Lost in Time (25 page)

He removed his sword and pushed his way to the front of the group. Next to him, the rest of the team did the same, their silver blades shining in the darkness.

The trolls faltered for a moment; silver was the only metal they feared. But they had been trained to fight, and they rushed forward, teeth and claws bared.

“Jack!” Schuyler yelled, as the largest troll flew at him.

“I’ve got him!” Jack said, gritting his teeth. He held out his blade directly as the troll attacked. He bent his knee to drive it upward through the beast’s sternum, using the troll’s own momentum to ram it into the wall.

The group fought as ferociously as the trolls, but for now, neither appeared to gain the upper hand. The Venators were not in their element. They were in unknown territory, and they could soon be overpowered. There were only six of them, but there might be hundreds of trolls.

Jack tried to collect his thoughts. They’d just been ambushed and he needed to take stock, try to find some advantage. The trolls had chosen a broad stretch of the corridor to attack, as it gave their large numbers an upper hand and the ability to come at them from all sides. Jack swiveled around and found a small narrow passageway, a tiny space created by one of the blockades, which was only a few feet behind them.

“Behind that wall!” he called, leading them to the crevice.

Sam shot him a crazed look. “But we’ll be trapped against the blockade!”

“Exactly,” Jack replied. “They’ll be forced to attack us one by one!’ There was no time to argue, and the team followed as Jack pushed backward, and they fought their way into the dead end.

“We’ll take turns,” Mahrus ordered, understanding the strategy. The space was so tight that only two of them could fight at a time. One fought the right side, while another covered the left. They were able to slow down the charge of the trolls, and choreographed every move. When it was their turn, Schuyler and Jack fought as a team. Schuyler would slash below while Jack went in for the kill, his silver blade forcing the trolls to the ground.

They were doing well when their group was suddenly attacked from behind as several trolls burst through the back wall.

Jack cursed. He’d forgotten the trolls’ inordinate strength to crush rock. “Sam! Ted! Cover the back!” The trolls kept ad-vancing, forcing the team to make a tighter circle. “We’ve got to surprise them when they come out, back to the wall!” Jack cried.

Sam and Ted pushed hard, turning their blades sideways.

They beat the trolls to the ground, pushing them to the side as the six of them moved back toward the wall. The smell of death and blood filled the air. They were fighting well, but Jack knew the trolls had more in store. He found his answer when he looked up and saw the trolls falling into the cavern from a hole they’d made in the ceiling.

“Watch out!” he warned as a dozen of them crashed onto the team, forcing Sam and Ted to the ground, knocking Dehua off balance, and striking Mahrus in the head.

The trolls rained down and inserted themselves between the companions, driving them apart. Jack and Schuyler fought back-to-back and lost sight of the others. “Jack, there’s too many of them. There’s no way we’re going to fight our way out of here. They can just keep sending more of them,” Schuyler said. “We’ve got to find Deming and get out.”

“Okay,” he said, slashing at a troll’s torso. “Let’s go.”

“No. You need to stay and fight; keep them off the rest of the team. I’ll find her and bring her back.”

Jack turned to look at her. It was what he feared most—and she was suggesting it. “No! I can’t let you go alone.”

There was a noise from the depths of the dungeon: a dark low growl that sent shivers up Schuyler’s spine.

“What is that?”

“It’s a Hellhound….” Jack said, paling slightly. “Unleashed from the ninth circle.”

“Then they’ll need you down here. I’ll be quick. I promise.” There was no time for good-byes. Schuyler weaved through the pack, leaving Jack behind.

“Over here!” she heard him call from behind her. He was drawing the trolls to his side to cover her escape.

Schuyler followed the trolls’ slimy trail through the dungeon, guessing correctly that it would lead her to the exit, and she found a winding stair that led upward. That had to be it.

She took the steps three at a time, running up to the tower.

She could hear the sounds of battle below, and the roar of Abbadon unleashed—Jack had transformed into his true shape.

There were several landings on the way up, and Schuyler tried a few doors. She opened the first one to find a skeleton hanging from a noose. She stifled a scream. Bluebeard’s castle, she remembered. The second contained a coffin. The third…

Schuyler did not open the third. There were more, seven in all, and the final one was on the highest landing.

