"James," she started to say.
He pulled his hand back. "Sorry."
"Don"t bother." She swallowed down her frustration and went for the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"There"s only one place in the Palace I can"t access," Elise called over her shoulder, unhooking Ace from the lamp and taking him with her.
Murmuring voices surrounded her as she descended again. Neuma had returned, this time with Jerica at her side. Jerica was especially good to see-her presence must have meant that they had found a sinkhole to Earth. They were leading the staff toward the exit doors.
As soon as Elise stepped out onto the gla.s.s floor to approach Neuma, the new mark that Paimon had placed on her back flared bright with pain.
The whole tower began to tremble. The floor shifted.
Shouts rose from the former slaves as the library groaned. They leaped away from the shifting floor and climbed onto the stairs or grabbed bookshelves.
Elise didn"t try to escape. She scooped Ace into her arms and turned her legs to mist, hanging suspended over the crystal floor as it began to open panel by panel.
It irised from the center to reveal a second spiral staircase, much like the one that led to the floors above. Cool, dry air sighed from the opening.
She"d never gotten a good look at the s.p.a.ce underneath the library before. n.o.body but the librarians was allowed down there-including Elise. Now she had a great view. It was dark and endlessly deep below, mezzanine levels corks.c.r.e.w.i.n.g so far into the earth that Elise couldn"t see the bottom.
As tall as the tower was, the s.p.a.ce it occupied underneath Dis was even larger.
A pinp.r.i.c.k of fire-bright light smoldered in the center of the tower"s bas.e.m.e.nt, all the way down at the bottom, though she couldn"t tell how distant that was.
The floor stopped moving once it was open enough to allow access to the stairwell. The desks hadn"t even been disturbed, since they"d been arranged to each stand on separate panels of gla.s.s. More librarian cleverness.
"James?" she prompted, glancing behind her. He was staring at her transparent legs. She wasn"t sure if he"d ever seen her selectively phase before. Elise was guessing he hadn"t, considering how disturbed he looked. "I need to move the army. Can you research on your own?"
"Yes. I think so." He didn"t move to take the stairs, though. "I could find anything down there, you know. We have no idea what will be in those books."
He was giving Elise an opportunity to keep him out. And maybe he was right to warn her-maybe James shouldn"t have been trusted with that much arcane knowledge. If he"d still had access to his power, the bas.e.m.e.nt of the library would have been an incredibly dangerous place to send him.
James didn"t have access to his power anymore. He"d chosen to surrender it.
"Don"t open anything that looks like it might kill you," Elise said lightly. Ace finally started squirming, and she set him down beside James. "I"ll come back for you soon."
A smile flickered across his lips. "Very well."
James stepped down into the stairwell, followed by the dog. As much as she disliked the idea of James alone in the depths of the Palace-mostly for his safety-she was relatively confident that Ace wouldn"t allow anything to eat him. At least, Ace wouldn"t allow anything else to eat him.
Elise retreated. The tower shivered again as the floor once more irised closed, isolating James on the other side.
She turned to see all the pale, staring faces that waited for her.
"Are you ready to go back to Earth?" she asked them.
Seven.
The nearest sinkhole back to Earth was on the other side of d.a.m.nation Square. Fenced paths led from the Palace directly to Belial Orchards, which was filled with trees transplanted from the Screaming Forest and decorated by hands like those in the flesh gardens.
The trees themselves were nightmarish, twisted spikes of iron, sc.r.a.ping at the sky with knifelike fingers. At least half of them gripped human bodies in their branches, chests and stomachs split open like dissected pigs on display. The strange magic of the trees was capable of keeping the bodies alive, hearts beating, blood flowing, lungs quivering as screams drifted from the mouths of the not quite dead.
At least, they usually screamed. But the same shift in universes that had ripped half of Elise"s army into presumable oblivion seemed to have finally, truly killed the trees and the bodies inside of them.
Now the corpses were limp, blood trickling down their legs to puddle on the wilted hands upthrust from the hard soil underneath.
Needless to say, Belial Orchards had never been a popular destination for any of the humans that lived in Elise"s Palace, and she had never had cause to go there herself.
Her first visit didn"t leave her with a glowing impression.
"There it is," Jerica said, stopping a few yards back from a line of bushes that clearly didn"t belong in Dis. She was breathing shallowly, her skin rubbery and slick with sweat.
