Eternal Abyss - Waterfire Saga - Book 5

Chapter 15 - New Info

Neela's eyes flickered open. The world spun around her in dizzying circles, and her head throbbed. Her wrists and ankles burned from the tight ropes wrapped around them. She could spot Becca and Ling, both slumped over in different corners of the... room? Where were they, even? As Neela's eyes cleared she could see that they were in a shipwreck. It must be very old, for the wooden floors were caked with moss and barnacles. The walls of the ship had large tears in them, allowing light in some parts of the otherwise dark room. She could see Becca and Ling beginning to stir as well, their eyes fluttering open wearily.

"Where in Neria's name are we?" Becca groaned.

"Nowhere good," Ling grumbled. "Lucia's hiding place, I'm guessing."

"Look who's awake," a voice said, as Lucia melted out of the shadows. "That's good. We can finally get to the business of things."

"Where's Sera?" Neela gasped. "She wasn't part of our deal."

"Tsk, tsk," Lucia said dismissively. "I make the rules here. And shouldn't you be more worried about what happens to you?"

"Answer us. What happened to Sera?" demanded Becca.

Lucia smiled. "So demanding. What did I tell you about making rules? But nevertheless, I'll tell you what happened. With the help of a . . . friend, I was able to learn about a place known as the Eternal Abyss. It's where the souls of the dead go to face judgement before their souls are brought to the Underworld. Only ghosts have the power and skills to open up portals that lead there, in case they decide to give themselves to the Underworld. It's some complicated magic that I don't care about. Anyway, once the living are in the Abyss, there's basically no coming back. Sera will be dead within several days. So forget about her. She'll join her stupid family soon enough."

"Don't you dare talk about Sera and her family like that," growled Becca. "You have no right."

Lucia snarled. "That's quite enough about Sera. She ruined my life and now she's going to die. But the rest of you... you have all caused me much trouble as well. I thought about sending you to the Abyss to die with your friend, but then realized you could be useful to me. I'll be the puppeteer, you will be the puppets, and everyone else will enjoy the show . . . of me taking over the realms." She grinned madly.

"And what makes you think we'll let you use us like that?" Ling spat through gritted teeth.

"Well, I have your lives on the line. I have Matali's frail economy between my fingers, and Ava's poor sick sister locked away along with Yaz. So if you don't want anyone else to die, you'll do as I say." Lucia sneered.

Becca, Neela, and Ling all glowered at Lucia, but said nothing. She was right, after all. But there was one person they hadn't heard about -- Ava's sister. Ava rarely talked about her family, and didn't really contact them once she'd gone back to her quiet Amazon life. Neela grimaced. Poor Ava. They hadn't even gotten a chance to see her, and she was probably confused and scared.

"What do we have to do?" Neela asked, though she knew what was coming next.