by Jane Hinchey
My bedroom was twice the size of Levi’s entire apartment back on Earth. It, too, had glass walls. The view stole my breath, even after all this time. Below was my city, the one I’d built from the ground up. The black buildings rose majestically, towering over the streets, silhouetted against a stunning sky of purples, pinks, and oranges. Hell boasted a perpetual sunset. No blue skies here. In the distance, mountains marked the northern boundary of Hell. In the south, flat plains of wasteland, an orange desert where survival was impossible. To the east was ocean, its white waters deceptively beautiful, but if you were to touch it, the acid levels would melt your flesh from your bones in seconds. And finally, to the west, a sheer drop to nothing. A bottomless pit that went on for all of eternity. And Hell HQ was balanced on the edge of it.
In the bathroom, I flicked on the taps and stood beneath the waterfall shower, letting the water pound down on me. I had to remove all traces of Levi from my flesh. I was going to be drawing heavily on my magic, and it needed to be pure. Strong. I’d downplayed how hard this was going to be. I had to take care, as Hell’s dimensions stretched, not to destroy what was already here. One wrong move, and I might inadvertently flood the city with a tsunami of acid ocean. Or the mountains could explode, creating landslides. Or HQ—and the whole city, for that matter—could topple into the never-ending abyss. Yeah, no pressure at all.
Calming my thoughts, I closed my eyes and focused on centering my energy. The spell would come to me instinctively once I was in the chamber, but preparation was key, and I had to be calm and focused. All my worries about Levi, my brothers, and my dad had to stop. And, just like everyone else, I didn’t have a switch that could turn it all off. Although that would be cool. I made a mental note to talk to Dad about making that an addition to the next generation of humans. An upgrade.
“Focus,” I scolded myself, dragging in a deep breath, holding it, and blowing it out.
I wasn’t sure how long I stayed in the shower, meditating, but my fingers were pruned when I finally turned off the water. Wrapping myself in a black silk robe, I waved my hand to dry my hair, leaving it loose down my back, then stepped barefoot into the living room. Levi was still at the bank of windows, his hands pressed against the glass.
“The mountains look really close, like I could reach out and touch them,” he said, hearing me come up behind him. “But I’m guessing that’s just an illusion?”
“You got it. It would take you, oh, about a year in a really fast car to reach them.”
“And the desert?”
“Same. And the ocean. The only thing that’s as close as it seems is the precipice we’re perched on.”
“Fuck!” He raced across the room, looking out the opposite windows to the drop below. “How do we not fall? Do you have earthquakes here? How can this be safe?”
“It’s safe because I keep it safe.” I shrugged. “Come on. We need to go. Ashliel should have the chamber ready by now.” Levi reached for my hand, but I snatched it away. “Sorry. No touching. I need to keep my energy pure.”
“So I can’t kiss you for good luck?”
“As much as I wish you could? You can’t.”
As he mulled this over, we silently stepped into the elevator. I commanded it to deliver us to the chamber, and mere seconds later, we arrived. The doors slid open and Levi followed me out. Ashliel greeted us.
“We’re all set.” She was practically vibrating with excitement, her hair dancing around her head in bright red flames. I chuckled. She was like a kid in a candy shop.
The chamber was different from anything else in Hell. While all the buildings were modern and sleek, this room was a reflection of eras long past. The walls were hewn from rock, chiseled by hand, and far from smooth. Lush rugs were scattered across the stone floor. Lamps lit the room, and in the center of it was a pentagram with a candle at each point.
“Is this a cave?” Levi asked, wandering around the room. I nodded, waiting for him to work it out. It didn’t take long. “We’re in the mountains, aren’t we? A cave in the mountains?”
“We are,” I confirmed.
“But…we took the elevator.”
“We did.”
“But how?”
“Magic.” The elevator could take me anywhere I wanted to go within this realm. If I wanted to be in the middle of the white ocean, it would deliver me there. I just had to command it. Only Ashliel and I had that power.
