Page 93 of A Match Made in Hell
I purse my lips. ‘Maybe there’s a book on it.’
‘Maybe.’ She can’t hide the slight roll of her eyes. ‘Or you could –’
‘No.’
‘You don’t know what I was going to say.’
‘I can see the thought forming in your mind.’
‘Only because it’s in your mind too.’ She cocks her head. ‘If you want to know how your powers work, you need help from someone who’s experienced them first-hand.’
I clench my fists. I don’t want his help. I don’t want toneedhis help.
But she’s right. If I want to have a shot of saving Asphodel, I’m going to have to let that lying, scheming bastard out of Glacantrum.
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Sadly, there’s no map to lead me there, and I don’t want to risk seeking out a demon in case I lose control again, which means I need to figure out how to portal. I suspect this will go poorly. After telling Harper to find somewhere safe to hide, I close my eyes and try to imagine that squeezing sensation, the darkness enveloping me, but nothing happens. I resist the urge to throw things, and try again, and again, and again.
Maybe I need to know what Glacantrum looks like for it to work. I picture a cave system like the one in Asphodel, only the walls are made of ice, stalactites descending from the ceiling, frost crunching beneath my feet.Take me there, I urge my powers.Take me there.
And they do.
My body constricts, and I nearly let out a whoop, because I did it, I really did it, and I emerge in an area almost exactly as I imagined. Everything is blue and white and frosted. My breath freezes the moment it leaves my mouth, crystallising into a fresh snowflake before drifting to the ground.
Instinctively, I wrap my arms around myself, although I’m not cold. My powers keep me heated. As I head down the powdered path, the walls either side of me open up to reveal cells. The bars are coated with ice. Most of the inhabitants are frozen over. The ones that aren’t moan when they spot me,calling for help. I shake my head with a sympathetic smile, like when you’re trying to avoid a charity collector on the street but still want them to think you’re a nice person.
If I let them go now, the demons will do far worse than give them frostbite. I’ll free them as soon as Asphodel is safe.
The path twists and winds with no end in sight. Knee-deep in snow, I trudge on, a blizzard of hail pelting my face while the ice caking the walls thickens.
Then terror hits me.
This isn’t survivable. Not for long. And if Sath has frozen over, if he’s –
I might have sent him to the Void without realising it.
My cheeks sting as tears freeze the second they hit skin.
I might have wanted to punish him, but I didn’t wantthis.
‘Sath?’ I call out hopelessly. ‘Are you there?’
A faint voice says my name.
I stop. My heart stops. It hasn’t been a week since I last heard that voice, but the familiarity of it has my lips tugging upwards. Plus, for all my claims to hate him, I am pleased not to have accidentally killed him.
I plough through another pile of snow to reach his cell, waving a hand to unlock it without any effort at all, like my powers are delighted to be in his presence.
He’s huddled in the far corner. Ice encrusts his clothes, and his hair is so crisp with frost it looks like I could walk over there and snap it in two. I try to keep my face impassive as I take in the way he shivers and shakes, his lips blue and skin translucently pale. Like he’s turning into a ghost.
I don’t want him to know how much that upsets me.
With no preamble, I say, ‘I need to learn how to control my powers without falling apart.’
Sath clears his throat and tries to stand. He fails. I rock on my heels – I will not go to him, not yet. From the floor, he finallycroaks out, ‘I’ll help however I can.’
‘First, I want the truth. The whole story, from the beginning.’
