The room was so silent I could hear Shannon and Al breathing. I swallowed hard, not looking at either of them. Al finally said, “Ivy, you see things we can’t. It’s who you are. There’s never been one like you before. Just be careful that your anger doesn’t get a hold of you again. I can sense it beneath your sadness.”

I hung my head. “I’m fine. It’s just… too much happened too fast. My life was ripped out of my hands, and people that I trusted turned on me.”

“I know who you’re talking about,” she said. “Eric didn’t do what they told you. I don’t know why he didn’t correct you, when you repeated it to him.”

“No,” I shook my head, “He killed Apryl. He said so.”

Al answered, “I know what he said. I also know he didn’t do it. I saw who killed her, and it wasn’t him.”

Shannon leaned forward, asking, “You saw it? Who was it?”

“I don’t know,” Al answered. “I haven’t seen the person before. I’m sorry, but I don’t know. I just know it wasn’t Eric.”

I pushed my hair out of my face and let out a whoosh of air. “Where is he?”

Shannon spewed cookie, saying, “Julia assigned him somewhere awful for disobeying her.”

“But he saved everyone… He had to help me to close the pit. Without him, we would have died.” What the hell was wrong with her? I couldn’t believe she would punish him for saving everyone.

“Doesn’t matter,” Shan patted the crumbs from her lips, “She doesn’t do things that way.”

“What way?” I asked. “The sane way? How hard is it to notice his disobedience saved her? Is that the way Martis are thanked? What is wrong with that woman?” My shoulders slumped as I deflated. I didn’t understand Julia. I didn’t want to either. I asked, “Well, how do I find him?”

“Through Julia,” Al said.

“Figures,” I huffed. “And she’s in Italy. Swell.”

“I’m going,” Shannon licked the cream off her fingers, “You should come.”

I blinked at her. “Why are you going to Italy?”

“To report the prophecy stuff. I witnessed it and was one of the only Dyconisi there. You should come. You can hunt down Eric. You can also find out what happened to your sister.” Al shot her a look. “If you wanted.”

I looked at Al. “What aren’t you telling me? Does Eric know what happened to Apryl? Did you see something?”

Al shook her head. “I didn’t see anything that would help. Just faces. And I don’t know what Eric knows. Sometimes that boy says nothing, trying to get around the lying thing that binds us to tell the truth.” She leaned back in her chair, “I suspect he knows more than he said.”

Thoughts spun in my head so fast, I felt like I was going to hurl. Giddy excitement that Collin might be alive was trying to rise to the surface, but I couldn’t let it. That was too much. I couldn’t bear it. I didn’t know what to do. Or what to think.

The vision pulled me in quickly, before I could put my head down. I felt the rush of air against my skin, but not the impact of the table.

Black mist swirled around me. When it cleared, I was surrounded in inky darkness. But, this black was weird. I couldn’t see anything, despite my enhanced vision. I started to panic, wondering what happened. I heard nothing, and saw nothing. Goose bumps rose on my arms. It felt like I was trapped in a coffin, and I almost screamed. But just then—I felt something. A silky thread of the bond licked my stomach.

No. It couldn’t be.

I repressed what I thought was a lie, but it wouldn’t obey me. The sensation became stronger and I knew it was him. Collin was near. I was afraid to call out, not knowing where I was, and unable to see through the darkness. Collin? I silently asked, not expecting anything back. My mind and my senses were at war. My brain was still denying the possibility, but my senses had accepted reality.

Collin’s panicked voice reached my mind. Ivy, run. Get out of here now!

But, I wasn’t really here, so I didn’t know why I had to run? I didn’t try to wake up. I wanted to find him. A voice in the darkness wasn’t enough. I had to see him. Suddenly I felt something, and I could see again. The darkness became thick, as the air dripped with moisture. Flaming eyes, the size of ovens, appeared before me. When the creature opened its mouth to speak, I thought I’d die, the smell was putrid. “Come to me, Ivy Taylor,” his voice gurgled like he was choking on rocks. “Let me reclaim what’s mine.”

