Page 30 of Phoenix Academy: Mayhem

Reggie asks somberly, "What if there's no other option?"

"There has to be. You heard what Nehamae said—things get out of here all the time. Just because she senses that the door is closed doesn't mean we won't be able to get through it somehow. I have my magic. The three of you have strength. Now we have her knowledge. We'll figure it out, together."

The guys are quiet for a while. If the fairy heard our conversation, she gives no sign of it, dutifully leading us down a golden path that unfurls beneath the shadow of her wings.

After a long moment, David speaks up. "If we get stuck down in Hell, I'd like everyone to know that I'd prefer to penis flattener to the penis severer. Just as a matter of principle."

* * *

We've reached the hedge maze where the trickster demon first pulled me into Hell, but this time there are no hedges. No rose bushes or shrubbery of any kind. It's all been burnt to a crisp.

All that remains is the door. At the end of the glowing protective pathway, its thick oak edges call out to me. There's magic soaked into it, carved through its surface and heavy in the whorls of the wood. I can feel it like the pulse of my heartbeat.

Landing on the ground in front of the door, Nehamae places her small golden palm against it. She turns to look at us over her delicate shoulder. And shakes her head.

"It has been sealed completely. Not by mage magic or Grim trickery this time, but by something else: the sacrificial lifeblood of four demons."

I feel her words like a kick to the chest. There's only one source I can think of for that much self-sacrificed demonic lifeblood, and it can't be good. My heart squeezes for Dani even as my mind whirls back to concern for the four of us.

"What does that mean? Can we go through the door—can you open it?"

"I can open the door," she says, but her tone isn't exactly encouraging. Which is why it's no surprise that she follows up with, "But I can only open it for a spirit. Not for a full flesh-and-blood body, much less three. Phoenix, you must go through alone."

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