My eyes are glued to the portal. A direct jump to circle two. Then one… then… my world…
“Tests?” I ask, eyebrows furrowing.
“You cannot pass through portals or between worlds unless the king or queen of the domain allows you to do so. I suppose you could, as you are the Princess of Hell, but to learn in your weakened state could take decades.”
I don’t have decades. Time flows differently in hell. I wonder how many days have passed. I wonder if they’re looking for me, or if they’ve chalked me up as dead.
I want to learn this control. I want to learn how to jump between dimensions. Because if I learned anything from my encounter with the Messenger and Osmodeus, it’s that I won’t stop being hunted by my father. And if he brings me back again… he might not let me escape quite so easily a second time.
I bite my bottom lip as I mull it over. Within me, something stirs. A small caress that comes from deep inside my soul. Like fingers gliding down my nerve endings. It’s the quiet caress of my Prod, and I hear the whispering of her voice in my ear. It’s low and seductive, entrancing, and she’s mingling in with me.
You are one and the same.Malek always says that to me. I’ve always thought of my Prod as someone separate, as someone who just reigns destructively inside me. At the Academy we tend to speak about our Prods that way, but right now, right here, I feel her somehow merging with me. Like this infinite well of power is slipping between the cracks and threading itself into every strand of my DNA, my blood, mybeing. I embraced her, and now she’s embracing back.
I feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
I feel… I feelpowerful.Different.
Those red eyes of the demon train themselves on me maliciously, knowingly. “You feel the power of hell in your veins, don’t you?” She smiles, and again, I get a flash of those pointy teeth. “Is it everything you ever imagined?” Her whole body thrums with longing as she leans towards me. “It’s the song of hell. This is your home, power calling to power, and so yours is awakening.” She leans back and strokes her chin with icy hands. “Perhaps you are not so weak after all.”
“How do I get home?” I ask, though her words ring inside me, reverberating through my body. I don’t want them to be true, but what had taken me months to learn at the Academy, I’ve mastered here within hours. Flying, incinerating. I no longer feel the dormant monster inside of me. Now, Iamthe monster.
And I want to deny how good it feels, but I can’t.
I don’t feel powerless anymore. Not when I’ve taken down demons and made it to the fifth circle of hell on my own.
“What do you say, Princess?” The portal beyond the demon gleams.
I stare at it, picturing the power inside me like a living, breathing thing. My Prod sighs within me, molding against my soul, embracing me and I give in to her once again. I take in pieces of her because she is a part of me. I let loose the power, my eyes wide open as I picture it. I let my magic form the image of the Academy.
Of my home.
It swirls around me, the singe of fire and my magic, and the air beside the portal of the second circle of hell shimmers. It warps into something different, of shadows and light forming a single, spectacular image.
The towering gray buildings of the Academy of Six.
The demon raises her eyebrows and turns, her mouth dropping as she sees what I’ve done.
Slowly I stand, a smile of triumph on my face. “Thank you for your kind offer,” I tell her. “But I think decades was just cut down to seconds.”
She jumps to her feet. “No!” she snarls. “No!”
I ignore her and step towards the portal of my own making. My wings fan out behind me. Powerful, destructive. It’s what I am, but I am also so much more.
I reach the edge of the portal.
That’s when the demon grabs me.
Her touch sears through the fur of the suit she gifted me and burns straight down to my skin. It feels like frostbite, like the burn of ice cold, and I cry out as she yanks me away from my portal.
“You’re not leaving without a deal!” Her entire voice warps. No longer is it the soft, gentle fall of snow, but something vicious and guttural. She rises and her body seems to grow. The crackling sound of breaking ice fills the cavern as she grows at least three feet taller and towers over me.
My wings flare, too late, she’s yanking on me and throwing me across the cavern. I fly back with the force of her strength, my wings trying to steady myself, but I crash painfully against the wall.
The rock abrades the sensitive skin of my wings and I feel them tear as I slide down. Blood pools from my wounds. I stretch them out, but all I feel is the zinging slice of agony down my muscles.
“Make a deal with me!” she roars, stalking towards me on taloned feet.
I brace myself, even as my back screams in pain. My hands spread wide and magic springs to my hands, a glow of green fire that consumes my palms.
