The Stone Demon

Twenty-four





Navin waited by the exit from the Otherworld. He’d concluded that this was the way out because, quite helpfully, there was a huge sign marked Exit, which had appeared—along with an escalator—right after Donna had disappeared into the grove. Seriously, a freaking escalator.

He ran a tired hand through his damp hair and examined the moving stairway that supposedly led all the way up and out. It was long and smooth, shining with silver and chrome. It looked like something that belonged in a science fiction movie. Leaning against its shining metal sides, he slid down and sat on the dusty ground to wait.

He was always waiting for Donna. Not that he minded—she was his best friend, after all. That’s what you did for the most important people in your life. She always came for him when he was in trouble, and he would do the same for her. They had literally walked through Hell together (even if he’d been taken over by a demon at the time).

Newton. He thought of the moment when Demian had ripped the demon from his body and set him free. Navin had seen Newton’s true form, and it wasn’t something he’d forget any time soon. He swallowed and tried not to think about it too hard. Newton had been grateful, requesting a private “chat” with him before Demian had dragged him off to reprimand him about … whatever it was that Newton was in trouble for. Probably getting himself summoned and captured by Simon Gaunt in the first place.

But Navin’s heart was heavy. He had a suspicion—one that had been planted in his mind by Newton and growing with every moment that passed—that something was going to get in the way of a Happily Ever After.

Then Donna came bursting out of the grove, her hair wildly dishevelled and several scratches marking her face. The iron tattoos on her arms were whirling with desperate activity. She was breathless and wide-eyed, but the good news was that there was something clutched in one of her hands. Something that looked a lot like a silver pear.

Navin pulled himself out of his funk, forced a smile, and waved her over.



As she emerged from the thicket, Donna tried to get her bearings. Where was Navin? She could see the path that led down to the river, and the little town in the distance with its houses filled with watchful eyes, and then the magnificent Sunless City spread out beyond that. And yet now, at the end of the path, was a circular chamber and a high-tech escalator.

Donna felt like she had stepped from one film set to another. It was strange and disconcerting, but she could hardly say she was surprised.

Navin was waiting for her by the staircase. He looked sad, but as soon as he saw her he seemed brighter.

“Nav?” She couldn’t help herself. She had to check that it was still him. “You’re okay?”

“Sure, don’t worry. Newton’s really gone.” He glanced down at her hand. “You got the fruit?”

“Right here.”

She opened her palm and showed him the shining silver pear. Its skin shimmered beneath the spotlights that lined the walls of the escalator. It looked like one of those kitschy ornaments that people collect and keep in fruit bowls. She shoved it into her messenger back with the other artifacts, cringing as everything rattled together.

She looked at the grove one last time. Then she stood on tiptoe and scanned the surrounding roads. No sign of Demian. Were they really getting out of here? It seemed too easy. That always made her nervous.

It was quiet. Nothing stirred except her tattoos, shimmering along her arms and making her hands ache.

“What are we waiting for? We’ve got everything,” Navin said, nodding at the escalator. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ll be right behind you.”

“You should go first,” she replied. “Just in case.”

He smiled, but the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. “In case you need to protect me, you mean? We’re home free.”

“Navin … ”

His voice sounded strangely hollow. “I don’t want you to have to rescue me again. They can’t keep using me against you.”

Donna remembered the Wood Queen’s bone blade against Navin’s throat—back in the Ironwood, what seemed a lifetime ago. Her fingers clenched. “They don’t care about what we want.”

He swept her a clumsy bow. “Ladies first. I insist.”

A tiny thread of worry slithered into her stomach, but Donna did as he asked. Surely it would be okay. What could be worse than Hell, right?

Her sneakered foot hit the bottom stair of the escalator and she began to ascend. She watched as Navin stepped on behind her. He was two stairs below her, and they looked into one another’s eyes as they moved up, up, beyond the bright lights and into the dark unknown.

And then the escalator stopped moving, and Donna knew things weren’t going to be as easy as she’d hoped after all. She should have trusted her gut. Not that there had been anything she could actually do. Not when she hadn’t even known what was wrong in the first place.

Navin met her troubled eyes. “Uh-oh,” he said.

“Yeah.” She swallowed, looking below them and seeing how far they’d already traveled. They were high—impossibly high—and the escalator only went one way.

Well then, she thought. We can just walk.

“Come on,” she said. “How far can it be … ”

“Probably very, very far,” Nav muttered. But he began to climb with her and they seemed to make progress, for a while.

The stairs made an ominous grinding sound, and then reversed direction. Sending them back down into the Otherworld. Fast.

“Shit!” Navin yelled, gripping the moving rail for balance as they plummeted downward.

Donna stumbled and sat down on a step. She didn’t want to chance being thrown off entirely. Not that she figured much could really happen to you, once you were already sort-of dead.

