Page 49 of Hellbound

Marian shot the traveler a glare.

After a short, sullen silence, Tori spoke up.

“It’s not on my way home, but I could give you a lift. You look like … well, you look like you just died. No offense.”

Marian grunted. She knew perfectly well what she looked like. While the thought of a free ride was tempting, it meant getting in a car with a stranger who’d shot her latest spotter.

She stuck by you. She saved your life.

“I’m good,” Marian replied.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” But a rogue pang of guilt made Marian respond quickly with something she wasn’t sure she wanted to say. “I can walk you to your car. Or whatever.”

“As soon as I remember where I parked it, sure.” Tori pointed down the block. “That way, I think.”

More words clawed their way up Marian’s throat against her will. “Why did you save me?”

Tori could have abandoned them all and left Marian for dead when Lloyd attacked. Dead Marian would have worked out better for Tori. Dead divers didn’t need to be paid.

Tori glanced down at the pavement and shoved her hands into her hoodie pockets. “I did what anybody would do. And hey, you faced down the Remnant without me. How did you even get away?”

Shadows. The knife. A force with no name like a hole in her mind. The memory consumed her, dragged her back down to Hell, then spat her out on the pavement again.

She had no idea how she got away, but she knew the knife had something to do with it. And she wasn’t about to go into it with Tori.

Marian dredged up a vague truth that she hoped would get past traveler’s lie detection.

“I’m not totally sure. Seems like Lloyd brought me back just in time.”

Tori stiffened and side-eyed Marian. Uncomfortable silence settled over them as they crossed the street.

“Oh no.” Tori stopped dead in her tracks, her gaze fixed on something up ahead. The curb beside them was empty, and broken glass littered the asphalt. Judging by the pained sound that came out of Tori’s mouth, Marian assumed that glass belonged to her. As for where the rest of the car had gone, Marian could only guess.

Tori covered her mouth with her hand and groaned. “Fucking Inglewood.”

WELCOME TO HELL > SPECULATION Goodbye

LilylulaDiver—DuarteUSER DEACTIVATED♰ 10/3/21Every time the Remnant draws near, I hear my daughter calling me.Fear is what consumes our souls, not the Remnant. Fear is what tells us not to join hands with the darkness. Don’t you get it? That’s where the dead are. That’s where she went. My baby girl.I’m not afraid anymore. I’m going to find my daughter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Their train car rocked back and forth as streetlights flashed through the windows. Tori and Marian sat on the same bench facing the southbound lane of I-5 with a vacant seat separating them. Tori tapped furiously at her phone while Marian stared at her own reflection in the glass. She wanted to shut her brain off, but her brain wanted to replay the moment Lloyd tried to strangle her to death.

Water accumulated at her feet, and Marian was grateful they had the car to themselves so she wouldn’t have to explain to anyone why she was soaking wet. She hunched forward and braced her elbows on her knees, exhaustion and a deep-rooted ache creeping back into her bones as the last dregs of adrenaline bled away.

“How long until we get to Union Station?” Tori asked as she fumed at her phone. Marian glanced sidelong at the insurance form the traveler appeared to be fighting with. Marian still hadn’t looked at her own phone; she wasn’t ready to connect with the rest of the world yet.

“Twenty minutes, maybe. What kind of car do you drive?” Marian asked. She really didn’t care to know, but she was loopy enough that she forgot she was supposed to be sullen and unfriendly.

“A 2010 Honda Civic.”

“Ah. Yeah, that’s, uh … that’s a car all right.”

Tori shot Marian a grim look. “What do you drive?”

Marian tensed. Just thinking about getting behind the wheel these days made her lightheaded.