Exalted by Ella James

and I’m taking
you toward Cayne. Hopefully that makes up for it.”
    It really didn't. “ Toward Cayne? But not to him?”
    “You’ll be reunited with your friends as soon as everyone's
orientation is over. The group of you will have to find him here.” Edan waved
his hand, and suddenly they were through the forest and standing at the edge of
that same enormous wheat field, sans the desolate road. Julia remembered driving
through fields like these with Cayne as they'd headed west, looking for
Samyaza. She even remembered thinking how they seemed to go on and on.
    Now she was staring at one that probably did.
    Nice.
    “What about you?” She turned back to Edan, who looked somehow
both stern and kind of sorry.  
    “What about me?”
    “What do you do here?”
    “What I always do. Sit around. Be bored.”
    “Hell is boring for you?”
    "Hella boring.”
    She didn't laugh. “So you’re really a Demon?”
    “I'm a Shade, now," he said testily. "A demoted
Demon."
    "Why were you demoted?"
    “Julia, don't worry about it.” Edan's eyes met hers, and
his were almost gentle. “You’ve got bigger things ahead of you."
    “I don't want to hear that,” she said, choking on the
words.
    “I'm just telling you the truth. And, Julia: Just between
us, Methuselah was controlling me. I didn't have a choice, back when I...”
    “When you whipped me?” She put her hands on her hips, and
as she did, a big, black bird flew overhead. Edan turned his head, looking over
his shoulder as it flew into the forest. “I think that’s my cue.”
    Julia panicked, grabbing his arm. “Please don't go.” But of
course he would, so she said, “Give me a clue or something.”
    Edan's hand on her shoulder gripped so hard it almost hurt,
and this time, she was sure she saw a glimmer of sympathy in his gray eyes.
“Take care of yourself, okay, Julia?”
    And, just like that, Edan disappeared, leaving Julia all
alone at the helm of the never ending wheat field, with that damned black bird,
which she suddenly realized had to be The Raven.
    Freakin' Edgar Allan Poe. Always had scared the crap out of
her.

 

Chapter Sixteen

 
    The wheat field really sucked. So did that damned raven.
And the knowledge that she was actually in Hell. Alone. In a windy field, under
stormy, dusky skies. And yet... It was testament to how horrible her time with
Methuselah had been that Julia found the situation almost tolerable, in
comparison to the ordeal in Alexandria.
    She couldn't even think of it in detail, but she did wonder
how long she’d been held captive. Was it days or weeks—or only hours? She tried
to work it out as she tip-toed through the field, looking down at her bare feet
for spiders, snakes, and anything else sure to scare her further. Even
wondering about how long she'd been in Alexandria made her feel queasy, and it
seemed that every thought—even ones of Cayne—brought her back around to there,
so she forced her mind to stop thinking entirely.  
    The raven kept making its creep-tastic, cawing raven
sounds, and Julia jumped at every one of them. Her steely resolution to find
Cayne and her friends had began to erode, and she started to wonder crazy
things, like whether maybe the raven was Cayne trapped in a form she'd never be
able to communicate with.
    Then she saw Carlin.
    Her friend was running through the field at full speed,
waving her arms and shrieking things in Spanish. She was running perpendicular
to Julia's path, and Julia realized if she ran, too, she could intersect Carlin
about fifty yards ahead.
    “Car, you better know I love you, girl.”
    And with that, she started running. Through the wheat
field. On bare feet.
    If she'd thought the icky, muddy field was gross when she
was walking, it was ten times grosser running. Her feet sank into the chilly
mud, and as she ran, it slung up behind her, sticking to her thighs and her
lower back, even hitting her on the butt through her bikini bottom.
    When she got within