“Francis! How much time?”
Francis was watching the tendrils too, his eyes wide with horror as blood dripped from his wrist into Alex’s mouth. “He needs more blood to regain consciousness quickly. The chest wound needs to close more too, or else he might die in transit.” He gestured down to where Simone was applying drops of her blood to Alex’s wound.
“Our blood is strong, but we need at least a minute,” she said, not even bothering to look up from Alex’s chest.
Shit,I thought as I shot up from the ground and thrust my hands out so I could help my friends. A blaze of fuchsia flew from my fingertips to deflect a stream of encroaching tendrils. Sunshine yellow and purple magic followed as Eva and Diana vanquished two tendrils that had been creeping toward us from the sides of the room.
My eyes snapped away from where the magic had been advancing, back to the Furies, and all the hair on my arms lifted. Only two stood at the entrance of the room.
Where did the third one go?
The answer presented itself as the ground beneath my feet began to rumble. My throat closed up, and sweat dripped down my face.
The blade had mine and Alex’s blood on it. She left to use the Realm Slicer. We have to get out of here and help those above!Over the sound of rock grinding on rock, I shouted, “Francis! Can we move him now?”
The Furies were pointing and laughing. They recognized the fear in my eyes and they loved it.
“Almost! He—”
“It doesn’t matter where you meet our sweet Ishy, girl! She’ll find you, and when she does . . .” One of the Furies’ perfect lips spread in a horrible smile. “Ishy is ready to have some fun in your world—starting withyou.”
My heart leapt into my throat. “Everyone to Alex!”
Diana, Eva, and Hunter blasted off a few more spells and retreated to join us. I shoved Simone to the side when I reached Alex.
“We’re out of time,” I said.
“I don’t think he’s ready yet,” she said, and glanced down at the wound that her blood had been slowly closing.
I shook my head. “He has to be. We all have to be. They have the Realm Slicer.”
“The what?”
“It creates holes between worlds that people . . . creatures . . . can travel through. They’ve already opened a portal to our world.”
Somehow, Simone’s ivory skin paled even more. “Well, what are you waiting for, witch?”
I began manipulating a warphole. Doubt that I could make one here, in a different realm, rushed through me, but I had to try. And perhaps because Hell and my world were merging, I was met with less resistance than I thought possible. In fact, while the energies of Hell felt different, they almost felt right—familiar.
My eyes darted down to my still-burning demon scar, the likely culprit for these disturbing thoughts. In response, it seared even hotter, and a thrill of pleasure ran through me.
Eva gasped, and her eyes caught mine. “Did you just feel something?”
I gulped. “Lucifer and Ishtar. They know we’re here.”I didn’t know how I knew that. I just did. The understanding only added to my desire to get the eff out of there. I pushed my magic hard, and in response a warphole whooshed open.
“Go!” I screamed.
My allies didn’t waste a second, and began jumping through. Before Francis could disappear, I stopped him.
“Help me lift Alex?”
“Help? We don’t have time to be gentle,” Francis gestured to where the princesses of Hell stood.
A stream of profanity left my mouth. A wall of flame was barreling toward us. Just in front of it, hundreds of smoke-black demons with fire blossoming from their mouths—ifrits—charged.
“Come on,” Francis said, yanking me from my horror as he darted past me, Alex hanging lifelessly in his arms.
I rushed to follow, leaping through the warphole and closing the portal behind me. A dim sense of relief shone through the fear. I’d done it. We were out of Hell—safe. I exited the warphole and stepped onto cobblestone, breathing in the cold of London as it washed over me once more.
