Fading Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 2 (19 page)

I heard the distinct rattle of a chain before I'd even opened my eyes. I blinked them open and
realised I was laying on the floor. I was back in the dimly lit tunnel, that smelled of earth and
smoke. I sat up quickly not wanting to be laying on the dirty floor and shook away any dirt from my
hair.
“Ahem,” someone cleared their throat.
I looked to my left and saw Mack sitting cross legged next to the floor. Today he was in his holey
black jeans and boots and he was shirtless. His wrist was chained the same as before.
“I've been waiting ages for you to wake up.” he said half smiling at me.
“Was I asleep long?” I asked confused. Last time I had come straight here.
“Well you were laying there for almost a minute but it seemed like forever waiting for you to open
your eyes.”
We talked for well over an hour not that I could be sure, there wasn't exactly a clock on the wall and
I didn't have a watch.
“So let me see if I've got this right. Your name is Jessie McCormack and you're friends with Micah
and my brother Seth. Micah's special ability is he has visions of the future, he saw me involved in a
car accident and that's why my brother moved me to Heaven's Point, to keep me safe. But Micah
also had another vision that if I met you I would somehow get caught up in everything and someone
from the fight club would see me and try to kidnap me and that's why he told you to stay away from
me.” I said scooting a little closer to him in my cross legged sitting position.
“Yes but....” he said wanting me to continue to see if I'd remembered everything he had told me
correctly.
“But it wasn't the fallen that was going to kidnap, even though it seemed that way it was Cam all
along.”
“Yep.”
“So you were supposed to stay away from me?” I asked raising my eyebrow curiously. He hadn't
gone into too much detail about it.
“Yes.”
“But you didn't instead you changed your name and followed me to school. That's kind of stalkerish.” I smiled. “So we were friends?” I continued.
“Sort of,” he replied hesitantly watching me with guarded eyes.
“What does sort of mean? You didn't throw paper airplanes at me and pull my ponytail to get my
attention did you?”
“No. Now keep going, tell me about the other thing we've been talking about.”
“Okay. So before I turned eighteen I wasn't a fully formed Nephilim so when I tried to look inside a
fallen's head I would pass out because it was too much for me to take. But now when I try because
I'm a full Nephilim I can get inside a fallen's head and dig around for whatever information I want
and we both pass out and they have no idea that I was even in their head. Wow! This is complicated
stuff. Okay so I can hear human thoughts easily and read their minds but it doesn't work on
anything that isn't human. If I want to know what's going on in their minds (for example a fallen
angel) I have to concentrate and look in their eyes and I somehow get swept into their mind. Have I
got that right?”
“Yep. I think that sounds about right. Before when you looked in my head when we were....up there
in the real world, you collapsed in front of me and you probably caught a glimpse of a past memory.
But now you're stronger you can dig around for the exact memory you're looking for and you take
the fallen angel whoever it is with you. They fall asleep while you dig around in their head. Anyway
I think that's how it works from everything you've told me and everything I know.”
“That explains why Senka and I collapsed on his bed and he can't remember even falling asleep.”
“Bed?” Mack asked curiously.
“Erm...we were watching a movie together. I don't have a TV in my room. But going back a minute,
what we're doing now is something completely different all together. Because I can't see you
physically, I just imagine what you look like and end up inside your mind and you pass out
wherever you are on the spot and we can do this, have a conversation as if we were really together.
But what about when we were both asleep?”
“I think it works both ways, we can visit each other in our sleep but I think it's because of your gift.
I've never done that before with anyone else. But it was random and we both had to be asleep for it
to work. Now you're stronger neither of us have to be asleep you can visit me whenever you want.
I'm never going to be able to get rid of you.” he joked knocking me with his knee.
“Don't worry I won't over stay my welcome.”
“Yes you will.”
“Is that safe, you collapsing on the spot without warning?”
“It's okay, I'm a quick healer if I do fall and hurt myself. No one noticed last time and I doubt they
will this time.”
