Eternal [HS]

Chapter Forty-Two

TIME MOVES AT A SLOWER SPEED IN the seconds it takes for the ground to crumble into nothing and send her body descending into the open void that beckons her in a free fall.

The sensation of sickness, of falling through the air faster than your body can react, stirs inside of her immediately in the form of feeling her stomach shift up the faster she barrels down. Her limbs kick and flail in each direction in some pathetic attempt to stabilize herself against the air whipping around her, slapping strands of hair in her face.

The peace she felt up above is no longer to be found, instead, it has been replaced with a heart-pounding fear that takes the reins of her basic functions and thoughts without a moment's notice. Fleetingly, through the mindless terror that this inflicts, she can't help but wonder if Harry can sense her fear the way he used to when she was alive. She knows he felt her die. In fact, she couldn't avoid thinking and feeling guilty about that if she tried, but she hopes he can't feel her fear or pain now that she's in this other place.

She hopes, even though he told her very simply that the blood bond is not finished when one partner dies, that he isn't worrying about her at this moment, because if he can feel what she does, he won't be able to keep himself from it. In their relationship, he has always worried about her. It isn't in the same condescending way he had spoken of her fragility at the beginning, but they don't pretend not to notice how protective he is of her.

Partly due to the bond and partly due to what he went through with Mel, he can't think straight if he thinks she's in any danger. It was clear when Devin insulted and threatened her while they tortured information out of him in the garage that if someone wants to hurt her, he'll kill first and ask questions later. The only thing is, he can't protect her from anything this time.

The drop is so drawn out, it almost never ends. Her body spins and flips through the air like it is nothing more than an insignificant piece of dust being carried away by a hurricane wind as she screams, shooting through the endless abyss like a fallen star.

Now, as she nears the ground, the only person who can save her is herself.

Her bones should be splintered into broken pieces with her legs snapped in multitudes of places when she makes impact with the hard, packed dirt, but they don't. It knocks her energy away, but it does not kill and break her into pieces the way it would have if she weren't already dead.

Jo lays there for longer than she should to recover from the fall. Collapsed into the ground without any regard for her curiosity as to where she has been dropped into, she whimpers in response to the constricting vice around her lungs that prevents her from taking in as deep of breaths as she needs.

Up there in the place she was thrown down from, there was no pain. Down here, it's the only thing she feels and senses surrounding her. This new place that she has yet to take her first glimpse at feels like the living embodiment of suffering and agony based on the energy it settles over her alone. Faintly, the sound of gut-wrenching screams starts to come to focus over the high-pitched ringing in her ears that began when she hit the ground, and it's what ultimately forces her to look up from where she had her cheek pressed against the dirt.

The glow of this place is far different from that of the light, peaceful sight she saw only moments ago. It's a glow of the churning, bubbling lava that drags screaming souls back in whenever they try to escape to the rock formations and ground on the sides of the pit. And, just her luck, she is sat right at the center of it on a small island of hard rock that pokes out from the surface.

There are no words to describe her shock, and she isn't sure what to do other than stare in abject horror at it all.

She's in hell.