It worked. Your Lincoln is awake. It must have been enough of a command that the sister could follow it.
Lincoln pauses behind Sakura, lifts his baculum sword high and finally, plunges it into her rib cage. Sakura’s hands fall from my neck as she tumbles to the ground. Her skin starts to bubble with crimson, like she’s boiling in her own stolen blood. Sakura screams in agony as more of her body gets eaten away. Within seconds, she’s nothing more than a bloody skeleton on the pagoda floor.
I whip around to see what’s become of Sakura’s sister. The one-time blood slave smiles as her body turns from solid flesh back into red mist. Bit by bit, she disappears.
The pagoda turns deadly quiet. I pat the puncture wounds on my neck. Still there, still oozing. I wish we had our first aid kit with us, but Lincoln lost his pack ages ago in Nefer’s prison.
I turn to Lincoln and force a smile. “Well, that was a whole lot of awful.”
“Agreed. I liked your hell better.”
“Me, too.” I glance around the pagoda. “Where’s the Veil of Fire? It should reappear, now that we’ve killed Sakura. She was the only thing blocking it before.”
From the corner of my eye, a flickering light catches my attention. I follow the brightness, and find that it’s shimmering through the hole that Sakura’s sister punched in the pagoda wall.
“I think I found it.” I jog out of the building to find the sheet of flame flickering on the small foot bridge.
Lincoln grabs my hand. “Hurry, it won’t last long.”
# # #
Lincoln and I step through Veil of Fire, finding ourselves back inside the secret passage leading to Armageddon’s throne room. Only this time, the Veil flickers to our left instead of our right. I exhale a long rattling breath.
We made it. We passed through the Veil of Fire.
Seconds pass before Anubis appears in the shadows, holding a torch in his right hand. “You both passed through your personal hells.”
“Barely,” I say. “Where are Kiya and Nefer?”
Anubis straightens his stance, as if preparing his body for a blow. “They haven’t arrived yet.”
I chuck him on the lower arm. “Sorry, Anubis. I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”
“Are there any rumors about the prison break?” Lincoln asks.
“All of Hell has been alerted,” explains Anubis. “Everyone blames it on an eel-dragon. Some fool gave her water.”
I can’t help but smile. “That would be us.”
A small smile rounds Anubis’s mouth. “The official word is that all the prisoners were killed. But they’d say that even if some were still at large. It wouldn’t do to have Hell’s official escape record tarnished. Nefer and Kiya may still be heading this way.” A muscle flickers along Anubis’s jawline. “How I hate waiting.” He looks at us as if to say ‘I know you’ll hate it, too.’
No way are we standing around. I’m nipping this little misunderstanding in the bud.
“We’re not waiting, Anubis.”
The demigod frowns. “I thought you had to kill Armageddon to free your son. That means waiting for Nefer, doesn’t it? You can’t get this far and not fulfill Verus’s prophecy.”
“Lincoln and I just killed the blood witch who cast the spell, so we don’t have to kill Armageddon anymore. Dead witch, spell over. We grab Maxon and go.”
“So you won’t…wait for Nefer.”
A small, guilty weight settles onto my shoulders. I do feel a shitty about leaving Anubis alone, especially after all he’s done for us. But Anubis is a big boy, unlike my son. At this point, my only real concern is how to get him to transport Lincoln and me into the throne room. I decide to lead with logic.
“Hey, you said yourself that Armageddon and his entourage are at the main tower to the walls of Hell.”
“That’s true,” says Anubis in a low voice. “He’s waiting for your father to arrive with his army.”
“Perfect.” I shoot him a hearty thumbs-up. “Then, there’s no better time for us to free Maxon.”
Anubis nods and stares at the fire-wall in dismay. I step up to him and gently set my hand on his shoulder. “Anubis, I know you’re worried. But we have to get in there and free Maxon. Lincoln and I can’t help Nefer here.”
Lincoln stares up the remaining length of tunnel. “Myla and I can try to sneak in without your vines. Where does this passageway lead?”
Anubis follows Lincoln’s stare. “To a tile in the center of the throne room floor.”
“Great.” I roll my eyes. “That’s about the most exposed spot to surface, I bet.”
“It is,” says Anubis. “That’s how Nefer got discovered the first time around. She wouldn’t want that for you.” He raises his arms. “I’ll have my vines set you down on the balcony. That’s your best chance for a sneak attack.”