Page 29 of Death Trap

“And who is this?” she asked, painted brows lifting above her wire-rimmed glasses.

Eli placed a hand on his chest. “I’m E—”

“Ethan,” I lied then threw him a hard look. Hadn’t Ijusttold him to let me talk? “This is my buddy Ethan. I’m just showing him around where I work.”

Maryanne lowered her glasses down her pointed nose, like a librarian might before she was about to scold you for being too loud. Looking over him for a good minute too long, her lips curled up into a pleased smile. “You know you’re not allowed to show outside spirits the inside of Styx Corporation, Jade. That’s against the rules.”

Damn, she had me there.

Quick, Jade. Think! Think!

“Uh, well, Simon knows him. An old friend. Ethan wanted to surprise him at work.”

Maryanne reached for her desktop phone, and my chest squeezed with panic. I reached over and slammed the phone back down on the receiver.

“Don’t ruin the surprise,” I said quickly. “Come on, Maryanne. Simon’s been working really hard. He’s under a lot of pressure with Azrael gone. I think he deserves a little fun. Don’t you?”

She didn’t reply. Only stared at me with heavy skepticism.

“We’ll be really quick,” I went on. “One, two, three. Pop in, pop out. If not, you can report me.”

She grinned at that. “Be quick,” she said. “Or else.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I grabbed Eli’s hand and tugged him toward the elevators.

“Just so we’re clear, I’m doing this for Simon. Not you,” Maryanne called after me.

I threw a thumbs-up at her as we hurried away. I knew the longer I stayed around, the more likely she was to change her mind. Better take what I could get when I could get it.

When we reached the hall of elevators, I glanced at the golden one at the very end—the one I knew led to Azrael’s old office, now Simon’s new one. All the others flanking the walls on either side of us were a boring gray color and all identical in appearance.

I didn’t know what I was expecting. Maybe for the Hell one to be leaking smoke or have a strong sulfur smell coming from it. But I wasn’t that lucky.

How in the world was I going to be able to find the one that led me to the Hell dimensions? This was going to be like a game of Russian roulette.

“Why did you feel the need to lie back there?” Eli asked. “Did it matter that Simon knew we were coming?”

Quick. Lie.

“Maryanne always tries to come up with something to get me in trouble.” I laughed nervously. “And I really can’t afford that right now, as you saw. It’s just better if I told her that.”

“But—”

“Anyway…” I cut in. I knew my reasoning made no sense. Time to deflect. “We’ll just see Simon and get this all squared away before she can conjure up something.”

I walked up and down the long corridor, looking over every elevator for some sign of the one I needed.

The two closest to the golden one were the only ones with a symbol above their doors. With the one on the left, the symbol reminded me of Eli’s tattoo and mine. It had the same delicate swoops and lines, but the overall design was different. And it was encased in a circle.

The elevator to the right bore basically the exact same image, only it had sharper edges and harder lines.

Had those always been there? How had I missed them before?

Maybe they’d been there before, but I was only able to actuallyseethem now? With the awakening of my powers, and all that?

Staring at the elevator on the right, a knowing sensation filled me, followed by a shiver of warning across my skin. I’d never given any of the other elevators here in the hall a second look, but now that we were drawing closer and focusing on the one with the familiar symbol, something told me—and this was a strong hunch—that this elevator was the one I needed, the one that would take me to Hell where Lisa and Benjamin were.

“It’s this one,” I said, pointing to it. Man, I hoped I was right. Not wanting Eli to glance upward and see the symbol, just in case he recognized it, I grabbed his arm and drew him closer to the doors. “The elevators are activated by touch. Can you give me a hand?”

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