In Your Eyes

XXV

The woods around us were dark and eerily quiet, making a shiver run down my spine, despite the heat that made me sweat, so even my hair was wet at its roots. Eli knew exactly how to get out of here, and unfortunately, the portal to our home wasn't anywhere close yet. Much to my dismay, there were evil spirits everywhere, and they all had it out for my best friend. On top of that, said best friend wasn't too happy with me for endangering my life for him. Everything was messed up, and it was all my fault. Despite the guilt I felt for leaving Lucas behind, there was this tiny part in me that felt grateful for seeing Eli one more time, before he escaped the underworld and finally had a chance at being happy with Melissa. I truly wanted that for him. Maybe I could watch over Luke sometimes. My heart ached at the thought of him never forgiving me, but I wanted to see him happy too, as much as it pained me to be away from him.

Eli had his head ripped off multiple times in the process of getting to our destination by some angry spirits. For a second, I wondered how I was unharmed during the hours and hours of walking on a trail, when I remembered the protective anklet Lucas had given me, which basically made me invisible or uninteresting to them. I hated myself for constantly thinking about him. If anything, I needed to forget about him as soon as possible, especially if I was going to spend the rest of eternity in hell.

Lucas this, Lucas that. Stupid Lucas, I thought to myself, feeling oddly bitter.

"Cursing his name?" Elijah let out a boisterous laugh as he shook his head in disbelief. "You have some balls to be doing that after what you did to the poor guy."

"No need to constantly remind me," I huffed. "I can live with that decision. Why are you angry anyway? You seem to forget stupid, naive Chloe did this because she was under the impression she could save you."

"I'm not angry," He threw his arms in the air, then let them drop to his sides defeatedly. "I just wanted better for you..." I kept walking in silence, determined to at least get Eli out of here. If I was worthless in all other aspects, I'd want my one redeeming quality to be selflessness. I wondered how my mom and Melissa were doing. I was also going to miss Jess, Ally, Sofia, Ashton, Chris and Cam. I didn't appreciate my friendships enough when I had the chance.

"Alright," Elijah clapped his hands together. "Here we are."

Besides some hills and the blood-red sky, I couldn't see what he was talking about. "Where exactly is here?" I questioned.

"We're standing in front of the gates to our home, idiot. Now we just need to find the key and get you out of here."

"Easy-peasy; but father might not be too happy about you being free, Elijah." That was the last voice I was expecting to hear today. My brain short-circuited as I completely blanked out, making me turn around. I wiped my hair out of my face to get a better look at him. "Chloe fucking Pollock," He spat. "How in the underworld did you get yourself caught up in this shit?"

"Calm down, Nathaniel," Elijah demanded. "We don't want any trouble. How do you guys know each other?"

"Really?" I let out my anger on Nathan Collins. "Who do you think you are? What do you know that I don't? Care to explain what you're doing in hell?"

"Oh, my apologies. You're out of the loop," He chuckled condescendingly. I forced my mouth shut so that my lip wouldn't curl up in disgust. "I'm son to the man who runs the underworld." Nathan gave me a courtesy bow in a mocking manner, looking up only to wink at me. My blood was boiling.

"You bastard. I should've trusted Jess when she said you were the fucking spawn of Satan," I felt like I was going to foam at my mouth with the sheer fury I felt, surprised I hadn't spat yet.