Page 24 of Inferno

“In my classroom!”

I flatten my hands on the wall and use it as a guide, checking each doorknob I come across.

“Keep yelling so I can find you,” I shout.

And he does. It takes four doors, but I find one that opens, and a little boy spills out into my arms.

“What’s your name?” I ask as I lift him off his feet.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?”

My eyes shoot open at the familiar voice, and I see Eir standing at the end of my bed.

“What are you doing here?” I snap.

“Saving you, apparently,” she quips, folding her arms over her chest.

“Saving me from what?”

I swing my legs over the edge of the mattress and stand. Eir moves closer to me and rests a hand on my forearm.

“Yourself, Inferno,” she says. “I’m saving you from yourself.”

“I’m fine,” I insist, tugging away from her touch.

“If you were fine, you wouldn’t be reliving your last moments alive.”

“I’m not. As you well know, I can’t see my actual death without you showing me.”

“Close enough.”

“I need you to show me.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Yes, Eir, you will,” I snarl, stepping into her personal space.

Here’s the thing about Valkyries… they aren’t scared of shit. Especially not the warriors they recruit, the souls they save. I know this, yet it still pisses me off when she doesn’t budge.

“Dammit, Eir,” I grumble. “I need to see it again.”

“Why?”

“Does it matter?”

“It does to me.”

I heave a sigh. “Why?”

Eir arches a delicate brow. “Inferno, we can go round and round about this, but I’m not showing you anything until I know why you want to see it.”

I whirl around and stomp out of the room. The clubhouse is quiet, and I’m grateful because I don’t need my brothers on my ass in addition to her.

Before I make it across the common room, a small hand grabs my arm from behind, and the world shimmers. Once everything comes into focus, I realize I’m no longer at the clubhouse but rather, I’m in a large field in the middle of nowhere.

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