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“TOSS HER IN,” A grumbling guard directed the seahorses. This one was more human in shape, but his skin was covered in the deep gray armor of a lobster, and the spines of an urchin sprouted from his head and ran down his back. He pointed to an open rusty metal door and said, “I’m not touching her.” The seahorses took her by the arms and hauled her into the cell. She crashed against the stone and winced in pain as she hit the mossy wall.
“Take off those ridiculous feathers and put on the prisoner’s uniform of the Underworld.” The guard skulked in the shadows and threw a pair of roughhewn dark green pants and a short-sleeved top at her, and said, “You’ve earned the right to wear it. No feathers dare show themselves here.”
Dull eyes, absent of color, sat square in the middle of the guard’s flat face. Parker figured his scaly gray skin had never seen a glimmer of daylight. Prominent gills puffed in and out as the guard’s chest rose and fell in a lazy manner. She hadn’t noticed gills on any others in the Underworld. Yet. But then again, she was breathing in the Underworld without gills and flying in the Upperworld without wings. Go figure.
“You won’t be wearing clothes for long any way. You’ll be dead before you know it. We’ll probably burn ya naked. The birds boil pretty easily down here.”
Parker trembled. Fire? Tears started to form in her eyes. What were they going to do to her? More importantly, why?
Grateful for the shadows, Parker cringed as she undressed and breathed in the worst odor she had smelled in her entire life—closest to the rancid smell of the corpse flower at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. The putrid odor soaked the air of the small cell. Barely a fraction of light, only murky gloom, seeped beneath the crack at the bottom of her locked door. Slimy lizards scampered across the floor but kept their distance. She prayed snakes wouldn’t show up. She never liked handling them in lab, or even at the zoo, let alone this miserable hole.
The guard took a quick pass at the bracelet Parker wore on her wrist and backed away. She instinctively covered her arm. “Please sir, may I keep it?” she asked.
He didn’t bother to stifle his laughter. “Sure, as long as you don’t hang yourself with it. Come to think of it, hanging yourself might be preferable to facing the Empress.” He wise cracked loudly as two more guards passed by.
“She could end up like Veto,” one of the guards joked. “But I doubt they’d leave her to watch the Black Sea where she’d be gobbled up in one bite. Nah, don’t think she’ll be so lucky.”
“No, she’ll not be as lucky as Veto. After all, he just lost his arms and his tongue. They say it was Stefanos who silenced him and cut it out. Our Empress wants everyone to have a voice—howling and whimpering during the torture.”
“The Spirits of the Sky won’t find you here anyway. And even if they could, they wouldn’t save a murderess like you. Commander Pantione would be understandable, but what kind of monster kills children? Nope, you’ll have something special waiting for you at the end of your trial, something the likes of this planet has never witnessed.”
Murder! The last Parker had seen of the Commander and his family in his quarters, they were alive and well. But then, she had heard the screaming. Parker had no reason to kill anyone on this planet—or any planet! What kind of demon was the Empress? Stefanos had said little of the Underworld rulers. He hadn’t even determined if they were responsible for the attack on the Citadel, and there’d been no evidence of their involvement either.
The guard wadded phlegm in his mouth and spewed it into Parker’s eyes. “Empress Diadora will gladly watch you suffer. Maybe you’ll be dropped into our bottomless pit, and you’ll be devoured in teeny-tiny pieces.” With an uproarious laugh, he goaded, “The birds will never find you.”
“I didn’t kill anyone!” She doubled over from the roiling nausea brewing in her belly. She tried to find bravery within her but collapsed in a heap. Without food or sleep, her strength faltered.
At first, she couldn’t tell day from night. But after, she studied the minute details of the shadows beneath the door and began to notice the nuances. The first hint of glow. The imperceptible lightening of the black to gray. And, back to the blackest black. She drifted off and slipped into the cool darkness, her head aching and bruised.
Spring bloomed in Central Park. She meandered around the reservoir with her parents, a typical Saturday. Her mother had packed a picnic lunch and spread a blanket on the grass for them. Parker wandered over to the flowers to watch the bees moving among the fresh, young buds. A hummingbird circled nearby, then grazed her arm. Her mother called out, “Parker, how lovely! Hummingbirds don’t usually come into contact with us. They keep their distance. This one likes you.” Her mother had smiled, her eyes sparkled. Parker returned her mother’s gaze and glanced back at the small bird. But it had disappeared. She woke with a start. She hadn’t thought about that incident for so long. In her dream-like state, the tiny bird wore the triangular black mark and the amulet on its foot.
Time passed. Possibly days until footsteps sounded, moving toward her cell. A brisk clicking hit the subterranean stone. A jiggle of a key wrestled in the lock. Parker rose, and losing her balance, she grasped the wall for support. The door opened. A fantastical, magical woman in a shimmering emerald gown loomed over her. The woman’s skin gleamed with a light shimmer of tiny scales blazing a red so bright, Parker’s eyes hurt. A luxurious, neon-red braid of thick hair wrapped the woman’s head several times. Green luminous eyes, like daggers, ripped inside Parker’s chest, chilling her bones, and making her skin crawl.
