Lost In The Underworld: Lost Shadows Saga, #2

By April R. Wilson

Cursed with the ability to see the dead, Willow is finding it impossible to live the normal life she's always wished for.

A war is evolving in the Underworld. The Criscerean are forming an army and the Shadow Wards are the world's only hope.

Willow finds herself paired with an unlikely partner. A half minotaur warrior with a cloudy past and a chip on his shoulder.

The pair embark on a mission through the Underworld in search of the runes that will restore the power to the Shadow Wards.

But the Criscerean are searching for the runes as well, and Willow must work together with her new partner to find them first—or the world will suffer the consequences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: April R. Wilson
• Release date: Mar 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798440018464

Book preview

Lost in the Underworld

April R. Wilson

Copyright © 2022 April R. Wilson

All rights reserved.

©2022 by April R. Wilson. All rights reserved.

Cover design by germancreative.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, details of places, events, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form without the express permission of the publisher.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1: The Summer of a Lifetime

Chapter 2: So Much for Anonymity

Chapter 3: Infinite Power

Chapter 4: Just A Bad Dream

Chapter 5: Writing on The Bathroom Wall

Chapter 6: Driving test

Chapter 7: Sanctuary

Chapter 8: Bombshells at The Breakfast table

Chapter 9: No Rest from The Wicked

Chapter 10: The Soldier

Chapter 11: A Party to Remember

Chapter 12: Gone in A Flash

Chapter 13: Rallying the Troops

Chapter 14: A Ritual of Power

Chapter 15: You’ve Got the Wrong Reaper

Chapter 16: What Goes Bump in The Night

Chapter 17: The Longest Night

Chapter 18: Trust & Intuition

Chapter 19: A Tale of Forbidden Love

Chapter 20: Caught on Camera

Chapter 21: Exotic Fruits

Chapter 22: Lone Wolf

Chapter 23: Surrounded

Chapter 24: Smoke Signals

Chapter 25: I Can’t Believe My Eyes

Chapter 26: Take the Leap

Chapter 27: Then There Were Three

Chapter 28: Trust

Chapter 29: Regret

Chapter 30: All Roads Lead Home

Chapter 31: One Step Closer

Chapter 32: Shattered

Chapter 33: Last Resort

Chapter 34: A Fortress Prepared for Battle

Chapter 35: Finding Strength in Weakness

Chapter 36: Unplanned Reunion

Chapter 38: Terrifying Intelligence

Chapter 39: The Funeral of The King

Chapter 40: The Soldiers of Tomorrow

More by April R. Wilson

Promise me you'll always remember that you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. - Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh.

Chapter 1: The Summer of a Lifetime

The summer of 2013 was the most perfect time of Willow’s entire life. The sun seemed to burn brighter, and the grass was greener than ever before. She was with Scott and Sydney every day. They spent each afternoon in the grass, watching the sun dip behind the hills and the stars unfold above them. The world didn’t seem so big and lonely. They were invincible. They felt like they could climb ladders to the clouds and sleep beside the moon.

Everything was fresh. Willow had found where she belonged. She forgot all the pain she’d experienced and was able to enjoy the glowing light of the fireflies as they hovered above the hilltops.

She didn’t even mind the Criscerean that crept across their path occasionally. She could kill them quicker now. Like it was nothing.

If she saw a lost shadow, she helped them. She still saw her little sister, Mira, in the confused face of every shadow. They were lost; and if the demons were multiplying as quickly as Patch said, they were in more danger than ever before.

During her life, Willow had dreaded the beginning of the school year. This was the first summer that she looked forward to the upcoming year. This year was going to be different. She was finally going to see what it was like to go to school with no one caring who she was. At Tamworth, she was invisible. Just someone else in the crowd. Completely average.

She loved it.

