Chapter 36: Samael

The inner depths of Tartarus were not what I expected. From the stories I'd been told as a child, I'd always imagined Tartarus as a black abyss, an abyss so dark that even shadows couldn't be seen. I expected to smell the decay of rotten corpses and hear the whispers of the lost souls. But there was none of that here. Tartarus looked like a more twisted version of the underworld. The tones across the land were more of a muted gray, and whereas our rivers looked translucent in color, Tartarus rivers were a deep blood red, making the black sandy beaches look like they were leftover ashes from the destruction of the blood rivers waves.

Luka walked silently ahead of me; he hadn't said anything since I'd let him know that Miles and Katrina were going into hiding. I couldn't tell if he was mad at me for denying the pull we were feeling toward each other or if his thoughts were elsewhere. I also didn't understand why I cared so much; I'd never felt this sort of pull or connection with anoth