The Belly of the Beast

Ch. 73, Hell

I barely noticed the outfit they pulled me into, black like Daggers, but when I refused the shoes, both of them glanced at each other with worry. I didn't care. I needed to do something, anything, to prove that I wasn't just a corpse.

The older one shrugged as I pulled back on the sturdy, tight-fitting shoes from the trial. I remembered too well the last dress and shoes. If I needed to fight, or run, I wouldn't be caught unprepared. And the small victory with the necklace and the shoes told me that I wasn't wholly without power here. I could still fight. I was a Z, nothing and no one, but there was still strength in that. I had nothing left to lose.

Finally, the two women opened the door. The cathedral hallway expanded out either way, a strange, but beautiful mixture of stone, wood, monitors pretending to be windows, and what I thought might even be candles. Dagger stood, his back turned to me, a group of guards standing silently behind him. Then without looking back, he began to walk down the impossibly long hallway.

The guards waited, expectantly watching me, so I followed after him. A glance over my shoulder told me the two women stayed in the doorframe, as the guards fell in behind us. I should have talked with the women, I realized too late. They might have been servants on this level. They might have given me some hint as to where to find Androcles. Too late now.

Our footsteps made a discordant symphony on the stone floor, accompanied only by a hum of the electricity that betrayed the flickering candles on the wall as false. The hallways were vast, seemingly endless, with the informational monitors so life-like I longed to stop at one that showed a distant ocean with waves crashing on the shore. It was my first real look at the Top, but I saw no people, of any letter, and no hint at how I could find Androcles.

I wanted to talk to Dagger, to ask his forgiveness and beg him to explain, but something about his turned back and the silent progression of our group through empty corridors, intimidated me. Instead, I switched my knife finger to fully extended, gripping it tight as we walked. It felt like the only remaining piece of the girl I'd once been.

Finally, we stopped at an elevator made of gold, it's bright, gaudy color clashing with the careful cathedral facade of the rest of the level.

"Inside." One of the K-guards ordered, and I immediately obeyed— but Dagger didn't. Though his eyes were buried in darkness and he refused to look at me, I sensed some deeply buried emotion radiating off of him. Like when we'd entered the Pucker box. Or the pipes. He was afraid... Why? Shouldn't this be his home? Was the elevator too small? It couldn't have been that— we would all fit inside easily. I was about to reach out to him, when he stepped inside, and abruptly turned his back on me.

The doors slid closed, revealing a mirror on the back of the door. Before I could think to look away I caught sight of my reflection. An entirely different woman stared back at me; deep, seductive eyes, full eyelashes, lips red as blood, sweeping black curls laying for once in a way that was effortlessly beautiful. She was a stranger to me. I lifted the back of my hand, smearing the lipstick against my palm. Instead of coming off, it smeared red against my skin, like I was a wild creature with a mouth full of blood. Better a wild creature, than a doll. I wiped the red free, then refused to look in the mirror again.

The elevator rose higher and higher. Too late it dawned on me that we were ascending another level. Moving on to Level B. Why? Were they taking us to the Top Letter Trial right now? Did it matter? We were one step closer to Level A, which meant I was one step closer to Androcles. The necklace around my neck suddenly hung heavier.

Dagger stood still before me, head bowed, hands clutched behind him. He was so close I could have reached out and touched him. I didn't. My mouth was dry, my body stiff and angry at the abuse and lack of sleep from the past few days. I wasn't sure what it would do to him if I reached out and he pulled away; my chest already twisted every time he refused to look at me.

The lift doors opened, revealing a hallway of white, lined in gold, with a single door set at the end of a long hallway. If Level C had been pretending to be an old cathedral, I had no reference for this hallway. Heaven maybe. Or a beautiful hell.

Dagger took a slow, steadying breath, and without looking at me, said, "Does she have to come with me?"

The Kaptain swallowed, seeming nervous himself, before he nodded. "Yes, sir. Orders, sir."

Why was he calling him sir?

Dagger nodded and then, without turning to look at me, stepped forward, his lone steps ringing out as started down the hallway. None of the guards followed, and when I didn't move, the Kaptain gave me a gentle push forward. My heart pounded in my throat, my iron fingers tingling with phantom pain as I followed him.

Is this the trial?

What if I die before I can give Androcles the necklace?

Maybe I should have asked the guard... Or maybe I should stop Dagger right now. But the man before me felt more like a stranger than a friend. We'd both kept secrets from each other and the cost of those secrets hung between us now— a distance I didn't know how to bridge.

The walk went too fast, the door looming larger and larger, until finally, Dagger placed a hand on the doorknob. For the first time he turned back to look at me. There was something hollow in his eyes, like he was warning me to run while begging me to stay.

"Z... I'm sorry."

I stepped forward, to reach out to him, but already he turned and opened the door. It swung wide and I flinched back on instinct, a scent like fire reaching out to me. TBut then I let out a deep breath, disappointed. Whatever I had expected— the ninth circle of hell, a pit of dragons, the devil himself— it wasn't this.

An ornately furnished apartment lay inside, with wide oak tables, deep leather chairs, and a real fire inside a massive fireplace built of white marble. It was like a painting in it's perfection. I took a step forward, ready to insist Dagger tell me what was wrong, when someone moved from the armchair facing the fire.

A white uniform. Gold buttons. Eyes you could drown in. Everything in me screamed to grab Dagger's hand and run.

The Admiral.

The Admiral was here.

No, the devil himself was here. This was hell and we'd finally arrived.