Page 72 of Run Like the Devil

Tyrus didn’t pull the bag back toward him, his gaze serious. “You said just hearing something doesn’t change how we feel, but that to do so, we have to counter that voice. The voice tells me to prepare, to ready myself because in the end, I stand alone and have to eliminate all threats against me.”

“So why are you trying to pawn your heavy shit off on me?”

“I’m countering that voice. I’m giving up my advantage to you because I know I can trust you. So I’m letting you have the food and weapons I’ve gathered.”

I peered down at his hand, noting a slight tremble there. While his face hadn’t shifted, while he looked as if he were just handing me some worthless item, the shaking of his hand proved his true feelings.

Tyrus, so used to having to outthink everyone else, to remain one step ahead of them, to hide his advantage until he could use it to come out on top, was choosing to give that up. He was trusting me—and in turn, trusting the other Lords.

I took the bag, keeping my mouth shut at just how heavy it was, then slid the straps over my shoulders.

“The fuck is that?” Hale’s voice drew my attention, and when I turned, I first didn’t have a clue what he meant.

Until the moving fog—thicker and covering more the farther from the Path we traveled—lessened enough for me to make out a huge shadow ahead of us.

It was like a massive beast, a darkness that the fog made impossible to identify.

Maybe we shouldn’t have ventured this far out…

Before I could freak out, I realized it wasn’t moving. It felt as if it were, because of the swirling fog, but it hadn’t. I walked that way, drawn forward at the chance of anything different. We’d wandered for so long, surrounded by just trees and dirt and fog, that something new felt like a massive prize.

It was like getting lost at sea. Anything became a prize worth paddling for.

I passed Gorrin, who seemed frozen in place, but Yazmor had also gone forward. We walked side-by-side until I could make out the strange darkness.

A house?

As much as that made no fucking sense at all, I couldn’t deny it as more and more details became clear.

It appeared to be a two-story house, out in the middle of fucking nowhere, looking like something I’d find in any suburban hellscape, complete with a little white picket fence out front.

“Well that’s fucking unnerving,” Hale muttered as he took a spot beside me. “Never figured a picture-perfect place like that could look that fucking scary.”

“A house in suburbia is simply your own personal version of hell,” Tyrus answered.

“I’ve got to side with Hale,” I added. “Why is this out here?”

“Koller said there were others here, damned and demons who have survived as we have thus far,” Gorrin pointed out. “Maybe they built it?”

“If we were talking about some shitty tent or some sticks all bundled together to make shelter, sure. How would a person manage to build something like this though?”

Yazmor tilted his head, reminding me of a dog trying to understand a noise. “It was made from the Path. This place is a pocket, just like the Forgotten Caves. It’s formed out of the minds here.”

“I thought it was made by Hubis.”

“The place is made by Hubis and his feelings, his subconscious mind, but once inside it, it is impacted by anything else here. Enough time and parts of it can be shaped into new forms, such as this one.”

“So someone is living there?” I paused, then tacked on, “Living being a very generous term.”

Yazmor leaned forward and inhaled deeply. Was he sniffing the air? Well, isn’t that unsettling? After closing his eyes as if savoring the scent, he shook his head. “It seems empty. I only scent the four of you and Guardian.”

And wasn’t it weird that I almost felt better knowing Guardian was around? As if he were my new pet that I worried about.

“Should we stay here?” Tyrus asked.

I shot him an ‘are you stupid?’ look. “Have you never watched horror movies? Because when you find an abandoned house in the middle of the woods, you leave it the fuck alone. That is like, the number one rule.”

“What’s number two?” Yazmor asked.

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