Page 68 of Demon's Bluff
Let it go, Rachel,I thought, head down, as I started for a quiet corner of the massive ley line. I didn’t think anyone was watching us, but I didn’t want to make it obvious that we’d vanished into the ever-after—seeing as voluntarily going into the demons’ realm was a veritable death sentence at the moment. “Ready?”
“Sure.”
She was down to one-word sentences. Either she knew she’d insulted me or she was scared. I was betting she was scared. “Hold your breath,” I said as the tingling of the line found me, warm and welcoming. Mystics played in my hair, and I twiddled my fingers, seeing them dance about my nails like living glitter.Thank all that is holy they don’t recognize me.
“Hold my breath?” she said as if I was being stupid. “You can’t breathe while you’re traveling a line. What difference is holding my breath going to make?”
Because you know all about that,I thought sourly as I tweaked my aura to match the line’s resonance and vanished. I wasn’t going to shift her. She could do it herself, burned synapses or not.
For a moment, I was in the All, existing everywhere at the exact same moment. Time was marked not from the spinning of the earth or the expansion of the universe but from the decay of energy. I hung there a telling moment, listening to the universe chime, feeling it pulse through me like a great bell. Images of Trent passed through me, of Jenks and Ivy.Kisten…And then I gathered my resolve and let my aura shift back to normal, pushing myself out.
I jerked, breath held as I hunched against the sudden stinging wind. Slowly I exhaled, and then the scent of burnt amber hit me as I breathed in, the smell chokingly thick. “Crap on toast,” I whispered, having forgotten just how bad it had been. It was misery made real.
“Elyse?” She was coughing violently, waving me off as she tried to clear her lungs. But the more she coughed, the more she took in. It was a losing battle.
Next time I tell you to hold your breath, hold your breath.Hand overmy face, I peered through the stinging dust to the bloodred sun. It mirrored the one in reality, hanging a good ten degrees above the horizon. Broken buildings surrounded us, dissolving and re-forming as if in some bizarre lava lamp in reverse; the ever-after tried to maintain a reflection of our reality…failing.
“Oh, my God.” Elyse’s eyes were damp with tears as she came to stand even with me, squinting at the broken landscape. “Vivian wasn’t exaggerating. This is…”
“Hell,” I said for her, stifling a shudder at the red-smeared nightmare. The demons had created the bubble of existence to mimic reality long ago, but time had separated the two realities so far that maintaining any semblance of reality was gone. The open spaces were better, but there was little if any rain, and the grasses were dry and the trees leafless. To be honest, it looked as if a bomb had gone off.
No, it looks as if a bomb is actively going off,I decided. Some sort of weird bomb that melted everything. The scent of burnt amber was faint but persistent, and my eyes burned.
“We can’t stay out here in this,” Elyse said, arms clasped around her middle as she cast about. “Maybe one of the buildings.”
I dropped my shoulder bag, digging in it to find my sash. Bells tinkled faintly in the blowing grit as I wrapped my head and covered my face but for my eyes. Immediately my discomfort eased, and I took a deep breath. “Only if you want it to come down on you,” I said as I put that flat-topped hat on my head to keep my sash from blowing off. “I know somewhere that’s stable.”
I shrugged into my robe and then handed Elyse her sash. She held it for a moment as if I was crazy, then began to wrap her hair, bells ringing. “No wonder they don’t live on the surface,” she said. “This is a nightmare.”
I’d never worn a spelling robe in the old ever-after before, but the moment the cool silk hit my shoulders, relief spilled through me. The lightweight fabric billowed and snapped, but silk naturally protected the wearer’s aura, and a feeling of separation between me and the gritty wind eased into existence as I tied the sleeves tight about my wrists. After a momentof consideration, I retied my sash about my waist to leave enough to go around my face as well. With the hat, I was protected.
Which would blow off if it was pointy,I realized, seeing the sense behind it now.
“Wow, that makes a big difference,” Elyse said as she shrugged into her own robe. “This is awful.”
Which was an understatement. But the sun was too close to setting for my liking, and I resettled my much lighter bag over my shoulder and pushed into motion. “We need to get to the Basilica before dark.”
“Because of the surface demons?” Elyse followed, bells jingling as she held the tail of her scarf over her face.
“They won’t bother you if they know you’re strong enough to fend them off. We’re dressed like demons, but that’s no guarantee.” I studied the broken buildings as we walked, but it was the lay of the ley line that told me where south was, and I nodded at the dry riverbed and a hazy spire beyond. “That way.”
Elyse slipped on the dusty rock, then shifted to walk close behind me. “I never understood how the souls of the undead could hurt anyone,” she said, and I stiffened at the sliding click of a rock. They were there. I was surprised they hadn’t come out. Either they were waiting for darkness or our demon robes had scared them off.
“Souls have substance here,” I said, wondering if I might find Kisten’s if I hung around until after he died. But no. He died his second death too fast. His soul had been spared the indignity of the ever-after, at least. “We’re headed for that building over there.”
“That big church in the Hollows?” she said, and I stifled a grimace.
“It’s a Basilica, not a church, and it’s one of the few places here that holds together. The demons have a protected database there. If I ping it, Newt will show. Alone.I hope.Minias is busy chasing Al at the moment.” Annoyed, I stomped along, the sand stinging my hand as I held my sash to my face. I’d lost my nail polish when I’d traveled back in time and it was irksome.
“Sorry,” she muttered, and I eased my pace.
“No, it’s me,” I said, relenting. “You remind me of Trent’s onetime fiancée, Ellasbeth. Like you, she has lots of potential. Lots of ability to make the world a better place.”
“Yeah?” Elyse brightened.
“Lots of passive-aggressive put-downs to protect herself,” I added, and her eyes narrowed. “Laser focused on making the world what she thinks it should be instead of creating a space where everyone can be themselves.”
Elyse scowled. “Yes, because demons aresounderstanding of personal boundaries.”