“He was in your care!” he ground out. “What happened to him! I can taste his panic!”
“I don’t know!” she screamed up at him. “I was portaled out! I got back as fast as I could, but Minos, they portaled me to another part of Limbo!” her panic at that statement began to sink in.
“Minos,” she cried out, placing her hands up in a placating way. “Minos, I am old. I cannot easily be portaled. You know who this must be. No one else could have given me such a concoction without me knowing.”
Minos growled out his frustration, continuing to stalk to the old bar, which was in utter disarray. There was no sign of his Adam, either.
“He will be fine, Minos,” she pleaded, running to keep up with him and reaching forward as if to touch him, but she thought better of the action. “They will not harm him. The Leadership Team merely thinks they’re returning him to where he belongs. He will be fine, Minos,” she repeated. “He will not be harmed upstairs.”
Minos growled, but she continued. “Lucifer will put in the paperwork. Or go up there himself if he needs to, I’m sure. You will have your Adam back. They may not act quickly, but it will be set to rights, Minos.”
Minos knew she was right, and yet… that taste of panic. He could not be separated from his Adam. Hewouldnot be separated from his Adam.
He could not portal upstairs. He did not have that capability. Not all angels could portal, however, and yet they were still here. He thought about that as he sniffed and tasted the air. The panic was fainter now, but he still felt it. His Adam was not close. The thought sent a spear of pain through him, but he focused on it, channeled it.
“There are passageways,” he said, stopping and turning to look down at Pandora.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“There are passageways. To upstairs. And topside. And below. Scattered throughout Limbo. Not everyone can portal. There are passageways, Pandora.”
She looked stricken at his statement, but she didn’t deny it.
“One such passageway to hell exists in my chamber. There are others, however. The angels would have passageways as well.”
Pandora slowly began to shake her head. She understood what Minos was asking.
“You are old,” he continued, and he knew how disturbed she was because she did not even make a joke about him commenting on her age. “You are old, and you would know where these things are. You are the queen of Limbo, after all. You know all her secrets. All her rooms. They whisper that you helped create some of those places.”
She was frantically shaking her head now, and her eyes were bright with tears. The demons around them had stopped, staring at the two of them. Minos folded his oversized form down, taking one of Pandora’s hands in his. Her hands were half the size of his now. She let her hand rest limply in his, still shaking her head.
“Pandora, I need you to take me to an upstairs passageway.”
“Minos,” she gasped out. “They will file the paperwork. Lucifer will step in. They will fix it.Please, Minos,” she breathed out. “Pleasedon’t ask this of me.”
“I am sorry, Pandora, but I must. I cannot be separated from him. I can taste his panic, his anger. I am being ripped apart by being separated from him, and I must go to himnow.”
Pandora shook her head again, but Minos stated, “As Judge of the Damned, Infernal King of the Underworld, I command your mortal soul to show me to an upstairs passageway.”
Minos watched as a tear leaked down Pandora’s cheek, and she tightened her hand in his. “But Minos, you cannot go upstairs without dispensation.”
Minos shook his head, but she continued on. “If you go through that passageway, you will be destroyed, Minos. Please, your Adam would not want that!Please!”
Minos merely repeated, “I command your mortal soul. Show me immediately,”
Pandora hung her head, let go of Minos’ hand, and began walking with Minos following closely behind.
Chapter17
Adam
Trying to circle around the bar hadnotworked; it turned out that Limbo really did defy all the laws of physics and logic. Adam had ended up in a massive, beautiful library, filled with nooks and crannies and desks, and yes, there seemed to be a famous mathematician working on a whiteboard and a very famous inventor reading in a corner chair.
But Adam could barely spare them a glance. Because Bitch Lady and her drab little minions were after him, and Adam was not getting a good feeling. Panic was setting in, because he didn’t know where he was, because he didn’t know where Minos was, and because if they wanted to catch him they probably could have, but they didn’t seem to be gaining on him, just steadily pursuing him.
And Adam has seen a few horror movies in his day, thank you very much. He always yelled at the idiots who were herded exactly where the bad guys wanted them to go, but he was finding newfound respect for the impossible situation those people were in. Being pursued by psychotic angels was stressful, and no options seemed to be the right options.
He couldn’t exactly turn around, because he’d just blunder straight into them. They obviously knew the terrain better than him, so it wasn’t like he could find some shortcut or take a side route. He had no weapons, and if there were demons around he totally would have asked for help, but he saw nothing but other humans. He had tried calling out once or twice, but most of them just looked up as he ran by, saw Bitch Lady and her crew behind him, and continued with what they were doing.
