14. Tempi

CHAPTER 14

TEMPI

I spin toward the new deep voice speaking and blink in surprise. We're surrounded by weird demonic creatures and a variety of mismatched people who look like they belong in different time periods, but none of them appear as if they come from my world. I know that means we're in another, but I'd hoped for some good news that we were just in a different part of the world or something, like Idaho again. Seeing the collection of creatures, what look like demons, and people, makes me realize we're far from home.

But the man I find calling this place Under is. . . handsome. He doesn't sport any horns like some of the demonic things have. He looks almost normal if I ignore the strange leather gloves and the sheer amount of gold he wears. Seriously, the man is dripping with it. Necklaces, rings, earrings. Even the buttons on his leather jacket look golden. And that's not even including the crown on his head. Like a literal fucking king.

"Do you run this place?" I ask, narrowing my eyes on him.

He hesitates. "I partially run this place. I am one of three."

"Cool. Can you get us back out?" I try, fluttering my eyelashes in case my womanly wiles give me an advantage. Please god, don't let him be gay.

"Get you back out?" he repeats, tilting his head. "Where exactly do you come from?"

"Earth. The Human world. I don't know what you'd call it," I say, nervously glancing at the other creatures around us. A few inch closer and I raise the piece of IV stand I have in my hand threateningly. They ease back.

"Ah," he answers, studying me closer. "No. We do not have a portal to there from Under."

"Fuck," I growl, glancing around at everyone, trying to think of an idea. Best chance is we wait for another portal to open and suck us out, but that seems risky with so many aggressive looking people. This man said he was one of three. That means there are others ruling this place and they may not be as nice. I'm not even sure if this one is that nice yet.

Leo presses back tightly against me. "Tempi, what the fuck is this?" he rasps, holding his own useless piece of equipment as a weapon.

Ben stands next to me and while he has the other piece of the IV stand as a weapon, he's not holding it up. Instead, he's only looking around in confusion, not necessarily panicked, but curious. "Under?" he repeats as if he's heard the word before. "I didn't think you could get to Under through a merge."

I whip my head toward Ben. "What?" I hiss, narrowing my eyes on him. "You knew I was telling the truth and still laughed at me?"

Ben shrugs. "It's not like I could tell you that without sounding just as crazy as you did."

"Which world?" I command, inching closer, wondering if I've been trusting the wrong person after all.

"What the fuck are you two talking about?" Leo yells, his voice full of the panic Ben lacks. "Did we crash and die? What the fuck?"

"Actually, you don't have to die to make it to the Underworld," the golden stranger supplies helpfully. "Common misconception." His eyes focus on the rig behind us. "Now tell me about this. . . machine you rode in on."

I eye him, but there are bigger things to tackle right now. "Hold on, Goldie," I say, holding up my finger. I turn back to Ben with furrowed brow, my weapon raised just in case. "Which world?" I ask again.

He grimaces. "Oz."

"Oz," I repeat. "As in Dorothy and we're not in Kansas anymore, Oz?"

He nods. "Dorothy is a whole ordeal, but yes. I don't really know much about Kansas though."

"This is all very amusing and all," Goldie interrupts again. "But you three are holding up the line. You can either stay here or you can be sent on your way to a different world. You need to choose."

"But you said there's no way to get back to ours," I point out.

"I did. I said a different world, not yours. I don't care which you pick. But the alarms are sounding for more people incoming, and I need to address it. Things back up quickly here," he continues, as if I'll understand all of what he says. "Make your decision. In or out? Now."

I narrow my eyes on the irritation trickling into his voice. "Excuse us if this is all very jolting," I spit. "We aren't supposed to be here!"

"I don't particularly care where you're supposed to be. You're holding up the line and this. . . machine, it's in the way."

Before I can think better of it, I storm through the crowd, which parts for me as if I have the plague, and poke the man in the chest. He blinks in surprise at my aggression. "Why don't you learn some fucking manners, culero ? Can't you see we're?—"

An all too familiar whooshing sound echoes in my ears and my eyes widen. I turn, realizing I'm too far from Ben and Leo for this to be okay.

"Fuck! Ben!" I screech, trying to leap toward them, but the gravity of the magic portal catches me before I can so much as jump.

Goldie looks at the portal in surprise, but before he can do anything else, he's pulled into the gravity, too.

With a scream, both of us are sucked into the blackhole, and the rig and my friends disappear completely.