Belle gave a look at Rower who was relaxing by leaning against the side of the boat. His legs stretched out and crossed near the ankles as he looked at her. The Grim reapers...they were all tricksters. He wasn't ready to get in but he was sending her into the river.

It didn't look like he would be moving his boat anytime soon and if he was seriously going to stay here, then that would mean Belle would die out of hunger in the boat. Therefore, her options looked pretty less. But wasn't there only one boat that was used to transport the souls? How did he manage to send all the souls back and forth by himself?

"Okay," Belle said and Rower tipped his boney head to look at Belle, somewhat pleased now that the mortal was going to jump into the river but Belle who was standing sat down, "I don't mind spending my time here with you."

This was something Rower had not expected. Belle wanted so much to return back to the land of the living but she was stuck here because of the creature who had pulled her here. And just because she called his coin to be hers, it was enough to have him stop the boat in the middle of nowhere.

"You don't want to return?" asked Rower, his whispering voice curious.

"I obviously won't make out alive if I dive into the river for some stupid coins," replied Belle.

"Let me help you then," Rower said and Belle didn't understand what he meant but when she saw him raise his hand, his fingers getting together, she had a very bad feeling. One minute she was in the boat and the next moment, she had been thrown into the river like a piece of stone who started to sink down in the river of the dead.

Belle knew how to swim but the river she had been thrown into, it was denser and unclear. Something like fog covering her eyes. She had tried to push herself up, to resurface and get back to the boat but she couldn't. She continued to move down with gravity pulling her and Belle flailed her hands. Her eyes moved to see where she was. As a vampire, breathing was not an issue to her and she could continue to stay in here but even though she was new in here, she could feel there was something very very strange that made her worried.

The water was indeed murky but the more she moved towards the floor of the river, the water started to look clear and it turned blue and lighter that let her see where she was. But it was something she didn't want to see. There were nothing but skeletons that were decorating the floors. Skeletons that were not like the normal ones from the mortal when they were buried and turned old in time. These skeletons looked like they were all in pain as if they were calling out for help, screaming with their hands outstretched or their face contoured with pain.

She had to be careful as her dress kept moving and so did her hair which she had failed to tie and left it open when she had gone to the lake of bones. There were plants, fishes and broken pillars that had fallen down.

Belle could hear the bubbles that moved from the bottom, making its way up to the surface of the river. She was here for coins and she had to find it as soon as possible. There was no point dilly-dallying and wasting her time when her soul could be eaten.

Moving was difficult because the water restricted her movements and it took a while to move from one place to another. Her eyes moved in search of the coins but so far, she found none of it. All this while, she had thought that the souls would eventually end up on the happier side, that passed through the gates but there were so many skeletons that made her question if some of them fell over the boat and the reaper never bothered to fetch it back. The more she walked, the closer she got to see that the trees that she had seen earlier had emerged from the bed of the river and was possibly very old. Of course, fertilization.

When Belle finally noticed something shine, she caught sight of the coins that had fallen from the pouch next to it. She felt relieved and was ready to grab it when she heard something behind her. The sound on the land and in the water was different. By the time Belle had turned around to see what it was, there was nothing there. Her red eyes looked even more beautiful in the water.

It was then she turned back again to grab the pouch of coins when a large fish appeared in front of her. The lower part of the body looked like fish but the upper half, it was a mortal's body.

"Did you come here for coins?" asked the creature who looked like a woman.

If Belle was taught one thing by Lucas, it was to never speak to strangers. She had never seen anything like this, never heard which was why it took her a couple of seconds before she got back to her senses and quickly went to scoop the pouch in her hand but it was taken away by the creature.

"Give it back to me," Belle said, her voice not able to come out except for more bubbles.

"Come to my den," said the creature, trying to be hospitable with her.

Belle raised her hand as if to say for the creature to return the bag to her. When she noticed one coin on the ground, she quickly tried to reach for the coin but the creature moved it away from her.

"I have brought you here from such a far distance. I wanted to bring your animal with me but it looked dead so I dropped it."

Hearing this, Belle's eyebrows furrowed. Was this creature responsible for bringing her to the land of the dead? "We don't have many visitors and it is hard to consume food when the food is scarce," as the creature spoke, Belle noticed the jagged teeth that could tear anything into pieces.

.

Scroll to read the next chapter...