Then the stairs stopped moving—and they were stuck again. The ground looked no closer than before, which of course made no sense at all.

Navin sat down beside her. He touched the back of her hand, and her tattoos swirled in response to his fingers.

“I think I know what might be wrong,” he said. He looked away from her.

“What?” Donna’s stomach hurt.

“It’s something Newton said just after he left my body. I didn’t want to think about it, not when I was just so grateful to be back to myself again, you know? I didn’t want to worry you.”

Donna grabbed his hand, wincing apologetically when she realized she was almost crushing him. “What did he say? You know you can’t trust him, right?”

He shook his head sadly. “I know. But even though I don’t trust him, I do believe him. On this one thing, I think I have to.”

She wanted to shake him. “Spit it out, then!”

A grim smile touched his mouth. “As usual, Underwood, you’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head.”

She just glared at him.

“‘Spit it out.’ That’s just it. That’s the problem—I didn’t. You know … ” He raised an eyebrow. “Spit.”

Donna wished she could make some kind of crude joke so that they could move on to figuring out how to get the escalator moving again. But the expression on his face was too serious. It wasn’t like Navin at all, and it scared her.

“The water, Don. In the River of Memory and Forgetting. I swallowed a whole bunch of it when I jumped in after you.”

No, no, no.

“No,” Donna said. This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. They were supposed to get out of here—together—and move on to the final stage of the plan. She had to make the Philosopher’s Stone and she needed Navin with her. She couldn’t do this without him.

She couldn’t lose him, not again. This time it might be forever.

He shook his head, placed his fingers on her lips. “Don’t,” he said. “I knew it when it happened. He warned me. I just hoped … ” He shrugged, unable to continue.

“You just hoped it wasn’t true,” she finished.

“Yeah. And when I got on the escalator and we started moving, I really allowed myself to think that I’d gotten away with it.”

Horror dawned on Donna, filling her heart with ink-stained fear. “We’ll figure something out. I’ll—”

“No.” Navin shook his head. He had visibly paled, but he seemed composed enough. “You have to take the ingredients out of here. You don’t need me for that.”

“But I do,” she whispered, eyes burning.

They held hands for a long moment, and Donna counted the beats of her heart.

And then something else happened. Navin’s stair started moving down while hers resumed its ascent. They were moving in opposite directions—on the same freaking escalator—and there was nothing either of them could do about it. She felt nauseated trying to make her brain process what was happening, the sheer impossibility of it.

“No!” Donna screamed, trying to run back down against the upward drive of the mechanism. But no matter how fast she moved, Navin continued to slip further and further away.

“I love you, Donna!” he called. “Take good care of yourself.”

His final words were for her. He was so selfless, and this wasn’t fair.

Donna glanced up, feeling desperate, and realized that she was approaching what could only be the top of the escalator. A summit that hadn’t even existed until now. More demon tricks.

She clenched her fist and punched the moving handrail with every bit of the strength in her iron hands. She rarely cut loose like that, not completely. It was too dangerous.

The results should have been staggering. But her fist bounced off the rubber and metal and all she got for her effort was an agonizing shooting pain through her knuckles.

She screamed with frustration, then took a deep breath. Preparing herself. She gripped the silver rail and tried to stop the escalator’s inexorable progress. She threw a wild glance over her shoulder, trying to catch sight of Nav, but he was nothing more than a pinprick at the very bottom.

Donna breathed deep and pulled.

The metal gave way with a rending, shrieking sound. She managed to tear the entire section of rail off its moorings—

But it was hopeless. The stairs were still moving, closer and closer to the top.

Then the escalator stopped. Her eyes widened. It had stopped ! She could run down again, back to Navin.

Donna flew down the stairs, wondering how long it

would take her to reach the bottom. She already felt ex-hausted, but she didn’t care. Not many people would consider entering the Otherworld by choice, even once. But to do so twice? Probably she was crazy, which was fine by her. She was sure she’d go even more crazy knowing that Navin was stuck down there while she went about her business in the world above without him.

Her chest burned and her knees ached, but she kept going.

Until the stairs suddenly sprang into life once more, and they slid upwards faster than ever, taking her with them.

“Shit!” She kicked the side of the stairway. It didn’t make her feel any better.

She sat down in despair and waited for the escalator to dump her at the top. She wasn’t getting down; she knew that now. Navin wasn’t getting out. He’d drunk water from the river and this was the price.

Opening her bag, Donna gazed at all the pieces of the puzzle. The Ouroboros Blade, something that had possibly already served its purpose by getting her here. The Cup of Hermes, the glittering demon tear, and now the shining pear, fruit of the Gallows Tree—all these things had brought her to this place. She squeezed her hands together. Was it worth it? Could creating the Philosopher’s Stone be worth Navin’s life?

Donna already knew the answer to that.

Biting back a sob, she jumped off at the top and ran out into cold darkness.