Ceris was right. My family would be disappointed in me. They would want me to escape and live, even if I didn’t feel like it. I couldn’t imagine a life, even if for only one day, without them, but they would have wanted me to go on. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. For now, I would honor my family and leave, but only because it was better than the alternative of curling up here and waiting for Imha to come play with me whenever it pleased her. The last thing I wanted was to be her toy. I would rather she killed me and be done with it.
I leaned against the wall, cringing when my muscles pulled and my injuries protested. I used the wall to support myself and stood.
Keisha grabbed my wrist. “Let’s go.”
A wave of dizziness assaulted me after the first step, and Ceris hooked her arm around my waist. All my nerves screamed for me to push her away, but I couldn’t afford it. Not right now.
“How did you two get here?” I asked.
A slow smile appeared over Ceris’s features. “One of the servants is enchanted to report to me. She told me Imha is planning on using you to lure me here tomorrow.”
“Why tomorrow?”
“Imha’s joke for Thanksgiving.”
Tomorrow was Thanksgiving. Already? And my family wouldn’t be here to celebrate with me.
A pain like a knife twisting in my gut ripped through me, and I took a deep breath.
“She’s sicker than you,” I muttered.
Ceris laughed, and it sounded almost as evil as Imha. “So we hurried things and came today.”
Besides her evil laugh, her words made her sound as if she cared, which I knew for a fact she didn’t.
Keisha opened the door and peeked out. “It’s clear.”
Millions of questions whirled in my mind. How was Keisha with Ceris? Where were Victor and Micah? I still didn’t know how exactly Ceris and Keisha got in here without being seen, being sensed.
One question clouded my mind. “How long has it been since I was taken?”
“Six days,” Keisha answered, ushering us out of the cell.
The corridor was clear, if we didn’t count the three dead demons on the floor. Their reek filled my nostrils, and the gooey, green blood oozed from their wounds. I pressed a hand over my mouth to keep from throwing up.
Down here it didn’t look like the Greek building I had been in before. It looked more like a medieval dungeon with gray stone walls and steps and torches lighting the corridors.
Keisha stopped before the stairs and turned to us, gripping her sword tight. “Things are about to get crazy.”
I held her arm as she was about to turn back. “Wait. What is the plan?”
“To get away from here.”
I looked at Ceris. “Can’t you just poof us out of here?”
“Not here,” Ceris said. “We have to step out of the protective circle, and then I can poof us.”
“Okay,” Keisha said, sounding annoyed. “Are we ready?”
I took a deep breath, and pain rippled through my wounds. “Not really, but what choice do I have?”
We rushed up the stairs and paused before a wide, heavy wooden door. Keisha put her finger over her lips before poising her sword.
She flung the door open and stabbed the first demon before it could turn. The second growled and swiped its claw toward her. Keisha parried it with her sword, cutting its flesh. Then, as it pulled the other arm back to land a new blow, Keisha whirled around, gaining momentum with her sword and cutting the demon’s throat. The creature fell on the ground, making guttural sounds.
Keisha stepped over the body and pulled out her bow and an arrow as more demons appeared at the end of the corridor.
She hit three in the forehead, and Ceris took out two more with her pink bolts. The others were too close, and Keisha let go of the bow and pulled out her sword again.
A wave of demons rushed toward us, but Keisha didn’t seem affected. She actually met them halfway, brandishing her sword with elegance. She was like fire, forcing them apart, cutting a path through the gore.
If I forgot the fact that she was killing demons and we were trying to escape, it was kind of enchanting. It was as if she was dancing with her weapons, and she was a hell of a dancer.
“She’s a hero,” Ceris said.
I stilled. “What?”
“You know, like Achilles and Hercules.”
That information took a minute to process through my brain. “Are you telling me she’s the daughter of one of you and a human?”
Oh, God.
“No. That’s Grecian and Roman legend. The real version is different.” She stared at me, probably enjoying this too much. “Heroes are created, chosen really, by the Fates in times of need. They chose Keisha and gave her special abilities like her knowledge of fighting, her strategy skills, her faster healing, and her increased strength, agility, and stamina.”
“Oh.”
“Are you two coming?” Keisha spoke up from the middle of the corridor, one of her hands on her waist and her lips pressed thin.
I looked around. A dozen demons lay dead at our feet, and I did my best not to throw up.
Ceris and I skirted around the bodies—I held my breath so the stench wouldn’t make me puke—and met Keisha in the corner.
“So, there’s the exit.” Keisha pointed to the door on the other side of an empty medium-sized room. “If I’m correct, the outside will be swarming with demons. I’ll do everything I can to hold them back, but we can’t stop moving or they will overrun us.”
“Moving where?” I asked.
“To the right,” she said. “There’s a path between two buildings, a hill, then a wall. We cross the wall, and Ceris can poof us out of here.” She put emphasis on the word poof, and Ceris rolled her eyes. “Ready?”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. “Do you have to ask?”
“Here.” Keisha threw me a dagger.
I caught it, glad my hand closed around the hilt, not the blade. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
She shrugged and ran. Ceris and I followed her, and we sprinted across the room just as the doors burst open and the first wave of demons emerged.
“Oh, God.”
Ceris raised her hand and flung pink bolts at them, and Keisha engaged them in battle.
“Don’t stop moving!” Keisha yelled, pushing through the demons.
Ugh, easy to say.
Ceris brought up a pink shield before us and pushed a few demons back. We made it through the doors, and I inhaled deeply. The air wasn’t fresh, but it was crisper than in the dungeons.
A new wave of demons came crushing down on us. Ceris tugged me, and we ran to the right. Each step brought pain shooting through my wounds, but I gritted my teeth and kept going.
We were running along the path between two Persian-style buildings when right in the middle of it Ceris gasped and faltered. “I can feel Imha and Omi. They are coming.”
Her hold on me tightened, and she rushed our steps.
More demons came barreling down from both buildings, snarling, their talons ready.
Keisha ushered us past her. “Go!”
Ceris didn’t hesitate. But I did. “No!” I tried fighting Ceris, but she used magic to make me come with her. “She can’t take them all.”
“It’s her choice.”
“You can’t be serious.”
She didn’t answer.
I whipped my head to the side, but my wound pulled and I cried out. Disheartened, I focused on the sound of the swords clashing and the grunts of fallen demons. The sound never really lessened. I hoped Keisha was able to keep up with us.