Pickup Styx Read Online Free Page A

I reminded you that you’re ugly.”
    I stuck out my tongue.
    Sy leaned back with a cocky grin. “But lucky for you, I’m exceptionally handsome and smart and funny and an all-around good guy.”
    “And delusional,” I added.
    “But what is most lucky for you is that you’re related to me.”
    “And therefore immune to your charm.”
    He poured himself a cup of coffee. “And therefore I care what happens to you. I made some calls last night.”
    I was no longer in the mood to joke around. I leaned closer. “And?” I was scared to let myself hope too much.
    “I found someone I think will help you. You just need to ask him.”
    “I’m not asking Holden.” The jinni was naturally the first person to come to my mind because surely someone who worked with demons would know his way around the Underworld. However, Holden scared me a little. Plus, if something happened to him, I couldn’t live with what it would do to Olivia. “He and Olivia have done enough for me.”
    “Not Holden. He wouldn’t go to the Underworld no matter how cute you are, and if he did, he’d attract more trouble than he would help. Paolo said Corbin is the only person he knows who has traveled to the Underworld and made it back out. If I’m not mistaken, he also has a soft spot for you.”
    Cheney would hate it, but he also couldn’t argue with the fact that if this was all true, Corbin was the best person to come with me. He was a vampire, thus already dead, and he might actually know where to go. It was almost too good to be true. “Cheney won’t like it.”
    Sy smiled. “Corbin’s expecting you tonight.”
    For the first time since leaving the cemetery, I felt hopeful. “Have I told you lately that you’re kind of great?”
    “Just come back or Mom will never forgive me. Also, don’t trust the vampire. He’s your best bet for getting out of there, but if he agrees, it’s for his own reasons—reasons that have nothing to do with helping you.”
    “That hardly seems fair, Sy,”
    “What about this world made you think it would be fair?”
    I brushed off his cynicism. Vampires weren’t known for being self-sacrificing, true, but Paolo and Corbin had always been nice to me with nothing to gain. I owed them at least the benefit of a doubt. I headed back to the castle, resolved not to bring this up to Cheney until I knew whether or not Corbin would even agree to come. A soft spot was one thing. Going on a pilgrimage through hell was quite another.
     

     
    A table longer than two spans of my arms sat in front of me, covered with everything from books to scrolls to pieces of tanned hide. Yet, none of the ancient literature contained anything about how to get into hell without dying first. After reading about the trials I’d probably have to endure once I got there, I wished I could go in spirit form. It would be best to not take my body along for the ride. Burning rivers, ice, snakes, tests, torture, and I didn’t want to know what else—definitely stuff that would leave scars. I stretched and threw a crumpled up piece of paper at Cheney across the room.
    “Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way,” I said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Maybe Sebastian’s right. We should be looking for ways to bring me back to life instead of ways to sneak me in undead. Killing me might be the only way to get me there.”
    “You know, I didn’t think it was possible, but I like that idea even less than the notion of you going.”
    “She might be onto something.” Katrina dropped a large book down with a thunk and then set my grandmother’s Book of Shadows on top of it. “In here”—she pointed to the Book of Shadows—“I can only find a spell that will open a porthole to the Underworld, which really isn’t that much different than transporting, which she can already do.”
    Transporting into hell would apparently kill me instantly, so until now it had been out of the question.
    “However, in this other book, there is a