“Is this why there are mountains in Hell? Is this where it all started?”
“Yup. We had to clear some land, level some parts, move others. Think of it like working with clay, molding it into what we wanted it to be.”
“We? You helped God?”
“He did most of the work. I assisted with the big stuff, but left the finer details to Dad. He’s a details man.”
“Okay, enough chit-chat.” Ashliel clapped her hands. “Time to do this! Levi, sit over there, and don’t speak, don’t touch anything, and don’t interrupt in any way.”
“Right.” He crossed to a pile of throw pillows on the floor and sank down, cross-legged, to watch.
Ashliel handed me an ancient book. We took care not to touch as I accepted it from her.
“Ready?” she asked, her breath hitching.
“Can you light the candles for me?”
I crossed to stand in the center of the pentagram, the book in my hands. The candles snapped to life around me, blazing high before settling into a steady flame. Closing my eyes, I held both palms out in front of me, the closed book balanced on them. In my mind, I called forth the spell, and the book flipped open, the pages turning until settling into silence.
Opening my eyes, I read the text in front of me, nodded, and closed the book. It disappeared and I heard Levi gasp. Blocking him out, I closed my eyes again and began the spell, picturing in my mind the new zone, building it brick by brick, pushing back the shores of the white sea.
Raising my hands, I felt a pulse of energy between them, and knew it was red and sparkling without having to look at it. Gently, I began to stretch it, push it, pull it, making it bigger. The cave trembled, dust drifting down from the roof, and I paused as sweat beaded on my upper lip. Slowly, I cautioned myself. Do this slowly or Hell will crumble.
Inch by inch, I worked at expanding the dimension, rolling out acres of green fields along the foreshore of the white sea. Upon the fields, I placed tall buildings, this time made of white marble, replicas of the black marble buildings in the rest of Hell. The skyscrapers continued to appear and I continued to sweat, my body trembling. I forced myself to push on. The displaced souls deserved this, and I was determined to give them a temporary home that was as similar to Heaven as I could create. Golden gates appeared on the path to the new zone. They slammed shut and locked, keeping the zone safe from the rest of Hell.
“She’s bleeding.” I heard Levi’s voice in the distance, then Ashliel shushing him with, “It’s just a nose bleed, she’ll be fine.”
I was almost done. The major stuff was complete. I’d made space, created a new zone with green grass and white buildings fit for the souls. Over fifty high rise buildings lined the shoreline, and streets of golden bricks wove around them. Smaller buildings housed shops and amenities. A swimming pool. A movie theatre. Restaurants. Now it was time for the final touches—furnishing and decorating the apartments I’d created.
I was tiring, growing weak, and couldn’t spend the time I would have liked to make them all individual and perfect. Instead, with a sweep of my hand, a palette of rose gold and white flooded over the buildings, followed by a soft grey palette for the beds, sofas, and tables. It would have to do. I made a mental note to get Ashliel to visit each and every soul and take requests for items I’d missed. This was to be their temporary Heaven, and as much as I wanted it to be perfect, my magic was fading, my strength all but gone.
I fell to my knees, slumping on the floor.
“Lucy!” Levi shouted.
“No! She has to close out of the spell
. Don’t touch her!”
I heard shuffling and knew Ashliel had restrained Levi, stopping him from coming to me. She was right. I muttered the words that would end the spell, shooting a sonic boom through the cave that knocked me on my back. The candles and lamps went out, plunging us into darkness. Seconds later, they flickered back to life, and Ashliel stood over me, offering me her hand.
“That was fucking awesome!” She beamed, then, as an afterthought, added, “You okay?”
I nodded, letting her pull me to my feet. My hair was damp with sweat, my nose still dripped blood, and I felt about as strong as a limp noodle. Then Levi was there, swinging me up into his arms. Ordinarily, I would have protested, but at this point, I was too damn tired—and I was secretly grateful that I didn’t have to hold my own body weight.
“Lucy?” Ashliel’s worried voice penetrated my foggy brain. “What’s that?”
