Donny's Inferno (19 page)

CHAPTER 46

A
ngela was away for much of the next few days, dealing with further inquiries into Havoc's treachery. She came home each evening after visiting the mortal realm for takeout food, and told Donny what was happening: Havoc refused to reveal who had helped him plot the destruction of the council; more guards had been assigned to the barricade that kept the Merciless trapped inside the Depths; and discussions were ongoing about who would replace Havoc and those who had been slain on the council.

Donny was fine with the slow pace. He needed it to recover from his ordeal in Havoc's lair, and especially from his exposure to the Flames of Torment. Sometimes he woke up thrashing and screaming in his bed, his mind filled with a vivid, almost physical memory of the pain. During the day it was good to pass the time with Tizzy.
They played games, and he read her old Batman comics.

A week later he was woken by Angela in the middle of the night.

Donny blinked and dug grit from his eyes. “What's going on?”

“It's your dad,” she said.

Donny sprang up, electrified. “My dad?”

“He's here.”

“
Here?
What do you mean here? If he's here, that means—”

Angela nodded. “Sorry, Cricket. Get dressed and meet me downstairs.”

Donny ran down the stairs a minute later, still pulling his shirt over his head. “How did you know?”

“Howard got a message to me.”

Donny's brain felt numb, his thoughts muddled. “Then . . . what? Where is he now? In the caverns?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. We managed to find him and take him aside. Come on. I have a chariot waiting.”

•  •  •

The chariot clattered through the dim Sulfur night, only a few wisps of the fiery clouds lighting their way. Donny stood beside Angela as they rode, and she kept an arm around his shoulder.

“What happened to him?” he asked.

“I don't know exactly. Howard didn't give me a lot of detail.”

“Was it an accident? Was he sick?”

She looked at him, bit her bottom lip, and shook her head.

They rode another mile in silence.

“How am I doing?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I'm trying to be sad on your behalf and comfort you. Is it working? Am I a good friend?”

Donny didn't think he was capable of a smile just then. But he was. “Yeah. You're doing swell.”

•  •  •

From a half mile away, Donny recognized his father outside the mouth of the Caverns of Woe: tall, athletic, and like a movie star in his fine Italian suit. Zig-Zag was with him. Donny's father heard the chariot coming, and his face transformed when he saw Donny. He sprinted over to meet them as the chariot rolled to a stop, glancing for a moment at the remarkable long-legged runner who had pulled the vehicle.

“Donny,” his father cried. He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around his son. “It's true—they do have you! Did they hurt you? I tried to be good. I tried to save you.”

“Save
me
?” Donny said. He looked at Angela, who just shrugged back. “I don't need saving. Angela, what did you tell him? Dad, what did she tell you?”

His father glanced at Angela, and then his eyes returned to her for a longer look. He seemed confused at first, and
then his jaw dropped and he sucked in a great breath of air. He lurched to his feet. “It's
her
!” he said.

“Nice to be remembered,” Angela said.

“It's all right, Dad,” Donny said.

“I wouldn't go that far,” Angela sniped. Donny frowned at her, and then he reached out and took his father's cold, waxy hand.

Benny tried to push Donny behind him. “She's a demon, Donny. A monster.”

“Yeah, I know,” Donny said. He squirmed back in front. “And she's a major pain sometimes too. But, Dad, you have to tell me: What did she say when she went to our house?”

Benny looked at her, and back at Donny, blinking madly. “She . . . she said that you were here. In Hell. She said that they had you, and that you were burning, in the flames. She told me if I didn't change my ways . . . if I wasn't a good man . . . that you'd suffer until the end of time.”

Donny looked at Angela, his head wagging. “Well, that was a lie.”

Angela pinched a finger and thumb close together, almost touching, and mouthed the words,
Small one
.

“Why'd you do that?” Donny asked her.

“Hey, you asked me to make him go straight.” She folded her arms. “That seemed like a surefire way get it done. I figured he might care more about what happens
to you than what happens to him. Isn't that what human parents do?”

Benny held Donny by the shoulders. His voice fell to a whisper. “What? Donny, what? I don't understand.”

“I'm not in any danger, Dad. I wasn't in the flames. But . . . well, that's Angela over there. You saw what she is. I thought maybe she could scare you into being good.”

Donny felt his father's arms tremble. “You sent her to me?”

Donny nodded. “I was right outside the house, Dad. I watched it happen. I wanted her to warn you, so you didn't end up here.”

Benny let go of Donny. He looked from Angela to Donny and back again, trying to absorb what he'd been told. Finally he breathed deeply and lowered his head. “I see. I get it. Thank you for trying. I . . . I did my best, Donny. After she came, I was better. I was as good as I could be.”

“I heard what you did, Dad. I know you tried.”

Benny kneeled in front of Donny. “I did it for you. When I thought they were making you suffer . . . Donny, you know I care about you more than anything, right?”

Donny couldn't talk. His eyes were burning. He sniffed, mashed his lips together, and nodded.

Benny hugged him again, for a long while, and then he stood and looked at Angela.

“So, we didn't expect you so soon,” she said. “What happened?”

Benny thought about that for a moment, and his eyes widened. He gritted his teeth and put a hand on the back of his head, probing. Then he looked closely at his palm and fingers but didn't seem to find anything. He shivered a little from a terrible memory. “You get into business with the wrong people, sometimes they don't want you to get out.”

