1. 'Find my love'
Chapter 22
Twinkifer
The door shut behind Orias with an ominousclick,and Drew turned to Andras, eyes wide. “He’s got my ring!”
“What?” Andras spun to look at the closed door before pivoting back to Drew. “Who?”
“Orias! He’s wearing it!”
“Are you certain it’s the same ring?”
“Of course I am! Do you know how often I went to the jewellery store to stare at it before I had enough saved to buy it? Iknowit’s my ring.” Drew huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I must have dropped it during the fight, and he’s found it and figured he could justtakeit. Who does that?”
Andras looked amused, which didn’t do much for Drew’s temper. “What was he supposed to do? Post on Hell’s neighbourhood Facebook group and ask if anyone lost a ring?”
“You’re not funny,” Drew snapped.
“I mean, I don’t think the admins would let you join, since you’ve got to prove you’re a demon.”
“Wait, what? Are you saying that Hell really does have a Facebook group?” Drew asked, incredulous.
“Ugh, yes. The demons who run it are so out of touch,” Andras complained. “I’ve tried convincing them a Discord chat would be much more efficient, but they’re so stuck in their ways.”
Drew’s curiosity was piqued. “What sort of stuff do they talk about?”
“The usual.” Andras dropped his voice to sound like a demon if they drove an SUV and frequently demanded to speak to the manager.
“Can anyone else smell brimstone, or is it just me?”
“Did anyone else hear that bang?”
“Ran out of basilisk eggs and need two for my cake recipe. Does anyone have any spare?”
“Missing: pet crow, inky black feathers, blue eyes, answers to Crow-ley.”
“Can’t remember which garbage collection is today—is it general garbage or recycling?”
Drew was giggling by now. “Come on! Hell doesn’t have recycling!”
“Why wouldn’t we?” Andras said, looking genuinely confused. “It’s not only your realm that has a waste problem. People think they can just dump it in a lava lake and they’ll never see it again, but that trash has a habit of coming back. Not to mention the poor lava crabs. They’re endangered now, and habitat destruction from lavafill is the primary cause.”
“Okay, okay,” Drew said in surrender, holding up his hands. “Clearly I know next to nothing about Hell. I guess at least I’ll have learnt something new before I get thrown into a viper pit.”
“You’renotgetting thrown into a pit, precious.” Andras assured him.
“And you can’t promise that,” Drew retorted. “But that’s beside the point. How do I get my ring back?”
Andras shrugged. “Dunno. Ask him for it?”
He scoffed. “As if that’d work.”
“Won’t know until you try.” Andras crossed to the pallet and sat down. “You may as well get comfortable. I think we’ll be here for a while.”
Drew sighed. “You’re probably right.”
He’d just sat down next to Andras when they heard the lock turning and the door to the hallway opened. They exchanged a quick, worried look and then both scrambled to their feet, feeling more confident facing down a threat whilst standing.
