Read Online The Journey by Jennifer Ensley - Free Book Online Page A

his lips moved, but he didn’t make a sound. After a few seconds, he held the long chain up. The pendant dangled from it, now whole.
    “Wow. It’s almost pretty now.”
    He gently slipped it over my head. Still, he did not speak.
    “So… now when I mediate and find myself in the Nether, I can just walk right back out.”
    “I only wish that were the case,” he mumbled.
    “But I thought you said—”
    “Pooh, the red stone… or the clear one, or whatever. It holds the needed fuel. It’s empty.”
    “Fuel? What kind of fuel? You mean… petrol?”
    “No.” He sighed and carded his fingers back through his sandy blond hair. “Not petrol. The gas you seek is a much more difficult one to come by.”
    “Oh yeah? Well, where do I find it?”
    “Flowing through the dark veins of a demented, fallen creature.”
    “Umm… Huh?”
    “That’s what the dagger was for. The previous Witness used the Extractor to cut the beast.”
    I looked down at my newly accessorized nail. “So… how am I to—”
    “Apparently, you are to simply stroll up to him and jab him with your thumbnail.”
    “And he will let me do that?”
    “Oh, he will love it. Ugh!”
    Drella jumped up, kicking the coffee table in front of us, sending our cups and saucers skidding across the floor.
    “Hey, Babe.” I stood, reaching out to lightly touch his trembling back. “What’s wrong?”
    “He’ll be like this ,” Drella said through gritted teeth as he spun back to face me. “He will be this close, looking into your eyes. You will nearly have to stand within his embrace to extract his blood.”
    “Wha— Will he kill me? Will I have to fight him?”
    “Have to fight him off , perhaps.”
    “What are you—”
    “Pooh, you will have to stick your thumbnail into him…” He wrapped my fingers around his wrist as he spoke, placing my shiny new tool over his blue pulsing vein there. “…extract a drop of blood, then touch it to the now-clear stone on your pendant.”
    “But… will this creature fight me? Or will he freely give me his blood?”
    “Nothing is free. Not with him. He will demand something of you in return.”
    “You don’t mean…” I reflexively covered my breasts. “I don’t have to…”
    Drella furrowed his brow. “What? No. Oh god… Hell no! No. He can’t demand sex of you. You’re still living. If such a thing were possible, don’t you think I would have already—” His face flushed red. “I mean… don’t you— Don’t you think we would have— Ugh… Pooh, if it were possible for me to make love to you, we still wouldn’t be finished.” He pulled me into a gentle embrace. “No. You won’t have to worry about him demanding that , but he will definitely require something very personal in exchange.”
    “Whatever it is, I’ll only have to go through it the once, right? If he cannot bed me or steal my soul.” I quickly looked up into Drella’s lovely eyes. “He can’t steal my soul, can he?”
    He smiled. “No, Pooh. He can’t steal your soul.”
    “Then I’ll make our strange meeting as quick as possible and be on my way.”
    “You don’t understand. It won’t just be the one time. When the fuel runs out, you’ll have to get it refilled.”
    “…What?”
    “Comparing it to petrol was a good way of explaining it. Just like in a car, after you go so far, you run out of gas.”
    “How far can I go?”
    “Who knows. It will be like trial-and-error to start with. You can step into the Nether and then back out anywhere on this globe, yeah. But the distance from where you started to where you’re going, that determines how much fuel you will use. Say for instance you went from here to London—not a big deal. But from here back to Bhutan—who knows.”
    “I see. So… I’ll have to become rather familiar with this petrol creature I’ve yet to meet.”
    “Yes. I’m afraid so.”
    “Are you going to take me to him?”
    “The first time, yes.”
    “When?”
    “Give me a bit