The White Oak Read Online Free PDF Page A

Looking at her, I feel something like the opposite of déjà vu. It’s as if I’m seeing myself in a future that I’ve already experienced in some mysterious way.
    “Where am I?” I ask, recovering my wits.
    The figment looks at me quizzically. “I can’t believe you haven’t figured it out,” she says with an air of superiority that makes me seethe. “You are in the land of the dead. You came here, not by accident, as a still-living person.”
    The moment she says it I know it’s true, but I have to repeat it to get the information to sink in. “I’m in the land of the dead, but I’m still alive,” I say. I always believed the legends that the White Oak was a gateway to another world, but I never imagined I would cross over into that world. “What do you mean—not by accident?” I ask.
    “We choose our fate, Cora. Nothing is an accident.” She examines her fingernails, and the ruby ring glows deep red in the gray twilight. The jewel is mesmerizing, and we both admire it for a moment. “You came here looking for him ,” she says, glancing up at me with a sly grin. “But they’ll never let you get to him,” she adds, as she begins to fade.
    “Wait!” I call out. She is talking about either Lucas or the mysterious voice. “You have to tell me more. Who won’t let me get to him, and why?” I ask, but my doppelgänger is already gone and Minotaur has returned, this time with the image of a famous gangster. I take a deep breath and dig my toes into the sterile ground, determined not to be afraid of him. “What do you want from me?” I demand.
    The gangster smiles. “You are alive,” he says. “That could be very useful to my father and me.”
    “Why would I help you?” I say coldly.
    Minotaur takes an egg out of his suit pocket. It’s pure white, smooth as marble. He holds it in his palm, then begins to toss it up and catch it. “You are like this egg,” he says, “fragile, full of potential.” He continues tossing and catching the egg as he speaks. “Just because you made it out of the river alive does not mean you’ll remain that way.” He deliberately lets the egg fall: the shell shatters, and the yolk and albumen ooze out, staining the ashy ground. “You can die here,” he says, “and because you are an intruder, wherever you die, that is where you will remain for eternity. There are rules in every region of the underworld that you don’t understand. For example, if you had put on that ratty old fur coat, you’d have taken the place of that blue flame. You’d be stuck in his little cell forever.”
    I look at the cold flames flickering nervously over their litter. I shudder at the prospect of spending eternity trapped in a place like this, shackled to junk, condemned to repeat some meaningless task over and over.
    “It’s you who needs my help,” Minotaur says. “I know everything about this world. I can get you out, and back aboveground where you belong.” As he talks, he shifts mercurially, one face and body melting into another. I know he’s lying, or not giving me the full story, but I have to go along with it. What else can I do? I can’t survive this place on my own.
    “How do I get out?” I ask bluntly.
    Minotaur smiles. He’s got my attention and my cooperation, which must be the first step in whatever plan he’s got. There is definitely something shifty about him.
    “There is no easy way out of here,” he says. “We have to get you to the City, where my father can help you.”
    “What city?” I ask.
    “ The City,” Minotaur says, pointing to a black sun rising in the east. The shadowy disk fills the horizon. I could swear it wasn’t there before. “We should get going,” he says, gliding off in the direction of the City. I follow him.
    “What is this place?” I ask as we walk past row after row of white-lined spaces buzzing with jittery specters.
    “This is Asphodel,” he replies. “A purgatory for weaker souls. They haven’t done much of