Jerica was a full-blooded nightmare, but she was still struggling in Dis"s new atmosphere. Earth and Heaven were leaking all over the dimension. Sometimes the wind blew cold, sometimes scalding hot.
The worst part for the humans was that other levels of h.e.l.l were leaking into Dis, too. Some had no atmosphere at all; others were filled with acid. As the sinkholes moved across the city, Elise experienced seconds where she couldn"t breathe because there was no longer air to fill her lungs. Her clothes were tattered from the blasts of acid, exposing her navel, her knees.
She found it irritating. For humans, the environment in flux was deadly.
At least Belial Orchards were close to the Palace.
Elise approached the sinkhole in the bushes alone. There shouldn"t have been any rosebushes anywhere in the city, much less in Belial Orchards, yet these ones were flourishing. Their branches had actual roses on them. White ones. Plump petals sparkled with dew. Moist soil extended a few feet around them.
It was the only visible sign of a sinkhole in the park. Elise extended her hand into the air above the rosebushes and the entire appendage vanished. She could feel cool air on the other side. She thought it might have been raining.
"Did you scout it out?" Elise asked. "Does this one land anywhere near China?"
"I didn"t want to risk going over in case there"s a lot of light on the other side," Jerica said. "I"m not up for that yet." She was still recovering from her time in the pits of Malebolge. Even a little bit of artificial illumination-or worse, sunlight-might have been enough to send her to the pits.
Elise was about to step through the sinkhole herself when she felt a sick lurch in her stomach. Lightning flashed across the sky and a groan spread over the city. Mount Anathema, a black peak on the horizon, gave a groan and gust of ash.
White-hot magma appeared at its point, illuminating the clouds.
Jerica"s eyes widened. "That"s a volcano?"
Elise had been all over and underneath Mount Anathema, and she was fairly confident that it wasn"t. But this was a world with Belphegor as G.o.d. Apparently, he wasn"t satisfied with merely terraforming Earth. He was reshaping Dis, too.
It was time to move the army while she still had any army left.
"Terah?" Elise called.
The demon appeared at her side. She was already fully armored and accompanied by the fourth centuria, populated entirely by gibborim-looming, pale-fleshed creatures with the approximate physical statures of hairless gorillas.
"Shall we explore the other side?" Terah asked with a toothy grin.
"Yeah, secure the other side for our arrival," Elise said. "We"ll be following fast and hard." Terah took a step, but Elise grabbed her arm. "Don"t let the gibborim kill any humans if they don"t have to."
A sharp nod, and Terah thrust her gauntleted fist into the air. "Let"s go!" she roared, and the gibborim crawled under the iron branches to approach the sinkhole.
One by one, they vanished to the other side.
Elise phased with Jerica back to the gates of the Palace.
Neuma was huddled inside a tunnel through the battlements with a couple hundred mortals. These humans were all that remained of the liberated staff that had run the Palace for so long. Two hundred, maybe two hundred fifty.
Elise had taken the time to place a few extra wards before leaving, so the humans were still breathing-for now. But those protections wouldn"t follow them as soon as they stepped outside the battlements.
Beyond the tunnel, the remnants of her army filled the courtyard. Elise could see brutes and behemoths, more fell beasts, and even a few demons for which she had no names at all. The centuriae in the front were led by Endi and Albrinck, the loyal incubus twins who had proven themselves almost as tough as Terah, and easily just as brutal.
Elise approached Albrinck. The air was growing sour within the courtyard. "Ready?" she asked. The last of the red canvas tents that the army had been living in collapsed around them.
"Ready as rain," he said grimly. He made it almost sound like a threat.
"Straight through to Belial Orchards," Elise said. "Terah"s holding the other side of the sinkhole. Don"t stop until you"re all through." She jogged back to the humans and shouted, "Stand aside!"
The humans cl.u.s.tered against the wall. She spotted Gerard among them, talking to a trio of men who looked to be in the midst of a shared panic attack. And who could blame them? The mountain was erupting, the sky had already been crushed, and they were one flimsy spell away from having the breath sucked from their lungs.
Elise held the liberated slaves back as the army rushed past them, dozens at a time. There were still over five hundred remaining. Not as many as she had hoped to take with her, but hopefully enough.