“Speaking about healing. I cut myself the other day and Senka wrapped it up for me. Then when I
went back to check on it to see how it was healing, it was completely gone. Not even a scratch.”
“Full Nephilim heal fast. Scratches take seconds, cuts take minutes, tears and larger wounds take
longer. Bones take a few hours usually.”
“That's insane!”
“If you're damaged real bad a bit of rest and food should soon sort you out. But obviously if you
loose a limb that wont grow back.”
“How does that work with the ageing process?”
“It doesn't, you wont age. You'll always look the same as you do now. Forever young.”
“Can I die?”
“Well yeah if you have your head ripped off or your internal organs pulled out or....”
“That's gross.” I said cutting him off.
“But Nephilim bodies are stronger than humans, not as fragile so they can take quite a beating.”
“Good to know. What about you?” I asked.
“What about me?”
“I'm guessing you're older than you look.”
“Maybe.”
“So you don't age either?”
“Nope. But are bodies are made up of different materials to yours. We have all the same internal
organs but we weren't made to be human so our bodies work differently and when we fell the
gravity and the earth's atmosphere changed the way our bodies function. We do need to rest but very
rarely. And we don't eat food our bodies don't need it to sustain themselves but we do need to keep
ourselves hydrated. Energy drinks work well for some reason they keep our bodies going for longer
so sleep is a rare activity. That's why I was sleeping more down here, there are no energy drinks on
the menu. Just water.”
“Do you have a heartbeat?” I asked curiously.
The other morning when Senka was passed out I'd checked his pulse. He didn't have one.
“Um sort of, it's really slow though. It's just the way our bodies work. Our heart beats like two times
a minute or something like that. We get mistaken for being dead quite a lot.”
“So how old you?” I asked. I'd been wanting to ask him his age for a while, I was really curious
about it.
“Probably too old for you.” he smirked.
“And Cam is a death tracker?”
“From what I remember about him and everything you've told me you've heard. Yes it appears he's
a death tracker.”
“Death tracker,” I repeated. “Saying that out loud sounds like I'm talking about some paranormal
TV series not real life. And Kenzie as well and they collect souls and take them to....”
“To Hell. They take them to their final destination.” he said finishing my sentence for me.
“How do you know about this?” I asked.
“I don't know much about it. I've heard people talking about trackers before but they're like a myth.
I never knew whether they were real or not. I knew there was Hell even before I fell but I didn't
know it had caretakers. That's why when I saw Cam I thought there was something strange about
him but I didn't even take it into consideration he was a tracker. I saw the mark on his arm which
I've seen before on many fallen but I thought it was a private club or something.”
“You mean this?” I said holding out my hand to show him.
“Yes.”
“I think it's the mark of Under. I've seen this mark on both death trackers and fallen. Why do I have
one?”
“I don't know?” Ruby,”
“Hmm,” I replied.
“You need to get out of there you don't belong down there. You don't belong with Cam.”
“I know but it's not as easy as hopping over the garden wall and running away. I don't think I'm
even in...in I don't know...I don't think I'm anywhere near this Heaven's Point you told me about. I
think I'm in
'Under'
if that makes any sense. I can't just stroll out the front gates when I don't even
know where I'm going or what's on the other side.”
“Is there anything....anything you can think of that might be useful, anything you've overheard or
someone you can trust that might help?”
My thoughts went straight to Senka but I didn't want to get him trouble with Cam, same went for
Kenzie. Then there was Alex, Alex was probably the one person that didn't like me staying at the
manor and from what I'd seen in Senka's memory it made sense why he wasn't thrilled about me
being there. But I think I might have found a way of making him talk. I knew there was something
he wanted. Maybe he would answer a few of my questions?
“Actually....I think there might be someone.”
“That's good. Who is this person?”
“His name's Alex he lives in the manor.”
“And you can trust him?”
“Definitely not. But I think I can make a deal with him.”
“You sure you know what you're doing?”
“No, but it's worth a shot. Otherwise I'm out of options. I don't think anyone else is going to help.”
