“You’ve now arrived where Purgatory begins. See over there the wall encircling it. See there the portal where the wall is breached.”

― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

“What’s going to happen to me now?” I asked, looking around the empty and dark land that demons called Purgatory. We weren’t far away from the main part of hell and still I had no idea what to expect. I saw the shapes of rocky hills and the calm black lake stretched right in front of us.

The Watcher that walked next to me didn’t respond and my stomach tightened with unease. This was a bad sign. I had no idea what was going to happen once we passed through to the main part of hell.

I left my friends behind, and then Ricky and Emma were taken away. I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to them.

I looked down at my hands and thought about my little girl. We’d only just been reunited with each other, and now I was gone, probably forever. Morpheus was ahead. He didn’t turn around or even acknowledge that he heard me. He was sent up to lead me right to Lucifer, the most powerful demon in hell. The dark lord had asked for my soul, but I didn’t feel in any way privileged. I wasn’t ready to die yet or become someone’s slave. This wasn’t fair. I wanted to go back to my friends, to my job in Doomed Cases.

“We need to leave Purgatory first. It’s not the safest place in the underworld,” the Watcher on my right said unexpectedly. Morpheus was silent, and I didn’t expect that from him.

I sighed loudly and thought about Arthur. He was dead, but no one on earth knew about it yet. Only Paul, Zach and Zara had witnessed it. The royal family would demand answers and I had no idea how anyone could explain to them what really happened.

The dreaded pain settled in my stomach and I wanted to be left alone to grieve for him at least for a few minutes. There were so many other things that I didn’t have a chance to tell him. Now it was too late.

Tears pushed their way into my eyes, but I refused to break right now in front of witnesses. I was going to hell, so there was no point feeling down. What’s done was done. I saved my daughter and my friends. They were going to be fine and Matilda would take care of my precious child.

We circled around the island, leaving the dark tower behind us. The calm water stretched from one side to the other; I couldn’t see anything beyond that. Everyone was waiting and I sensed the magic drifting around, moving slowly like an invisible cloud in the sky. After a moment of silence Morpheus waved his hand and a passage started to appear right under the surface.

The water began bubbling and then a long narrow stone floor was created, rising slowly. The Watchers seemed tense, glancing around as if they were expecting something to happen. The sky or what resembled the navy space above me was scattered with stars. I was trying to figure out what kind of place Purgatory was; maybe humans were kept here before they were transported back to hell. I had so many questions, but this wasn’t the best time to start asking them.

“Come, stay close and be silent,” Morpheus said and then the Watcher nudged me to go forward. I did what I was told, although I didn’t understand why everyone was so tense all of a sudden. A thick mist appeared, slowly drifting around my feet. My heart thumped loudly in my chest. I wasn’t scared anymore. I had accepted my fate. Hell was finally opening its gates to me.

Arthur’s soul wouldn’t have gone directly to Lucifer. The truth was that I had no idea who decided what happened to humans after they died. I believed that Lucifer played his part in life after death.

The Prince had come to the end of his life and he did that by saving our daughter. My heart bled for him. It was strange to think that I was never going to see him again. It was all my fault that Alexis killed him. He must have followed me and the rest of the group from Ricky’s place. He was furious with me, angry that I had been lying to him for so many years.

I couldn’t even think about Alexis right now, but she finally got what she wanted. Her soul had been healed. I failed, but Morpheus didn’t see it that way. He didn’t seem to care that she was still a threat.

The mist was getting thicker and soon I could barely see Morpheus’s silhouette right in front of me.

Maxine… Maxine…

I stopped and looked around, certain that I heard someone calling me.

“Did you hear that, Morpheus? Someone just said my name,” I said, loudly. The Watchers behind me didn’t answer and Morpheus didn’t react, or he pretended that he didn’t hear me. A split second later I heard a splash, like something big was dropped into the water. All the tiny hairs on the nape of my neck rose, and I could have sworn that I sensed someone nearby.

I didn’t dare to move. Waiting, I turned, but now there was no one behind me. The Watchers couldn’t have just vanished; this was hell. Besides, Morpheus was an upper-level demon. Even Rodriguez was forced to listen to him, so something wasn’t adding up here.

“Morpheus? What’s going on? Answer me!” I shouted, sensing that I was left completely alone on this dodgy path. Sudden dread crawled up my spine and fear filled the pit of my stomach. The mist was so thick that now I couldn’t see anything around me.

I considered running, but then a hand or something else wrapped its claws around my leg and I was pulled down, splashing into the ice-cold water. I didn’t even have a chance to react. The darkness shaded my vision, and my lungs failed to take in any oxygen. I wasn’t even in hell yet, and this whole trip already sucked.

***

Drops of water were falling down on my face. I breathed in and out, trying to steady my racing heart. Thoughts and random memories clogged my mind. I smiled, telling myself that all this was just a really twisted nightmare. Arthur wasn’t really dead and I’d never gone to Purgatory. My imagination liked messing around with my head too often.

I opened my eyes and a few more drops of water landed on my face. I looked up at the ceiling, quickly realising that my hands and legs were chained to the wall behind me.

Panic rose with every beat of my heart, swallowing me down as I tried to pull my hands free. Heavy metal chains were secured around my wrists and feet. This suddenly felt like my worst nightmare—only worse because it was real.

The place around me looked like a cell made entirely of grey bricks. There was a small window on the top, but it was too high up to see anything from where I sat. The water was dripping down on me from the ceiling, and my damp clothes stuck to my body. Apart from a headache, I didn’t feel any pain. Maybe whoever dragged me in here was hoping to keep me alive for a bit longer. I had no clue if I was in hell or back on earth.

The chains seemed old school and when I tried to use my energy to break free nothing happened. But I felt my energy running through my system, heating up my blood. At least that was a big relief. The cell reminded me a lot of the place where Bianca had tortured that poor mongrel to get information about Alexis. I was suddenly very glad that I killed that bitch, well, at least I hoped she was dead.

What the hell happened to Morpheus and his Watchers? He was leading me to Lucifer.