Nine

Ava's

POV:

Time passed by in a flash. But to be honest, I didn't even know how many days I had been trapped here. Things were the same here in Underworld. Dark grey sky in the mornings. Dark grey sky in the nights.

But one thing was for sure.

I had somehow died. And ended up here, in the Underworld. And Underworld really existed. And I was trapped here with the only guy I shouldn't have been trapped with. Hayden, the so called Lord

of

the

Dead.

My old self wouldn't have believed this. At all.

But it was true. And for some reason, he wasn't letting me go. Unlike other dead people, I didn't see a light in a dark tunnel when I died. I didn't get to go over to my afterlife.

When I died, I had still been there on earth. I remembered how I could've seen the ambulances around that forest. I had seen Will. And myself. My dead self.

But then Hayden had come. And took me here. Without my permission. Something was highly wrong about that. I needed to know why he was doing this.

But

he

wasn't

telling

me.

Why was I so persistent on escaping? Mainly because this place was creeping me out. The mere intentions of Hayden were creeping me out. And the fact that every dead person was traveling off to their afterlife and I wasn't, that scared me.

Hayden wasn't letting me leave.

In the end, I decided how I needed to get out of this house. I'd rather get lost on that shore rather than staying here. Until I went back to the gardens. The only things in this world, who were willing to help me escape, were those voices. They knew how I could escape.

And so, I went back to that spot towards the huge fence and braced for those voices. Instead of those voices, a gust of harsh cold wind blew towards me. It was cruel how I was only given a thin, sleeveless dress to wear.

I looked out towards the familiar shoreline. The crowd was still there. People pushing each other. Some were frantic. Some were calm.

They

all

must

be

dying

of

cold

out

there.

But then again, they were already dead.

That

still

wasn't

the

right

way

to

treat

those

souls. This

was

harsh. And

cruel.

"You

came!"

I jerked back in surprise. Mostly, horror. It was the same voice. That same shrill voice. A cold chill ran down my spine.

"You

shall

escape!"

"I don't know how!" It was my voice this time. More real than those voices. More desperate.

I was expecting an answer. I was expecting those voices to overwhelm my mind again. Just like that day. But instead, they fell quiet.

I looked around frantically for someone. Those voices must belong to someone.

"Go

over

to

River

Styx. To

the

fellow

souls."

I blinked, feeling a lump form in my throat. For some reason, I felt so scared. Why was this happening to me? Why couldn't it have been normal for me?

"Follow

the

whispers."

I followed those voices after a moment of hesitation. Walking along the soft, moist soil I stopped at the dead end in front of me. The voices stopped too.

"Go."

A small surprised gasp escaped my lips when I saw the fence broken at the bottom. A way out.

This time, I didn't hesitate.

ו•————————••×

I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering uncontrollably. Once I was out, I had found myself walking down the rocky hill. A long narrow path led me forwards. And I saw the shoreline in no time.

Maybe

I

was

so

eager

to

escape, that's

why.

But the sight in front of me made me stop dead in my tracks. I could hear the sound of calm waves lapping along the sand. The sand was the clear mixture of grey, black and white stones. Tiny stones.

In front of me were two long lines. When I had eyed those people from up there in the gardens, it hadn't seemed this scary. They all looked so lost. Angry. Scared.

I had the sudden urge to go back.

The people near the water looked calm compared to the ones behind them. As if they were so sure about their fate. Others were frantically pushing each other. Mainly to get in the front.

They

were

all

desperate

to

cross

the

river.

I inched forwards as my silk dress flapped against my legs, the sand surprisingly cold under my feet.

That's when one of them noticed me.

"She's like us." I heard a woman speaking. She looked old. Older than she should've looked. Her hair was in disarray. And she was shivering.

Slowly, I realized how all of those people were eyeing me. As if I looked strange.

"She even has new clothes." I heard another harsh whisper.

Looking at all of them, I felt like throwing up. The aura around them was too much creepy. One look at them all and I knew how they were dead.

Why

weren't

they

being managed

properly?

The mere fact that I was being treated so good and they weren't, it just grew an unsettling feeling in my stomach. No one deserved this. Even if they were dead.