I started to walk toward him. He couldn’t hurt me. This was a vision. The room felt colder and colder. I stepped nearer and nearer to the demon. “You’re Kreturus?”

“I am,” it gurgled. As I got closer, I could see faintly. The creature was huge. It spread from one end of the cave to the other. I looked around and noticed it wasn’t a cave. I was standing in a pit. Suddenly, the bond raged within me. It wrapped around my core and started to jerk me back into the darkness.

Collin cried out, “You can’t have her!” The demon made a horrifying sound. My heart pounded in my chest when I saw that I was right in front of it. I pushed myself away, retreating back into the thick mist, and back into the darkness. The bond pushed me hard, one final time. Then, I woke from the vision sucking in air. My body was ice cold.

“He’s alive,” the words flew out of my mouth as I sat up. My heart hammered. “And he’s with that thing.”

Al put her hand on my back to steady me. “Tell me what you saw.”

I told them everything. No one spoke when I was done. Staring into space, I said, “I know he’s there.”

Al breathed in a shocked breath. “Kreturus almost took you,” she stuttered. “You stopped breathing.”

“You went white Ivy. And cold.” Shannon sat next to me. Her eyes were wide.

Slightly stunned, I looked at them. I felt it in the vision. It made sense now. “I felt it—the cold, the demon, and the deformed bond. It was weird. I went right up to the demon. I’ve never been seen in a vision before. How did it see me? It can’t kill me in a vision, can it?”

Al shook her head. “Kreturus can’t pull Martis in through a vision, but you aren’t a pure Martis. The blood that flows through your veins is his blood. While you aren’t enslaved like the other Valefar, he can still exert control over you in your visions. And without the ability to conjure light, you will be at his mercy.”

“She did conjure light,” Shannon said. “I saw it come to her when she healed Collin.”

Al regarded me carefully, “If that is true, then you should be able to use it in your visions. But, it’s not responding to you as it does to a Martis. And if the light will not protect you when you call it—Ivy, no one has ever gone into that pit and come back out.”

A smile spread across my face. A tinge of hope shot through me. “The demons did. Thousands of them almost crawled out of it the other night. But, there was no trace of them in my vision today. They were gone.”

Al’s voice sounded frantic, “What do you mean, they were all gone? The demons should have been trapped in the pit with him. The Martis that captured him made sure that pit was isolated and secure. There was no way in and no way out. The demons who battled with him were trapped down there with him.

“If the demons are able to enter and leave as they wish, then what’s holding Kreturus there?” The nun looked sullen.

“I don’t know, Al. But, he acted like he was still trapped. He was really pissed off when Collin used the bond to shove me out of the vision. Maybe the demons were able to escape, but not Kreturus. Somehow the demons left the pit, even though they didn’t leave through the portal. Al, that means there has to be another way out of Kreturus’ pit. And, if they were able to leave, then there’s got to be another way in.”

Shannon said, “If there is, Julia would know how to find it. She has access to old stuff like that.” Shannon’s brow was covered in sweat.

“Kreturus,” Al said, “is worse than what you faced here, Ivy. Collin knew that when he went it. He knew that when he told you to leave your vision. And, I already know what you’re thinking. If you go in after him, you may not come back at all.” She smiled at me, “I knew your heart would pave your path.”

I looked at her anxious face, and knew she was right. My heart belonged to Collin, and he was alive. There was no way I could possibly leave him there. I risked my life to save him the night he lay bleeding in my arms. There was no way to know back then that we shared the same soul, but we did. He had a piece of me and I had a piece of him. All this time I thought that the Underworld was my destiny, but that wasn’t true. Collin was. He was my soul mate, and always would be. Whatever future I had, I knew he had to be in it. Al was right. All this time my heart was paving my path.

I took a breath, “Shannon, you were right.”

She looked at me, stunned. “About what?”

I smiled at her. “You told me that the guy in the painting was trouble. That something would make me follow him. Something would make me want to be there in Underworld with him. Well, you were right, Shan. I’m going straight to Hell. And I’m not coming back without Collin.”