“What the fuck just happened?” he growls, and I sigh in relief even though I’m still sitting between two boulders that have sharp edges, one of which towers over my head, and my butt is going numb.
“Fog is affecting everyone. Rocks are safe. Help,” I explain in the simplest form and point down to the fog. Knox, appreciating my tactic, snorts.
He picks me up, freeing my buttcheeks, and sets me on a stone. Once I’m set, he walks over to JP, grabbing his arm and yanking him to safety. Between the three of them, Moni boomsthe fog away as JP hits them with water, while Slayer’s tentacles extract them, and they get everyone out of the fog. The gargoyles are a little harder since Slayer can’t physically pick them up due to their skin, but they wake them out of their stupor long enough to allow them to fly out of the fog to safety.
I can’t help but feel useless as I stand and watch them. It doesn’t help that my mind is permanently stuck on the idea that my father might be a bad guy's minion for free. I haven’t even talked about how certain Cain is that he’s my sibling, and he wants towork together.How do you break that news?
A few minutes later, we walk across the rocks around a bend and see the silver rim of the next portal.
“Thank Fates!” Moni cries out.
“Whoop!” Lynx does a little dance, and I roll my eyes.
“Where do you think it leads next?” Zeke asks, giving it side-eye.
“I don’t care, as long as we get out of these creepy ass woods,” Ryker grumbles. “I hate this place.”
“Thank you, Blessing, for helping us,” Levi says, shaking the gargoyle’s hand.
Ever the diplomat. This is why he’s our leader, and I’m not. I honestly forgot our escort was even here.
“It’s been my honor.” Blessing crosses one arm over his chest and lowers his head. “When it is time for us to fight alongside you, just call for us.” He extends his wings, and I gasp at how long they are. I wasn’t paying attention to them until now, but they could probably wrap around Knots twice. He easily kicks off and launches himself into the sky along with the others, and I immediately notice the soundless retreat, which isn’t what I was expecting.
“Anyone else notice how he would be a completely silent killer?” Knox remarks.
“Yeah. Deadly,” Ryker agrees, nodding in awe.
“Scary.” Moni curls into herself a little.
“Let’s go,” Knots says as he approaches the portal.
I give the portal a glare as we approach. Except for when we started the Gauntlet, we haven’t had the best track record with portals, but given that this is what everyone should be using to leave the Ever Woods, I wave off my disdain. Even with my wonky powers, I’m not getting the butterflies in the stomach or the internal warning that has somehow stayed with me, so I put trust in the Gauntlet makers thattheyaren’t trying to kill me at least, and approach our exit.
One by one, we walk through, only to be greeted with dead bodies and the stench of fecal matter, sulfur, and blood.
Nothing but corpses, blood, and other questionable substances litter the entryway of the cave tunnel. To the left is the entrance to the cave, and to the right is a dead end, but at least five dead bodies are lying in front of us, which we will have to step over to move past.
“Aww shit. Is that body from Seven Seductive?” Chester asks, moving it with his shoe. The body rolls over to its back, exposing a mutilated demon body.
Knots screws up his face. “It would seem so, and this does not bode well considering the fact we’re in Hell.”
“What do you mean?” Moni asks, looking a little yellowish-green.
“It means, if the home team, Seven Seductive, was taken out at their home base, when they should know it like the back of their hand, then either it’s an inside job, or even what they’ve been trained for wasn’t enough,” he explains.
A chill runs down my spine as deja vu hits me as I follow his line of sight. “Knots?” I can’t hide the worry in my voice as panic chokes me. “I—I can’t shield you!” I admit.
“Then I guess we’d better make this trip quick, huh?” he replies and starts walking towards the entrance of the cave.
What the hell?
“Who the hell answers a problem with an answer like that?” I whine.
“Apparently, he does.” Ryker chuckles. “Come on, Goddess, let’s see what trouble we can get into.”
Trying not to think about what killed them, I attempt to step over the bodies before me, but end up tripping and stepping on them instead.Gross.Hopefully, it was another group of students who did this.Since when do I wish students were killing other students?Man, my life has taken a weird turn.
As we move along the tunnel, little fuzzy demons the size of jackrabbits pop out every once in a while, and once they see either JP or Moni, they bow and disappear back through the walls. I blink, believing I’m becoming disoriented once again, until Lynx chimes in.
