Page 99 of Death Trap

“That’s so sweet, Jade. You wanted to save me,” she said.

“Well…yeah.” I shrugged like it was no big deal. “Turned out, it was your sister instead.”

She peered at Simon. “Is there any way she can get here, into the afterlife?”

“Not without a reaper,” he replied. “And from the sound of it, if she passes through the door, she’ll be put right back where Jade found her in Hell. I’ll guess she’ll most likely avoid this side of the veil and stay in the living world.”

“I’m sorry to cut this short, but we have a time limit,” Eli said in a rush. “Forgive me, Marla.”

He stepped onto the transportation platform and held out his hand to me. It wasn’t until I was standing next to him that I realized I had taken his offer without thought.

“What’s going on? Where are you all going?” she asked.

“Finding Jade was just the beginning, I’m afraid,” Simon said, stepping next to us.

We all squeezed close together to fit on the symbols under our feet.

“We have to stop the Angel of Death,” I said plainly, because for me, this kind of stuff was becoming a normal everyday occurrence. “He’s back, and he’s trying to start the apocalypse.”

Marla’s lips pressed into a straight line, and her head tilted to the side. Her entire petite frame grew rigid, and her eye began to twitch. Loud popping sounds came from all around her, her magic wanting release.

But then, she closed her eyes and put on a smile that seemed a little too forced and a little too aggressive to be real.

Downright scary.

The strange popping noise ceased.

I’d never seen Marla angry before. Annoyed, sure, but never full-on enraged. And I decided at that moment I never wanted to. Whatever this was—like she was a dam holding back the entire Atlantic Ocean and on the verge of busting open at any second—it was intimidating enough.

Marla may have claimed Tamara was the one to watch out for when it came between the twin witches, but I wasn’t so sure. Marla seemed like one hell of a force to be reckoned with, despite the frilly tops, pleated slacks, and high heels.

“All right. Let’s go, then.” She pressed herself against us, wiggling and nudging to make sure she was fully on the symbols.

I had to hold my arm up at an odd angle, and Eli had to turn his torso so she could tuck herself into the space under my armpit and his chest. The awkward positioning had my butt on Simon’s thigh, and I flushed with embarrassment.

She looked at us as if to sayjust try and stop mebefore settling back in between us.

If it had been any other scenario or any other person, I would have shoved her off the platform and told her this wasn’t her fight. But as much as I didn’t want her involved in another one of my messes, I knew just as well that I couldn’t stop her.

Wasn’t there a Shakespeare quote about this or something?Though she be little…she could probably kick my ass?Something like that.

I believed it, though.

“Everybody ready?” Marla asked. She didn’t even wait for a response. “Okay, here we go! Styx Corporation.”

And the four of us were whisked away by the transporter’s magic.

I paused on the bottom-most step, the colossal Greek temple-inspired building looming in front of me. Even though I’d come here more times than I’d like to admit, there was something undeniably different about this visit. Maybe because I knew that this time, when I walked inside that building, only one of us—me or Azrael—were going to be walking out.

And since I didn’t have one of those magic angel sword thingies yet that Eli had said could kill anything—even angels—I had to rely on my still-temperamental new magic, Eli, Simon, Marla, and the assumption Azrael had been weakened by his corruption.

Those were a lot of uncertainties, and I was unsure I was willing to risk the people I cared about in this fight.

“Are you scared?” Eli was at my side, peering down at me in concern.

Fuck yeah, I was scared. I’d be stupid not to be. Azrael was not only an angel, he was one of the Firsts. The Angel of Death. Even weakened, he was still so high up the celestial food chain, challenging him could very well be suicide.

Was that going to stop me? Absolutely not.

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