Page 17 of Into the Abyss
“I don’t know,” Amalia murmured. “But I feltthe… power and… thewrongnessof whatever it was go throughme. Didn’t you?”
“No. Whatdoyou know about thisplace?”
Some of her revulsion vanished as she shotme an irritated look. “I’ve told you everything I know.”
Turning away from the pathways, shecontinued to rub her arms while she stared across the field ofswaying grass. “Maybe the two sides of the Abyss are so differentbecause there are different jinn,” she murmured. “This side—” Shewaved a hand at the grass. “—resonates with something insideme. But that side….” Her voice trailed off, and she didn’tlook back as she waved a hand behind her. “I don’t want anything todo with it.”
Is she lying to me?I despised thisnot knowing if I could trust her more than I loathed the barrenland before us.
“But, the only choice we have is to godeeper into it,” she said and faced the monolith again. “It’s onlygrass and water back there. And here… well, here are pathwaysleading somewhere. I can’t imagine there’s anything good downthere, which means its where we have to go.”
“But what lies between here and where thepathways lead?”
Her troubled eyes met mine before dartingaway. “I don’t know, but if the jinn are in this place, I suspectthey’re in the pit or close to that thing.”
I didn’t have to ask what she meant by thatthing; I knew it was the monolith.
“Let’s go.” I didn’t look back beforestarting onto the pathway.
CHAPTER 8
Amalia
Everything about this place made my skin crawl, andI was afraid the lump clogging my throat might become a permanentcondition. The jagged red, black, and gray rocks jutting from thewalls surrounding us leeched any happiness from me.
Idespisedthis place, yet a part ofme belonged here as I couldn’t deny something about the Abysscalled to me. I didn’t understand what that meant, or what aboutthis stark place could resonate so deeply inside me when the Abyssrepresented everything I disliked about being a jinni.
Perhaps I was more like my family than I’drealized, but that answer didn’t feel right. There wassomethinghere. What that something was, I didn’t know, butI wouldn’t back down from the wrongness of the Abyss, and I wouldnotleave anyone trapped here if I could help them.
After seeing this place, I no longer caredwhat the consequences of getting involved in this might be for mewith the other jinn. No one deserved to endure anything thathappened here.
As we wound our way deeper into this placeof despair, it became increasingly clear that though I loved myparents, I didn’t fit in with them. When this was over, I would goto the Faulted and live with them.
Lifting my head, I was met with only morerock walls and the dead branches of the trees overhanging thepathway in some areas. In a few places, we had to step over thebroken and nearly pulverized remains of small skeletal creatures. Ikept my gaze diverted from those bones, but I couldn’t forget theskeletons I’d seen scattered between the trees.
“Where are they?” I didn’t realize I’dspoken the question out loud until Magnus replied.
“Are you hoping to find the jinn?”
“No!” I blurted. “I meant where are thosewho are trapped here? They have to be here somewhere, don’tthey?”
His eyes were questioning when they metmine, and then his gaze slid over me. I sensed he had no idea whatto make of me, but in the end, his distrust would never allow himto see me as anything other than a jinni.
“I would think so,” he replied beforefocusing on the path again. “I hope so anyway, as it means we’reheading toward nothing otherwise. Can you open a portal out of herefrom this spot?”
“On the other side, we can open a doorwayfrom anywhere, so I assume it’s the same here.” I stopped andlifted my hand before my face, but he grasped it before I couldattempt an opening.
“Do the jinn know when someone opens aportal in and out of this place?”
“No.”
His silver eyes were remorseless on mine ashe tried to ascertain if I was telling the truth or not. While hesilently debated this, his thumb slid over the back of my hand. Itwas a gesture I didn’t think he was aware of, but my pulse pickedup.
A prickle of awareness came to life in mybreasts, and when my nipples poked against my dress, they drewMagnus’s gaze to them. There was nothing I could do to hide themas, unlike humans, I didn’t wear anything under my dress.
In Hell, we never wore clothing, but once onEarth, the jinn adapted to it. Most humans didn’t trust anyonewandering around nude, and jinn needed to earn their trust to gettheir wish. I didn’t have to do that, but I’d taken to wearingclothes because I liked the different colored dresses and the waythey felt against my skin. Even the thin, pink slippers I wore werecomfortable and fun, but I found the human’s undergarmentsrestrictive.
Besides, I didn’t care if I was exposed morethan a human would think acceptable. It was impossible to be shywhen locked behind a seal with forty-six other jinn. My parentswere Chosen and only with each other, but none of the other jinnwere. They’d happily bounced from jinni to jinni, sometimes havingorgies for endless periods of time.
