Page 55 of Devoted

I stared up at Dante and Gabriel, staring back down at us.

“I’ll never be able to fall asleep,” I complained. “It’s like when you have a test in the morning and know you should get your sleep, and your brain won’t turn off and just keeps…”

Nico’s warm palm covered my forehead, and darkness swept in right behind.

19

NICO

The dreamworld unfolded around us, shifting mist stretching endlessly in every direction, the air empty of smell, of sound, of anything that made this realm alive.

Beside me, Emberline’s hand was firmly clasped in mine, her delicate fingers threaded between my own, and I was acutely aware of all the places our skin touched.

“Don’t let go,” I warned before we headed off in a direction that might lead anywhere. Even though I’d been here too many times to count, directions defied logic, time passed in some hazy reflection of itself, as if we’d become the only fixed points in a world of intangibles.

We were here to find Emilia, but somehow, I knew we’d find the Underworld first.

I shared a bond with the thirsting darkness beyond that tattered veil, deeper than the secrets wrapped around my heart. Could still remember how the cold seeped into my bones, so deep, there were times I still tasted frost on my tongue when I woke.

I had forged my own deal with the devil in that place, back when I’d thought revenge was the only thing worth living for.

My shadows spilled out in front of us like a divining rod, forming a shifting, ephemeral path, and I followed where they led. They’d never failed me before, and I would trust them tonight.

“Well, what do you know,” Emberline muttered when the Underworld entrance appeared sooner than expected, the blowing veils fluttering in a wind that didn’t exist. Behind them, the darkness shifted, as if it somehow recognized her. Or the both of us.

“Emberline.”

Ottavia was outlined by the flapping torn edges, looking alarmed, no sign of Enzo.

“Don’t stop,” Ottavia hissed, coming closer on shuffling feet. “Stay away from the circle. The danger is in the markings.”

The same warning she’d given her daughter before, and I turned the words over and over inside my head, trying to divine their meaning.

Behind her, the darkness came alive, creeping around her like a thief, grasping tendrils winding around her arms, her waist, snaking through her hair. Fear flashed across Ottavia’s face, her mouth twisting, but nothing came out.

“Help her,” Emberline’s fingers dug into my arm. “Please, Nico. Can’t you do something?”

“Not from outside, and if I step any closer…” I shook my head. “We have to leave,” I urged, eyeing those hungry shadows, now creeping toward the opening.

“They sense you, Emberline. They sense both of us.”

I was dragging her away when the last thing I saw was her mother’s reaching hand disappear into a swirl of choking black.

Her hand tightened on mine, then we were running.

Following the dark, shadowy path in front of us.

We ran until the DiSange temple materialized around us, our footsteps falling strangely silent, surrounded by the soaring, vaulted ceiling, the black, gold-veined walls sparkling in the phantom moonlight. Faint dust motes fell slowly through the air, outlined by towering columns that disappeared into darkness overhead.

The temple was abandoned.

There were no priests, no guards. Only us.

“Well, this seems too easy,” Emberline grumbled.

I had to agree, leading her quickly through the main section of the temple and toward Emilia’s chamber.

Time might be an intangible in this realm, but I wasn’t about to waste a single second. My shadows surged inside me, as if they wanted to escape, and while I completely agreed with Emberline about needing Emilia to win this war…