The door was painted red to indicate the Harvest Bride.

The newest bride, sacrificed on the eve of Lammas, to bear the child of the demon.

Schuyler said the words that unlocked it. The door flew open, and she ran inside the room.

“Deming! We’re here!”

But the room was empty. Deming had already been taken to the Harvest Bonding.

Runaway Train

“This is the end of the line.” Kingsley stepped from the train as the subway doors opened in front of them. Mimi and Oliver followed him to the platform. Mimi noticed it was the same one they had taken when they’d first journeyed to Tartarus.

“What now?” Oliver asked, peering around the empty station. “It looks like the tracks loop back into the city.”

“Exactly. Hell’s a closed circuit. None of its paths lead to the surface.” Kingsley explained that they would have to find their way out of the tunnel and locate the above-ground train, which followed the only path that led out of Hell.

Mimi looked at Kingsley questioningly, wondering why he was so nervous all of a sudden. It was just a matter of catching a train, after all. “Let’s go. What are we waiting for?”

Kingsley hesitated. “This is what I meant earlier when I said it was complicated. You can’t just walk on. The train’s crawling with a hundred trolls, and demons guard every door.

It’s Charon’s line. The only way souls are taken to the Dead’s kingdom, faster than the old ferries. The train arrives full, but always leaves empty. I think they’d be a little suspicious if they saw the three of us hijacking our way back to the surface. Once you’re down here, you’re supposed to stay down here.”

“Great!” Oliver said, smacking his forehead.

“Helda never mentioned this!” Mimi fumed.

“Why would she?” Kingsley said amiably, not the least bit disturbed.

“So we’re stuck here!” Oliver grumbled. He’d had about all he could take of Hell. He was ready to get back home, back to earth.

He
was
going home, right? Mimi had been acting odd that morning…. She hadn’t met his eyes when he’d said something about looking forward to sleeping in his own bed again.

“Not quite.” Kingsley walked the length of the platform and found a staircase at the far end of the tunnel. “We’re going up. Come on, we need to move quickly.”

The stairs took them to an empty sidewalk on the edge of the city. There were no cars on the street, and the buildings looked empty and abandoned. metal screens were drawn across the storefronts, and black bars covered the upper-story windows. Right above them was steel scaffolding that stretched three stories into the sky, casting a web of shadows across the street. The structure housed a platform on either side, and railway tracks that disappeared far into the north.

“That’s the train we want.” Kingsley pressed his back to the cold metal grille that covered the closest store window.

Mimi and Oliver followed his gaze. The black tower was covered in dense barbed wire, and a mountain of trash clogged the bottom half of the tower, closing off all of the stairs.

“How does anyone even get in or out of that thing? It looks impossible,” Oliver said.

“The trolls just bash through, pulling the souls with them.

Like I said, it’s a one-way train. No one boards from this end, and the return train is always empty.” Kingsley glanced up as a train roared into the station, its engine releasing a billowing cloud of black smoke. It lurched to a stop, the wheels sending red hot sparks flying into the air.

Oliver watched as the doors opened and a crew of trolls popped out, carrying the dead with them. Suddenly the platform was filled with guards and their captives; the place went from ghost-town empty to rush-hour jammed in only a few seconds. The trolls kept walking straight down, disappearing into an underground stairway. meanwhile, the train sparked into motion, its ancient engine firing a second dark cloud into the air as it powered out of the station, speeding forward underneath the thick black smoke.

The three of them watched it leave.

“What now?” Oliver asked.

“Hmm, not quite sure,” Kingsley said, scratching his chin.

“I think Hell’s starting to rot your brain,” Mimi said, shielding her eyes and peering down the line. “See how it’s passing through that building?” She pointed to a dilapidated brick building a few blocks from the station. “We can hop on the next train once it’s outside the station. It’s only a few blocks out; the train won’t yet be at full speed.”

“Did you see that thing leave the station?” Oliver asked her. “There’s no way I can run that fast.”

Kingsley smiled. “Let’s do it.”

Oliver shook his head. “You know I can’t move like that.

Got any other ideas?”