Turning my head to look where she was pointing, I could see what appeared to be fabric protruding from the rock.
“Put me down,” I said to Levi, staggering as he set me back on my feet. Crossing to the wall, I touched the fabric, rubbing it between my fingers, giving it a tug to see if it would come loose. It didn’t.
“It looks like…but it couldn’t be.”
“What? What is it?” Ashliel clasped my forearm.
“It looks like Dad’s robes,” I whispered.
13
“He’s here? In Hell?” Ashliel’s voice was barely a whisper. “How? And where? Like, is he in the rock?”
“Shh.” Placing both my palms against the rock wall, I closed my eyes and concentrated. “There’s something here.”
“God?” Ashliel asked.
“No. I can sense him, but there’s something between him and us.”
“The rock?” Ashliel gestured at the wall, as if the answer was obvious.
“No, Ash. You don’t think God could move a rock on his own? There’s something else. Something powerful.”
“Oh. Yeah, right, makes sense.”
Ignoring her, I continued to stand with my hands against the rock face, pushing my energy into it, feeling it rebound at me.
“Stand back.”
I waited until Levi and Ashliel had stepped away, then swept my hands through the air, red magic swirls sparking from my hands. The rock face began to crumble away, the clatter of falling rocks echoing throughout the chamber. Coughing, I waved the dust from my face and tucked my nose into the crook of my elbow to stop from breathing it in.
“It’s a door.” Levi said, when the dust had settled. “A pretty impressive-looking one, at that. Is it made from steel?”
We all moved closer to examine it. It had to be at least ten feet tall, and five feet wide. On the inner border was a plain raised edge, framing the door. In the center, there was a symbol—a dragon within a circle. There was no handle. But more of the fabric I was sure belonged to Dad’s robe poked through the edge, caught between the door and the frame.
“It’s a seal.” Ashliel was running her fingers over the dragon symbol. “I’ve heard of them, but never seen one.”
“A seal?” I reached out and touched the door, running my hands over it.
“Seriously, Lucy, did you not read the instruction manual for this place?” Ashliel tossed her flaming hair over her shoulder, her face revealing her exasperation.
“Of course I read it.” I couldn’t lie. I had read it—once, when she’d first put it together for me. But did I remember any of it? That was the question she should have been asking.
Because the answer to that was no, I did not. I’d been too busy managing the day-to-day of Hell to remember all of its little intricacies and nuances. It seemed Ashliel hadn’t forgotten any of it, though, and that was why I hired her in the first place—and loved her for the friend she was.
“Remind me,” I prompted.
After blowing out a breath, she spoke almost without breathing. “There are four seals, each represented by a horse. The white horse will release the white horseman, who symbolizes pestilence. He will rain down disease and plague on the earth. The red horse will release the red horseman, who symbolizes war. He will unleash mass slaughter on the earth. The black horse will release the black horseman, who symbolizes famine. The earth will starve. And finally, the rider on the pale horse will bring death.”
“Wait,” Levi said once she’d run out of steam. “So what you’re saying is, if we break this seal to open the door, we’ll be releasing one of the horsemen? He’s in there?”
“The horseman isn’t behind the door,” I replied, “but the act of breaking the seal will call him forth.”
“Why create the horsemen in the first place? Who did it? And why?”
I shrugged. “A safeguard.”
“Okay, so you think God is behind the door?”
I looked at the ratty piece of fabric poking out between the door and the frame. “I think he just might be,” I said sadly. “He’s been missing all this time, and we’ve only just noticed. What sort of daughter am I, that I didn’t notice my dad was missing for thousands of years?” Tears coursed down my cheeks as a wave of emotion both powerful and debilitating pounded through me.
“You were busy.” Levi was only trying to help, but his words were hollow. I was busy. What sort of fucking excuse was that? I was worse than the humans. I should be burning in the pit for my neglect.
“Lucy, you didn’t notice because your brothers covered it up, remember? You still got messages from Heaven. They let you believe they were coming from God. You are not responsible for this,” Ashliel pointed out.