Parker gasped. And the woman hadn’t even spoken a word. Her imposing presence filled Parker’s cell—a ten-foot-tall wonder of a woman. Curvaceous, and more human than fish, with the exception of the fine scales. The Amazon stole her breath. She had never seen anything more beautiful or more frightening.
The Empress cast her gaze back to the guards, nodding to those who lurked behind her. “Leave us. I wish to be alone with this one. The murderess of my brother and my successors. She will have my undivided attention.”
The guards disappeared, and the Amazon stepped into the cell, slamming the door behind her. In the shadowy darkness, the reddish glow, the only light, beamed from the core of the Amazon.
“You wretched earthling. Tell me why! Why have you done this?”
Escape was the only way out of this! Parker covered the bracelet with the palm of her hand, willing it to give her the courage to speak to this beautiful demon.
She summoned a breath to form clear words. “I have no idea why you are accusing me of this crime. A terrible mistake has been made. I’ve done nothing. There is no reason for you to believe I committed murder. I would never hurt anyone.” She rubbed the bracelet with each breath and her spirit toughened. She knew the Amazon wanted to bring her to tears, to break her down, and demand she be fearful.
The woman flamed a deeper red and her body glowed as if on fire. The Amazon pointed her index finger at Parker, and suddenly, Parker’s face burned hot. The skin on her hands smoldered, searing pain shot through her. She fell onto the cold wet floor. Her skin blistered as she burst into sobs, writhing in agony like a child.
“How does that feel? This is just the beginning.” The Amazon laughed. Her cruel eyes revealed a sick pleasure in witnessing the fear written on Parker’s face. “I am Empress Diadora, Queen of the Underworld, and I am not pleased to meet you. My pleasure will come soon enough, though, when I torture you within an inch of your life. And I promise, you will wish you were dead.”
She stepped in closer, breathing heavily. As she swished around Parker, the full-body burning sensation returned. Parker screamed and rolled against the moss-covered wall as her pants began to sizzle and fry.
“You are Parker—the earthling Stefanos has brought to save his people. I suppose he sent you down here to do the miserable deed for him. He’s a pigeon-heart, afraid to take me on, so he sends a helpless waif like you! And he calls you his protégé. Rather amusing—a fool such as yourself! What can you possibly do without powers, without any prowess? I am quite surprised he thinks a child like you could help him at all. Why, you can’t even help yourself.”
She laughed for a brief moment. And the sound rippled through her cell.
“How sad, you won’t have a chance to help the Upperworld, anyway. You’ll be a distant memory.” She called for the guard, and the door opened. She turned, spun back around, and sauntered over to Parker.
“Oh, and I forgot to tell you, you will be prepared for trial, Parker—by week’s end. You’ll be charged with the murders of my family. My court will judge you before the Spirits of the Sea, and I can tell you now, you will be convicted. You will pay dearly for this crime. Everyone in the Underworld will bear witness to your slow and painful punishment.”
“I had nothing to do with your brother’s murder or anyone else in your family!” Parker moaned. “I only saw Pantione once—when he was enjoying a meal with young children.”
“That’s right, Parker. You were there. We’ve placed you at the scene, and we know the poison you brought with you comes from the Upperworld.” She called out to the guards, “I hope you overheard her confession. Come in, Hercala and Dorian.” The two neon-striped seahorses appeared at the door to her cell. “Our earthling has just admitted her guilt. Add her acknowledgement to our trial preparation.”
Fighting tears, Parker managed a hardened expression. “I’m guilty of nothing. You misjudge me. Your accusations belong elsewhere. Not with me!”
A flash of fire ripped from within the Empress and singed Parker’s arms. The door to the cell closed. Blackness again. Diadora’s angry footsteps trailed off, echoing until the sound disappeared.
Darkness smothered her. The black quiet settled in her cell. The pain of burning echoed and came on fresh again. The cool floor and walls brought no lasting comfort; her skin continued to relive the fire again and again. How had the Empress brought fire to her hands? And the torture Diadora described terrified her more than the idea her life could be over.
She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. The amulet’s jagged edge scratched her tender cheek. Electricity raged through her. Her swollen eyes followed a path in her mind. Multiple dark passages situated a level or two beneath her cell. Each hollowed out, and quite narrow. The Labyrinths of the Underworld. Her brain pictured them clearly, curling and curving, as though she were walking them with Belliza or Cole. Though the meandering path appeared to go nowhere, one of the paths must lead to the portal to the Upperworld.
Parker blinked wide open and released the vision imprinted on her brain. She knew what she must do. Her eyes fixated on the darkest corner. She stumbled and fell to her hands and knees. The amulet guided her brain and vibrated the closer she moved to the spot she had pictured in her head. She would dig her way to safety—to the hidden portal and on to the Upperworld.