by Linsey Hall
Now we had the potions we needed, along with sandwiches from the castle cook, Hans, and we stood on the yard.
I swallowed a bite of sandwich and looked at Wally, who stood at my feet, his smoky black form wavering in the wind. “So, what’s the drill here?”
I will take us to the train station in Dark World. Then we will go to Shade City and find this Devyver.
“Train station?”
Dark World is not like you would expect. And the demons won’t like you, so don’t let them know what you are.
“Deal.” I finished off my sandwich and looked at Declan. He’d also finished his. “Ready to take these potions and go?”
He nodded, uncorking the little vial. I did the same, swigging back the dark liquid and nearly gagging. Oh fates, that was bad. It tasted like a gym sock smelled, and my eyes watered.
Declan choked. “Oh, that’s nasty.”
Magic sparked along my arms and legs, a strange tingle that made me shiver. I inspected Declan for any changes. His form wavered, and I caught a glimpse of a spectral demon form overlaying his normal body. The demon was a hulking creature with dark gray-and-white mottled skin, huge horns, and claws as long as my fingers.
Hedy had tried to make us look like a species that happened to possess some of our natural magic, so we could fight but still stay in character. He was a lightning demon. I was some random species, though, since I didn’t do anything obvious like throw fire or ice.
“Your form is flickering,” Declan said.
“Hedy said that might happen.” Declan and I would be able to partially see through the enchantments, but the demons should only see our demon forms. I looked down at Wally. “Do we look like demons?”
Yes. You’re ugly as a dog’s arse.
“That’s good enough for me.” I looked at Declan. “Hellcat says we’re good.”
The disguises would only work for twelve hours, which was fine, since we didn’t have that much time anyway. We were going to need to be quick about this. We both took the second potion—the one that would amplify our dark magic signatures so we’d actually feel like demons as well as look like them.
Okay, get ready. Wally twisted himself around our ankles, weaving in and out like a cat who wanted a scratch. It looked entirely normal, except for the smoke that drifted up from his body, enveloping us. It didn’t choke me like normal smoke would, though it did prickle against my skin. Soon, the day was entirely blacked out, and the ether began to tug at me.
I reached for Declan’s hand and gripped it tight.
The ether sucked us in, pulling us through space. It was a rough ride—way more so than normal. When it spat me out in a place that smelled of sulfur and rotten fish, my head was whirling. I gasped, trying to catch my breath.
There was a heaviness to the air here, a misery and dread that floated on the wind.
All around, activity heaved. Dozens of demons of all different species filled the antique-looking train station. It was a lot like Darklane—Victorian styling overlaid by a layer of grime, the natural byproduct of dark magic. There was a row of ticket booths on one side, each manned by an angry-looking demon.
It was almost surreal to see a demon doing a normal job, rather than hunting and killing.
Then a demon in the closest booth shot a bolt of flame at the customer standing right in front of him, lighting his hair on fire. The demon in the booth growled, “Don’t try to cheat me.”
Okay, so not that normal.
Demon normal.
Across from the booths, there were six train tracks, three of which had old-fashioned steam trains pulled up to them. The station was open to the sky, which was filled with heavy gray clouds.
I shivered at the ominous feeling in the air and looked down at Wally. “Now what?”
No one paid attention to the hellcat, fortunately, and everyone ignored us as well.
We need money to buy a ticket to Shade City. Demon money.
I looked up at Declan. “Ready to rob someone?”
He nodded.
It was the only way to get the cash we needed, and I didn't feel even a tiny bit bad about stealing from a demon. The magic in the air here was so disgusting that it made it clear all of these demons were evil. That’s what made a demon into a demon—evil intentions and a willingness to casually hurt others.
In the question of what came first, the demon or the evil, the answer was always the evil. Half demons—extremely rare—could be good since they had something else in them to moderate the evil side. But the figures surrounding us were all full-blooded.
I scouted the area, looking for a quiet spot and a smaller demon. Near the end of the booths, there was a series of shops. There were probably dark alleys behind.
“This way.” I gestured for Declan to follow, and we cut through the crowd, headed toward the shops.
As we passed the booth that sold tickets to Shade City, I checked out the prices. Ten durkas.
“Durkas must be a demon dollar,” Declan murmured.
I nodded, continuing on.
As we neared the shops, I nearly gagged at what I saw inside the windows. One was full of demon heads on spikes. I didn’t bother looking in the rest. We made our way to the side of the shops and found a dark alley.
To my delight, a demon about my size walked by. He was skinny, dressed entirely in black leather, and had his horns filed into super sharp points. His magic reeked of rotten cabbage and felt like slime under my fingernails.
As soon as he’d passed us, Declan and I jumped on him and dragged him back into the alley. Declan clamped a hand over his mouth, and once we were in the darkened area, he knocked the demon on the head so hard that he slumped over, passed out.
He laid him on the ground, and I rifled through his pockets and pulled out a bag of weird black coins. I dumped them into my palm and then held them out to Wally. “Are these durkas?”
Yes.
“Great.” I counted out eight coins marked with a 10. That was enough for a round-trip ticket for each of us, just in case, and a bit extra for bribes. I stuffed the pouch back into the demon’s pocket.
