“Have you even tried?” Remi asked. Rag squeezed her arm, a silent scolding.
“Of courseI have!” Glory shouted. “You don’t think I’ve tried to get to Jophiel? To talk to him and convince him to join us here? He’s mytwin, Remiel. I’ve tried a million times and each time Ifail.” She broke off with a strangled sob.
Remi started to weasel out of Rag’s grip, but Rag stepped in front of his wife and asked, “Would our energies boost yours enough to open one?”
“No, it needs to be Jophiel.”Glory shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said to no one in particular, as she scrubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms, then sniffed hard.
Mags laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “We understand. We don’t want to upsetyou;we only want to help Lucifer.”
“I think there is another way, right?” Glory’s gaze flicked toward Judas,her shoulders squaring as hope perked up in her voice.
Judas looked puzzled. “Do you mean...?”
“I’ve heard the demons speak of... tunnels?”
“Tunnels?!” Remi exclaimed. Rag reached for her arm, but she wrenched it away. “What, you think we have time todigour way to Luci?”
“I didn’t say we had to dig them, did I?” Glory snapped.
“You aren’t even supposed to know about the tunnels,” Bal pointed out.“But she’s right. I hoped a direct portal would be faster, but I have an alternate route, and it seems like we have no choice.”
Mags was going to hyperventilate before they ever got to the mortal plane. Bal had explained on the way that, due to the static nature of the Rifts, the Eyes of Lucifer had established several smaller portals in addition to the one at the main Gate. They led to a variety of locations around the mortal plane to reduce the amount of time spent traveling from one place to another, all accessible through a network of tunnels that spanned out from Balthazar’s office.
Fortunately, when Lucifer had asked Cwall to keep a close eye on his son, they had established one which Cwall used to come directly to and from Foster’s apartment. As soon as Bal had opened the door to reveal the passage, a fresh type of panic superseded the worry for her friend. When Glory had said ‘tunnels’ Mags had thought of small but neat corridors, something like an unfinished hallway.She realized now that they were much less established.
The rough-hewn walls seemed to close in on even her petite frame. Bal and Judas led the way, far ahead, with Glory following close at their heels and Cami and Sachiel strollinghand in hand behind them. Even Rag was making decent progress as the tallest among them. Mags barely progressed even with theaidof Remi’s ironclad grip on her bicep, practically having to be dragged along.
“Breathe, Mags.” Remi clicked her tongue in a way that was both soothing and chastising. “Passing out won’t get you out of here faster.”
“I didn’t think...so small?” She panted, squeezing her eyes shut as a familiar fear raced along her already frazzled nerves. “Too small.”
“If Rag fits, you have room,” Remi reminded her. “Look, he’s twice your size.”
Mags peered cautiously up through her lashes. He paused his progress through the cramped tunnel to straighten as much as he could, trying to demonstrate how much space he had. Unfortunately, it had the adverse effect of showing Mags how hunched and uncomfortable he was. Trickles of dirt rained down wherever Rag’s ginger head brushed the ceiling.
She shook her head frantically, digging in her heels. “I’ll go back; I’ll go the other way.”
“There’s no time,” Remi reminded her, gripping the smaller woman by both shoulders as they came to a halt at the rear of the group. “Lucifer is waiting, in who knows what kind of trouble, and he’s going to be so relieved to see you not wanting to string him up by his balls.”
Despite her terror, Mags choked on a laugh at the thought. “I could neverreallyhurt him.”
“Yeah.” Remi smiled tightly. “Weknow that, buthedoesn’t need to.”
“Remi,” Camiel called back to them, and they blinked in surprise at how far behind they had fallen. “Bal says we’re almost there.”
“Hear that? Light at the end of the tunnel, babe.”
Mags smiled faintly and realized her frantically pounding heartbeat had slowed to a slightly elevated thrum. “That’s usually not a good thing.”
“Semantics,” Remi grinned. “Now come on, we have a Devil to save.”
Minutes later they reached the end, where a gleaming Rift stretched across the path. One by one they stepped into it, slightly dusty but otherwise intact, and stepped out into a scene from a horror movie. They arrived in an alley across from a lot where a heavily charred building sat in the relative center, blackened and damaged and listing slightly to one side in the marshy soup of waterlogged grass.
“What happened here?” Mags frowned, brows knitting together in concern.
“This can’t be Foster’s apartment?” Rag wondered, and Judas made a strangled sound.
“It was,” he sighed. “I’ve been here once or twice to hang out.”
