I patted my stomach. No gnawing. No growling. No sensation like something was clawing its way through my gut or throat. The ache was so faint it almost felt like nothing. So that was what normal hunger felt like. Cool.
I picked at my nails and bounced my foot. My family hadn’t broken into Hell yet. Part of me wondered if they even could.
No big deal.
With the Devil not breathing down my neck, a weird sort of positivity surged through me. I let myself relax, just a little, mentally prepping for what came next.
But waiting wasn’t my strong suit.
I tried materializing an object—anything—just to pass the time. Of course, nothing happened. Naturally, I was stuck in a power-repellent cell. All I wanted was a ball to throw against a wall. Or a hammer to smash the Devil’s head in.
Yeah. Probably that was why the place was so anti-power proof.
“Ugh,” I muttered as I thudded my head against the wall.
I hoped the family was okay. I had no way of knowing if any of them had been hurt—by Harvest or by the Devil.
Slowly, the whoosh of my pants dragging across the floor started driving me insane. I smacked my knee, glaring down at my boots.
Stop fidgeting, I told myself.
So much for calming down. I couldn’t freaking sit still.
Fighting the Devil might have been more tolerable than being locked up like this.
Then I heard it. Childlike laughter, echoing through the space like it belonged to a thousand children living inside the walls.
I shot up, gripping the bars of the cell. “Hello?”
Nothing.
No one.
Not even my pain-in-the-ass mate.
The candles flickered. Once. Twice. Then blinked out completely.
Oh, no.
That wasn’t a kid I heard, was it?
I was in the Devil’s domain.
A shiver slithered up my spine. My skin prickled like invisible bugs crawled over my skin. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Don’t use a child’s giggle!” I snapped at the shadows.
That kind of horror?
Creeped me out more than staring into the eyes of the Devil—or any other creature the Underworld could cough up. And I fully blamed the unhealthy obsession I’d had with human horror movies back in the first fifty years of my life. Okay… Maybe I never outgrew it. I still watched every new film the second it released. It was a lifelong commitment.
The candles winked back on.
And standing on the other side of the bars was a little boy. His face was level with mine.
He jumped and then grinned.
“Boo!”
I shrieked, stumbling backward as my hand flew to my chest. My heart thundered—then settled fast—just as the little devil laughed.
