Page 59 of Immortal Throne

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

Zane held up the soft tortilla wrap and smacked me across the face.

I jerked back and hissed. “What the hell, Zane?”

Without hesitation, he raised the tortilla and smacked me again. With my hands bound behind my back, I stood beside Chupey in the warm kitchen, unsure what I was doing here, let alone why this demon was hitting me with the worst part of a taco.

Zane had lured me here with promises of unlocking my powers. I’d readily agreed because anything was better than sitting around in my room, nervously awaiting for the council to announce the start of the next trial. I’d expected an educational, much welcome distraction to ease my nerves.

I didn’t expect Zane to tie me up and slap me with food while my demon familiar watched and snickered.

“Don’t look at me,” Chupey said between pants. It was hot in here. “I would never support such blatant waste of good food.”

True.

I turned my glower back toward Zane.

“Come on, Sloane,” Zane said. “You need to at least try.”

“This is the single most stupidest thing I’ve ever participated in,” I said.

Zane sighed and lowered the tortilla shell. “Look. The Inferno doesn’t often allow much, if any, downtime between trials. You’re lucky to even have this morning as a break. You need to use this time to figure out a way to access that well of demonic magic lurking inside you. But you rely too much on your ability to kick ass.”

“Damn straight.”

Zane rolled his eyes. “That’s the point of this exercise. I’ve removed your ability to punch and strangle me. If you can’t resort to your fists, you might just reach for the unknown. It’s worth a shot.” He smacked me again.

My cheek stung. “Where did you even get this idea?”

“What? The tortilla?”

Smack.

I ground my teeth together. “Yeah. That.”

“I got the idea from a trend on that clock app you humans love so much.”

A trend? Clock app? What the fuck?

I thought about it for a few seconds, and when it clicked, I wanted to slap both him and myself.

He didn’t really mean…?

Oh my god. He did.

I shook my head. “Since when did phones work in the Underworld?”

“They don’t. Ryker isn’t the only one to slip past the Styx and slum it topside, you know.” He flashed a smug smile before slapping me across the face again. “Come on, Sloane. Use your power. Stop me.”

I tried to access the same anger I’d used to form a portal, the same anger that had lashed out at Mobius, but each time I sensed the tingle of magic, the power would slip from my grasp.

My thoughts kept drifting to the impending trial. The first two trials had been polar opposites of one-another–a waterworld escape room and the floor is lava. What next? What could they possibly do to me next?

Smack.

“Goddammit!” I hissed. The tortilla didn’t hurt so much as annoy me, but my cheek was beginning to sting.

“Maybe we should cut her,” Chupey said.

---