Toxic Part One (Celestra Series Book 7) Read Online Free Page B

holding us within its haunted walls. This is an evil thicket, a dimension of terror all its own.
    “Let’s get out of here.” I try to pull Logan out the way we came, but the doorway—the walls—they’re gone.
    A glowing creature appears from nowhere, a man with grey skin that illuminates a dull phosphorescent. “Ingram.” His lips spread into the idea of a smile. “Death will come to the Elysian if you escape,” he says without moving his lips. His sodden eyes reflect an eerie yellow like that of an animal. He has a quiet way about him that neither alarms nor charms me. The translucent clipboard in his hand lights up like a laptop with a strange font visible from both front and back. “Both humiliation and torture are dispensed. I know this as a fact,” he assures. “I’m in charge of doling out the two.” He pulls his lips into a bleak line and points down a dim lit path. “Seventh chamber to your left.”
    “Chamber?” I gasp at the thought. There are only two kinds of chambers I’m even vaguely familiar with: one has to do with shacking up with Marshall under the sheets, and the other has the word “torture” associated with it. Right about now I’d opt for Marshall a thousand times over. It would be heaven to gift myself to Marshall in lieu of this insanity. I close my eyes and will him to be here, to touch me. I’d wrap my naked limbs around him and let him have me in a dozen animalistic ways if he wanted so long as I was free from this nightmare. Marshall corrupts my thoughts as I imagine his tongue burning a line of fire straight down my chest, his fingers kneading into my bare thighs as he dives down below my belly with a rash of heated kisses.
    Logan rattles my hand. Skyla ?
    Sorry. I give a desolate smile. I can’t help it. I’m stressed.
    Logan moves us at a decent clip through thick-robed darkness. Walls open up to our left, rooms without doors, just large expansive clearings lined with cages. I slow down and observe the incomprehensible sight.
    “Oh my God.” I breathe the words. A wave of nausea fills me, and passing out would be a welcome reprieve.
    People in every shape and size imaginable fill those oversized gorilla cages. Men sitting on the floor, women bustling against the bars with their hands held out in despair.
    Farther down, a little girl sits alone. She springs to her feet when she sees me and presses her tiny body against the bars. Her pale stone eyes gaze out at me, her lips an ashen blue, skin the color of plaster. With everything in me, I want to take her back where she belongs—volunteer to die in her place. I slip away from Logan and bolt toward the chamber they hold her hostage in and her face enlivens with hope.
    “Help me,” she calls, reaching out for me in haste.
    I snatch up her hand and press her tiny fingers to my lips in a kiss.
    “What’s your name?” I ask, uncertain of how I could ever help her.
    “Lacey.” Her little hand trembles in mine. “My mom is out there, but they always bring her back.”
    I glance down at her neck for signs of bruising, or puncture wounds but I see neither.
    “Elysian,” Ingram barks. “Retrieve her immediately.”
    I give a quick glance behind my shoulder at the irate old fool.
    “I’ve gotta go.” This is the part where I should promise to rescue her, to free her and her mother from the horror of this evil den. But I’m not sure I can keep that promise.
    “Skyla.” Logan wraps his arm around my waist. I’m sorry, Skyla. We’ll do what we can for her.
    “I’ll come back,” I whisper, unsure if I ever will.
    Her serious eyes ingrain themselves in my mind. Her desperate face, her frail body tattoos itself over my heart.  It’s as if she’s willing it to happen to ensure I never forget about her, imprisoned here in misery.
    “Come back for me,” she says. It comes with a hiss, but it’s not until I see the tears swelling in her eyes do I realize she pushed those words out from a dam of grief.
    I press