Robin’s vision cleared, and she stood in front of a throne made of skulls. The area around it was almost pitch black, the walls fading to nothingness in front of her eyes. The man who had touched her back was sitting in it. The big fur pelt that had been on his shoulder now rested behind his head, over the back of the throne. The room was dimly lit with red candles and had a floor of stone that had been smoothed so much that it looked almost like marble. It reminded her of the meeting place of the Order of Talos that she ended up in a few months ago. It was not a memory she wanted in her mind ever again, so she thought of Hal. His warmth and love filled her as though he were standing right next to her.

“Welcome to Tech Duinn, the House of the Dark One.” He had a beautiful Irish accent and dark eyes that seemed to peer into her soul as he spoke.

A moment later, a man appeared by her side.

“What the bloody hell’s goin’ on?” he shouted.

“Mind your tongue, boyo. That any way to speak to the god of the dead?”

“I’m dead?” the man squeaked, voicing the question that had flown into Robin’s own mind at the statement.

“Not yet. You will be by morning if you don’t escape, though, and then I get your soul. Each of you will fetch me a pretty penny if I choose to sell you, but for now, I’ll give you the chance everyone has on Samhain—escape and live, or don’t and you belong to me.”

“Escape what?” Robin asked, putting her hands on her hips. She’d seen enough the last year that someone claiming to be a god didn’t scare her as much anymore, especially if that god was long forgotten.

“This!” He spread his arms wide, indicating the whole room.

“There are doors all around us. Doesn’t seem like much of a challenge,” the man chimed in, and Robin wanted to smack him up the back of the head. Standing your ground was one thing, but there was no need to instigate the god.

“Just because you see doors doesn’t mean they will let you out,” the god said, a wry smile on his face.

They might be able to get out of this room easily, but that didn’t mean they could escape the house or wherever it was just as easily. She was willing to bet that there was a single door that would open to release them back into the world, and she’d be damned if she wasn’t going to find it, literally. If he was a god of the dead, then she would be in his hell, wherever that may be, or he was going to sell her soul, but she wasn’t sure what that meant, either. There were too many unknowns for her to feel comfortable.

“May we go?” Robin asked, unsure of the rules.

“Go! Run to your little hearts’ content. My money is on you staying put.” He winked at her, and she shivered.

Turning, she gestured with her head to the man, and he followed her out of the main door. She had no idea where she was going, but she figured that if they worked together, it would have to be easier.

“I’m Robin. Why don’t we figure this out together?”

“Chris.” The man nodded as he reached in his back pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He tapped at the screen, and it stayed ominously black.

“Left or right?” She looked each way down the hallway. There were no indications of which direction might lead out of this nightmare.

“Right.”

Together, they set off. At first, they stopped at every room together, going in and looking around for anything that might give them clues to the exits, and then as time felt like it was slipping by, they began splitting up. They each tackled their own room and met up back in the hallway after a couple minutes. Some of the rooms were just empty cubes of stone, while others were lavishly decorated with beds and couches, and still others were storage areas. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to what would be behind the doors. The place wasn’t set up so all the bedrooms were together or all the storage areas were close by. It almost felt like someone had just rolled a die and let that determine the layout of the place. When Robin found herself alone, waiting in the dreary hallway for too long, she went into the room that Chris was supposed to be searching.

A woman sat in a chair, talking to a giant wolf. The thing was beyond anything Robin had ever seen. Admittedly, she hadn’t seen wolves in real life, but everything she knew about them said they weren’t as big as the animal in front of her.

“What the . . .” She gasped as she took in the sight, the words out of her mouth before she could think better of them.

Both wolf and woman turned to watch her. Robin’s body was frozen. Her feet felt cemented to the ground she stood on. When the wolf’s lips peeled back in an angry snarl, exposing gleaming white teeth, every fiber of her being told her to run, and yet she couldn’t. Her heart hammered in her chest, and a bead of sweat rolled down the curve of her back. She risked looking at the woman instead of the wolf and found her to be taking in the scene with interest.

“Easy.”

That one word uttered by the woman seemed to quiet the animal, who proceeded to take up residence by her feet like a guard dog. Robin watched her with guarded hope. If she lived in the House of the Dark One, then she had to know a way out, right?

“Banshee, come forward.”

When Robin didn’t move, the woman sighed and stood. Her long light-green dress billowed out behind her as she moved toward Robin, even though there wasn’t much space or any excess wind. As she drew closer, her golden eyes became apparent, along with the rich caramel color of her hair, which curled slightly around her face and at the ends, as though she were too warm. The gentle waves of her hair fell past her shoulders down to her waist, and in the glint of light, Robin realized that the headband she wore was made of leaves, flowers, and berries.

“I am not going to harm you.” The woman’s voice skated over Robin’s skin, as though it were unnatural. It almost sounded hollow, as though she were missing part of herself.

“Who are you?” The question had been battering at her lips since she’d first walked in the room, and now that it was free, the woman just smiled.

“I’m a druidess Donn has chosen to be his entertainment for many centuries.”

“Why don’t you just leave?”

“I have been unable to open the door and leave. When Donn took me, he didn’t count on the fact that he cannot sell my soul or send it anywhere. He should have planned better before he claimed my life on that hilltop so many years ago.” She chuckled ruefully as she swept the hair away from her neck and back over her shoulder. Intricate yet bold tattoos decorated her shoulders and neck. She shrugged off the outer layer of material, which was evidently a coat or cloak of some kind, and revealed the bright white dress underneath, as well as more tattoos.

“I don’t understand.”

