CHAPTER 224

"I am not hollow!" Leeds struggled against his bonds. "I am not just a footnote in history!"

"Maybe not today. But soon." Ratu shoved Leeds into the smooth alcove behind them with surprising strength. The Jersey Devil fought and screamed as they pushed him in and forced him into the fetal position as Ratu shrank the stone walls around him.

Leeds shrieked at them from his stone prison as the walls closed in.

"He needs to come see me!" he screamed, his voice echoing down the tunnel. "I deserve better than this! I will come for him, and I will come for his daughter! You haven't seen the last of me!"

"Do you know what I think?" Abella moved her face closer to the shrinking hole in the wall. Leeds shifted his face around so that he could see her. "I think you're about to get the one thing that your mother never gave you."

Leeds' eyes went wide in fury.

"A really long hug," Abella told him, then backed away. His response was drowned out as the stone closed around him, but she could already hear his screams. The silver collar would keep him from escaping for now, but he would have plenty of time to remove it. Lack of food, air or water would make him extremely uncomfortable, but definitely wouldn't kill him.

"Let's roll." Ratu sat down on the gurney, her legs splayed to either side as she held the Grimoire in her hands. Abella pulled the naga up the tunnel as Ratu performed a complex spell that generated tons of granite behind them.

The plan had been devious. Mike and Ratu had located a mountain in the tower world that the centaurs would never have a use for. The area wasn't suited for agriculture of any kind, and the cliffs were unclimbable. The terrain was treacherous enough that no path even existed within miles of the area.

For two weeks, Ratu had used the Grimoire to scour the entire mountain free of its cave network and replace its composition with granite. This pocket dimension had no plate tectonics, and they had placed Leeds deep beneath the world. In the eons to come, even if the winds scoured the world free of mountains, he would remain beneath its lifeless surface, screaming for all eternity.

Or the world would collapse and destroy him. Abella didn't care which came first. But the most important thing was to make him believe he had been forgotten, that nothing he had done had even mattered to Mike.

It was slow work as Ratu filled in miles of tunnel with more granite, pausing occasionally to drink a tea she had brought to replenish her magic.

"Why do you need the book to keep using that spell?" Abella asked during one of the breaks. "I figured you would have it memorized by now."

"The spells in this book are very special," Ratu replied. "And their cost is forgetfulness. Once the book is closed, the forgetting begins. A simple mistake on my part could spell the end of us, or give Leeds a way out."

Abella nodded. Even if Leeds regained his ability to move through the shadows, there was over a mile of solid stone in every direction. With no hollow spaces, he would be forced to teleport or even resurrect in his own personal hell.

It was the Mother's Embrace taken to the next level. Death would never come for Leeds, and Ratu had embedded sigils made of metal all over the mountain to ensure that he could never be summoned away. It was an eternal prison of their own making, and it was the perfect place for him to be alone with all his thoughts--forever.

When they left the cave, Mike stood there with Eulalie and Bigfoot. It was clear that tears had been shed, and the Arachne held hands with her uncle as Abella and Ratu emerged into the light.

"It is done?" Bigfoot asked.

"It is." Ratu turned around and erased the cave opening from existence. There was no sign that they had ever been there, save for the structure built to establish a portal.

"With his misery, my healing shall finally begin." Bigfoot turned to Mike and put a hand on his shoulder. "And let us never speak of this place."

Mike nodded, then let Bigfoot pull him in for a hug. Eulalie said nothing as she fingered the dog tags around her neck, then hugged Mike as well. Ratu led the others through the portal, leaving just Mike and Abella behind.

"Thank you," he told her. "I couldn't have done this without you."

"Nor I, you." When she hugged him, she buried her face in his shoulder and inhaled his scent. She had worried for the longest time that he would hold Velvet's death against her, but it never came up. He was too good for that, maybe even too good for her.

Still, being able to be the instrument of Leeds' burial was cathartic. Burying Leeds alive had been her idea, and the others had been all for it. "He was panicking as we left," she told him. "Freaking out that we weren't taking him seriously any more. I could still hear him screaming through the rock for a bit after we left him there. He was more upset that you didn't come than anything else."

He nodded. "That was Jenny's idea. I'm debating therapy for her, but think she would break the therapist."

"Maybe she's fine the way she is. We all have our quirks, after all." She ran her fingers through his hair. "I like it now that it's getting long," she told him.

"Been too busy fucking for a haircut," he told her, then turned toward the portal. "Did you still want to do the honors?"

"Absolutely."

"See you soon." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and then left through the portal.

She watched him exit the shed on the other side, then walked back out of the hut. Staring at the wall of the cliff, she thought of the wretched being entombed inside for all eternity and found herself smiling.