Page 9 of Phoenix Academy: Mayhem

"Also, Ari, could you light the way for us? Some blue fire would be nice right now."

"Let me try."

I take a deep breath, gather my powers to me, and fill my palms with fire just like Yohan taught me. It takes a few seconds, but as they spark to lift, heat and light fill the air. Then I cast my hands out and try to direct the fire like a wall to the left of us to light the way.

It's a little wobbly and strange, but the fire burns well, staying lit even without tinder or fuel. In the distance, I see a dark shape move away from its flame, and decide it might be best to keep a fire lit all the time here in Hell. If the demons are afraid of my blue power, all the better.

I hope and pray that soon someone will figure out a way to rescue us.

That Auerbach, or Dani, or both of them, will find a way out of Hell.

Because I can feel it back on Earth.

My body.

It's not going to stay alive forever.

And neither will the shifters, who are here body and soul, protecting me whether they want to or not.

We're doomed if no one saves us.

So we have to try to save ourselves.

* * *

As we pass by the grove of trees, then go beyond it, out into the darkness, I start to get nervous. Hell runs on rules none of us know. In the distance, I can hear tortured screams, curses and prayers to gods who will never answer them.

"I keep thinking about the penis flattener," Reggie says abruptly. "Think they really have one?"

"No," David dryly responds. "It's Hell, Reggie. I'm sure there are only unicorns and pixies around here."

"Pixies have sharp ass teeth. I don't want to fuck with a damned pixie, man."

David rolls his eyes. "Stop worrying about the penis flattener. They need something big enough to put between the plates for that, and we both know you don't qualify.

"You wound me." Placing a palm on his chest, Reggie makes puppy dog eyes. "I'm a grower, not a shower."

"Well then, I'm not wrong, am I? Unless you think the penis flattener will make your dick hard."

"It could. Maybe it's shaped like a mouth or something."

The look David shoots his best friend's twin is incredulous. Meanwhile, Xavier is somehow tuning both of them out, and I'm wondering at my attraction to all of them. Liking boys and men will do that to you—one minute you want to jump their bones, the next you desperately wish they'd stop putting their dicks in boxes or burping the alphabet, because suddenly the bone-jumping desire is wilting.

I still have crushes on them, though.

What a fool that makes me.

"Up ahead." Xavier's voice pulls me out of my thoughts. "Is that a building of some sort? It looks abandoned. Maybe no one's around.

"Or maybe it's full of tentacle demons waiting to rip out arms and legs off," Reggie suggests. "Let's go find out."

David says, "Wait a sec. Ari—what do your witch senses tell you?"

Closing my eyes, I reach my naturalistic senses out, letting them crawl along the ground and surge over the edge of the building. It's abandoned alright; moss and ivy climb its walls, and inside, plants have begun to grow between the linoleum tiles. Maybe that's how it was built though. This is Hell, after all. There are no rules.

But my senses feel into the past as well. There's a hint of pain, agony, torture, grief and anger long past. Souls were kept here. Souls that were made to feel and do awful things. Until whoever ran the torture moved on to something else, and left the building behind, because I suppose in Hell there is no such thing as prime real estate.

"It's empty. The only living things are plants. And... a few rats? I guess there are those even down here. But nothing to worry about. No demons."

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