"You think you're special, bitch?" I flinched away when a girl, just my age, tried to grab me. She didn't make it past one step when she stumbled and fell down on the sand. Her dark bob reminded me so much of Zoe.

"Others are being treated like royalty while we starve until the boat comes." A man barked a laugh. His accent somehow sounded Scottish.

Sudden guilt started overwhelming me.

This

was

all

too

wrong.

"Stay in your line!" I heard a growl. Looking up, I saw three identical bald men in complete black attire, keeping the dead people in their specific lines.

"She must pay!" I had to step several steps back to avoid the grabs directed towards me.

I

shouldn't

have

left

the

gardens.

I tried looking around but couldn't figure out anything. How was I supposed to escape? Why did those voices ask me to come here?

Fellow

souls.

"I-I need to go back." I spoke up, clearly knowing how scared I sounded. "How do I escape this place?"

I wasn't surprised when most of them laughed at my face. The ones in front of the lines weren't even paying attention to this little chaos behind them.

"You are dead, idiot. You can't escape." The same girl with the dark bob, snarled.

"I heard you could." I hadn't even seen a young boy emerge from the crowd. He looked around seven. None of those people paid attention to him. Except me.

"How?"

"If you...you touch your dead body. You will be sucked back to li-" He was interrupted when a man pushed him away. The young boy's words were still ringing in my ears when someone lunged towards me.

Before he could've landed on me, I was pulled back. An arm around my shoulders pulled me back before somebody came in front of me.

Hayden.

Oh

God.

"What do you think you're doing?" His voice came out much angrier than those bald men. And just that voice made all of those people cower away. Mostly moved back in their lines. And mostly just...disappeared.

The surroundings fell silent. All of a sudden, the sound of those waves sounded much harsher. Angrier.

It was just me and my chattering teeth.

When they all had been drifted far away, Hayden turned towards me with the same deadly look. It took everything in me not to cower away like all those dead people.

"Are you crazy?" He asked, anger radiating from him.

"I–"

"I told you not to escape! What were you even thinking?"

If I wouldn't have been dead, I would've probably caught hypothermia by now. Hayden, on the other hand, did not look affected by the cold.

"I feel c-cold." It was just a whisper that escaped my lips.

His burning gaze softened up a bit at those words. And so did the anger. He stared at me unbelievably for the next few seconds. All of a sudden, he took off his long black coat and wrapped it around my shoulders.

An involuntary sigh puffed out of my lips.

He pulled me closer by the ends of the coat, against him. And for once, I didn't complain. Mainly because it was so darn cold. And he was the only warm thing around me.

Placing my face against his chest, I felt him wrap an arm around me.

"Vix ego te perdere vos." He murmured.

"I didn't know it would get bad here." I whispered. "I thought I could...escape."

I wasn't surprised when my voice cracked. He pulled away and held my face in his hands. I had no idea what he was doing. But the way he looked at me, the way those dark eyes met mine, I just couldn't push him away.

"Don't, Ava. You don't have to escape."

I kept silent.

"I promise you, it will get better here. You will get used to this place." He said. I had to close my eyes shut as a tear escaped my eye.

Why

was

he

saying

that?

He knew how much it hurt not seeing my family. He knew how much I wished to go back. He wanted me to stay here. With him.

No.

"It's not that bad here." He traced his thumb across my tears. "I'll give you anything that you want."

I wanted my family. My friends. I wanted my life back.

"You'll be safe here, Ava. With me." He said. His eyes were pleading me to accept this. To live here when I could be going off to my other life. To live here with him when I could've been alive.

And maybe he was right. Maybe I had been safe there with him. But my desperate self hadn't thought about that back then. All I knew was that I had to try and get out of this place.

And a small part inside me knew how.

Closing my eyes, I once again let him pull me against him. My heart beating so wildly. I didn't even know how I was hearing my heartbeat when I was supposed to be dead.

So much was confusing me.

I

would

have

to

fool

him. Betray

him.

And a part inside me knew how I'd have to build up the trust inside him. And break it. However harsh the consequences may have been. I didn't care about the consequences.

I'd have to lie.