I made a lasso with knots I can use as handholds out of bedsheets, and it takes me more tries than I’d like to get it hooked on the spikes. Still, I do a little dance, congratulating myself. I wonder what the meek girl of my past would think of the new, resourceful me.
After testing the hold, I make sure the makeshift pillowcasebackpack is secured to my back, then hoist myself up, knot by knot. The rug and my supplies weigh me down, and I realize just how out of shape I am again. Half a year at Purgatory got me ready for a war, and a year and a half with Az made me ready to lounge by a pool with a cocktail.
Somehow, I manage to get to the top and untie the rug one-handed, protecting myself from the lethal-looking spikes. I’m out of breath and covered in sweat, but freedom is so close I can almost taste it.
Carefully, I pull myself over the top, taking my sheets lasso with me. I have a giant grin on my face as I lower myself down.
Bravo, Simone!
I look at the mansion Az had made for me one more time and feel an odd tightening in my stomach. What’s wrong with me? It’s a prison, not a home. Determined, I square my shoulders and turn my back to it. I can’t face Hell with conflicting emotions. If Az wants to see me again, he can come visit me at Abaddon.
The foliage around the river is thick, and dense underbrush attempts to trip me with every step I take. Odd animal calls make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, so I clutch a large knife in my hand, my fingers almost going numb from the strain. I’m ready to defend myself this time.
As I’m skirting the riverbank where one of the small tributaries disappears into the ground—supposedly to resurface in Elysium before popping up here again—the soil under my feet gives out, and I almost tumble down the cliff and into the waters. That would have been a disaster. Even if I survived, I’d have no idea who I am or where I am. All the fighting skills Maalik and the rest of my mentors drilled into me would be lost forever. I’d be as helpless as a newborn babe.
When Corson was teaching us about Hell’s topography and its denizens, I sometimes let myself daydream about what it would be like to forget all the things that happened, the scars I’m going to carry with me for the rest of my very long Cambion life. Oddly, thethought was more appealing then than it is now. Now I realize that my past made me who I am, and while not all of it is perfect, it’s real.
It only takes me a few hours—and a close call with a snake nest—to get out of the jungle around the Lethe. As the trees lose their leaves and the grass under my feet turns brittle, I find myself momentarily wishing I could stay in the area I just escaped. I hate the desert around the Phlegethon.
I trudge on, looking around for places where I could be ambushed. All the while, my mind wanders back to Az. What will he do when he finds me gone? Will he come look for me at Abaddon? Do I want him to?
Maybe Corson or Daniel can help me uncover who he is. He said he doesn’t serve at a demon lord’s or archdemon’s court, but I haven’t heard of a Fallen with that much freedom. Can I even call him a fallen angel? He said he’s the son of one, but who is his mother? Another Fallen… or a demon? That would makehima demon.
I swallow the lump in my throat. Did I let an inherently evil creature tie me up and touch me until I…
Non. Don’t think about it, Simone.
When the forest around Lethe disappears behind me, I sigh and stop to eat something. I look at the sand under my feet as I chew. This feels too familiar.Une vraie impression de déjà-vu. I’m half expecting to be attacked, so I eat hastily and nearly choke on a piece of bread. Thankfully, my break finishes without anything disturbing me, and I dust myself off, ready to carry on.
My feet are starting to hurt, and I’m sweating buckets. I’m trying to make the water last as long as possible, because I’ll still have a couple of hours to go after I cross the Phlegethon, and the ground hasn’t turned ashy yet.
What if I misjudged the manor’s location? What if I got turned around, and instead of walking toward Abaddon, I’m heading deeper into some archdemon’s territory? Perhaps I’ll fall into the Acheron and drown in my woes.
Ugh. I don’t understand why I’m having a pity party when I just escaped captivity. I’m going to see my friends again, and I’ll be able to…
I’ll be able to, what exactly? Fight for my life constantly? Yes, we’re protecting people we care about in the human realm, keeping theseputainmanifestations from spilling over and killing them. But my teammates were always so much better at it than I am, and it was never a guarantee that I could stay behind and help heal injuries.
My steps slow down as I think. Maybe I can just tell them I’m alive and then ask them to help me get back to Az. But why would they do that? They didn’t let us go home, and we begged and cried. A few people were so scared they actually threw up.
When I think of it this way… hasn’t Az been nicer to me than my so-called mentors? Aside from kidnapping me and keeping me against my will, he’s been giving me everything I wanted. And some things I didn’t know I wanted.
Bordel!Do I have enough water to get back to the mansion? I’ll climb up the fence again, and maybe he won’t even notice I was gone.
Panicking over my choices, I turn around and smack into something hard and warm, my nose filling with the scent of sandalwood and amber. Strong fingers band around my arms, squeezing just enough for me to feel restrained.
“Where do you think you’re going, little fairy?”
18
ASMODEUS
Icould slaughter a village right now. Burn it down. Salt the earth. Start a plague. But my nephew Sariel always lectures me to modernize, lest I end up like his decrepit adoptive father—my dear brother Ashtaroth. So maybe I’ll invent a new venereal disease instead. One resistant to contemporary medicine.
“Do you know what could have happened to you?” I say, my voice coming out strained through gritted teeth. “Where were you even going?”
Simone pales, her throat moving as she swallows. “To Purgatory?”
Scoffing, I shake my head.
