain and sorrow.

"Everyone okay?" Sabrina asks us.

"Yeah." We all respond to her.

"So hell is a beach?" Harvey asks as I draw my name into the sand. Thinking it might stay and I can say my name is written in hell.

"Shores of Sorrow." I hear Sabrina mutter.

Theo stands pointing in the direction of the beach. We all turn to look at what he sees. Large wooden cages with arms reaching out of the holes. "What are those?" I mutter to the group as I stare at those things with sadness

"They're the souls of the damned." We hear a deep voice from the opposite side of the beach. A manly figure emerges from a sand castle. His blonde hair blowing in the wind and his white shirt was open showing off his chest.

I can't help but stare as I whisper, "I think my soul is damned too." I feel an elbow to my side as I look over as Roz glares at me. I roll my eyes at her as I turn back to the hottest man I have ever seen in my entire life.

The man smirks and continues to speak, "They drown as the tide rolls in, over and over..." Everyone walks towards him and Roz has to drag me beside her. I was too busy thinking about how I would happily drown every day if I got to stare at his face. "For all eternity." The fine-ass man finishes.

"Hi," Sabrina says to him. I can feel Roz start to slowly let go of my arm once we have caught up to Sabrina. "We're looking for Lilith. Uh... Madam Satan, Queen of Hell."

I get so caught up almost gawking at him as the wind blows his shirt and hair. Looking so heavenly yet sinful. His gold locks were so tempting to just reach for and his face.... I feel a pinch on my elbow as Roz whispers to me, "You're drooling." I close my mouth which somehow seemed to be open truly gawking at the guy standing before us.

"All the blood flows to Pandemonium. Follow the blood-red road where it flows, and there you'll find the throne of Hell." The guy says to us.

"Thanks," Sabrina says, I can't help but stare at him as he pushes his hair back out of his face. I wish those were my hands. "And you are?"

"Never stop off the road." He says to her and then looks over to everyone else stopping his stare at me. We lock eyes and I can feel myself heat up, my heart picking up as I lock eyes with him. He slowly moves his eyes down my body and then moves his gaze back to Sabrina. "It's clever you're wearing dead men's shoes, though. Any demon worth his salt can smell mortal flesh a mile away."

He looks back at me as he smirks and I can't help but blush a little. He turns around slowly to go back to, what I assume, is his sand castle. He bends down as he works on it. Patting it in a place that seemed to be messed up a little.

"Come on," Sabrina tells us. "Let's go." I stand there as everyone starts to make their way. Roz tries to get my attention but I can't stop staring at the guy as he keeps his back to me working on the castle.

"Hallie, come on," Roz whispers to me as she pulls on my elbow. I take a few steps but my mouth opens before I have time to move away from him. My brain decided I might as well say something if I was to never see him again.

"Nice castle," I say and the guy turns to look over his shoulder at me. Roz keeps pulling me as I stubbornly stand there barely moving. As his eyes meet mine, I smile making sure to give him my flirtatious eyes. "I always thought that I was meant to be with a man that owned a castle." I kept up my flirting knowing it was such a bad line.

The guy smirks and I can feel my heart do that rapid beating like before. "Well, one day you might..... princess" He keeps that eye contact daring me to look away. I hold onto it not knowing when I would ever see him again. Until Roz yanks me extremely hard toward the rest of the group. I follow her, breaking the stare with the hottest male I have ever seen. Making sure to keep his face in my memory for later.