The Stone Demon (26 page)

When they were finally sitting on the banks of the River of Memory and Forgetting, with their clothes already drying under the brittle remains of the iron sun, Donna grabbed Navin’s hand and held on as tightly as she dared. They swapped tired smiles.

She said, “I thought I’d never get you back.”

“Hey, now,” he replied, looking embarrassed and pleased at the same time.

She looked beyond him, examining the Grove of Thorns. This was where she would find the fruit that she needed to make the Philosopher’s Stone. Navin followed her gaze. It seemed impossible that anything could grow in a place like this, but there they were: black roses spilling out and flowing across the ground. There were so many of them, it looked as though the ground was covered in a carpet of black satin.

“Oh, hey,” Navin said, super casual. “I got something for you.”

And he took a tiny crystal out of his still damp jeans pocket and pressed it into the palm of her hand.

“What is
this
?” Just for a second, Donna almost forgot their current situation. Almost.

“A parting gift from Newton. He said it’s thanks to me that he’s free again.”

The demon tear was beautiful. Faultless. Like a shard of ice with all the colors of the rainbow inside it—and some colors she didn’t even recognize. She gazed at it in wonder, holding her breath.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Nav, you did it! Thank you.”

He smiled. “I’m the best, right? Tell me I’m the best. You know you want to.”

“You’re the best,” she said. “I can’t argue this time.”

He grinned.

Donna looked at the perfectly formed teardrop in the palm of her hand. “I can’t believe Newton kept his word.”

“I’m pretty sure he thinks we’re buddies.”

“That’s … weird.”

Navin nodded. “I know. Totally weird. But, then again, now that I have a demon for a BFF, who knows where that could get me? It’s sort of cool.”

Donna stared at him for a moment. “No, it’s really not.”

“You’re just jealous,” he said, playfully punching her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Don. You’re still my Number One.”

She fought back a smile, shaking her head.

“Either way,” he said, “that’s another ingredient down, right? How many does that make?”

This time Donna let the smile rip, as much in disbelief as anything else. “Four. Four out of five. One more to go.”

“And then we can go home?” Navin’s eyes shone.

“After the Gallows Tree.” She swallowed. “I have to go in there, and I can’t let you come with me. Demian said I have to go in alone or I’ll never find the right tree. Some kind of twisted demon magic. Curse. Whatever.”

“Maybe he was lying. I don’t want to leave you alone—not when I just found you again.”

“I don’t think he was lying about this, Nav. We can’t take the risk. Just wait for me, all right?”

He nodded, his jaw tight.

She thought of the silver pear at the center of the grove. It was the final ingredient she needed to make the Stone, but in the world above, preparations for war were already moving forward. Not to mention the tiny matter of her untimely death. She had the horrible suspicion that her resurrection would not be such an easy trick to pull off.

Donna forced herself to focus and plunged into the thicket.

Twenty-four

N
avin 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.