Return To Purgatory: The Nether Series

By Beth Lauzier

A lot has changed for Ripley over the last ten years, but the one constant has always been Scott. Not only did the Cooke's welcome her with opened arms after the divorce, but they helped her get into college and on the fast track to working in the literary field. 

 

After fighting for every scrap of happiness she could get a hand on, everything finally felt like it was coming together. Until she got the text from Scott. The door is open. Katie's missing. 

 

Now, it's a race against time. They must rescue Katie before Clara can get her claws into her. But with dead-eyed doctors and crazed nurses, that's going to be easier said than done. 

 

How are they going to get away from Dawn Valley Sanatorium this time? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seriously Awesome Books
• Release date: Mar 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781734784268

Beth Lauzier

Beth Lauzier is an author of YA fantasy, He Loves Me is the first in the I Wish series of magic-realism. When not writing or reading, you might find her trying to convince the local bird population to rise up and do her bidding. A resident of Longview Texas, Beth Lauzier lives with her family and generally avoids the outside world because books are better and it's too people-y out there.

Book preview

Purgatory

How long is purgatory? I guess the best way to answer that is by asking the question, how bad were you when you were alive.

Chapter 1

One missing girl.

Ihad to read the text message four times before I could fully grasp what he sent. Four times before I could comprehend it wasn’t a bad April Fool’s joke. That it wasn’t a butt-text he didn’t mean to send. That it wasn’t just a cruel way of getting me to stop ignoring his calls and phone him back.

Pocketing my phone before the professor saw it, I took a calming breath and tried to fight down the rising panic. My seat neighbor side-eyed me like I was having some kind of breakdown, but I ignored her. The short pixie of a girl came to class late most days and always smelled like weed.

Checking the clock, I slowly started gathering books and notepaper, cramming everything into my backpack. I couldn’t wait an hour for class to end before calling Scott back. As the professor droned on in her monotone voice, I stood and carefully made my way to the exit.

I stepped around weed-girl. She hissed and had to half-stand to let me by. The others in the row had to do the same. They grumbled but thankfully moved aside. I hated to disrupt the lesson, especially for the ones in my row listening and taking notes, but this really couldn’t wait.

The annoyed muttering reached the professor, and even though she kept talking, her eyes searched for whoever dared disrupt her class. I winced once she spotted me, her fiery stare burned, and I wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor and disappear.  

Rushing to get out of the row, I stepped on something that wasn’t the floor. Hissing, the not-floor moved, and I nearly went with it.

Sorry. Whispering to the last guy in the row whose foot probably hurt now, I stepped into the aisle and held both hands up to the teacher in placation. Family emergency. But that didn’t seem to make a difference to her as she wrote something down with an angry flourish. She was probably going to mark me absent for the class, but I had bigger issues at the moment.

Rushing up the aisle to the exit, two girls stood and followed me. They both looked as flustered as I felt. Slamming into the door, I shoved it open and rushed out.

Oh my gosh. I was wondering how long we’d have to sit there. Turning back, I spied the two who followed me. They were linked arm in arm as they strolled back to the main quad area.

I told you it was the wrong building. But did you listen, no? The taller of the two elongated her words, and the other laughed like missing a class was the funniest thing in the world. I wrote them off as party girls that weren’t really here for school and rushed away.

Anyone could tell you flip flops weren’t the best footwear to run in. I nearly ate dirt twice before taking them off and going barefoot. Other students milled around the quad playing games, tanning, or were too busy rushing to their class to pay much attention to a girl with no shoes.

Frantically, I dug through my backpack for the building keycard but quickly gave up as the panic started to rise. Upturning the whole thing, I dumped everything out and found the stupid thing at the bottom of the bag. After shoveling everything back inside without care, I swiped the card and rushed into the building.

Skipping the elevator, I took a left and rushed for the stairs. I ran up two flights of boring grey stairs as panic and sudden intense cardio made my heart race. Reaching my floor, I pushed the door open, letting in music that belted from one of the dorm rooms down the hall. Those who didn’t have morning classes were finally starting to get up and begin their day.

Hey Ripley, everything alright? I slowed down and forced a smile, not wanting to alert Janet anything might be off. She took the dorm monitor duties too seriously and checked every morning to make sure no boys had spent the night. I suppressed an eye roll at the old-timey thinking and tried for a more convincing smile. If she even got a whiff of trouble, it would be reported within minutes.

The printer messed up and missed the last page of my report. I’ve got an hour left to turn it in. I tried not to overact the fake wince as I rushed past her, heading for my room. But I still felt the burn of eyes watching me the whole way.

Breezing inside, I flicked the light on and thanked the heavens my roommate also had an early class. Shutting the door, I leaned against it and waited for any sign Janet hadn’t been fooled. After a moment, when no one came knocking, I relaxed then tossed everything on the unmade bed.

Resting both palms on my knees, I took a calming breath and tried to think logically. Maybe I read the text wrong, and it wasn’t that bad. I’d been studying especially hard lately. Maybe my sleep-deprived brain just read it wrong. But even as I thought it, I knew. As much as I wanted to push it all away as some weird fever dream that never really happen, I just couldn’t make myself believe the lie.

Moving everything aside, I sat on the bed and woke my phone, then pulled up the message.

I think Katie found the key. She’s gone. 9:37 am

The police just left. They’re going to start looking, but the door’s open. I’m sure she went to the other side. 9:41 am

Closing my eyes for a second, I let the panic and fear run wild. Unchecked and unbridled, the fear burned a path to the past I didn’t want to visit. Counting backward from ten, I took a breath and repeated the process until my hands no longer shook.

Pressing the call button, it only rang once before the line clicked.

They didn’t want me to call you. I had to strain to hear Scott’s soft voice clearly. But in the still calm of my panicked brain, I could pick out the defeat and shame that weighed him down. I’m going to go in and get her now. I just...

No, you can’t just go in there alone, Scott. Just... give me some time to get there. Clara’s not going to hurt her. She wants us. Just let me get some shoes on, and I’ll be right there. He didn’t answer, and I bit my lip till the pain was nearly too much. If he wanted to go without me, there was nothing I could do from here to stop him. One-hour, Scott. I’ll be there in one hour. The drive normally took almost two, but I would make it in one if it were the last thing I did.

Without waiting for a reply, I started digging through the contents of the backpack for my wallet and keys. The door swung open, and my roommate walked in with a bag of takeout breakfast and a very large iced coffee. She gave me an odd look as I hopped about trying to put on sneakers with one hand.

I’ll get a bag together. Scott's voice was low, and I nearly missed what he said. I briefly wondered what kind of bag he meant, but we both didn’t have time for twenty questions.

I’m heading to the car now. As soon as I get there, we can go in. Together. Rushing down the hall, I took the elevator this time, and in the cramped space, as I started to go down, I wanted to throw up. We’ll find her, Scott.

They were empty words of things we wanted to be true, and we both knew it. But if saying something