“He’ll be out for a while.” Declan dragged the demon’s body to the wall and propped it up so he looked like a passed-out drunk.
“Cool. Let’s get on the train.”
We walked to the ticket booth, and I looked down at Wally. “Do I need to buy you a ticket?”
I don’t know. I’ll stay out of sight.
“Cool.” We stopped in front of the ticket booth, and I eyed the clerk, trying to look mean and tough, all while praying that my demon illusion was holding up.
The demon selling tickets was some kind of ice demon, from the look of his pale blue skin, and if he got pissed, I’d need to be fast.
“Two to Shade City,” I growled.
The demon hesitated slightly, studying us. My heart jumped into my throat, and I was careful to control my breathing and look relaxed. Finally, the demon shrugged and took the money, handing us two tickets.
I could feel his stare on us as we walked away, and the hair at the back of my neck stood up.
“I don’t think our disguises are that great,” I murmured to Declan.
“Could be our magic. Even with the amplification, you don’t smell nearly as bad as these guys.”
Amplifying our dark magic had worked to help us sneak through Grimrealm, but that place wasn’t nearly as bad as this one.
I avoided eye contact as I slipped through the crowd, hurrying toward the platform that was marked with the words Shade City. The train’s engine belched black smoke as we neared, and the once red paint job was thoroughly coated in grime. Even the windows were almost entirely blacked out from it.
We found the compartment written on the tickets—it had only two seats, thank fates—and sat down. Wally appeared a moment later, sitting on the floor.
His whiskers twitched. It’s small.
“I don’t think anything here is going to be very nice.”
&nbs
p; And it stinks.
“You like the finer things in life, huh?”
I know I like sitting in your bathroom sink and eating souls, so if those are the finer things, then yes.
“Fair enough.” I looked out the window. Someone had wiped the grime off the middle of it, and I could watch the demons outside. Unlike a human train station, there were no demon children. Demons didn’t actually have childhoods, since there was an element of innocence to that. And there was nothing innocent about evil personified. Like Athena had popped out of Zeus’s forehead fully formed, demons entered the world as adults. They were created when enough dark magic coalesced in one place and was struck by a huge amount of energy, like from lightning or a tidal wave.
Declan shut the sliding door that closed off our compartment, and I relaxed. “This is more sophisticated than I expected.”
“Evil doesn’t mean stupid,” Declan said.
“Good point.”
The steam whistle blew, a piercing sound that made me wince, and the train started to rumble along. The vibration was almost soothing, and Wally settled down on the floor with a satisfied look in his flame-red eyes.
Soon, we’d left the train station behind and were powering through a deserted wasteland cut through with massive chasms. The ground looked like it had been in constant motion in the past, splitting and cracking as giants walked over it. Lightning struck in the distance, the dark clouds swirling faster than I’d ever seen them move on earth.
“Does anything live out there?” I asked Wally.
I don’t know.
“How long is the ride?”
Don’t know that either. Not good with time.
“Two hours,” Declan said. “Saw it on the board.”
“Thanks. I was distracted by the demon.”
Declan nodded.
Despite the stench of dark magic and the terrifying landscape out the window, the rumble of the train soothed me. I was exhausted. Not tired enough to take the potion, but the day was starting to catch up to me.
I yawned and tried to lean my head against the window, but it was so grimy that I gave up almost immediately.
“Lean on me,” Declan said.
I frowned, tempted. I was beat, and I really wouldn’t mind touching him. Except, that violated my newly made hands-off policy.
“I won’t bite. Promise.”
I caught sight of the smile on Declan’s face, and fortunately, it was during one of the moments when he looked like himself instead of a demon.
Sleep. I’ll keep watch.
“Thanks, Wally.” I looked at Declan. “He said he’d keep a lookout if we both took a nap.”
“I’m not sure I’m keen on lowering my guard in Dark World.”
“Wally can be trusted. And anyway, it’s less safe to be tired on a mission like this. And we should save those Power-Up Potions until we really need them.” Who knew how long this could possibly take? “But anyway, up to you.”
I leaned my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes. The warm heat of his muscles felt like the only nice thing in this world, and I focused on that. Finally, Declan relaxed.
Sleep caught me hard in its grip, a nightmare close on its tail.
The cold cell was just like the one back in Grimrealm. I shivered on the cold stone, my mind spinning. We’d only been out for a year, and already we were back under the thumb of someone else who wanted to use us. The Council of Demon Slayers had helped us escape our evil aunt and uncle, but we’d almost immediately gotten ourselves into trouble again.
We’d had one glorious year of freedom in the real world, learning to be demon slayers and finding a life for ourselves in Magic’s Bend.
And then we’d trusted Dani. We’d thought she was our friend—the third sister we’d never had. We’d even told her we had Dragon Blood.
It had been the stupidest thing we’d ever done.
Almost immediately, she’d sold us out to the Order of the Magica. For what, I didn’t know. But they’d found us and thrown us in this cell.
And now Mari was being forced to create new magic.
I could see her in the cell across the hall. Iron bars separated us, making it easy for us to see and talk to each other.