But Kingsley was already running ahead, and Mimi glanced back at Oliver as they dashed down a side street.

“Don’t worry. I’ll hold your hand.”

Oliver grimaced for a moment, then fled after them.

They ran across a pair of abandoned lots covered in junk and overrun with weeds. Mimi held her nose as they leapt over the wrecks of rusted-out cars and refrigerators. “Hurry, Oliver!” She looked back. The next train was just about to rumble into the station.

Kingsley disappeared ahead of them through a broken opening in the side of the building. Mimi followed him up and over an iron fire stair to the third story, Oliver lagging behind.

Kingsley picked up a chair and threw it so that it shattered the glass of a tall window, bursting the pane. “Come on, it’s time to jump the train.”

Mimi and Oliver gathered behind him at the window.

Oliver turned to Mimi. “I can’t do this.”

“Yes you can. You have to,” Mimi said. “I can’t leave the underworld without you,” she said, which was the truth, but not in the way Oliver thought. There was still the matter of paying Helda.

Ahead of them, the sound of the approaching train grew louder as a gust of air pushed its way toward them. Kingsley poked his head out the window to look. “You jump first, I’ll take Oliver,” he told Mimi.

The train was upon them; there was no time to argue.

Mimi leapt from the window onto the roof of the train. She glanced up and saw Oliver shaking his head. “JUmP!” she yelled. “HURRY!”

Kingsley pushed off from the brick, grabbed Oliver squarely by the shoulders, and propelled them both through the air until they landed not too far from where Mimi was crouching. To Oliver’s eyes it was all a blur, a quick flash of metal and brick, and then they were on top of the speeding train.

“We’ve got to move—look behind you!” Mimi yelled, the wind tossing her blond hair into her face. “Oh god, I think they’re Hellhounds.”

Oliver turned to see. Mimi was right. Those weren’t trolls.

The three massive wolflike creatures that were chasing them were far too large and frightening to pass for the troll underclass. The hounds moved swiftly and silently, running up the empty building to where the trio had made their jump. Oliver cursed as he scrambled behind Mimi and Kingsley, who were shinnying down the side and entering the train car through a window. He had no choice but to follow, and Kingsley and Mimi pulled his legs through the window to safety.

“What now?” Mimi asked. “If they get on this train, they’ll take us back to Tartarus for sure. We’ve got to run.”

Kingsley drew himself up to his full height, and his voice was angry. “The Duke of Hell isn’t about to run from a few mangy hounds. They will heel.”

Heavy thuds echoed from the roof of the train. Mimi backed herself up against Oliver, shielding him. Kingsley might not fear the hounds, but they could easily snatch Oliver.

The air seemed to shimmer for a moment, and then a pair hounds passed through the roof of the train and stood in front of them.

The hounds grinned at the three escapees. They had lupine faces, and unlike the lumbering trolls, they were sleek and swift and handsome. They wore the silver collars, but the chains attached to them were broken. Oliver thought he had never seen a creature as frightening. They were man and wolf, and their smiles were vicious.

“Going somewhere?” one of them asked.

“Go back to Leviathan and tell him I’ve left.” Kingsley’s nostrils flared, and his voice was commanding and thunderous, armed with the full power of his position.

“Left? But we’re here to fetch you,” the Hellhound replied.

“You’re to come back with us.”

Mimi noticed that doubt had begun to creep into their rough, barking speech. They were still in Hell, and Kingsley was still their master, but they stood their ground.

“GO!” Kingsley roared. “NOW, I SAID!” The Duke of Hell unleashed his sword from his sheath and sent it flying through the air, where it struck the wall a hair’s breath away from the nearest hound. “Take that as a warning,” he said. “Mimi, hand me your blade.”

This time the hounds trembled, and they vanished, glim-mering through the walls of the train like ghosts fading from the light.

Kingsley threw himself down onto a bench and smiled at Mimi, who was glowing with pride from his performance.

They held hands across the seat. Oliver was just happy to be in one piece.

“Well, I think we just earned our one-way ticket out of here,” Kingsley said. “But Leviathan’s not going to be happy to know I’m leaving. I know too much about what’s going on down here.”