Heaven Sent

Chapter Eighteen

Cassandra

Emanating from every crevasse of deep limestone, seeping through stronger and stronger with each step I take, the brutal heat suffocates, soaking up what little air circulates around me. Wilting, soaked with perspiration, I discard my clothing with little care, leaving behind a trail of fabric.

Coats, gloves, a scarf, stockings, boot by boot.

Too engrossed in what lies ahead, the singeing heat cannot deter me.

I lost the echo of Elijah's fury a long time ago while traveling through this never-ending tunnel, searching for an end to this journey... an end to our suffering.

Perhaps I shouldn't get my hopes up.

Perhaps it's foolish to imagine we'll ever see an end to danger, or to believe one day Samael won't possess a piece of me. However, in this narrowing path, I'm unmistakably optimistic. Prayers even come easy. I'm not even sure who I'm praying to.

The universe, maybe.

The uneven sections become harder to navigate, forcing me to bend and crawl and triumph the ground like a running course. My fingers are seared by the walls, electricity jolting to the tips of my fingers. I wipe the sticky sweat that trickles down my body like raindrops, gasping loudly due to the lack of air.

The walls seem to speak to me. I'm unsure if it's deliriousness or truth, but I begin to talk back.

"Hello? Who is that?"

I hear female and male voices, a choir of unified whisperings, but looking around, I am completely alone. The mountains insides drip with water, water that cools my agitated skin. Drifting from the cone-like stalactites hanging above my head, I'm bathed head to toe and somehow, that water is able to keep me pushing forward.

A rational person would have turned back by now, understood that there is no way the mountains width could be this long. I've seen enough in my very short life to understand that many things that happen to me cannot be explained. I make it a point to find a calm moment, one where I can catch my breath and think. Standing still, I focus briefly on my heart, willing Elijah to feel me, hoping the connection will calm him some.

I cannot imagine how... scared he must be.

I'm walking blind. Blind and alone.

Ahead of me is a light, a guiding light in very dark surroundings.

Could it be Jehovah? Pointing me towards him, towards safety?

Or is a deception? Tricks that will lead me back into the arms of my unwilling possessor.

"Who is there?" I whisper throatily to the voices. I receive no clear answer.

The inside of my chest swells with recognition, an answer to my callings. Elijah. Hesitating to take another step, only pressing my trembling hand to my heart, as if to trap his call to me, prompts me to move forward in sheer desperation.

My feet slip, my arms grow tired of pulling myself up and through openings. Falling through a hole, my legs submerge, waist-deep in water. With only a distant light ahead of me, the water is a black calm. Throughout the tunnel, there had been discarded lamps, even some mining equipment left, but this far back, as I pull myself out of the water and back onto the slippery floor, I find no sunken footprints, no sign of disturbance.

No one has made it this far.

Possibly for a reason.

The voices are getting louder. My fear is capsizing.