Exalted (11 page)

She needed Cayne.
She needed Cayne. Oh, shit. She really needed Cayne!

Her breaths had
grown ragged, and now she put her hands over her mouth, feeling like she just
might hyperventilate.

 
“Julia, you don’t look bad in a bikini.”

“What’s that
supposed to mean? Did you put me in this thing?” She stood up woozily and
examined the suit. White polka dots on pink. Ugh. She hated polka dots.

Edan’s smile was
weary. “I didn't; you did. You don’t like yourself in it. That’s why you’re
wearing it.”

Julia frowned, then
waved at his all-black garb. “You, too?”

He nodded, and she
actually laughed. “What’s wrong with black?”

Edan grimaced,
waving an elegant hand over his beautiful, lean physique. “Makes me look too
slim.”

“Seriously?"

He cut his eyes away
in confirmation, and Julia cackled. “You have got to be motherloving kidding
me. Got to be
kidding
me. Oh my God, what’s going on here?”

 
“C’mon. Start
walking.” He waved his arm, and Julia noticed a path of crisp, black leaves,
cutting through the forest.

“Edan, where are we?” All her manic buoyancy was gone,
replaced by dreadful heaviness. “I'm not taking another step until I'm sure
you're not leading me somewhere terrible.”

“You're already in Hell, Julia. Now we're just walking.”

“In this forest?" It was familiar. "Where is
everyone else?"

“They’re in their own Hell. This is yours.”

Julia realized why she recognized the forest. “This from
that trip to the Smoky Mountain National Forest in sixth grade. I got lost
after sunset.”

Edan shrugged.

“So everyone else is seeing…something like this?”

“Could be anything,” he said as they walked. “What you
think is Hell, is Hell. Humans figured out the concept a while back. You’ve
even put it in your movies.”

“Really?” How had she missed that?

Edan nodded. “I saw a Robin Williams film about it a while
back. Dreadful.”

Julia had no idea what he was talking about. “Are you like
my guide or something?”

Edan shook his head. "No."

"Why are you here then?"

Edan shrugged, and his gray gaze glided over to hers.
“Maybe I missed you.”

“Okay, seriously, what the hell is going on? I'm starting
to feel like you're not real—” she shuddered— “and not knowing for sure makes
me really nervous.” So nervous, her voice actually cracked. “If you are really
you, please tell me why you...” Tears filled Julia's eyes. “Why didn’t you help
me? Edan...you— You...whipped me. Do you remember that?”

She wasn't sure she could handle whatever he was going to
say next. She had her arms tucked around her shivering body, and she had almost
stopped walking when Edan gave a small nod.

“Why?” she said, half gasp. “Edan, why would you do that?
You took Cayne to Hell, too.”

"Yeah."

"You really are a Demon."

He shook his head. “I lost my wings, so I'm only a Shade
for now.”

"What does that have to do with anything! You tricked
us, at the resort! You helped Nathan!”

“It was my prerogative. I also got you out, and I’m taking
you toward Cayne. Hopefully that makes up for it.”

It really didn't. “
Toward
Cayne? But not
to
him?”

“You’ll be reunited with your friends as soon as everyone's
orientation is over. The group of you will have to find him here.” Edan waved
his hand, and suddenly they were through the forest and standing at the edge of
that same enormous wheat field, sans the desolate road. Julia remembered driving
through fields like these with Cayne as they'd headed west, looking for
Samyaza. She even remembered thinking how they seemed to go on and on.

Now she was staring at one that probably did.

Nice.

“What about you?” She turned back to Edan, who looked somehow
both stern and kind of sorry.
 

“What about me?”

“What do you do here?”

“What I always do. Sit around. Be bored.”

“Hell is boring for you?”

"Hella boring.”

She didn't laugh. “So you’re
really
a Demon?”

“I'm a Shade, now," he said testily. "A demoted
Demon."

"Why were you demoted?"

“Julia, don't worry about it.” Edan's eyes met hers, and
his were almost gentle. “You’ve got bigger things ahead of you."

“I don't want to hear that,” she said, choking on the
words.

“I'm just telling you the truth. And, Julia: Just between
us, Methuselah was controlling me. I didn't have a choice, back when I...”

