The woman went to the back of the shop without another word and returned with a bag in her hands. She didn’t spare us another glance as she flipped the red sign on the window, shut the door, and locked it. Outside, she brought down a metal door that looked like the bars of a cell.
I rushed to where Amari and Val were on the ground. “What the hell happened?”
“What the hell happened? You brought us here is what the hell happened! Where the fuck are we?” Amari was pissed and sounded like he was two seconds away from shifting. His muscles pulsated under his skin, and his torso was still bare because I had taken his shirt.
Val coughed into his fist and groaned. “Earth. We’re on fucking Earth.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SAMARA
Amari’s face froze in an expression I’d never seen on him before. The usually unflappable gargoyle looked like his soul might depart his body at any second.
“You’re telling me that Lilith wanted demons to come here?” Amari gestured around the shop, and his nose scrunched in a way that shouldn’t have been as cute as it was. “Earth smells like shit.”
“Stay away from the metal rectangle boxes and apparently the bright ball of light in the sky.” I looked down at Val, who was still smoldering.
Val gingerly touched his face. “Vampires can’t be directly in the sun’s path. We’ll burst into flames if we’re exposed to it for too long.” He looked at Amari with a sad smile. “Apparently, gargoyles can’t be in the sun either. They have gargoyles on buildings here, but I don’t think they come to life at night.”
He turned to me as if I might know the answer. I had some knowledge of Earth, but it was pieced together over the years. My family had books, but my memory of themcouldn’t be trusted, especially since I was pretty sure some of them were tall tales.
I surveyed the open room we were in. A giant sign hanging on the wall read “Sunshine Finds.” There were shelves lining every wall and circular stands that held so many pieces of clothing it made my head spin.
There was nothing even close to this in Inferna. We made our clothes or bought them from seamstresses. But here? If the smell coming off the clothes was any indication, these were well-worn and there was an overabundance.
I ran my hands across some clothes next to me. The fabrics felt… weird. My gaze scanned the rest of the store: shoes, books, dishes. There was enough in the shop to supply at least three villages.
I itched to explore, but Val was still sitting on the floor, his face in his hands and his shoulders slumped. “Are you going to be okay? What do you need?”
He stiffened and shook his head.
“There’s some seating near the back. Let’s move him there.” I pointed to an odd-looking sofa.
Amari grunted as he got to his feet and took Val by the elbow to help him stand. He was a little unsteady on his feet but could walk. Once he sat down, he moved his hands from his face. I bit my lip to stop my gasp. It looked like blisters had developed.
“Why didn’t the sun do anything to me?” I perched on the edge of my seat across from Amari and Val.
“I don’t know. Different demons have different reactions to Earth. All I know is what my family members have written.” He winced. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”
I shrugged and sat on the very comfortable yet musty-smelling cushions. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you about the secret passage.”
Amari snorted what could almost pass for a sound ofamusement. “If you only knew all the secrets I hold. People think because I’m stone that I don’t see and hear things. They’re wrong.”
We sat there for a few moments in silence, staring at each other. Val’s hands already seemed a lot less red than they had been a few minutes ago. Now they were just a faint pink, and his blistered face was already healing.
“Can you get us home?” Val’s voice was strained.
“We need to go farther than where we are. I don’t know how it works exactly, but I think Earth and Inferna are parallel to each other. The first time I came, I was in the middle of the road and moved off it. It was the same distance I had moved when I went back to the dungeon. If we keep walking out of the back of this place for maybe fifteen minutes, we’ll be far enough from the castle and in the forest.”
“Do we want to be in the forest? What if the vacants are closer now?” Amari had a point, but we didn’t have much of a choice.
“The alternative is to go to the castle and hope we return somewhere outside the dungeons. It would be risky, though.” I was sure they had discovered we were missing and were searching.
Val ran his hand through his hair and leaned his head back on the sofa, shutting his eyes. “We can’t do anything until the sun goes away. From my readings, their darkness is only half of a day, but it’s very confusing. It starts and ends differently depending on the time of year and your location.”
I stared at him with my mouth agape. He spoke so casually about having so much knowledge of this unknown place.
“I wish I knew how to contact my brother.” I had a lot more questions for him now that I was in the place he gave up the crown for.
