Page 50 of The World Undone

She took a deep breath, expression unreadable.

“You see things others don’t,” I pressed, hoping to leverage her sudden vulnerability and openness to more useful purposes, “please. You said you wanted to help me, and this is what I need help with right now. We have so little information about what’s to come.”

“I’m sorry.” She shook her head, her nostrils flaring slightly as she tried to reign in some emotion I couldn’t access. “I have nothing that can help you—I wouldn’t deny you information if I had it, if I thought it could do you good. No one has heard from Lucifer in weeks, nearly a month now.”

“A month?” That didn’t make any sense. “Max hasn’t been back that long. Not even two weeks.”

She shrugged. “Time does not work here as it does there, you know this.”

“Yeah, but usually days there are weeks or months here.”

“Time is unstable, the magic out of balance. Do not be so arrogant as to think you can predict the way that it will move.”

I swallowed my retort. “Fine, but what do you mean he’s been missing for weeks?”

“I mean just that. It’s not uncommon for him to disappear for long stretches of time.” She exhaled, long and slow, and I could see the weight hanging over her shoulders—she was worried about him. They weren’t exactly friends, from what I understood—I didn’t think Lucifer really had anyone that could be called a friend in the traditional sense—but they weren’t enemies either. “But something feels different this time. He was unwell for a while, weaker than usual—though I know that shouldn’t be possible. Demons with his power don’t become unwell in the traditional sense. But last time I saw him, he was coming undone. Consumed with research, with tracking people down that no one has heard word of in years.” Her eyes locked on mine. “His magic is deeply connected to that which holds the realms together. At first, it seemed like his power, his strength, was growing since Max’s birth, since she came of age—but now, it’s as if he’s being drained. I don’t understand it,” she grunted, brow arched, “and Lucifer has never been the type to be exactly forthcoming. Especially not when he’s feeling vulnerable.”

“What about Sam?”

She snorted. “Samael’s about as easy to decipher as Lucifer—and perhaps even less forthcoming with information.” She shook her head, the gentle clang of the beads she wore the only sound in the room. “I’ve known these men for a lifetime, yes—but more often it feels like I don’t know them at all. It’s one of the many curses of living in this world—we do not have the luxury of intimacy, of trusting others with our truest selves.”

The last part was said more to herself than to me.

Her gaze locked onto mine, and as powerful as her stare was, I couldn’t look away. “Be stronger than us in that way, nephew. Do not allow fear or insecurity to claw at you and gain purchase, do not be ashamed of the darkness that digs into you, of the anxiety you feel. Don’t bury it down, don’t ignore it. Emotions are powerful forces, especially for our kind. The faster you learn to embrace and use them, the better off you will be. Otherwise, they will suffocate you.”

As if her words shaped reality, my breath caught, my lungs frozen in time no matter how hard I tried to pull in a gulp of air. Thick, dark water suddenly engulfed us both, until we were suspended in it, limbs frantic as we fought against the waves ripping us apart.

Serae’s eyes were wide, laced with panic as she tried to scream for me—but where her deep, soothing voice had been before, there was now just a trail of bubbles and the harsh pounding of water.

I reached for her, fighting to pull her back to me, but the current had other plans. It ripped us apart, until she disappeared into the dark abyss, along with the room we’d been occupying.

My muscles tensed as I clawed into the water, trying to swim to her with a desperation that only made the lack of oxygen more apparent.

A powerful wave pulsed into me, spinning me in its grip until I couldn’t tell which direction my aunt had been pulled in.

Instead, I swam and swam, searching for a light, the subtle hint of where the surface might be.

My head grew dizzy as I fought the urge to breathe in, to pull the water into my lungs, a deadly gulp of air.

My vision blurred until I started to see unfamiliar shapes in the water—dark shadows that I couldn’t quite make out.

A frustrated sob lodged in my throat as I swam. This was a dream. I wouldn’t drown here, I couldn’t. Could I?

It felt so real, the life force draining from me. What if incubi could actually be killed in our dreams—it would make sense that the thing that gave us our power could also take it.

Max.

The soft curves of her figure filtered behind my eyelids as I stopped fighting against the water, letting it lap at me, and carry me gently where it willed—surrendering to a power I couldn’t beat.

She looked like she was dancing, her limbs lean and limber as she moved.

A gentle smile tugged at my lips. At least she would be the last thing I saw.

But my smile melted the moment I realized she was struggling against the current too, that it had her in its deathly grip, just as it had me.

“No,” I yelled, the word darting forward in a small wave of soundless bubbles. No.

I fought against the water, dug my arms into the waves with a relentless fury as I swam to her. At first, it seemed like every inch I crept forward, she was pulled ten feet back.

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