Ready? Sydney asked from the window seat in Willow’s room. She reclined with her long legs splayed across the velvet cushion and her head hung over the edge, looking at Willow upside down. They were getting ready to go shopping for the school year. Rule number 1 of sophomore year, Sydney had declared only the day before, It is absolutely forbidden to wear the same thing you wore as a freshman. Willow was sure she was exaggerating, but she wasn’t going to question it.

She knew that this was a big year. Scott was a junior, and Sydney and Willow were sophomores. Everything felt different this year. Even the air felt cleaner. They’d beaten the Criscerean and spent the entire summer relaxing or going to the movies to watch back-to-back showings. Willow had decades of movies that she needed to catch up on. Scott and Sydney were more than happy to spend hours within a dark movie theater, intertwined in one another’s arms.

I hope you don’t feel like a third wheel, Sydney had said as they left the movies one time.

Huh? Willow had never even thought about it. Not at all, she said, You and Scott are both my friends. We’ve literally faced death together, she laughed.

Well, you can always bring anyone along any time you want, Sydney said.

Willow just smiled. She knew Sydney was implying that it was unusual that she wasn’t dating anyone. She really never thought about it. When she saw her classmates pairing off over the year, she’d paid no mind. She found herself more focused on learning how to find and defeat the Criscerean. And she was getting a lot better. What did she need a boyfriend for?

Willow zipped her boot up and nodded to Sydney. Let’s go.

Chapter 2: So Much for Anonymity

The mall was swarming with students shopping for the upcoming school year. Seeing them all in one place actually made Willow a little nervous. For the entire summer, she and her friends had secluded themselves from everyone else. The previous year had been rough on them all, and they’d enjoyed time away from the familiar faces of the residents of Tamworth.

She’d almost forgotten how the students seemed so different from her. How they seemed to live on an entirely different plane of existence. She watched a group of upperclassmen stride by. Their confidence was suffocating. Not infectious. Actually, they seemed to siphon it from those around them as they passed. All the happiness she’d stored within herself over the summer seemed to wane.

She pushed her shoulders back and held her head high. She reminded herself how they paid her no mind as they passed and gave her confidence. This life was different. They didn’t see her as a monster. They didn’t see her at all. She smiled to herself. Anonymity was going to be her friend this year.

Willow sat on a bench outside of Tulle Me Something Good, where Sydney was looking for some fabric for the homecoming dance. She twisted her toe into the grout between the marble tiles, listening to the crunch of the sand beneath her boot.

A lady sat down next to her, looked into the distance, and sniffled quietly. Willow leaned forward and tried to see her face, but it was shrouded behind her long, chocolate colored hair. She seemed to be crying.

Are you okay? Willow asked. The woman said nothing. She just looked forward. Completely still. A chill traveled through Willow’s body and a suspicion nagged at the back of her mind.

Um, Miss? Are you okay? She tried again, but the woman didn’t budge. Willow didn’t need any further convincing. The lady was a shadow. She looked around. A Criscerean was sure to be nearby, and just as the thought crossed her mind, that’s when she saw it. It was in the form of a woman, but unmistakably a demon. She stood well over six feet tall.

Willow stood slowly. Her mind was reeling. What was she going to do? It was too dangerous to fight the demon right here in the middle of the mall. She looked back over at the woman. She hadn’t noticed, moved, or looked up. The way she looked forward was as if she was in another world in her mind. Willow pulled her weapon out of her pocket. To everyone else, it was just a silver pen. Seemingly harmless. The sunlight from the mall’s glass ceiling refracted off its metal surface. She forced her eyes to peel away from the demon that stood on the other side of the hallway. Its eyes drilled a hole straight into her heart. It felt like no one else was around, but Willow could feel the bodies passing around her. She couldn’t let it reach anyone. It would be a disaster. A slaughter at the Tamworth Mall.

She looked at the woman on the bench and pushed the pen into her vision. The woman looked up at her finally.

Take it, Willow said. She thrust the pen closer to the lady, who reeled back from Willow with shocked surprise.

