Caged by Damnation by J. D. Stroube Read Free Book Online Page B

the woods and the bookstore. Afterwards, we baked apple pies with Josephine and Maye. They were the only adults in the coven who knew I would be departing. Josephine, though older, had an easy friendship with Maye. They moved in sync, the way lifetime best friends could. Each maneuvered around the kitchen in their usual routine, bickering and teasing like sisters.
    I wondered if I would have a friend like that. I always thought that Savannah, Izzy, and I, would make it to old age with our friendships strengthening along the way. My departure left that future uncertain. I would be limited to visits, which I doubted would be enough to build a connection that rivaled that of Josephine’s and Maye’s. Time would inch by and I would fade from their minds; more and more time would pass between visits. It seemed inevitable. The hands of the clock would move on and our friendships would evaporate until all substance was gone. Memories would be all I’d have left. Would they be enough?
    Half an hour before our meeting with Death, we found ourselves making our way through the forest. My suitcase was suspended by a rope near the threshold and I was thankful when Liam got it down. I wasn't exactly tall. Jumping to try to grab hold of my things would have been humiliating. This night would be tough enough.
    The threshold opened at exactly midnight. Light from the other side pierced through to create a fissure, which then spread to show a pathway. We each walked through until all of us were in the glistening beauty that represented the other side.
    During the time between entering and exiting the threshold, the breath of life didn't exist. Sound, substance, colors, all dissipated into nothing. Time seemed frozen, as though the Earth held still while we parted ways with one world and entered another.
    The place of Divine Energy was exquisite. Each time I walked through its threshold, it revealed a new secret, hidden alcove, or strange creature. In the ordinary world, it had always been difficult to accept that such a place existed in concurrence with our own. The sheer beauty was astonishing in comparison to the deteriorating facade of the real world. For a moment, I wondered if this were heaven and the place we had just parted with was really Hell.
    Death was late. For a creature that seemed precise, he was almost an hour overdue. During that hour I watched Izzy, waiting for a sign that she was alive rather than a bodily version of a ghost. Nothing had changed and I was beginning to think that Death was going to back out of our arrangement. My focus shifted to Ash. I thought about Death's threat to ensure Ash met his maker, and shivered.
    Liam spoke from a shady area near the trees. "Maybe they're not coming."
    "Maybe Willow got the time wrong," Ash shot back, but grimaced when he saw Savannah's irritation. 
    "Should we leave?" Izzy's voice was interrupted by the rustling of nearby vegetation and a redhead emerging from the bushes.
    Kali walked into the open and stared at me with a single eyebrow raised. "They'll be here in a second. We were ... indisposed." She attempted a smile, but it withered into a scowl when she saw Liam. "What are you doing here?" 
    Liam lifted his lips into the sideways smile he’d perfected. "I'm supporting friends. Miss me, Vixen?"
    Kali snorted and turned her attention towards the woods behind her. Her arms were crossed, giving the impression of intentionally ignoring Liam's presence. His laugh conveyed his amusement at her attempt, which only brought forth a snarl from her.
    My friends and I instinctively gathered for protection, standing in the shape of a half moon, waiting for Death and his Hellhounds to fill the other half. Again, I was left to wait. Patience running thin, I was tempted to leave, but thought better of it, considering that Death would most likely retaliate.
    A short while later, women began emerging from the same brush that Kali had come through. Five women transformed our group into a