“When you whipped me?” She put her hands on her hips, and
as she did, a big, black bird flew overhead. Edan turned his head, looking over
his shoulder as it flew into the forest. “I think that’s my cue.”

Julia panicked, grabbing his arm. “Please don't go.” But of
course he would, so she said, “Give me a clue or something.”

Edan's hand on her shoulder gripped so hard it almost hurt,
and this time, she was sure she saw a glimmer of sympathy in his gray eyes.
“Take care of yourself, okay, Julia?”

And, just like that, Edan disappeared, leaving Julia all
alone at the helm of the never ending wheat field, with that damned black bird,
which she suddenly realized had to be The Raven.

Freakin' Edgar Allan Poe. Always had scared the crap out of
her.

Chapter Sixteen

The wheat field really sucked. So did that damned raven.
And the knowledge that she was actually in Hell. Alone. In a windy field, under
stormy, dusky skies. And yet... It was testament to how horrible her time with
Methuselah had been that Julia found the situation almost tolerable, in
comparison to the ordeal in Alexandria.

She couldn't even think of it in detail, but she did wonder
how long she’d been held captive. Was it days or weeks—or only hours? She tried
to work it out as she tip-toed through the field, looking down at her bare feet
for spiders, snakes, and anything else sure to scare her further. Even
wondering about how long she'd been in Alexandria made her feel queasy, and it
seemed that every thought—even ones of Cayne—brought her back around to there,
so she forced her mind to stop thinking entirely.
 

The raven kept making its creep-tastic, cawing raven
sounds, and Julia jumped at every one of them. Her steely resolution to find
Cayne and her friends had began to erode, and she started to wonder crazy
things, like whether maybe the raven was Cayne trapped in a form she'd never be
able to communicate with.

Then she saw Carlin.

Her friend was running through the field at full speed,
waving her arms and shrieking things in Spanish. She was running perpendicular
to Julia's path, and Julia realized if she ran, too, she could intersect Carlin
about fifty yards ahead.

“Car, you better know I love you, girl.”

And with that, she started running. Through the wheat
field. On bare feet.

If she'd thought the icky, muddy field was gross when she
was walking, it was ten times grosser running. Her feet sank into the chilly
mud, and as she ran, it slung up behind her, sticking to her thighs and her
lower back, even hitting her on the butt through her bikini bottom.

When she got within softball-throwing range of Carlin, she
started screaming her friend's name.

Whatever Carlin was experiencing must have scared the
bejeebies out of her, because the panicked girl didn't seem to notice Julia at
all. She ripped through the field like a tornado, yelping and screaming, until
finally Julia got within lunging range—and then Carlin shrieked even louder and
ran the other way.

“Dangit! Carlin it's me! It's Julia!”

“Julia.”
Julia whirled on Drew, looking totally
unafraid and very Drew-like, except that he was wearing a yellow sundress.

“Drew! Holy crap! Wait, is that really you?”

Drew nodded, plucking at the dress. “I'm afraid so. How are
you?” Before he could get all the words out of his mouth, he was stepping
forward to wrap his arms around her. He patted her gently on the back and
pressed his face into her shoulder. One of his arms came up behind her neck,
and he squeezed harder.

“Are you okay?” he asked her as he pulled away. “Are you
hurt?”

Staring into her friend's serious for the first time since
she'd been captured on the mountain in St. Moritz, Julia found her eyes filling
with tears. Drew pulled her back into a hug, and she squeezed him to let him
know it was okay to hug her harder. For a minute, they just stood there in the
freakish Hell wind, and Julia allowed herself a second of relief.

“Drew—” Her voice caught on his name. “I missed you! How'd
you find me here?”

“I was deposited only a few feet away,” he said, looking
ruefully down at his dress.

“At least it's not this,” she said, pointing to her bikini.

“Hey, you rock that.”

Julia scrunched up her face. “You rock yours more.”

“I'm about to take it off,” he said. “I feel ridiculous.
I'm not a drag—”

Carlin let out another awful shriek, and Julia pulled away,
feeling selfish for forgetting her freaked out friend. “We need to get her.”

