Page 48 of The Demon's Pet

“Have you seen beyond the veil?” Sam called back to us.

“No,” Griffin and I said simultaneously. Griffin flew so smoothly that I barely had to hold on to feel safe. His back was so wide, so soft.

“Well, try not to freak out,” Sam yelled. “It might not be the way it was described to you.”

I sucked in a breath as we flew higher, the angry purple clouds showing hints of pink and gray as they rumbled in front of us, moving like shifting sands.

I’d been told the mid-realm was a disaster. A war-torn, mostly abandoned conglomeration of cities ruined by human greed and climate change. I’d been told that there was only a bit of inhabited land and that most places were overrun by supernaturals much worse than shifters.

It was a dangerous, lawless, dirty and polluted place, and anyone who escaped there and made it through the veil was sure to wish they were dead.

That was if they weren’t tortured to death by demons first.

I dug into Griffin’s fur and buried my face against him as we hit the cool wall of clouds that made up the veil. The air felt silky but charged.

We flew for several seconds in pure gray mist and then broke out into the open air again. Holding on tight to Griffin, I chanced a look down.

And frowned.

It didn’t look much different here than it did before the veil.

Large swaths of green grass and wildflower-covered hills stretched beneath me, with a little stream running between them.

In the distance was a village with buildings much like the ones I’d grown up around.

I widened my perspective, looking out farther, no veil to limit my view.

I made out cities far in the distance with rising, rotted skyscrapers and industrial areas. I saw lakes and rivers and forests filled with trees.

It didn’t look utterly uninhabitable or demon-infested. Sure, I couldn’t see that far, but it seemed not too different from the shifter lands.

Were these truly the fae barrens? Did those forests hide the fae wilds?

Mountains rose behind the large industrial area, hiding what was behind it. I was sure I was only seeing part of the mid-realm, but it was so thrilling to see so much more than I ever had.

I gripped Griffin’s fur harder, wondering if I would pass out.

I thought there would be only barren, burned land and clouds of smoke with wandering demons.

This world was beautiful and open, and I wanted to explore every minute of it.

“Don’t misunderstand,” Sam called back to us. “This is the nicest part of the mid-realm. After this, it does get darker. But whatever you’ve been told is an exaggeration. The celestials need to keep the shifters in line and supplying them with power, after all.”

“With power?” I murmured to myself. None of this made any sense.

Suddenly, I just felt very tired. The sense of dread I felt going through the veil had left me, and the confusion of everything just made it too hard to think.

Not to mention, I’d been stoned, attacked in the jail, and dragged over here without even a night’s sleep.

My body was collapsing from pure exhaustion, and I fell forward on Griffin, feeling like I was lying on fluffy blankets. I nuzzled my face in. “Good kitty,” I murmured, hoping he wouldn’t let me fall off if I went to sleep.

“Stop that!” Sam yelled out, hovering in the air with small motions of his wings as he looked back at us. “You stay awake. I can’t risk you falling off.”

“I was nearly executed!” I yelled at him. “I had a bunch of stones thrown at me, nearly died, used up all of my healing ability, got collared, and then dragged over here to ride a griffin and find out everything I knew is a lie! Of course I’m passing out!”

Griffin began to fly downward, gently so it didn’t feel like a sudden drop.

“Stop that!” Sam yelled. “We don’t have time to stop here. It’s a bad place for it.”

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