“So you hang out with this Senka a lot?” he asked pulling at a hole in his jeans.
“How did we go from discussing my escape plan to that?”
“Sorry. It's just you say his name an awful lot.”
“Oh do I? I dunno it gets a bit lonely back at the manor and he's nice to me. But he's not going to
help me escape as he works too closely with Cam.”
Mack sat quietly and looked at the floor.
“Mack I'm going to get you out of here.”
“Ruby. Don't worry about me, concentrate on finding a way out of where you are.”
“I should really get back, there's probably someone looking for me.”
I stood up and brushed myself down and Mack held onto the chain pulling himself up.
“Thanks for talking to me.” I said.
“I wanted to tell you. I mean before I wanted to tell you, before everything went wrong and you lost
your memory and I ended up here. But your brother didn't want you finding out too soon, he wanted
to protect you.”
“I can see why, it's a lot to take in, finding out you're immortal is a pretty huge deal. At least now I
know I'm not going crazy. Thank you for being honest.”
He laughed softly and looked at me from under his dark eyelashes.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I haven't been completely honest with you.”
“About what?”
“About us.”
“Us?” I asked curiously.
“We weren't just friends. You mean a whole lot more to me and I think you felt the same way.”
He was looking at me differently. His eyes looked darker and smouldered with a hunger behind
them and I couldn't tear mine away from his. I always felt there was more between us, now it made
sense. But I still couldn't remember.
He stepped forward and my feet became rooted to the floor. I knew what he wanted and suddenly
that was all I wanted. I wanted him to kiss me. I couldn't stop my eyes as they drifted down his face
to his lips. I had kissed those lips before. He stepped closer and my gaze dropped down to the floor
as his boots came toe to toe with my feet. My breathing had sped up and my heart was thudding in
my chest. The chain rattled as his hand moved over to mine and his fingers entangled with mine. I
looked down at our hands, our skin was the same colour but his was dirty covered in black dirt. I
felt something graze along my chin. He gently tilted my chin up and his lips slowly found their way
to mine. They felt rough against mine but it didn't make me want them any less. He stopped to look
at me, but when I didn't protest he leaned in again deepening the kiss and parting my lips. The
sound of my own name being called distracted me.
I stopped kissing Mack, but didn't pull away.
“Kenzie.” I groaned. “I have to go.”
“Don't be gone too long.” He kissed the bridge of my nose and I closed my eyes.

When I opened them Mack was gone. Kenzie's face now replaced his as he leaned over poking me
in the cheek.
“You can stop that. I'm awake.” I said.
“You must be a real deep sleeper. I've been calling and prodding you for like ever! I was just about
to try the drink in face technique.”
“Well you can hold off on that.” I said looking at the glass of water in his hand.
“Also I thought the water would help cool you down. You look a little flustered.” he said smirking.
My hand went to my cheek which felt warm.
“Good dream was it” he asked setting the glass down.
“Maybe. So is there a reason you're disturbing my afternoon siesta?” I smiled joking. I wasn't cross
with Kenzie. I was a little disappointed I'd had to leave Mack. The timing sucked.
“I've got a few hours to kill, thought we could take a dip in the pool?”
“Sounds good but I'll be needing that T-shirt of yours. I can't be bothered to walk all the way back to
my room to change. I should really keep a spare swimsuit and change of clothes down here.”
“Or you could just go in topless like I do.”
“Something tells me Cam wouldn't want me swimming around naked for everyone's eyes to see.” I
said looking at the full length glass windows that looked out onto the gardens.
“Yeah, you're probably right. Don't want to give Boris a heart attack.” he smiled pulling off his Tshirt and chucking it to me.
Boris was the head of gardening and usually spent everyday in the garden trimming, pruning and
digging and often walked passed the swimming pool windows.
I looked like a shrivelled prune after spending way too long in the pool with Kenzie, but spending
time with Kenzie was worth it, he was one of the few people round here that acted his age and made
me feel like a teenager again. Even now after I knew what he was, I wasn't afraid of him or any of
the others for that matter. Kenzie was still Kenzie even though he was a death tracker and spent his
days collecting wicked souls. He was still the same old Kenzie to me.
