Owl in Due Curse (The Owl Star Witch Mysteries Book 10) by Leanne Leeds

Author:Leanne Leeds [Leeds, Leanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Badchen Publishing
Published: 2022-11-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

The heat hit me like a furnace blast, and my shirt grew wet with perspiration. Sweat slid down my face, tickling like some kind of soft insect.

Ugh.

We’d been trapped in a white noise vacuum, with only cave sounds, water, fire, and the occasional gust of wind to break the silence of the underworld. Now there were screams, laughter, and tears just out of our view.

No, not screams…shrieks?

Was that laughter?

“People laugh in hell?” Ami asked, surprised.

“You heard a laugh, too?”

She nodded.

“What is this place?” I murmured, taking in my surroundings. “Is it real, or—”

Althea snorted. “So, Astra, when you say real, what, precisely, do you mean by real?”

She had a point.

Cerberus whined and pressed closer to Ayla’s side, gently propelling her forward. It was an encouragement that alarmed the wolves—Lothian growled loudly in response, trying to ward him off. But Cerberus was persistent.

“What’s wrong with your hell hound?” Ami asked, eyeing the animals warily. “If he doesn’t quit, one of those wolves is going to take a bite out of his hindquarters.”

Ayla glared. “How did he become my hell hound?”

Althea rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. He’s clearly attached to you.”

The wolves stared at each other for a long moment, their tails swishing in unison as they thought about what to do next. Finally, with an almost imperceptible nod from Ayla, Lothian walked forward and touched his nose to one of Cerberus’s three heads.

The creature’s eyes widened, and he let out a low, rumbling growl.

Lothian huffed.

Cerberus seemed to relax, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, and once released, Lothian huffed once more and returned to my side.

I had no idea what on earth just transpired.

I wrapped an arm around Lothian’s neck and dropped to his level, feeling his soft fur. “Well?” I asked him silently. “What was that about?”

“He doesn’t mean us any harm. I mean, we’re dogs. We don’t lie, Astra. I’m not sure that we can, really. Not in this form.” That was an interesting tidbit I never knew before, and not one I was sure I believed. “He doesn’t want anything to happen to any of us, but he thinks we should move toward that ridge and look.”

I glanced up and saw what looked more like a cliff than a ridge. “What do you think?”

“I think we have no choice but to keep going.”

Right.

With a swish of his crooked tail, Cerberus led us to the edge of the ravine. We huddled close together, our hearts hammering in our chests, gazing down at the maelstrom we expected to find below.

I blinked.

Wait.

What the heck?

It was a street—a blue-canopied shopping center from a time gone by where alleys and kiosks were filled with merchandise from…somewhere. There was an odd air of festivity, as if it were a carnival—merry merchants laughing and gossiping as they surveyed their wares. White flowers draped over every corner, sign, and booth, while white petals drifted down to the ground like a gentle rain blanketing the streets in perfumed, floral snow.

How did flowers even grow here?

I looked up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.