“Donn took me, as he has taken you, on Samhain. I had just given birth to three beautiful boys, and he forced them to grow up without a mother. He set me the same challenge as you—find the door and you are free to leave. I was unable to do so for a very long time, and when I did, I was unable to open it, so I remain here. My markings make him unable to claim my soul. He cannot sell it or send me anywhere else.”

“So you do or don’t know where the door is after being here for centuries?” Robin’s heart stopped at the implication. Her mind was racing too fast to follow exactly what the woman was saying. Half of her screamed at her to move, find the door, and ignore the woman. The other half encouraged her to see the potential resource the woman could be.

“Oh, I know where it is. I just am not able to open it.”

“Can you take me to it? Maybe without your dog?”

“You mean him?” She motioned to the wolf.

Robin nodded.

“He’s not mine. Isn’t he yours? He was dressed similarly to you.” She gestured to Robin’s clothing.

“You’re saying this was a man?” She half laughed, half coughed, unsure of what to make of the woman. If she had been stuck with Donn for centuries, then maybe she’d lost her marbles.

“He is a shifter, yes.”

“Shifter . . .” The word whispered out of her mouth as her brain connected the dots. The large gray and black wolf in front of her was Chris. His yellow eyes stared her down, almost challenging her not to believe it, but it was that very intelligence that convinced her of the truth. “Okay, well, Chris, um, you stay however you want.”

The woman chuckled.

“What’s your name?” Robin asked.

“Tlachtga.”

“Like the hill?”

Tlachtga’s eyebrows furrowed. “The hill?”

“There’s a hill in Ireland that has a similar name.” She paused, and when the woman didn’t say anything, she asked, “How long have you been down here again?”

“More years than I can count.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to that. There was no way the hill could be named after her, right? Her head was spinning, so all she managed to get out was, “I’m Robin.”

“Well, Robin, I’m happy to show you where the door is and wish you luck in opening it.”

“Has anyone opened it before?”

“Oh, yes. I just was never present. Surprisingly, not many find me. I know each year when Donn leaves. I can feel his energy dissipate, and I can sense when there are other people here, but few check thoroughly enough to find me. Not that I’m hiding!” She added the last with a smile.

Robin nodded and followed the woman down the hall. When they made a few turns, they arrived at the end of a hallway that was so out of the way, she knew that without Tlachtga’s help, she never would have even found the door, let alone have a chance at opening it. There were two doors, one on each side of the dead end. She instinctively reached for the door on her right.

“Wrong one, unless you wish to go speak with Donn once again.” A delicate blonde eyebrow arched as she spoke.

Robin turned and tried to open the door on the left. When she felt the handle turn and the weight of the solid wood door move, her breath caught. Could it be that easy?

As the door swung open, she saw a small room with another door on the opposing side.

Of course it wasn’t that easy.

A slight musty smell lingered in her nose as the three of them crowded in, the large stones that made up the walls and floor seeming to close in on them as they filled the area. The door that was her only way out of there alive was not what she expected. The thick concrete that made up most of the door seemed to sprout from the wood at the base. It was the most out of place thing she’d seen since she’d arrived.

“This is the door that will return you to your time, your own realm.”

That statement raised all kinds of red flags. “Wait, I thought you said you couldn’t open it, not that you couldn’t go through it?”

“I did. There is a different door that will lead me to where I am supposed to go. This”—she gestured to the ugly door before them—“would only lead to my death. I have been down here too long to return to the world of the living. Tír na nÓg is my goal. There I can reunite with my brother and sister druids and pay worship to the gentle gods who reside there, as I was supposed to upon my death.”

Chris whined, his eyes sorrowful as he looked between them. Robin understood how he felt. Tlachtga was kind and gentle—that much was obvious. She didn’t deserve to be forced to stay there with Donn.

“Where is your door?” Robin put her hands on her hips.

“That doesn’t matter. You need to open your door and escape while you have the chance.”

“How many people have you shown this door to? How many people have gone through it and left you behind?”

“Many. I accepted my function as guide a long time ago. It is part of who I am.” She spread her hands in front of herself as though there were no other option.

There were too many similarities between Robin and Tlachtga for her to feel comfortable leaving the woman behind. It was not that long ago that she had been under the control of Randall Fields, the CEO of Eclipse and member of the Order of Talos. He made her life hell, monitoring and directing everything she ate, wore, even said. There was nothing that wasn’t under his purview, except her hacking skills, something she sorely wished were needed to get them out of their current situation. Hacking she could handle. When she realized that Randall and his company were kidnapping, torturing, and experimenting on individuals with supernatural abilities, she had to try to stop it. All she managed to do was save one person, Aster, before digging herself into a deeper hole with Randall. Part of her wondered if Donn knew Tlachtga was helping people, and if he did, was he making her life worse because of it? Either way, she was uncomfortable leaving the other woman behind.

“Let’s go to your door. We’ll get you out and then come back to our door.”

“You won’t have time! It’s almost dawn as it is.”

“I definitely won’t have time if we keep arguing.” Robin crossed her arms over her chest, and Chris came and sat by her with a huff. The move made her nervous, but part of her welcomed what she thought was a show of solidarity.

Tlachtga’s golden eyes searched her own before traveling down to meet the eyes of the wolf. When Robin heard him sniff, she glanced down, only to find him meeting the woman’s stare. It was two against one, and Robin didn’t think the druidess would want their souls on her conscience.

“Come on. We have to be quick.” She turned and swept out of the room, her white dress billowing behind her.

Robin and Chris hurried to follow. She glanced over her shoulder at the door, promising herself that she would make it back to Hal one way or another. She would never stop fighting to be with her love once more.