Take it, she begged. Willow was scaring her. All she needed was for the woman to touch the pen. Then she would be instantly transported to the Underworld. Safe and far away from the demon.

From the corner of Willow’s vision, she saw the demon step forward and begin marching toward them. She was running out of time. Her heart pounded against her ribs, begging to break free.

She pushed the pen toward the woman.

Just touch it, she pleaded. The demon was only a few steps away now. She lunged forward, trying to touch her with the pen. The lady jumped out of the way. Willow huffed and turned away. She’d have to kill the demon. She flicked her wrist and in an instant; the pen expanded into its full form. It transformed into a six-foot-tall scythe made entirely of silver. She gripped the scythe at her side and planted her feet firmly on the marble floor.

The demon smiled. Its face split into the most terrifying grin Willow had ever seen. Then she blinked, and the Criscerean was gone. She stood, stock still, staring at the spot where it had just been. She could feel the cold metal of the scythe pressing into her palms and realized how many people were standing around her.

Willow turned to the lady. She was staring at Willow, her mouth opened wide with shock. She cupped the fingers of one hand together and held them in the air; then opened her palm. She repeated the motion again. Willow realized the woman was using sign language. A stone dropped into her stomach. The woman wasn’t a shadow at all. She couldn’t hear her because she was deaf.

Willow’s eyes swept around the mall. Everyone was staring at her. She wanted to run. She needed to get out. Everyone had seen her with her scythe.

But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even force herself to pull the scythe back into a pen.

FREAK! someone shouted from the crowd and Willow felt herself shrink. If only she could disappear.

Her eyes found Sydney. She was standing at the entrance of Tulle Me Something Good. She shared the same look as everyone around her—utter shock. Even Sydney couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Willow found her feet, and she ran straight out of the building and into the parking lot. She wanted to run all the way home, but she knew she wouldn’t make it that far. She slunk behind Sydney’s car and sat on the asphalt. By the time she heard footsteps approaching, her heart had slowed back to normal, and the pavement was burning her thighs through her jeans.

Sydney rounded the rear of the car and found her.

Hey, she said.

Hey, Willow croaked. Her throat felt raw. Her eyes burned from tears that begged to fall.

What happened back there? Sydney crossed her legs and sat on the pavement.

There was a demon, The embarrassment fell from her mouth and lay between them. And there was a lady. She seemed so... I don’t know. I was so sure she was a shadow, she pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in her folded arms.

Sydney was quiet. She placed a hand softly on Willow’s shoulder. Willow leaned into her friend. So much for this year being the best year ever. So much for being invisible. She’d made a fool of herself in front of the entire town yet again.

I got you something, Sydney said with a smile in her voice. Willow lifted her head and saw Sydney was holding a white paper box. She opened it, revealing thin, pink tissue paper. Folding the paper away, she found a pool of navy-blue fabric beneath. She lifted the fabric with both hands, and it unrolled to reveal a cardigan. It had silver thread sewn into it, making it shimmer in the light.

It’s beautiful, Willow said. The tears were becoming harder to hold back. The bitter loss of her plans for a perfectly normal school year still stung her skin, but she couldn’t believe she had such an amazing friend in Sydney.

Chapter 3: Infinite Power

Centuries ago, deep in the mountains of the Underworld, a group of warriors gathered together to complete an important mission.

The light from their fire was dim and did little to assist their sight, but they couldn’t risk being discovered. The demons were creeping through the foothills of the mountains surrounding the group. If they were discovered, it would not only spell their doom, but civilization as a whole would turn to ruin.

Why must we do this? one asked. He was Beatham, the youngest of the group. His hair hung over one shoulder in a chestnut-colored braid. It seems foolish to separate the single defense we have against these monsters.

It is also foolish to think of only the present time, one of the men said. He stood head and shoulders taller than the others, but his age had curved his back and he watched his comrades through his brows. There will come a day when you will no longer protect these realms and others will take your place. Are you willing to put the fate of the world in the hands of someone you will never meet?

Beatham