We were about half way to Madagascar by the time Jake had a plan. After he told us he had something, Grace and I turned to face him to see what he had to say.
"Since we have to close the gates," he started, "we'll head to the next gate and one of us will go down and get the weapon we need for the battle. Another person will go up to Heaven and request assistance. We'll rendezvous at the next gate in China and then travel to our final destination together."
"Which one of us is going down?" Grace asked. I was wondering that myself. I think the last thing I wanted to do was venture into the Land of Below, but at the same time, I didn't want to send anyone else there.
"We can't send Grace Below or to Heaven or else she'll die, but we could probably keep her at the Angelique Attic for a little while. Liz can?t go back to Heaven until her Guardian job is done . . ."
We all quieted for a moment.
"So that means I'm going . . ." I said in a hushed voice. My only reaction was sheer terror. I didn?t know how else I could feel. I was going to go where the darkest creatures dwelled and the dimmest souls were tortured.
Jake sensed my fear. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I'm sorry."
The plane ride seemed like it would never end, and I'd have to remain suspended in my fright and shock forever. The silence didn't help much, either.
I was in an odd state of mind after we landed and started traveling to our destination. My thoughts mainly consisted of how things could go wrong. As we rumbled along in our Jeep, I looked out upon the savannah that had extra tints of yellow and orange from the setting sun. It would be the last thing on Earth I'd see if I didn't make it back.
The gate soon stood before us. Though it looked identical to the other ones we'd already seen, it seemed even more terrible to me than the previous two. I had several hours for it to sink in, but I still couldn't believe that I was going inside those menacing doors.
Jake handed me the book about the Land of Below. "Almost everything you'll need to know is in here. I have a page with a map of the land bookmarked for you."
"I'm guessing I won't exactly have time to read this. Is there anything I have to know that you can tell me?" I asked him.
"Yes. You must be back within 24 hours, lest you want to become bound to the Land of Below," he answered very seriously. "But you can't go right back in as soon as you get out, so you'll need to just get what we need and come back as quickly as you can."
"Ok."
Jake grabbed my hands and pulled me so close that I could feel his heart beating. I wondered if he could feel mine racing. "Please come back to me safely, Liz. I don't want to go on without you."
I never replied. I simply wasn't sure if whatever I could say would be true; I didn't really know what was going to happen.
Jake released me from his hold. I walked to the gate. Its doors were open almost halfway, and that was enough for me to get through. After I was inside, I turned around and watched Jake touch the light arrow to the door to make it close. I could've sworn I saw a tear roll down his cheek. I knew it pained him deeply to send me in. He would've rather gone himself, but there simply wasn't time for him to go Below and to Heaven. This was our only option.
I turned back around to face the land I hated so much. It actually wasn't as bad as I had thought, though it wasn't exactly good either. I had been expecting fire and lava everywhere as if it were the center of the Earth, but the only blaze was in my angel mark.
In a word, I'd describe the Land of Below as "dead". There was black everywhere, from the occasional lifeless trees that were twisted and wicked to the giant stone castle I could see towering in the distance. The most color I could find was the glowing green river of souls that split the land in two. With how nasty the place was, I could imagine someone building a waterwheel just to torture the spirits as they flowed along.
I glanced backwards to remind myself that there was a way out of the dreaded place, but there was nothing there except a dark, craggy wall. After being resealed, the gate had disappeared.
I opened the book to the marked page. The map it contained was so big that it took up two pages and had the main features sketched in black and white. There was a big red X on top of the castle, so I assumed that was where I was supposed to go.
I shut the book and charmed it so that I could summon it instead of having to carry it around. I closed my eyes and clenched my fists for a moment.
I had to do it.
There was simply no other option; no easy way out.
I was already so far.
My heart continued to race as I crept along. The charcoal colored ground crunched slightly underfoot. My senses had become sharper. Every breath, heartbeat, and step seemed loud, and every movement was obvious to me.
I realized that there was no one around. There were no phantoms, demons, and whatever else inhabited the dim land. It dawned upon me as soon as I caught a glance through one of the castle's windows. Everyone was in the castle.
The creatures were all standing in a magnificent (in a sick and evil kind of way) hall. They seemed to be getting a pep-talk because every so often they'd raise their fists and howl so loud that I could hear it from outside.
They were preparing for their attack.
The giant doors were flung open and the lot of them rushed outside. I caught the last few words from the speaker.
"Soon we'll have a new world . . . a better world!"