“Ah,” Angela said, nodding. “Well, don't worry. Whoever punched your ticket is probably not too far behind you.”

Benny sighed. “Now what happens?”

“The judgment. The punishment,” she told him.

“Will it be bad?”

“Won't be a picnic.”

Donny watched as his father tried to come to terms with his fate. Benny stood straight, took a deep breath, and tugged the bottom of his jacket. He looked at Donny and smiled weakly. “I tried to change at the end. I know it wasn't for long. But I was a different guy, no question about it. It's funny, you can actually do a lot of good in a small amount of time. Will that make any difference?”

“It might, actually,” Angela said. “But . . .”

“Too little, too late?”

She twirled a finger at the fiery, cavernous world around them. “Apparently.”

“Angela, wait,” Donny said. “Can't my dad help out around here? You have the doctor, and the chef. They're not in the caverns.”

“Firstly, we don't really have a need for a hit man,” Angela said. Benny started to object, and then closed his mouth. “Secondly, both the doctor and the chef were in the caverns for years before we took them out. And remember, they only delay the inevitable by—”

“Hey,” Benny said. “Donny. It's okay. Whatever's coming, I earned it. I chose that life. Now I'm going to pay for it.”

Donny tugged at Angela's arm. “But . . . can I visit him?”

“Donny,” Benny said. Donny knew that tone of voice. It was the one his father used when he was at his most serious. It usually preceded a lecture about paying attention at school or dressing neatly or doing his chores.

“Donny, this is it. I tried to make it right, but it was too late. I get it. You have to get it too. You learn from this, you hear me? I did so many things wrong in my life. I kept it a secret because I never wanted you to find out about it. That should have told me something right there, I guess. But I liked the money. I liked the thrills that came with it. All that was a mistake. Most of my life was a mistake. But I did at least one good thing: I brought you into this world, Donny. You're better than I am in every way. Who knows? Maybe that'll work in my favor.” He looked at Angela. “A few years off my sentence, maybe?”

She shrugged. “It's like bowling. I don't know how they keep score.”

Benny took Donny by the shoulders. “Be good, Donny. I know I don't even have to tell you that, but I felt like saying it anyway.” He kissed Donny on the forehead and smiled at him one more time. Then he looked sideways at Angela. “What do I do now?”

Angela gestured toward the Caverns of Woe. “Walk inside. Keep walking until someone comes to you. Then it'll just . . .
happen
.”

Benny gulped and squeezed the knot of his tie. “Uh. What'll happen?”

“You'll spend an awfully long time reflecting on your wrongs. That's about all I can tell you.”

Benny nodded. He gave Angela a long appraising stare. “So, you're watching out for my son now?”

“We're watching out for each other,” she replied.

“Not sure how I feel about that.”

“Well, you're not exactly calling the shots these days, are you?”

Benny pointed at Donny but spoke to her. “You just take good care of my boy.” He lowered his head for a moment, mumbled something to himself, and then looked at Donny one more time. Donny stepped toward him, but Benny raised a hand to stop him. He turned and walked into the cavern. The mist started to obscure him. Donny watched his father's silhouette slowing, holding his hands out to find his way as the mist thickened.

Benny looked to his right and stopped. Another shape
appeared, dim and thin, rising from the heavy mist that was pooled around his knees. It took him by the hand and led him deeper into the caverns, and then Donny's father passed from sight.

Angela and Donny stood for a while in silence. He reached for her hand.

“Angela?”

“Yes, dear?” she said, giving his hand a squeeze.

“Can we go home now?”

Well, what do we have here? Someone who likes to peek at the end of the book to see how things turn out? Or even worse, some bookstore browser who thinks it's perfectly acceptable to jump to the last page without the decency to make a purchase?

Obscura here. I never understood people like you. And I'm not at all happy to have caught you in the act. But I knew it was coming. Turn around. I'm right behind you.

Not really, obviously. Although wouldn't it be hilarious if I were? Criminy, is it so hard to read the pages in the order they were written? Shall we begin your life with the funeral?

For those of you reading this after digesting the story, the way it was intended—kudos. To the rest of you: I'll be waiting for
you
at the end, you fiends.

Seriously,

A. O.

Photo by Martin Walsh

P. W. CATANESE is the author of eight fantasy-adventure novels with more than 600,000 books in print worldwide. His Books of Umber trilogy has been nominated for six regional book awards, including the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Florida Sunshine State Young Readers Award, and the Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award.

A
LSO BY
P. W. C
ATANESE

The Books of Umber Trilogy

Happenstance Found

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The Further Tales Adventures

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The Eye of the Warlock

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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First Aladdin hardcover edition March 2016

Text copyright © 2016 by P. W. Catanese

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The text of this book was set in Perpetua.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Catanese, P. W.

Donny's inferno / by P. W. Catanese. — First Aladdin hardcover edition.

pages cm

Summary: In a moment of desperation, Donny Taylor accepts an offer from a demon who will save his life if he works for her, and soon he finds himself in Hell but a new, kinder, gentler Hell where not everyone is happy about the changes and some will do anything to bring back traditional ways.

ISBN 978-1-4814-3800-1 (hc) ­— ISBN 978-1-4814-3802-5 (eBook)

[1. Hell—Fiction. 2. Future life—Fiction. 3. Demonology—Fiction. 4. Fathers and sons—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.C268783Don 2016

[Fic]—dc23

2015004461