“But he’s here. In my realm. And I didn’t know.”
“That’s it exactly. You didn’t know.” Levi pulled me against his chest, I let him hold me, soothing my raw emotions.
“Yeah, well, you two can stand around all sooky la la and shit, but in the meantime, we’ve got God trapped behind a seal,” Ashliel snapped. “I think that’s more important than your feelings.”
I sucked in a breath, shocked at Ashliel’s harsh words. My hurt must have shown on my face, because she threw up her hands. “What? I always have and always will say it like it is! Don’t wimp out on me now, Lucifer. Get your shit together. It’s not like you to be all emotional like this.” She said the word emotional like it was poison on her tongue.
Levi stiffened, then growled, “Back off!”
“No. No, she’s right. I don’t know why I feel so incredibly emotional right now, but she’s right. Let’s focus. If we break the seal, we’ll be putting a chain of events in motion that no man, angel, demon, or god can halt. Or so they say.”
“So they say?” Levi sounded surprised. “So you don’t even know if that’s true? About the seals and the horsemen?”
“Let’s go back to the office and do some research. Let’s try and find out exactly what we’re dealing with here, how we break the seal, and what the repercussions will be, if any.” It pained me to leave, but expanding the dimension had tired me, and what I’d said was true—we were all just guessing at what was going on here. All except for Ashliel, I was pretty sure her database of a brain had pulled up the correct information. We just had to dig a little deeper to get all the answers.
“Agreed,” she said, leading the way back to the elevator.
We were standing in my office moments later. Levi crossed to the window and admired the view of the new zone, while Ashliel slipped into my chair and began typing something at my console. As an afterthought, she said, without looking at me, “You might want to get cleaned up. You’ve got blood all over your face and your robe is filthy.”
“Oh. Right.” Glancing down, I realized she was right. The black silk robe I’d worn to the chamber was covered in dust and had damp spots of blood down the front where my nose had bled. I debated for a second. Go shower and dress, or use my magic? The shower was very tempting, but time was of the essence, so with a wave of my hand, I cleaned myself up. In seconds, I was dressed in black leather pants and
a red halter top, my hair once more in pristine condition and falling in waves down my back.
“Urgh. Shouldn’t have used my magic.” I clutched my stomach, a wave of nausea rolling through me.
Levi was by my side in a micro-second. “You okay?” With his arm around my waist, he guided me to the sofa, and I flopped down, less than graceful.
“Must have used too much magic today. I just need to rest, I’ll be fine.”
“Is there anything I can do? How do you replenish magic?” Sitting by my side, he clasped my hand in his, worry evident on his face.
“Rest is all I need,” I assured him.
“I’ve never seen you pale before.”
That caught Ashliel’s attention, and she swiveled to eyeball me. “He’s right. Shit, you look awful. Pale, with a hint of…green?” She cocked her head, considering. “Yeah, definitely green. So, this is what happens when you use mofo amounts of magic. Interesting. I’ll make a note.” Turning back to the keyboard, she continued typing.
I chuckled. When Ashliel said she’d make a note, that was precisely what she’d do—add it to the Hell Handbook, which was now several tomes in length.
“Found anything yet?” I asked her.
“Kinda,” she muttered, her head moving up and down as she read the screen, then typed, over and over.
I was exhausted watching her, so I shut my eyes and let my head rest against the back of the sofa. I’d never felt so wiped out in my life. I was almost totally drained of magic, and I didn’t like it, not one bit. Thankfully, I wouldn’t need to increase Hell’s dimensions again any time soon. Once we got Dad out from behind the door, he’d get Heaven back in order, retrieve his lost souls, and I could convert the new zone into prison quarters, as I’d initially intended to do with that part of Hell. While that would require some magic, it would be nowhere near as much as I’d used today.
I must have dozed for a little while, for I jumped in surprise when Ashliel announced, “Got it!”
“You do?” I sat up, running my hands over my face and smoothing back my hair. I felt marginally better. My magic must be returning.