Natia nods as a small frown crinkles her forehead.
Lucifer points at a level I hate. “Heresy is next,” he says, darting his gaze to me. He knows how I feel about it.
“What’s the tax in Heresy?” Natia asks.
“It’s rooted in what heresy is,” I mutter.
“So it’s about having faith?” Natia says.
My brows draw together. “No, heresy isn’t atheism. It’s the act of taking a religious value or belief and promoting a view in direct opposition to it.”
Lucifer sighs. “In order to pay the tax in Heresy, you must bare your soul. Every misdeed, crime, and sin will be laid out. If the level finds you have committed any acts of heresy, it will trap you forever.”
“Then we are all fucked,” Zee concludes. “Each one of us has sinned at some point.”
“Sinning isn’t heresy,” Lucifer says. “Religion guides mortals away from sin, but it recognizes it will happen. That’s why Catholics have confession. Sin doesn’t equate to Hell. Heresy though, at its root, is evil. It desires the destruction of your beliefs. It relishes in the pain of punishment because you turned your back on your god.”
“How does that work?” Natia asks, looking up at Lucifer. “Different religions preach different values, have different rules. You guys have told us you literally reinvent yourselves into each religion.”
“It’s not about converting to a different religion,” I say. “It’s about coercing someone away from their own with views that oppose theirs. Satan worship is probably the most relatable example in the current world.”
Lucifer chuckles. “It’s not the worshipping of me, it’s the act of turning from God to do so.”
Natia picks at her nails and looks around the table. “So if anyone wants to confess to Satan worship, now is the time.”
“Does playing with a Ouija board count?” Zee asks.
Lucifer tilts his head. “I don’t recall you ever attempting to communicate with my demons, Zee.”
Zee twists his lips. “I wasn’t. It was when I was a kid, I tried to contact my teacher. She died before she could grade my history paper. I wanted to know if I would have passed.”
Natia howls with laughter, the sound contagious as we join in. “No,” Lucifer states. “That doesn’t count.”
“Didn’t work anyway,” Zee mumbles. Which sets Natia off again.
She wipes the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand. “I swear you are the freakiest person I know.”
“I’m not the one with a playlist to get down and dirty to,” Zee shoots back.
She rolls her eyes as she stands. “Let’s go, I need the trident.”
I disappear and reappear with it and an extra gift in my other hand. Natia leans forward to inspect the leather strap. “Is that for me?” she asks.
I nod. “Turn around.”
She does as instructed and allows me to buckle the strap into place over her shoulders. Then I slip the trident in.
“Just one last thing,” Emi says, swiping up the discarded crown and dropping it onto Natia’s head. A whispered spell, and my little badass is ready for battle.
“It’s kind of poetic,” Natia says, touching the crown.
“What is?” Jed asks.
Natia drops her arm and focuses on Jed. “That I am going to murder the man who had me made.”
“He deserves it,” I say, reaching for her hand. I teleport us to the entrance of Hell’s Hole, then stalk down the passage to the heaving club. The occupants part for us as we make a beeline for the back door. The start of our journey must start here, in Limbo—the first level. Natia tugs on my hand as more feet pound behind us.
“Let go,” she says. “I can teleport on my own.”
