Deadlands (The Healer Series, #2) by Kayla Jo Read Free Book Online Page B

“I too will go. I promised to guide you here, and have helped you this far. I feel it is my duty to guide you through the Deadlands as well.”
    “Thank you,” Willow said gratefully. It would be an advantage to her with an Elf’s help, (especially her magic). “Dec?”
    “What?” he asked, a smile playing on his lips.
    “You know what…” Willow sighed.
    “I made it through the Everwild with you, Willow Tree. What makes the Deadlands any different? Besides, you practically begged me to come with you—”
    “Did not!”
    “And you know I always give in to a woman who begs for me,” Declan continued.
    “The g ate is going to close!” Chase interrupted as the rock had reached past the middle point of the opening. “Come on!” Without thinking and without looking back, Chase, Elirana, Declan and Willow plunged into the darkness and the unknown beyond.
    The large stone behind them sealed with a loud boom and all light vanished instantly. It was black. So black that if Willow wasn’t holding Declan’s hand, she would think she was all alone in a deep pit of nothing. She couldn’t see in front of her. Just to make sure, she held her hand as close as she could to her face without touching it and focused her eyes. Nothing. She couldn’t even see her hand that she knew was inches, no, centimeters from her eyes! Looking ahead, there was a faint light. Way, way ahead. They were in a tunnel. Her shoulder brushed up against rock and she nearly screamed in surprise. But it was just a rock. A really, really warm rock.
    The temperature in the Deadlands was already scorching and it was way too stuffy. The feeling of claustrophobia started to overwhelm her, her breath came up short. She wondered if the very air contained a poisonous gas that made a person unable to think clearly. Just seconds of being here and Willow wanted to escape. Her mind was screaming to turn around and get out of there as fast as possible.
    “Does everyone see that light ahead?” Elirana spoke up softly. The sound of her light voice seemed displaced here in the creepy black.
    “Yea h,” Declan said beside her. He gave a gentle squeeze to her hand. Willow relaxed a little. He was here.
    “Everyone go towards the light,” Elirana instru cted, her voice already sounded distant. She was moving away from them.
    “You mean that in the literal sense and not the figurative, r ight, Eli baby?” Chase’s deep voice echoed off the tunnel walls. He too was moving forward.
    “Let’s go,” Declan said beside her and Willow felt him pull her toward the soft glow of light. Willow reached out in front of her to make sure she wouldn’t run into anything. She was clumsy enough as it was in the daylight, but navigating in the pitch black dark was a completely different story.
    As they walked, the light grew bigger and bigger and brighter and brighter. It was yellow, like the lights coming from the engine of a train. Finally, they reached the light and stepped out of the tunnel and into the Deadlands. Willow blinked several times, a quick headache forming behind her eyes as they tried to adjust from being in such a dark place. When they cleared, she took in her surroundings in stunned silence.
    The tunnel had opened into another world. Stretching far ahead of her line of sight were mountainous hills, valleys, and craters. Boiling fire erupted from her left from small pits within the rocky terrain. The eruptions of the fire popped and sizzled, filling the air with loud hissing sounds. Everything around her had either an orange, red, or yellow glow, and as Willow looked up, a big orange sun hovered strangely overhead.
    The natural wall stretching miles high was made of solid black onyx and glistened when the rays of light hit it. It seemed to absorb the heat and made everything hotter. There was no roof, yet they entered a mountain. Surely the top of the mountain was the roof to the Deadlands, yet nothing but that strange sun was looming above.
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