Page 81 (1/1)

1

The force of the blow shot me out of the circle My body crashed into the concrete wall, three ribs broken this ti , I leaned back and rested ainst the cool wall My patience had evaporated a long tio

It had been five days and I’d had enough

“Get up and do it again,” a co

I spread my arms wide “What’s the point? I already told you I don’t care if the circle holds et down there and back I don’t see why this is still an issue”

“And I’ve already told you that the circle is the only protection you’re going to have in the Underworld” Tally’s neatly clipped nails dru frosty-blonde hair was tied back in a low ponytail, a htly down around her eyes She was clad in black, right down to her Nike cross-trainers How could soa pants and tennis shoes? “When you get yourself into trouble—which by the way is a for sure rather than a maybe—the circle will be the only safe place you’ll have in Hell And in case you’ve already forgotten, we’re going to be working our asses off up here to keep thewhile you’re down there So the very least you can do is act like you care Now get up and do it again”

I stood i the urge to sta and you know it” I paced toward her “The Underworld operates on its own timetable, which you’ve already mentioned more than a dozen tier welled in et past the knot that for held prisoner in the Underworld “Waiting around is killingTyler I don’t want to waste another o now and I’et there”

My twin brother had been kidnapped and taken to the Underworld by none other than the Prince of Hell hier The demons would torture hie once they were done And they would be merciless about it

My brother was in agony and I was trying to stay inside a witch circle

Tally strode over with purpose, stopping directly inside my personal space She had to tilt her head up to address rowled at the intrusion, but I stilled her I wanted to hear what Tally had to say

“You’re not going to be worth anything to hih to figure out on your own It’s very simple If you can’t hold the circle, you die It’s the only lifeline you’ll have in a very dark, very dangerous place If the demons knock you out of the perimeter, you lose, which means you don’t come back And neither does your brother” Her irises sparked deeply, her es so close to the surface surprised inally she had refused to help us

Once we had all returned froht on multiple fronts, she’d infor to risk putting her Coven in jeopardy by helping ainst the demons, ere the witches’ natural eneed her mind

I glanced toin the corner with her dolls Maggie iuess was that Maggie had told heried Tally’s mind When I’d prodded Tally about it later, she’d refused to divulge the reason she’d had a change of heart, but whatever it was, Tally had agreed to helphard to be patient

It wasn’t exactly working

I sighed as I ran a hand throughin a full circle, frustrated “Listen, I understand what you’re telling me, but since the day we arrived on your doorstep none of this has gone according to plan” I faced her again, hands braced on my hips “I can’t stay in the circle, none of your spells have changedany real weapons with rate before I have a chance to use the enough to stun the Prince of Hell anyway—so what are we really doing here? We’re wasting precious ti my brother”

“This is hardly a waste of tiet in the circle!”

“Fine,” Ray gru toward Hannon on this one We’ve been at this for days and none of us can hold the circle, including the Va us with feels strange It’s slippery and it comes on too fast” Eudoxia, the Va in a house full of cranky witches who had balked at the va to take a toll on everyone

The Vao The proodhood had finally been enough to sway her, but she wasn’t happy about it She’d brought several of hereach other was proving to be a full-time job for everyone The house was so tense you couldn’t sneeze without sos

“All you have to do is pay attention and do what I tell you,” Tally said to Ray, who now stood at attention in the middle of the circle We were situated in a room deep under the Coven The circle to the Underworld was a perateway to Hell in your basement But I didn’t have to live here so I couldn’t really complain It was just a ten on the creep-o-meter, if anyone had bothered to ask me A thick line about six inches wide and a foot deep was etched into the raw earth The circle was about ten feet in diameter and it’d been filled with a white powdery substance that I assumed was chalk from the smell One of the witches had toldI hadn’t doubted it for a ic swirled around the room and made my chest thump like I was too close to an amp at a rock concert Whatever was meant to happen in this room was intense I’d also been told the walls were over five feet thick and the door was made of several inches of steel with a silver core