I walked back to my room still wearing Kenzie's T-shirt with a towel wrapped around myself
carrying my clothes and sandals. I took a quick shower to warm myself up while going over what I
wanted to say to Alex in my head. I headed upstairs hoping for once Senka wasn't up there I needed
to catch Alex on his own.
I came across him in the gym. Weird techno music pumped out the ceiling speakers and the room
smelled of feet probably from all the sneakers left at the side. Alex was at the back using the bench
press another boy sat chatting to him on the bench next to him. I edged my way over to him,
ignoring a few of the strange looks I was getting from some of the others. I casually crept up a little
closer to him while pretending to look at the posters on the wall which were mainly instructions on
how to use the equipment. The boy sitting next to Alex stopped in mid conversion when he saw me
hovering close by and Alex strained his head up to see who the boy was looking at. I saw him shake
his head, it was subtle but obvious. He placed the weights back on the bar and sat up and nodded at
the other boy to leave. The boy frowned at me, not too pleased he had been told to leave because of
me.
Alex wiped his face with a towel and picked up his energy drink.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing I was just checking out the gym.” I said casually running my hand along a piece of
equipment.
“Senka's not here. He's at work.”
“Well I didn't come up here to talk to Senka. I actually wanted to talk to you.”
“And what is it you want to talk to me about that you can't talk to Senka about?”
“Well I could talk to him but he'd probably lie to me or pretend he doesn't know what I'm talking
about.”
“And what makes you think I wont do the same?”
“Because I think I can help you with something.”
“Help me with what?” he asked laughing.
“I know there's something you want but you're too frightened to do anything about it. I can help.”
“What makes you think you know what I want?”
“Medium length black hair, brown eyes, cute little nose, beautiful heart shape lips, usually leaves
my breakfast every morning and makes my bed for me.”
“Enough you've made your point.”
“Why don't you just talk to her? I've seen the way you look at her.”
“Because she's beautiful and I'm a nobody. Just another worker that spends most of his days
working and drinking with not much to show for himself, why would she want to talk to me?”
“How do you know she doesn't want to talk to you if you've never spoken to her?”
“I have spoken to her. I've said hello and goodbye to her. And then there was this time I asked her if
she needed help.”
“Wow! That's progress.” I said sarcastically.
“What do you want?” he asked snapping at me.
“I have questions. I want information about this place. I know there's something else going on.”
“Really and what makes you think there's something going on?”
“Alex, I'm not here to play games.”
“Why don't you ask Emmett? You talk to him don't you?”
“Emmett is a little rat anything I say to him goes straight back to Cam. I don't trust him.”
“Well that's one thing we have in common at least. Why not ask Mackenzie? You spend enough
time with that nut job.”
“No. I'm not talking to Kenzie about anything.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Kenzie's my friend but he's also very close to Cam.”
“Yeah. Right up his royal....”
“Hey, okay I get it you don't like Kenzie. Can I ask why?”
“I didn't say I didn't like him. He's different that's all and he's usually jacked up on sugar from the
amount of soda and sweets he consumes.” It was true Kenzie did have a sweet tooth.
“Wait I get it. You thought you'd ask me, cause you don't care if I get into trouble. Is that it?” he
asked laughing.
“That's not true. I do care. But Cam's not going to find out.”
“So what information do you want?”
“Information about this place and I need you to tell me about Heaven's Point.”
“Shhh!” he said looking around to see if anyone had heard me.
“Where did you get that name from? Did you overhear it? Did one of the guys say something about
it?” he said swinging his leg over the bench and walking over to me.
“No. I've been remembering a few things.” I said, keeping it simple. It wasn't true, I wasn't
remembering anything but I wasn't about to explain Mack to Alex.
