Infernal Games by Jenna Wolfhart

29

“Sounds like a great idea, Mia,” Priyanka said. “But, um, the ladder’s gone.”

I held up Az’s ring. “I’m going to blast this at the ground so it will shoot me up to the ceiling.”

Serena and Priyanka stared at me with matching blank expressions. They seemed almost dumfounded by my words, and I couldn’t really blame them. In my head, it had made a lot more sense. I’d aim the ring’s power at the floor, and the force would shoot me up to the demons.

Hey, that kind of thing worked in the movies, right?

“Az would absolutely kill me if I let you do that,” Priyanka said flatly. “You’re more likely to break your neck than reach the cages. How the hell would you get down?”

“They have wings.” I shrugged. “I’d let one of them out, and they can take care of everything else.”

Serena narrowed her eyes. “For a second there, I thought this was a bad joke, but now I’m seeing that you’re actually serious about this.”

“Do you have a better idea?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Knock you out so that you can’t do anything stupid.”

I gave her a wry smile. “Perfect. That will definitely stop Lucifer from dragging Az back to Hell.”

“Eh, maybe we should let her try it,” Pri said with a shrug. “We can be ready to catch her in case it goes wrong.”

Serena moved toward Priyanka like a lioness. “Have both of you lost your goddamn minds? I don’t care what happened in some past life, Mia is a human now and—”

While they were busy bickering, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I wrapped my fingers around the ring and focused. In the past, the power had just come to me when I needed it the most. So, I had to convey the seriousness of the situation to the ring.

Please, I whispered to it. You’re Az’s ring. Can’t you sense he needs your help? Get me up to the ceiling so I can let the others out.

The ring buzzed to life. Flames of power raced up my arm and buried themselves in my heart. Pain thundered through me with the intensity of the magic, too much for my human body to hold. It exploded out of me and slammed into the ground. With a shriek, I launched up toward the cages.

My arms and legs flailed as I was momentarily suspended in air. Fear throttled my heart; my breath stuck in my throat. I glanced down at the floor. Pri and Serena stared up at me, jaws dropped. My god, the floor was far away.

Time to shove away that fear. Swallowing hard, I turned my attention up. The nearest cage, holding Phenex, was almost in my grasp. With eager fingers, I reached out. My fingers skimmed the metal bars. And then gravity took control.

I started to fall.

Panic ripped through me. With a scream, I grabbed at the cage, desperately trying to catch myself before I plummeted to the ground. I’d already used one blast. It would take time for the ring to charge back up again. I couldn’t screw this up. It might be our only chance to give Az the backup he needed to face down his King.

Plus, I really didn’t want to break all the bones in my body when I hit the floor.

A strange lightness filled my veins. It happened in the blink of an eye, too fast for me to truly understand it. And then I reached out, grabbed the bars, and pulled myself up to where Lucifer had left the key jammed into the lock.

Huh.That was weird.

Phenex stared out at me with wide, eager eyes. He shouted against his sock, but I couldn’t make out his words. With a deep breath, I twisted the lock and pulled.

The door swung wide and took me with it. I screamed, clutching the bars as my legs flailed beneath me. The cage shuddered and shook, almost knocking me off. I squeezed my eyes tight and tried to count to ten. I needed to calm my terror, but my hands had become slick with sweat. I wasn’t going to be able to hold on for much longer.

Suddenly, a strong pair of arms wrapped around me and gently pulled me away from the door. Phenex gathered me into his arms and soared down to the floor, where Serena and Priyanka were pacing back and forth. His wings thundered behind him as he set me down, and then he was off, unlocking the rest of the cages.

The reunion was short and to the point. The Legion surrounded me, thundering me on the back and roaring my name. Their frantic energy turned toward the door, and then they stormed out of the club to follow the others. It was a whirlwind of insanity. By the time they were gone, it was all I could do to breathe.

I smiled. Good luck, Lucifer.

Checkmate.

“What are we still doing here?” Priyanka asked when the silence descended upon us. “Come on. Don’t you want to see this?”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “I definitely do.”

We took off after the Legion, following the sound of thundering footsteps. It took us to a hidden set of stairs that wound down into the dark. I winced and exchanged uneasy glances with the girls, but it wasn’t like the shadows would stop us now.

Racing down the stairs, we stumbled into a room that could only be described as a dungeon. Instruments of torture lined the stone walls. Stakes and chains. Metal contraptions and spiky wheels. Flickering torches lit up the dark space, highlighting a path that led further into the darkness.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Serena said, her voice echoing against the stone walls.

I bit my lips. This was weird. Now that we were down here, the sound of the demons’ footsteps had faded into nothing more than the drip, drip, drip of nearby water.

Where had they gone? Where was the damn gate? Had I taken too long to release the Legion?

Had they all gone to Hell?

“Well, this has taken a dramatically creepy turn,” I muttered, taking a step away from the tunnel of darkness. “Can you still hear them?”

Serena let out a low whistle my and shook her head. “No. That’s the strangest thing about this. As soon as we stepped out of that stairwell, the footsteps stopped. It’s like they came this way, but then...”

I swallowed hard and stared into the darkness.

Vanished.

Surely not. There would have been a fight. Lucifer might be the King of Hell, but there was only one of him. He couldn’t just snap his fingers and smite six fully formed adult Princes of Hell. Could he?

“So, where’s this gate?” I turned to ask Priyanka, but she was no longer by my side. Frowning, I whirled on my feet, only to find that Serena wasn’t with me anymore, either. Dread coiled like a snake, ready to strike its venom into my heart. Blood roaring in my ears, I slowly stepped back toward the stairwell, scarcely daring to make a single sound.

Something weird was going on here.

“Serena?” I whisper-called to the dungeon. “Priyanka?”

I didn’t want to shout too loud. One of the lessons I’d learned from watching lots of horror movies was to never, ever wander around a creepy dungeon shouting for your missing friends. That was a great way to catch the killer’s attention.

No one answered my call.

Right. Time to listen to logic. People didn’t just vanish. There was something else going on here. A fae glamor of some sort. The others had run up against it, and it was hiding them. Or something like that. Serena would never leave me alone down here, so I knew she hadn’t raced up the stairs to safety. I doubted Priyanka would have, either. She was a good egg.

They had to be down here somewhere. I just couldn’t see them.

With a deep breath, I paced from one end of the dungeon to the next. I needed some help, and who better to assist with a fae glamor than the fae themselves? I grabbed my phone and punch in the number, only to realize there was no service underground.

Pressing my lips together, I cast a quick glance behind me and headed to the stairwell. I only needed a minute to make the call, and then I’d come back down here to wait on the fae, just in case something happened.

I raced up the winding stairs. My footsteps were loud against my ears, a sudden contrast to the eerie silence of the dungeon. When I reached the top landing, I shoved the door. It didn’t budge.

Frowning, I shoved harder.

It didn’t even crack an inch.

Adrenaline pumping through my veins, I threw all my weight behind my shoulder and slammed against the wood. Pain flared through my left arm, sharp and electric. I stumbled back and stared.

My lungs stilled. With timid fingers, I twisted the knob one more time and pushed. The door would not open. I’d been locked in. No one else was with me. My heart thundered against my ribs. He’d done this. It was the only explanation.

I’d somehow stumbled right into another one of Lucifer’s traps.

He had me right where he wanted.