Drew nodded, and they dashed after her. Drew got to her
first, and when he grabbed her hand, Carlin flailed and screamed and eventually
even sobbed, until finally Drew and Julia were hugging her, both of them trying
to prove that they were really them (“Who did we see at the resort? Jess
Stanton!” and “What brand name was your ski suit? I can tell you if you
listen!”), and Carlin sobbed, “It's you! Julia! Drew! Oh Christ! Christ!”

“Car...” Julia hugged her friend tightly, and Drew stroked
her hair as the Spanish started again, finally bleeding into English: “...movie
about worms, these big, giant worms, and it was hours and hours and I was so
tired! They were under the earth, and I always hated that movie since I was a
little girl!” Carlin looked around and blinked, like she was seeing them for
the first time.

And then she started crying again. “Julia! How are you!? I
was so worried!”

Julia let Carlin hug it out; unlike Drew, the Spanish girl
didn't worry about Julia’s possible injuries and squeezed the heck out of her,
which actually felt amazing.

“Car, I'm so glad to see you,” Julia said, carefully evading
the question about how she was doing. She knew she couldn't talk about her
experiences in Alexandria; she didn't even trust herself to say she was okay,
even though technically, physically, she was. She could feel Methuselah's power
inside her, and it still hurt sometimes, but she wasn't dying or anything. And
she didn't feel Methuselah's presence, which meant that perhaps she was rid of
that awful leash. Something to jump up and down about, under different
circumstances.

Carlin wiped her eyes, sniffed once, and turned to Drew.
“Drew, you are looking amazing!”

Drew dropped his head into his hand. "I got stuffed
into something like this by some dickheads when I was still in training."

“Oh no! Then Drew, we will find more clothes for you.” She
giggled. “And Julia.”

“Why do you get to wear a sweat suit?” Julia complained,
and Carlin snorted.

“It is from Wal-Mart.”

They all got a good laugh out of that, and Carlin insisted
on swapping her baggy blue sweat suit for Drew's dress, which, as it happened,
was
designer brand. Drew couldn't fit into the sweatshirt, but he managed to
squeeze into the pants while Julia and Carlin turned their backs to him,
holding hands.

“Where is Meredith?” Carlin asked, and Julia pressed her
lips together. “Haven't seen her,” she said, struggling not to get overwhelmed
by the situation—and her fear.

“I did,” Drew said. It sounded a little like a confession.

“Where was she?”

“I saw her crying at a funeral on the other end of the
field. I tried to reach her, but she kept getting farther away.” He pointed.
“That direction.”

Julia grabbed Drew's hand, and the three of them started
across the field.

“Edan, or a version of him, appeared to me right after that
road disappeared,” Drew said. “He said this place is based off us—our fears and
insecurities."

“He was with you? Me too,” Julia said. “He said pretty much
the same thing. That's so weird.”

“He was with me as well, for a little bit before he kissed
me and left me here with the worms,” Carlin said, vehemently shaking her head.

Julia saw Drew's eyebrows shoot up when Carlin said “he
kissed me,” but he kept his voice even as he threw Julia a look that said
'let's talk about this later'. “Guess he can be more than one place at once.”

“He told me we could find Cayne here,” Julia said.

“Why did he bring Cayne here?” Carlin asked. “I asked him,
but he did not tell.”

“I wish I had asked more questions,” Julia confessed. “At
the time, I was freaking out.”

“I think it might be time for that again,” Drew said.

Julia looked up, and the stormy sky was filled with
meteorites—all of which appeared to be headed straight for them.

Chapter Seventeen

It had been easier than he'd expected, fooling the
Adversary. So easy, in fact, that Cayne was reminded of words his aunt used to
tell him: “Pride cometh before a fall.”

He was pretty sure that came from the Bible. It might have
even been about the devil, which made it all the more appropriate.

Cayne’s ruse hadn’t been painless. He'd had to let his
father kick his ass for a long while, beyond what he would have been able to
withstand if they had been on earth. He'd had to suffer in other ways, too. But
physical pain, mental pain, even emotional pain—he'd dealt with them before,
although watching Julia suffer made his heart ache worse than he'd thought
possible. But he’d gone through the motions, and he’d given the Adversary what
he must have expected: sorrow, anger, denial. He’d tried bargaining, and when
that didn’t work, more fighting.