Free The Journey by Jennifer Ensley

Earth. As we speak. Right here and now. Only you were chosen for this task. If you were incapable of handling such a thing, one of the others would have been picked.”
    I was at a loss. I couldn’t argue with his reasoning, but I didn’t necessarily agree with it, either.
    “Don’t worry. I may not be able to always stay at your side, but our paths will cross more often than you yet realize.”
    That made me smile.
    “Jeez, Ladybug. I love you too much. I hope the hardest thing I ever have to do is take you to Azazel. If anything more than that is asked of me, I’m not entirely certain I can comply.”
    “I’m glad it’s you and not me.”
    “What are you talking about, Pooh?”
    “All I’m saying is… if I had to hand you over to another woman, I don’t care what the reason… I’d refuse.”
    He tightened his embrace. I could hear his smile in his words.
    “Thank you, Ladybug. You have no idea how good that felt.”
    “And every word was true. I love you too much, too, Drell… always.”
     

Chapter
    3
     
    The air was stale. That eerie, quiet, stagnant kind of stale. Air like that makes my breath catch, makes me crave a cold glass of pure water.
    “This is as far as I can go, Pooh.”
    “Wait. What?”
    “Yeah. There are rules about places like this.”
    “Rules?” I looked toward the descending corridor at the thick, waiting darkness. “What’s down there?”
    He chuckled. “What do you mean, what’s down there? Azazel. That’s why we’re here, remember?”
    “Wait… just Azazel? I mean, there aren’t any guards or anything like that?”
    “Azazel is bound. No guards are necessary.”
    “But… why do the torches stop here ?”
    “This is the line. If I tried to go further down, my body simply wouldn’t.”
    “But mine will ?”
    “You’re wearing the keys and you have the knife. Well, thumbnail. Only you will be allowed to enter.”
    “Without a torch? Are you mad? I’m not traipsing down there in all that darkness. Not by myself. I bet there’s spiders and snakes and…” I shuddered. “…those skinky little blue lizard things. Ugh! Not happening, Babe. I’m out.” I held my hands up. “Call me a chicken or a baby or whatever you want. I’m not feeling my way through the dark to find anything , much less some celestial freak from the past. And the first time I walk through a big old spider web—don’t even play like there ain’t a gazillion of them down there—I’ll have a heart attack and die.”
    “Calm down, Pooh. Trust me. It’s better this way.”
    “Better? Do you even remember who it is you’re talking to, Drell? You gotta make a more convincing case than that . Better—as in… Better than having your legs blown off by an IED? Better than zombies eating your guts out while you’re still alive? Better than being chained-up and dropped into a box of giant hissing cockroaches? Better than—”
    “Stop, Pooh. Jeez. Better than going down there with a light. Oh, and zombies eat brains, not guts.”
    I just gave him one of my looks . “Are you freaking kidding me right now, Drell?”
    “Listen, sometimes it’s best not to actually see some things.”
    “In what flippin’ universe? Huh? Come on. You know how my mind works. My imagination is all twisted up anyway. I promise you now… whatever’s down there , can’t even hold a candle to what’s running around up here .” I pointed to the side of my head. “If Angel dude had ten heads with snakes crawling out of each eye socket, it will be better than what’ll be playing out in my mind as soon as I enter that darkness down there.”
    “Pffts… Pffts…”
    “Don’t you dare, Drella.”
    “Pffts… Bah ha ha.”
    I slapped his shoulder when he started laughing.
    “You think you could handle snakes coming out of his eye sockets? Bwah ha ha! You’d piss yourself.”
    “I would not!”
    “Yeah. So says the girl who literally gags just looking at mayonnaise—still in the jar, no less.”
    I