Before she could even finish the first phrase, a blast of hot air hit her, sending her careening into the small space beneath the overhang. Her head connected with the rock, hard, and she felt a warm trickle of blood streaming down her face. She turned to see Raven approaching, fast, a triumphant look on her face. Her hair hadn’t recovered from the shock of earlier, and her outfit was also set askew, but her eyes were wild. Ru jumped to her feet. “I don’t have time for this shit,” she mumbled. “That’s right, Ruin. Payback is hell!” Raven raised her hands again, as if she was about to send Ru reeling into the rocks once more. With a sigh, Ru quickly opened both palms, sending a quick blast of blue light at Raven. For some reason, this shot seemed power packed, and Raven went flying backward again. This time, she was sucked up into one of Lyric’s twisters, which, though thin, was several stories high. Ru imagined she might come shooting out the top at s

Ru heard someone calling her name from a distance, but she couldn’t open her eyes to see who it was. The voice sounded faintly familiar, though she couldn’t place it. It wasn’t Liddy Brown, of that she was sure. How many times had she been startled out of a sound sleep by the sound of her adoptive mother’s voice ricocheting off of her brain? Bedroom lights flipped on, blankets torn off. Or better yet, a slap to the face for some transgression she hadn’t even known she’d been guilty of when she’d gone to bed the night before. Ru settled into the relief that whoever was calling for her, it wasn’t the wretched Liddy Brown. Now, there was shaking, though, and the voice’s persistence intensified, as if the person could annoy her awake. Reluctantly, Ru strained to open her eyes, pushing up with her hands as she did so and making contact with the shaker. Her muscles felt stiff, and as her eyes flickered, she realized the bed she was sleeping in was unbelievably uncomfortabl

Accessing Hell from a portal wasn’t quite possible from Nat’s current location, so when his father had summoned him, he’d had to comply through other means. Meeting Azrael, even in another realm, could be both uncomfortable and dangerous, so as Nat waited in what appeared to be an antechamber in a palace he’d never visited before, he paced the floor. The room was poorly lit, with black marble flooring which transitioned to dark stone where it met the walls. There were no windows, and even the ceiling, with its ornate flying buttresses, was ominous. The gloominess matched his mood, and he feared, would fit his father’s disposition as well. Failing at holding Ru off under the circumstances was almost inevitable. He’d been demanding more assistance from other realms for weeks as she grew stronger. It seemed those who commanded the demons felt there was little use in wasting their resources on an elementary school teacher who didn’t even know how to levitate, but they we

Cutter waited anxiously for Ru to return to her body. As much as he wanted to accompany her when she met with Cinder, he knew he had to start letting her do things on her own, particularly now that she’d proven she was every bit as capable as he’d thought she would be. She was gone for about twenty minutes before she started to stir in his arms. She’d insisted on using the dark room to make the leap even though he was sure she would’ve been able to do it from anywhere, including her bedroom, which would’ve been more comfortable for her. But when she asked him to hold her while she was gone, he hadn’t complained. Cutter illuminated the room with his hand and saw Ru’s eyes fly open. They were wide, as if she was running from something or was shocked to discover she was back. “Are you okay?” he asked, studying her closely. Ru’s face broke into a smile. “I’m okay,” she replied. “But I don’t think your sister likes me anymore.” Tilting his head a bit, he a

“Good—because having a map that just says map isn’t very useful.” Ivy’s observation was agreed upon quickly by the rest of the group. “Right. I was stumped. So, I looked at the picture more carefully, and I realized the letters were not straight cuts. Some of them were curved where they shouldn’t be. They didn’t look quite the same as they would if they were simply renditions of the letters.” She paused, and no one took the bait this time, so she continued. “They were made of numbers! Each letter is made up of a different set of numbers.” “I don’t see how we are getting closer to solving this,” Cutter said, shaking his head. “You guys! Don’t you see?” Lyric held up a piece of paper showing three pairs of numbers. “The numbers aren’t just numbers! Can’t you see what else they are?” “The phone number we call to get the men with the white jackets to come and take you away?” Rider asked. “Or take us away….” Cutter concurred. “No! They’re c