City of the Fallen - unedited

Chapter Fifty-One

I was so focused on the journey itself to ever wonder if we'd actually be unable to save him or find him. I thought it was a possibility but never imagined the consequences.

I don't want to speak to anyone for weeks, I just want to be by myself until I am ready to talk to people.

She's going to be devastated. I feel like I let her down. I know I did, she is expecting me to come back with my brother but I'm only coming back with a huge injury and the same sarcastic voyager I left with.

Nick looked different, he looked sad. He must've been depressed spending all of that time in the Underworld, I wonder how Daisy was so cheery when she saw me since she had been there for years.

"Colton?" I ask after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes?"

"How are there that many angels down in the Underworld?"

He looks at me, then shifts his glance away from me. "That's the one question I cannot answer, blondie."

I tilt my head in interest. "Why?"

"Because I don't know. One in every billion people die and go to the wrong place. It's extremely rare. Something's wrong." He replies and my stomach ties in a knot.

"How else would they get down there? Maybe it's more common than you think." I suggest but he doesn't seem too keen on the idea.

"Maybe. There's a lot of things you don't know, Juliet, as a stage two. It's hard to explain." He says, then checks the compass that sits in his hand.

"Explain them to me, I want to know." I insist but he shakes his head.

"It's better that you don't know."

The next few hours of walking consisted of pure silence, I think we were both extremely upset about what happened to Nick. We also didn't really have anything to talk about, I expected our journey back to the Afterworld was going to be full of laughter and catching up with my little brother.

I can hardly walk now and it's starting to get dark outside. Walking with a hurt leg is impossible, we move at a very slow pace.

At first my limp was faint, it didn't hurt too bad, but walking on it for almost two hours made it hurt so much worse.

I chuckle uncomfortably at the pain, trying not to let it show through on my face.

"Alright we're stopping." Colton retorts, tossing his backpack onto the ground.

"No, I'm fine. I can walk." I insist. I don't want to stop, I want to finish strong. I don't want to stay on earth another night, I want to be alone for once.

"No you can't, Juliet. It's okay if you can't walk. We can rest for a bit." He assures me, already sitting down.

I groan. "Colton, I just want to get back to the Afterworld. I just want to be able to lay in bed. I don't want to be down here anymore."

He sighs. "If you keep walking, you will hurt your leg to the point where you physically cannot walk. And it doesn't just completely go away in the Afterworld. Is that what you want? Do you want to stay here for a few hours and rest or do you want to be forced to stay here another day?"

I inhale sharply. "I guess not." I sit down. "What are we going to do here while we rest, just sit here in silence?"

"Well," he begins, rummaging through his bag, "we can eat this old bread if you're hungry."

I take a piece of the bread, which is really hard and not very appetizing. "This looks like the food they gave me when I was kidnapped."

He narrows his eyebrows in concern. "What did they even do to you in there?"