Emblazed Read Online Free PDF Page B

unfocused and distracted I was because of them.
    “I was just wondering. Geez,” Kiera replied.
    Everyone remained silent for the rest of the walk, knowing that I was not in the best
     of moods. The constant throb in my head slammed my skull more intensely by the second,
     but I fought through it, determined not to let anything deter my plans to get to Brielle.
    We walked for about an hour before the ground began to slope downward, and I could
     see the river lead into a dark cave that had formed in a hill. My pace quickened,
     my anxiousness to get to Brielle rising with each step.
    The void in my head and soul was slowly driving me crazy without her presence, and
     I was on the verge of a complete breakdown, which I couldn’t afford. We all needed
     to be focused, I, most of all. Brielle’s life, the safety of our souls, and our eternity
     together all depended on me and my choices and actions in the Underworld.
    Once we entered the mouth of the cave, the river continued to flow deeper into its
     depths. Dozens of shades wandered the banks aimlessly, a look of confusion and loss
     on their transparent faces. They didn’t even glance at us as we passed them.
    “They look so sad,” Kimber said.
    “Since they didn’t have an obol, they have to wander here for a hundred years before
     they can enter the Underworld. They’re basically lost souls until that time,” Zane
     answered.
    As we traveled further into the belly of the cavern, more and more shades appeared.
     I had to light my hands with flames to see where we were going once we put distance
     between ourselves and the entrance.
    After another thirty minutes of walking, a dock appeared in the distance. A crowd
     of shades surrounded it, and if they hadn’t been transparent, we would have had to
     push and shove our way around them to reach the dock. I wondered what normal people
     saw down there in its place since it was cloaked in magic.
    Maybe they could see the dock, but not all the shades and Charon’s boat, which approached
     the end as we walked down the pier. The platform had lights at the top of the posts
     holding up the dock, allowing me to extinguish my hands as we neared.
    We came to the tail end of a long line of shades trying to gain passage onto Charon’s
     boat. I don’t have time for this shit . I made my way around the line, practically running to the front as Charon docked
     the boat and set one foot on the pier.
    He looked like a ragged, old fisherman, complete with a dirty, unkempt gray beard
     that ended in the middle of his reddish-brown toga. The infamous God appeared like
     any other old man, definitely not a deity. His scars, wrinkles, and leathery skin
     may fool normal humans, but I knew better. Any being that angered him or attempted
     to stow away on his boat without payment was subject to his Godly form, which was
     a humongous, winged demon. Needless to say, few dared to cross him.
    “You are not a soul. You do not require passage to the Underworld. Move aside,” Charon
     directed.
    “We need passage to the Underworld. We have payment,” I said as I showed him the obols
     in my hand. “Four obols for the four of us.”
    “Obols only pay for one-way transport. No return passage,” he responded.
    “We know. Can you take us?” I asked impatiently.
    After a few seconds, Charon gestured his head towards the boat for us to get in, and
     I placed the obols in his hand. I stepped in first, then turned around to help the
     girls get in. Zane passed Kimber down to me before doing the same with Kiera and stepping
     in himself. Several shades also boarded with us before we finally departed.
    Charon stood at the front of the ancient Greek boat, directing it with one wooden
     paddle as it floated down the river. The lights from the dock receded behind us and
     were replaced with torches fastened along the walls of the cave. The current of the
     river became rougher, rocking the boat with its waves and stirring up the nausea I
     had