“Come with me,” he said taking my elbow and leading me out of the room away from any curious
ears. He took me to a door painted dark green. It had postcards stuck on at random and a large
poster of the different types of weed and it wasn't the types of weed you spent hours in the garden
pulling up between the slabs. I glanced sideways at Alex as he fumbled with the key in the lock.
“What you've never smoked?” he asked smirking.
I looked at him waiting for it to register.
“Oh yeah, memory loss. Duh!”
He opened the door barely wide enough for me to fit through and put his hand on my back and
pushed me inside. He ducked in after me and quickly shut the door.
“I think this looks way more suspicious than us talking in the gym.”
“Yeah but I don't want anyone listening.” he said chucking his towel on the bed.
I roughly remembered what the inside of his room looked like from the time I had been inside
Senka's head. The walls were the same colour as the door, the double bed spread was also green
which matched the curtains and even the rug. He must like green. A lot.
There were wind chimes and dream catchers hung up at the windows. This was not how I would
have pictured Alex's bedroom. There wasn't a naked pin up girl in sight.
“What's that smell?” I asked.
Alex raised an eyebrow at me, I looked around and my eyes landed on a small table with a bong
sitting in the middle.
“Nevermind.” I said having just answered my own question.
“So you said you've been remembering a few things. What kind of things?” he asked.
“Only names and places, it's all a mess still I can't put any of it together. So I take it you've heard of
this place? This Heaven's Point?”
“Maybe,”
“Okay, well I want some information about it, do you think you can help me?”
“Information. And what will you do for me in return if I give you this information or answer a few
of your questions?”
“Let's make a deal. I will talk to Narmi about you and put in a good word and you can help with my
questions.”
“What would you say to her?”
“I don't know yet but I'm sure I will come up with something. Now getting back to the main topic.
Heaven's Point,” I said in hushed voice even though we were alone. “Where is it? How do I get
there?”
“Whoa...back up. Even if I tell you where it is you're never going to find it.”
“And why is that?”
“It's complicated.”
“So it's nowhere near Brackelburn?”
“What the.....how do you even know about that place?”
I shrugged.
“Ruby. If Cam finds out,”
“He wont,” I cut him off. “And if he does I wont let it fall back on you. So how do I get there?”
“You're basically asking me how to escape.”
“Look are you going to help me or not? Or should I sweet talk Senka?” I thought this might help
persuade Alex. I'd already decided Senka was not an option though.
“No don't you dare. I don't want him getting into trouble because of you.”
“So do we have a deal or not?”
“Deal.” he said standing up.
I nodded. “Okay so back to my question. Where is this place?”
“Ruby I can't just tell you. Cam would probably cut out my tongue.”
“Alex's he's not going to find out. You were joking about the tongue right?” I asked worrying,
Kenzie had said the same thing I was beginning to think it was something Cam would actually do.
“No I wasn't joking so let's look at this a different way. You want information and I can't openly
give it to you. Think of it more as a riddle and you have to figure it out on your own. I'm just going
to leave you a few breadcrumbs.”
“I'm listening,”
“What do you think about the elevator in this place?” he asked.
“I think it's a little weird it's the only access to level four. But I don't know what that has to do with
anything?” I replied crossing my arms.
“First bread crumb coming up and you better say something nice about me.” He crooked a finger
and beckoned me closer. “What if I told you there was no level four.”
I stood on the same spot wondering if I'd heard him correctly. I hadn't noticed he was holding the
door open for me. He was tapping on the wood waiting for me to leave.
“Alex I don't understand.”
“No more questions. I've given you plenty. Now go annoy someone else and do that thing you said
you would do for me. You owe me.”
I stood in the middle of the corridor staring at him like a complete idiot not sure what to say or what
to make of that useless information he had given me. He hadn't given me anything, he'd just made
that up to confuse me. I opened my mouth about to say something but he cut me off before I had the
chance to speak.
“Up is out.” he said slamming the door in my face.
I shook my head annoyed with myself for even wasting my time with him.
'Up is out'
I don't even
know what that means. Probably because he was talking complete crap.