Fallen Into Hell: Fallen: Book 2, Layna Snow [the mitten read aloud .TXT] 📗

herself that she would follow whatever the coin told her. If she started chickening out now, how would she manage to cope in Hell? Would she change her mind at the first Demon sighting and flee back home with her tail between her legs?

Would she let Annie down, again?

No! She would go left, just as her penny told her to. It was too late to back out now, besides, either way could be dangerous. She didn’t know what was down here. For all she knew, there was a serial killer waiting to prey on wandering tourists. Although, that was the least of her worries. Not when compared to nightmarish beings.

Relax, Soph. Don’t go there. Even with her father’s old handgun, she didn’t feel safe. She hadn’t since she was pulled into Mel’s house by a murderous psychopath who intended to experiment on Melody.

It didn’t matter that he was dead. She knew better. She had listened while Mel talked about it all. There was someone else out there who had helped the man, someone unknown. And although all the good guys were still alive, that didn’t mean that anyone was safe.

She’d heard that while she was in the hospital there was another incident. Melody said that the Hunters took care of it, but she didn’t know what that meant.

Sophie was extra vulnerable down here, though. No good guys to rescue her.

She would have sighed if she could, but instead, she just let out a breath and picked up the traitorous piece of metal, placing it securely in her pocket. With one last look around, Soph removed her backpack, attached the flashlight to it—so that she could see what was on the other side—and pushed it through the gap in the rock, her hands burning they guided the bag into the darkness.

Burning? What the heck?

But her pack didn’t catch fire as it fell to the ground on the other side.

Something’s not right.

Of course it wasn’t! She was trying to get to Hell, she was lost and the terror and the apprehension pulsing through her veins told her to go another way, any other way! And the sound of the fire only seemed to draw closer as she sat, debating her choices. It made her want to escape it.

She didn’t see the light peeking out. Didn’t see anything but blackness on the other side. Not even a distant glow.

And it had been a long pause before the pack hit the ground. It was a long way down.

It wasn’t possible to escape now. She couldn’t reach down to get her backpack, not after it fell over to the other side. The opening in the rock wall started at knee height and stopped around her shoulder. Big enough for her to fit through.

What was waiting on the other side?

Cold shivers raced down her back. Telling her to run, to avoid the opening. But all her worldly possessions were in that pack. Not to mention food, water, and the gun!

Oh, why hadn’t she gotten a shoulder holster, or maybe a waist one? She didn’t know what would be best. She didn’t even know what kind of gun it was! She just knew that it shot the bullets that had been sitting beside it in the safe, and that it would hurt whatever got shot.

But darn! She never had to shoot anything before!

She never had to defend herself before that man tried to use her life to barter with Melody.

She was sure the pen in her pack wouldn’t protect her against Demons any better than it had protected her against that creep.

Sophie couldn’t believe that she had actually been charmed by him for a half a second before her big sister Brooke came in and overshadowed her, as always. Brooklyn was always the popular sister. Even five years older, she had gotten all the attention. Not that Soph wanted attention, but she wouldn’t have minded if the boys at school had looked at her more. Unfortunately the ones that did look at her, expected her to be just as easy as Brooke was.

Soph shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. It didn’t matter that Brooklyn was charismatic or attractive. It didn’t matter that since that disastrous incident Brooklyn had started to become serious and distant.

Danger did that, so did losing friends.

Sophie needed to take her head out of her butt and focus on figuring out what to do right now.

All that mattered was moving forward. She couldn’t dwell on the past. It was just an excuse not to go through the hole. She knew this, and had to ignore how tempting it was to delay further.

Get in, find someone to talk to, make my deal, then get out!

She no longer had an option. She couldn’t go back, so she dragged her feet through the opening in the wall, trying to ignore the relentless assault on her senses. However, the floor that she expected on the other side wasn’t there. She couldn’t feel the ground. Couldn’t find it with her feet.

Sophie took a deep breath and pushed her shoulders through, turning to the side to sneak past the rocks.

She could feel the jagged pieces of stone pulling at her hair, and the walls catching on her top as if trying to stop her from entering, but that was all eclipsed by the sheer pain of fire licking at her skin.

It seemed to devour her flesh, eating it hungrily and leaving only agony behind. It was like a knife slicing her skin off.

So hot that it almost felt cold.

She jerked trying desperately to pull herself out of the opening, but the rocks held her securely, no longer warning her away, but pulling her in. and she couldn’t hold onto the opening any longer for the rocks were so hot, it felt like it would melt