She edged toward Neuma, lowering her voice to a whisper. "The atmospheric conditions between the Palace and the park are favorable, but I can"t guarantee they"ll remain that way. Let me phase you over so you"re not at risk of getting sucked into some other part of h.e.l.l."
"No way. I"ve got to stay with the Palace," Neuma said. "If all three of us leave, it makes the defenses vulnerable."
"The Palace doesn"t matter anymore. We"re abandoning it." Elise brushed her fingers through Neuma"s hair. Its texture was similar to hers, just a little bit coa.r.s.er. "I just want to make sure you get home safely."
"You know, I never woulda called you sweet," Neuma said, "but you"re a little bit sweet sometimes."
"Do you want me to phase you there?"
"Naw. The slaves are my responsibility. I"ll run with them."
There was no point in arguing with Neuma once she"d made up her mind. "Fine. Lead them to the sinkhole. I"ll take up the rear." She said the last part loudly enough for Gerard to hear her, too. If anyone deserved to get out of Dis, it was definitely Gerard.
He winked at them. "Been nice working with you," he said. "Both of you."
The half-succubus kissed Gerard on the cheek. "Ditto."
He blushed. Gerard, strongest of the former slaves, leader of the Palace, actually blushed.
The last of the demon army pa.s.sed them, clearing the route to Belial Orchards.
Neuma broke into a run.
The former slaves followed.
Elise held the wards until the last moment, feeling each body pa.s.s through as they hurtled into d.a.m.nation Square. Her heart clenched to see the former slaves run for Earth. People who had been through the worst h.e.l.l had to offer, yet decided to stay to serve Elise until the very end anyway.
Black, billowing smoke filled the air as Mount Anathema belched again, spewing orange sparks into the air. Bright rivers streamed down its face.
Once the final person left the tunnel, Elise broke into a run behind them.
They made it all the way to the end of d.a.m.nation Square before the wind shifted.
The change in atmosphere hit the ones in the rear first. Two women were launched off of their feet, ripped toward the sky as gravity changed. They clutched at their throats and couldn"t seem to scream. One of them disappeared into a sinkhole.
Elise phased, catching the woman who remained. She brushed the sinkhole as she pa.s.sed. The other side was cold, so very cold. Colder even than Coccytus. For a moment, she was surrounded by total darkness-a starless void.
She wrenched the woman away from the sinkhole and deposited her beside the fountain in d.a.m.nation Square.
"Keep running!" Elise urged.
The others had already moved on, halfway to the twisted iron of Belial Orchards. Neuma and Gerard"s voices echoed against the staring faces of the empty buildings around them, blocky stucco structures with darkened windows. Run. Don"t stop. Almost there. Leave him behind.
A man stumbled against the curb. He vanished into nothingness with a shriek.
Elise leaped into the sinkhole after him and found herself engulfed in acid. It boiled around her incorporeal form. She couldn"t see anything, but not because it was dark-because the fires were all consuming.
The man was already a skeleton. His flesh had been devoured in less than a second.
She phased back to Dis. When she had a human body again, her heart was pounding, and the acidic environment had pockmarked her clothes. She should have been totally incorporeal while on the other side. Nothing should have been able to touch her.
Acid began to ooze from the cracks in the sidewalk, puddling around her, eating at the soles of her boots.
Elise phased out of her shoes and left them behind to be devoured.
Everyone else had already reached Belial Orchards, but another sinkhole had shifted to block their path. Darkness swarmed. Most leaped out of the way in time, but one man did not.
He screamed as his legs melted and fire crawled up his waist.
Neuma had stopped to slap the flames out. "Keep going," Elise said, hauling the man off the ground. His right femur was exposed to the air. Tears streamed down his cheeks. Neuma was pale with fear, but she continued.
Air was disappearing rapidly from the orchards-probably why all of the hands in the flesh gardens had wilted. The former slaves that had been too slow to reach the sinkhole to Earth were dropping, gasping on the ground.
Gerard waited further up the path. "The bushes, the rosebushes!" he kept yelling, pointing into the darkness.
One by one, everyone vanished. Elise went back for some of those who had pa.s.sed out-the ones who were still alive, at least.
There weren"t many left.
"Go!" Neuma cried, wrapping her arms around the man with the melted legs. "Hurry!" She lunged through the sinkhole with him in her grip. Gerard pushed a group of liveried soldiers after her before following.