“It might, actually,” Angela said. “But . . .”
“Too little, too late?”
She twirled a finger at the fiery, cavernous world around them. “Apparently.”
“Angela, wait,” Donny said. “Can’t my dad help out around here? You have the doctor, and the chef. They’re not in the caverns.”
“Firstly, we don’t really have a need for a hit man,” Angela said. Benny started to object, and then closed his mouth. “Secondly, both the doctor and the chef were in the caverns for years before we took them out. And remember, they only delay the inevitable by—”
“Hey,” Benny said. “Donny. It’s okay. Whatever’s coming, I earned it. I chose that life. Now I’m going to pay for it.”
Donny tugged at Angela’s arm. “But . . . can I visit him?”
“Donny,” Benny said. Donny knew that tone of voice. It was the one his father used when he was at his most serious. It usually preceded a lecture about paying attention at school or dressing neatly or doing his chores.
“Donny, this is it. I tried to make it right, but it was too late. I get it. You have to get it too. You learn from this, you hear me? I did so many things wrong in my life. I kept it a secret because I never wanted you to find out about it. That should have told me something right there, I guess. But I liked the money. I liked the thrills that came with it. All that was a mistake. Most of my life was a mistake. But I did at least one good thing: I brought you into this world, Donny. You’re better than I am in every way. Who knows? Maybe that’ll work in my favor.” He looked at Angela. “A few years off my sentence, maybe?”
She shrugged. “It’s like bowling. I don’t know how they keep score.”
Benny took Donny by the shoulders. “Be good, Donny. I know I don’t even have to tell you that, but I felt like saying it anyway.” He kissed Donny on the forehead and smiled at him one more time. Then he looked sideways at Angela. “What do I do now?”
Angela gestured toward the Caverns of Woe. “Walk inside. Keep walking until someone comes to you. Then it’ll just . . . happen.”
Benny gulped and squeezed the knot of his tie. “Uh. What’ll happen?”
“You’ll spend an awfully long time reflecting on your wrongs. That’s about all I can tell you.”
Benny nodded. He gave Angela a long appraising stare. “So, you’re watching out for my son now?”
“We’re watching out for each other,” she replied.
“Not sure how I feel about that.”
“Well, you’re not exactly calling the shots these days, are you?”
Benny pointed at Donny but spoke to her. “You just take good care of my boy.” He lowered his head for a moment, mumbled something to himself, and then looked at Donny one more time. Donny stepped toward him, but Benny raised a hand to stop him. He turned and walked into the cavern. The mist started to obscure him. Donny watched his father’s silhouette slowing, holding his hands out to find his way as the mist thickened.
Benny looked to his right and stopped. Another shape appeared, dim and thin, rising from the heavy mist that was pooled around his knees. It took him by the hand and led him deeper into the caverns, and then Donny’s father passed from sight.
Angela and Donny stood for a while in silence. He reached for her hand.
“Angela?”
“Yes, dear?” she said, giving his hand a squeeze.
“Can we go home now?”
Well, what do we have here? Someone who likes to peek at the end of the book to see how things turn out? Or even worse, some bookstore browser who thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to jump to the last page without the decency to make a purchase?
Obscura here. I never understood people like you. And I’m not at all happy to have caught you in the act. But I knew it was coming. Turn around. I’m right behind you.
Not really, obviously. Although wouldn’t it be hilarious if I were? Criminy, is it so hard to read the pages in the order they were written? Shall we begin your life with the funeral?
For those of you reading this after digesting the story, the way it was intended—kudos. To the rest of you: I’ll be waiting for you at the end, you fiends.
Seriously,
A. O.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo by Martin Walsh
P. W. CATANESE is the author of eight fantasy-adventure novels with more than 600,000 books in print worldwide. His Books of Umber trilogy has been nominated for six regional book awards, including the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Florida Sunshine State Young Readers Award, and the Pacific Northwest Library Association’s Young Reader’s Choice Award.
VISIT US AT
SimonandSchuster.com/kids
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/P-W-Catanese
PWCatanese.com
ALSO BY P. W. CATANESE
The Books of Umber Trilogy
Happenstance Found
Dragon Games
The End of Time
The Further Tales Adventures
The Thief and the Beanstalk
The Brave Apprentice
The Eye of the Warlock
The Mirror’s Tale
The Riddle of the Gnome
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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First Aladdin hardcover edition March 2016
Text copyright © 2016 by P. W. Catanese
Jacket illustration copyright © 2016 by Jeff Nentrup
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Art direction by Jessica Handelman
Jacket designed by Karin Paprocki and Steve Scott
Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia
The text of this book was set in Perpetua.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Catanese, P. W.
Donny’s inferno / by P. W. Catanese. — First Aladdin hardcover edition.
pages cm
Summary: In a moment of desperation, Donny Taylor accepts an offer from a demon who will save his life if he works for her, and soon he finds himself in Hell but a new, kinder, gentler Hell where not everyone is happy about the changes and some will do anything to bring back traditional ways.
ISBN 978-1-4814-3800-1 (hc) — ISBN 978-1-4814-3802-5 (eBook)
[1. Hell—Fiction. 2. Future life—Fiction. 3. Demonology—Fiction. 4. Fathers and sons—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C268783Don 2016
2015004461
Donny's Inferno Page 21