After about thirty minutes of searching, Onyx started barking over some rock in the back, and we all headed over in his direction. Vruz beat us to it, and while Onyx was barking, Vruz was sniffing all over, making sure that what Onyx found was what we were looking for.
I crouched down and patted Onyx on the head, telling him that he was a good boy, as I looked at the spot. It was a small spot, about eight inches in diameter, easily missed if you weren't looking for it specifically, since the rock covered it in this corner. I laid my hand onto the land, which made the guys hiss and complain at my recklessness, but it was the only thing I could think of to figure out what was exactly wrong with it.
This spot was weird because it was obviously disturbed by the dirt that was lying next to it, but I couldn't pick up anything other than the absence of magic. Usually, I would be able to feel the power of whatever had been here or the vibe of the person who’d done something in this spot or maybe a feeling as to why this spot was the way it was, but it wasn't giving off anything. It was like the space was null and void. Which was the opposite of what Hell was all about. It was all emotions, and so was the magic that created this land.
I got up and dusted my pants off as Fame got closer to the spot, looking at it for any clues. Instead of being angry about it, like I normally would’ve when someone got in my space or all up in my project, I was happy. I liked having a second set of eyes on it, just in case I’d missed something.
“Did you find anything?” Death's excited voice called out, but I had nothing to give him, so I shook my head.
“I don't know just yet.” I looked over to Con. “Where is the next place?”
Con pulled out his notepad. “Looks like we need to go to Sloth next. Abaddon said that there was a spot in the forest where we found him yesterday. He said that’s why he was there in the first place.”
I rolled my eyes. “And let me guess, that’s when he said that he just thought he would take a little nap and then investigate?”
Con smiled before he nodded. I knew it. Lazy bastard.
“All right, let's head over to Sloth. Did you hear that, hounds?”
Both dogs barked as they ran towards the direction of the exit. The hounds had never liked winking and preferred to stretch their legs whenever possible.
Death looked at my arm like it was leprous, and the others hesitated too.
“Look, it gets better and easier the more I get used to winking and winking with others.” I put on my best saleswoman smile. “And maybe this time none of you will throw up.” I tried to make my voice cheery, but they just glared at me. “Your other choice is to follow the hounds.” I pointed in the direction they ran and gave them a sickly sweet smile.
Con and War immediately grabbed my forearm, ready to give it another go. Fame took a few seconds longer but ultimately picked the lesser of two evils. Death held out the longest. Could’ve called that. But once Fame convinced him that he was keeping us from figuring out the whole thing, and War called him a pussy, he growled and grabbed my arm.
We winked into Sloth, right to the spot I remembered tripping over the prince, then we waited for the dogs to come. I looked up at the guys to see how they were doing. War looked a little queasy, while Con was just focusing on the ground breathing in and out. Fame was looking around the forest, refusing to meet any of our eyes, and Death was glaring something fierce at me as he clutched his stomach. I lifted my hands and gave them a thumbs up. No throw up this time so I felt like it was progress. I got a few glares, and a few chuckles, so I let it go. They’ll get used to it in no time.
Once the hounds arrived, we started the search all over again. Soon we found another strange spot, almost identical to what the other spot was like but it was slightly bigger. The spot again was void of any magic, of really anything, and I found it weird again. Nothing was connected to it. Only emptiness and nullified land was in front of me.
I asked if there were any other spots on the list, and Con said only one other had been mentioned, the Pits of Plenty in Greed. No other princes had come forward with something like this, yet. I knew that we needed to look at all the sites to compare them, so I told them to buckle up for one more trip. This time, they didn't even complain.
The hounds ran to meet us in the next circle, and I winked everyone to the next location, then we searched until we found the magical anomaly. It was a magic void just like the others, and there were still no leads as to what caused them.
The boys seemed disappointed and perplexed by the issue at hand, but I wasn't too worried. I believed that eventually we would figure it all out. I just needed to think things through. I told the hounds to meet us at home and asked the guys to all touch me. They did without hesitation this time, because I was true to my word and they’d handled each wink better than the last. Last time, they didn't even look sick.
“Let's go home for some food”—I winked at Con—“and for some time to think.” I looked up at Fame before I said, “I think I’ve felt something like this before.” A long time ago, back when Pop Pop had showed me Purgatory.
Chapter 35
Soifyou'dthought, Oh, having Lucifer and Michael together was the dream team, I would like to introduce you to a therapist. You needed some help, stat.
Despite bickering and arguing every five seconds, we did eventually agree that God wasn't in Hell. Had Michael believed me the first time I’d said that? Nope. Had we fought about it for hours? Yes. Yes, we had.
Finally, I’d given up, pulled out a memory orb, and filled it with the memories of me searching Hell.
Memory orbs were made for us angels because we were eternal and had so many memories that it took time to find the damn things. So they were used to file away the important ones. I liked to use them because I refused to have anyone in my mind for any reason. I didn't want anyone searching around and stumbling on me singingI Gotta Feelingby the Black Eyed Peas, naked and shaking my willy.
As soon as he was finished, I made him destroy it. Did I mention I had trust issues? But it still proved my case. God was not in Hell.
He then barked at me, demanding how I was able to be outside of Hell for so long, and I told him that Lily was holding down the fort. That made his head explode as he tried to lecture me about how leaving his untrained niece in charge of a whole kingdom was a bad idea. I told him she was super smart and super inventive, just like her papa, and she would do fine. Plus she had her Four Horseman mates with her so she couldn't get into that much trouble. He was shocked to hear that the problem children he wrote off long ago were her mates. His eyes bugged out, wanting to verify that all four were her mates, something that should be impossible, but Lillian always had a knack for making the impossible happen. Just like her mother. I decided I didn't want to talk about it anymore so I changed the subject to God possibly being in Heaven. So we checked… discreetly. Which was hard for the big bad Michael.
He lumbered around everywhere! He was so damn big that he was hard to hide, and his initial reaction was always to ask an angel if they had seen Him. I had to keep reminding him that an angel could be involved.
Then he would start to get pissy and we would go around and around about how an angelora demon could be behind all of this.
“You can't tell me that it's impossible for a demon to be the one who knows something or did something to cause this.” His arrogant anger was just the right level to push my buttons. Or maybe it was just him. It was a toss-up.
