Dead!

Chapter 48

Chapter 48

I expected to wake up to Maya's screaming the next morning, and I was slightly disappointed when all I heard was silence. The memories of the night before came flooding back to me. Grandma was still in shock, and I had yet to tell all of Maya's friends. I slowly rolled out of bed and grabbed my phone so I could text the three boys.

MochaKitty5: hey can u guys meet me @ the park? I hav some important news.

Jack, Raj, and Henri all immediately responded that they could come. Still clutching onto my phone, I trudged down the stairs and made myself some cereal. This is all my fault, I thought. If I hadn't been such a terrible person when I was alive, Maya wouldn't have died, and then she wouldn't have been taken by those demons. She would be safe on Earth. After I finished my breakfast, I went back upstairs to finish getting ready. Then, I told Grandma that I was going to the park and left.

When I arrived at the park, I saw Jack reading a book. "What are you reading?" I asked him.

"Let me finish this chapter," he grumbled, adjusting his glasses.

"So what did you want to tell us, Ivy?" Raj asked.

"Well, Maya was at Hot Topic during the demon attacks," I said.

"That sounds like Maya," Henri said. "So why does this matter?"

"The demons attacked Hot Topic, and Maya was taken," I said.

"Wait, what?" Raj said. "Maya was taken?"

"Maya did not deserve to be taken," Henri said. "This isn't fair at all."

"What was the news again?" Jack said, finally looking up from his book.

"Maya was at Hot Topic during the demon attacks, and she was taken," I repeated.

"Maya's gone?!" Jack exclaimed.

"I still don't get that," Raj said. "Why would the demons go to Hot Topic?"

"That's actually fairly easy to explain," Jack said. "The demons that attacked us were Roman soldiers that died near the fall of the Empire and went to Hell. They are always on the search for Goths to torture in Hell, despite the fact that the Goths that they're talking about are long gone. Usually they end up mistakenly attacking gothic cathedrals and Hot Topic stores."

"How do you know all of that?" I asked.

"This book I'm reading," Jack said. "It's called The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Underworld, and it's a collection of everything we know about Hell. I just finished the section on the different types of demons."

"That gave me an idea," Henri said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"This is probably a very bad idea, but what if we went into Hell?" Henri said.

"Yes!" Raj said. "Let's rescue Maya."

"I want Maya back as much as you guys do, but I'm not sure that's a good idea," Jack said. "There are only a handful of people who have gone into Hell and made it back safely."

I stayed silent, unsure if I even wanted Maya back. She was really annoying, but at the same time, it felt wrong to just leave her in Hell. Who knew what they were doing to her in there? "We can do it," Raj finally chimed in.

"It's very unlikely we can rescue Maya without getting captured ourselves," Jack said. "We don't know where Maya is in Hell, and there are large sections of Hell that are completely uncharted. We're going to be captured by the demons if we go in there." Jack paused for a minute and then said, "You know what, it is worth a shot. This is for Maya, not us. Ivy, are you in?"

I didn't know. I wouldn't have minded just leaving Maya in Hell, but this was the right thing to do, even if it was risked all of our existences. "I'll do it," I said.

"Great," Jack said. He picked up his book again, and then said, "Hey, this is interesting. Did you know that only 8% of the people who have journeyed into Hell have returned to Heaven?"

"Jack, you are not helping!" Henri exclaimed. "How are we going to get into Hell?"

"Isn't there an entrance to Hell in the Celestial Bureaucracy office?" I said.

"That's a great idea!" Raj exclaimed. "We can just walk in."

"It is an option, but only certain Celestial Bureaucracy employees can open those doors," Jack said.

"Don't you work for the Bureaucracy?" I said.

"Yes, but I'm not high-ranking enough for that," Jack said. "In general, Soul Analysts are not allowed access to the judging room, which is where the door to Hell is. You need Level 8D clearance to unlock that door."

"Do you know anyone who has Level 8D clearance?" I asked.

"No," Jack said.

"What are we supposed to do?" Henri said.

"I don't know," I said.

"There aren't any other entrances to Hell other than the one in the Celestial Bureaucracy's office," Jack said.

"We're going to have to figure out some way to get in there," I said.

"We can just wing it, I guess," Raj said.

"No, we need to have a plan," Jack said. "We can't do this if we don't have a plan."

"Relax, Jack," Raj said. "You need to learn how to improvise."

"Improvisation is a useful thing to know," Henri added.

"Fine," Jack said. "One of you has to figure something out though."

"What are we going to do once we get into Hell?" I asked.

"Find Maya?" Henri said.

"Yes, that's obvious, but it can't be that easy," I said.

"It really isn't," Jack said. "Hell is an enormous place. I have a map, but it's incomplete. Maya could be anywhere."

"Can I see the map?" Raj asked.

"Sure," Jack said.

He passed the map to Raj, and Raj started to look it over. "Wait, so if the cells are arranged in order of death date, and the demons that took Maya were Roman soldiers that died around the fall of Rome...wait, when was that?"

"Between 376 and 476 C.E.," Jack answered.

"Then wouldn't the demons, and therefore Maya, be somewhat easy to find?" Raj said. "They couldn't have gone too far from their cells."

"Raj, you're brilliant!" Jack said. "Of course that's where we have to go. I can't believe that I didn't come up with that myself."

"You're welcome, Jack," Raj said.

"So we know where we are going now?" Henri said. "I'm glad. I was worried for a while."

"Yeah, I think so," I said.

"When are we going to do this?" Henri asked.

"Does Thursday work for everyone?" Jack asked. Everyone nodded. "Fantastic. I still can't believe that we're doing this."

"Me neither," Henri said.

"We can't just let Maya get tortured in Hell," Raj said.

"I agree," Jack said. "Maya's my best friend. We have to save her."

"I thought I was your best friend," Henri argued.

"No, you're my boyfriend," Jack said, quickly kissing Henri. "That's even better."

The boys quickly started talking about something else that didn't involve me at all, so I told them that I had to go just to get out of there. I'll admit - I was kind of scared of what would happen in Hell, but at the same time, I knew that this was the right thing to do, and nothing could ever feel better than doing the right thing.