Just like Aunt, these bastards had figured out that we would do as they commanded if they threatened the other.
“Mari,” I whispered. “Stop.”
She didn’t even twitch. Mari knelt on the stone floor, her shoulders bowed as black blood poured from her wrists. They were forcing her to create permanent magic. Not the one-and-done little stuff that was created with a drop. The real, lasting magic that came when you poured out more blood than it seemed like your body should hold.
More blood equaled more magic.
I crawled toward the iron bars, weak and exhausted. I had to get to Mari. Somehow, I had to get through these bars.
Her magic began to flow from her, filling the cells. It tasted of whiskey, a burn on the back of my throat. I should be too young to know what that tasted like.
I wasn’t too young for anything. Not after the life I’d lived.
Pouring out your magic was the second part of the process. If she survived, she’d wake with new magic.
Tears flowed down my face. “Mari!” I shook the cell bars. “Mari!”
Through the haze of dreams, I felt a warm weight settle on my lap.
Wake up!
Wally’s voice finally pierced my woozy consciousness. I sat upright, gasping. Wally sat on my thighs, his concerned red eyes glued to my face.
Are you all right?
Declan was still asleep next to me.
I swallowed and rubbed my face, nodding. “Fine.”
Nightmare?
“Yes.” I hadn’t dreamed of that time in ages. In fact, I’d done my best to force the memories from my mind.
Dani had been our first friend in the real world, and we’d been stupid enough to trust her. She’d almost immediately screwed us. We’d have died if we hadn’t escaped. We’d have died later if we hadn’t blown the whole experimental magical laboratory to smithereens.
From what Mari and I had been able to piece together, we’d been captured by a rogue operation, a secret branch of the Order of the Magica, meant to find strange supernaturals and use them. Because we’d destroyed the lab—and everyone involved in the operation—we’d been able to disappear.
The remaining members of Order didn’t know what we were. Who we were. Theoretically, they weren’t all bad. That had been a rogue operation, after all.
Still, I didn’t trust the Order as far as I could throw them. They’d used us once; they could use us again.
Hence, the reason for our secrecy.
Tell no one.
We’d agreed it was the only way to stay safe. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head.
We’re there.
I sucked in a deep breath and nudged Declan. He woke and became alert within a fraction of a second.
I looked out the window, catching sight of the last of the broken plains and the beginnings of Shade City. The buildings themselves were ramshackle, some fifteen or twenty stories high. Many didn’t even have walls, looking like they’d been blown out in some apocalyptic event in the past.
The ground was broken asphalt with patches of dirt, and the shop windows were full of terrible stuff, just like they had been at the train station. Demons walked along the streets and sidewalks—there were no cars—and the thing that struck me the most about them was that they looked bored. A little worried, too, perhaps. But bored.
There was no one for them to terrify and torture, I guessed. They probably turned on each other, but everyone knew that demons preferred human and Magica targets. It was why they were so keen to get out of Dark World and would act as mercenaries on the surface.
“It looks like a city ten years after nuclear war,” Declan said. “No wonder they want to leave.”
Their evil decays the structures.
I looked down at Wal
ly, my brows raised. “Really?”
Like an enhanced version of the grime that coats the buildings in your neighborhood.
I translated for Declan.
“Smart cat you have there.”
Hellcat.
“He said he’s a hellcat. Likes accuracy, I guess.”
“Hellcat.” Declan smiled and nodded at Wally. Since I was currently seeing his demon form, it looked weird.
“Do we still look like demons?” I asked Wally.
Ugly as a dog’s backside.
“Perfect.”
The train ground to a stop, and we rose and followed the crowd of demons out onto the platform. I shifted left and right, trying to avoid brushing my shoulders against theirs.
We stepped into a station that was much smaller than the one we’d already been to—just one ticket booth and one platform.
The demons streamed quickly out of the station, and we followed, stepping out onto a grimy street. Buildings towered high above, and they would have cut out the sun if there had been one. Instead, there was nothing but the black clouds that swirled in the sky. The air was heavy with the feeling of misery and boredom, along with something that felt distinctly like sadism. I couldn't describe what exactly it was that made the air feel like that, but it was almost as if the demons’ desire to hurt others was leeching off them and filling the air.
Declan shuddered next to me, a gesture I’d never seen him make before. “Let’s be quick.”
“Agreed. We’ll find a bar, ask for Devyver, then go from there.”
It was a simple plan, but the best we could come up with, given that there were no guide books to Dark World.
We hurried across the street, passing a shop that sold nothing but acid. Only in Dark World would the market for acid be so strong that there was a whole shop dedicated to it.
Quickly, we strode down the street. Wally disappeared, but I could feel his presence. I didn’t blame him for making himself invisible.
“That looks promising.” Declan pointed to a neon sign that was half unlit. It was shaped like a glass of green liquid.
“Yeah, probably a bar.”
He entered first. When I stepped through the door and into the tiny bar, my gaze moved quickly over the interior. About half full. Ten people, max, all crowded around little tables and playing a game with black and red cards. The bartender was a bored-looking female demon with short, blunt horns and sharp fangs. At least, I thought she was female. Not that it mattered.