Page 84 of Till Death

“You’re trying to scare me?” Amon asked.

Closing my eyes, I shook my head and focused on my intentions. “I’m not trying,” I corrected. “I’m doing, and there is a very big difference.”

This was going to work because I wanted it to work. There were no other options left.

“We’re going on a fieldtrip, Amon. Sorry. You’re not going to have time to pack a bag.”

His chuckle returned, only this time, I swore I heard a new note of strain enter the deep tones.

“You have no power. You’re nothing but a mortal soul now.”

It wasn’t a physical fight. It wasn’t magic like I was used to. It was a plea to the universe.

It was the last miracle I’d ever pull out of my ass as I sent my entire focus outward, envisioning the outcome in my mind with all my heart. Call it magic or call it fate but I hoped I would end up in the right place.

I tightened my hold on Amon and he was too shocked to even fight my grip. Too shocked to break away as my body lightened and the dark behind my closed lids deepened into something else altogether.

“I think it’s time for a little family reunion,” I whispered.

Then, I sent us both spiraling into the Void.

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

Brightness surrounded me, infinite and cloying and welcoming compared to everything else.

Except this time, I knew it would only last for another moment. I had no eyes to adjust to the blinding white; only a budding awareness, growing larger by the second until a bright light flashed into existence. It definitely didn’t come from me. I didn’t have an ounce of strength left.

I drew myself into a small ball of confusion, floating to a stop somewhere in between realms until my ears popped and the world righted itself. Nothing surprised me more than waking up in the middle space. The void space where I’d first encountered God.

How long ago? It felt like a million years?

It shouldn’t have worked. I knew what would happen when I accepted this duty. So there must have been some kind of massive cosmic mistake for me to be in the world between worlds right now with the original sin demon at my side.

The…

Oh,shit.

I only distantly remembered I had a hold on Amon when a groan caught my attention and I turned to see him in his human form once again, stumbling back and staring at the emptiness in pure terror.

“You didn’t,” he whispered.

He slapped his cheeks. His shoulders. His chest, as though checking that his pieces and parts were all intact. A vein pulsed on the side of his neck and his eyes were as red as they’d get here. Because he had no powers in this space, no ability left to transform into his demon body. He was as stuck as a weakling as me.

I wanted to ask him how it felt to have the tide turned and bit my tongue to avoid speaking out loud.

My smile grew until it pinched my cheeks, however, and finally I couldn’t help myself. “Welcome to the Void. The only place in existence that can hold everything at once.”Including you.

And there was no way out. Not for him, not anymore. Being here was the prison I needed to keep him contained without the balance distorting yet again.

Amon’s breath grew short and he stared at me with wide eyes. “How could you? How did you do it?”

“Easily,” I answered. “You took something important from me. Now I took something from you. Your freedom.”

“Hi, brother!”

Hank’s overly chipper voice sounded and a second later God himself appeared in a ratty coat. His scruffy beard was at stark odds with Amon and his perfectly pressed suit. Although, now that I looked a little closer I saw that his hair had mussed a little at the side.

Somehow seeing it made me feel even better than before.

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