Page 27 of Run Like the Devil

As much as that could be called fine, I guess.

I’d gone through a lot in my life, had suffered enough traumas to know how shit like that took time. It was like a slice to my brain, one that would heal slowly. I couldn’t put everything on hold just to deal with that, however.

Besides, I enjoyed the distractions. I preferred focusing on getting to the Plains, on dealing with Hubis rather than stewing about that memory.

I could do something about Hubis—I couldn’t do shit about what I’d experienced. The entire world where that had happened, both the victim and the attackers were all gone. The memory was just an echo.

An echo that still plays on repeat in my head when I close my eyes.

The worst part about it? The way the Lords treated me, the caution in their words, the distance between us. Just when I’d felt as if we’d figured something out between us, the floor had dropped out and we’d plunged into some new, deep water.

I took a deep breath as I looked at the way ahead. Yazmor carried a backpack with a single book inside it, the only one Tyrus had found that contained information about the Path. It held stories, but they were all second-hand and about as trustworthy as writing on bathroom walls.

Still, we could only hope that something inside them might give us an edge.

“Ready?” Yazmor asked, offering me a side-look and a smirk that said he was having far more fun than he should have. Then again, Yazmor had seen so much, there wasn’t a lot that was new for him. This was one of the rare places he’d never been.

He, just like Gorrin, could pass to the Plains on their own, without having to go through all this. Since Yazmor was a remnant, since he had never sold his soul, the Plains didn’t keep him out. Still, our odds of survival were far better if we traveled together, and those odds were dismal to start with.

The Path was carved out of the wall of the Chasm, a walkway that climbed up, twisting along, closed in on both sides by the rockface.

Instead of answering, I took one step, over the break between the gray rock of the Chasm and the black of the Path. Passing through it felt like when an elevator first started to move, when things shifted around me and I had to regain my balance. No one could find this path by accident and wander on in without realizing. That shift served as a warning, and it screamed in my head to turn back.

I stumbled, grasping the face of the wall to my left to stay upright. That feeling in my skull was far too similar to a command, to the sensation of when Gorrin had ordered me do something and I’d tried to resist. It was Hubis warning souls not to venture any farther.

Hubis didn’t own my soul, though, so he could fuck off with that. I curled my fingers on the rock face and used the grip to pull me forward another step. One after another, I forced myself onward, the pain intensifying, feeling like molten lava sloshing through my brain.

That didn’t matter, though. I couldn’t let it stop me. We knew others had made it past here, so I could, too.

I lurched forward, and after another few steps, the pain disappeared so fast, it was like it hadn’t been there. I clung to the wall, panting hard as I tried to regain my breath.

I turned to find the Lords just behind me, telling me that they’d followed even as they’d seen me struggle. They’d watched my pain, watched me nearly collapse, but they hadn’t given up.

Instead, they’d trudge right into those flames, following me no matter what.

It made me laugh as I turned and sat on the steep walkway, giving myself a moment to recover.

They made it through the place where that warning was, until all five of us safely got to the other side. None of them looked any better than I did.

“The fuck are you laughing at?” Hale asked, the receding pain no doubt responsible for his sharp words, given how careful he’d been around me lately. “I know you don’t mind a bit of roughness, but fuck, that was way more than I’m into.”

“I was just thinking—the saying is always, ‘I’d follow you into hell.’ I never figured I’d find people willing to follow me into Heaven.”

“Trust me—the Chasm is easy compared to where we’re headed,” Gorrin said.

“Fair enough.” I got to my feet, ignoring the way my head ached and my legs already felt like jelly. The Path wound up through a narrow crack in the walls, then turned, hiding the rest from view. According to Yazmor, we knew beyond that turn, beyond what we could see, but the Path existed outside of the Chasm or the Plains. It was a tunnel that connected the two, meaning we had no idea what we might find.

I peered at the Lords, a smile threatening to spread across my lips. I fought it because if they saw it, they’d never let it go without me admitting the reason.

And I really didn’t want to have to say what I thought.

Heaven or Hell—there’s no one else I’d want with me right now.

* * * *

So this is the hurry up and wait, right?

I’d taken those first fateful, terrifying steps onto the Path expecting nonstop action. It had felt like the gunshot at the start of the race.

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