Even though I was languishing in hell, the Ley canvas was back. Without my magic to overshadow everything else, I saw the glow of the lines of power. In the far distance were clusters of red seeping into black. It broadcast a sign that said: steer clear.
Groaning, I pushed myself up to a sitting position using Morning Star as a crutch. Just that tiny bit of exertion had me shuddering for breath. Nausea ripped through my stomach. I arched forward and hurled again. Only bile came up.
As I struggled to get to my feet, I was so dirty on the fact that I couldn’t open a portal. If I had the strength, I would have kicked something.
I lay there breathing heavily, imagining the scent of honey on the breeze. Here came the hallucinations.
But the more I lay there, the more potent the scent became until I was sure I scented Arcana fruit on the breeze. One of these demon bastards had gotten into the Grove. I faltered, thinking about what might have become of it.
Sniffing around like a hound dog, I followed the scent to one of the popobawa demons. There. In its grimy paws was a half-eaten Arcana fruit. I descended on it like a vulture. Never mind that there was demon spit still on the chewed side. One lick of the juice and my head cleared.
I sat on the back of a dead demon, chewing on the core of the Arcana fruit. My ears popped suddenly. My magic flared back to life. Though I wasn’t anywhere close to feeling full, the heavy ache in my bones subsided. Warmth spread through my body starting in the pool of magic. I frowned when I saw it. The blue pool was coated in a layer of green. As I watched, it raced along imaginary webbed lines parallel to my arteries and flooded my body in a bone-deep comfort. Like being wrapped in a hug. That was new.
I was smiling like a lunatic when a green ember ignited in the air. Kai materialised in front of me. Heavy ribbons of black smoke smouldered around him. There were charred holes in his clothes. The gape in his T-shirt gave me a splendid view of his scarred pecks. They were in the final stages of healing. I winced at the long gash along his neck. They weren’t battle scars. They were from his attempts to find me.
Celestial beings had a difficult time in the Hell dimension. Lucifer had made it that way when he conceived this wretched place. They wouldn’t die but it made them weak. Just how Lucifer liked it. Lucifer wasn’t a destroyer by nature. He was a ruler. He wanted subjects to adore him, and if that didn’t work, he would take fear instead.
Kai’s features were cast in deep shadow that was washed out by the red sky. He crashed to his knees, crushing the ribs of a demon on his way down. I almost jumped out of my skin.
“Kai!”
I reached out for him only to find his fingers clamped around my bicep. Livid green eyes froze me in place. And then we were teleporting away.
37
I was so sick of all this teleporting and having absolutely no control over where I reappeared. The threadbare bedroom that we landed in had me completely disoriented. I sat down heavily on the single bed and dropped Morning Star on the carpet. This place made Kai’s room seem like a penthouse. The only adornment besides the bed was a closet next to the closed door. An open door led into the world’s smallest bathroom.
Kai all but threw me on the bed. “Get some sleep,” he said. His voice was rough. “We’re leaving in two hours.”
“Where are we?” I choked. After all that time in the Hell dimension, breathing in clean air took some getting used to. He didn’t answer. Instead, he wrenched open the mahogany door and marched out.
“Kai?”
I tried to go after him, but I was slow. I heard a locking mechanism click into place. No. It couldn’t be. The door handle wouldn’t budge. That jackass had locked me in!
I rifled through the closet. All it contained was a single black T-shirt and a medical kit that had nothing to do with first aid. Gutting it open, I recognised the vial of ambrosia by scent. I chugged it back while I entered the bathroom. Fizzy warmth saturated my insides. It wasn’t Arcana, but it would go a little way to filling the hollow in my stomach.
Just as I suspected, all of the drawers below the wash basin were empty. Not even a comb. Without much hope, I placed my palm against the mirror. “Alessia Hastings.”
A familiar tingle brushed up against my palm. Oh thank goodness. “Welcome to the MirrorNet, Alessia,” the disembodied voice said.
I rang through to Basil. When his image materialised on the other side, he looked like he had aged several years. “Lex?” The relief in his voice was palpable.
“Hi.” My own voice was raspy from smoke inhalation. Before the mirror had turned into a portal, my reflection showed me that I looked like roadkill dressed in vomit.
“Where are you? Betty, she’s here!”
I heard the thud of footsteps. Several of them. Nanna and Odette came into view followed by Sophie’s parents. My eyes started to water. “Hi.” My brain was malfunctioning.
“Where are you?” Basil repeated.
“I don’t have the slightest clue. Kai’s gone craz –”
The door to the room burst open. Captain Nephilim strode in shouldering two enormous backpacks. He took one look at what I was doing and bristled. Without saying a word, he dumped the packs on the bed, marched over, and slapped his hand on the mirror. The image began to degrade. I countered his command. The mirror face jumped the way analogue televisions used to when they couldn’t capture the signal.
“What’s the matter with you?” I asked. My
