The Stone Demon (23 page)

“What?”

“I can help you.”

“
Really
?” Her voice dripped sarcasm. She hoped he got the message. “Maybe you should concentrate on helping yourself, considering that you’re now stuck in Hell, in a human body that you shouldn’t even be in now that we’re supposed to be dead.”

“You’re here, aren’t you?”

“Because I’m dead.”

“Nope. You’re only a little bit dead. Doesn’t count.”

“Okay, because I used the blade?”

“Very good! That is the
correct
answer.”

Donna sighed, but she slowed her pace and picked her way across the stony banks of a trickling stream. The water looked like it could easily be blood, and it smelled like a dead pigeon (she knew what those smelled like because she and Navin had found one in his attic, once upon a time).

“Why would you even offer to help me? Not that I believe, for one minute, that you’ll actually do anything useful.”

“I’m insulted! I am mortally wounded. Offended. Upset.”

“Oh, please … ” Donna muttered.

“Hurt.”

Donna stopped walking and swung around. She grabbed the front of Newton-Navin’s T-shirt and pulled him toward her.

“Quit. Screwing. Around. Or, so help me, I will do everything in my power to make you regret it.”

Newton tried to twist out of her grip, but Donna just shook him until he stopped squirming.

“Oooh, you’re so strong!” he said. “You’re so masterful. Take me now! I already know you’re a good kisser.”

She glared at him some more.

“I
am
here to help you, you know. Consider me your own personal psychopomp. I can guide you through the domains of the Otherworld.”

Donna released him and spun away, pissed beyond all measure. She pressed the heel of her hand above her right eye and took a deep breath. She could feel a headache starting.

Please don’t tell me I’m going to be stuck with Newton for all eternity
, she thought.

Now that really
was
her idea of Hell. And she wanted her friend back. Like, right now.

She tried to take in some of her surroundings as they walked. All around them, colors shifted and breathed into new forms; the air heated and cooled and then burned again. She walked through an ornate, gothic-styled doorway that had appeared out of nowhere—with nothing but wide open space, like a multicolored desert, on either side of it—and touched the gargoyle sitting on its crumbling post as she went by. The gargoyle’s stone head turned to watch her and blinked its eyes.

Donna gulped and kept walking.

Everything changed and yet stayed the same, but the sun in the sky was constant. Burning silver-bright, casting that strange half-light over the Otherworld. Until they came to a point in the alien landscape where her companion suddenly stopped.

“I can’t go any further with you,” Newton said.

“What? I thought you were my own personal
psycho
?”

“Psycho
pomp
,” he said, looking offended.

Donna didn’t exactly want him around, but she wasn’t enthusiastic about being left alone either. At least with Newton in Navin’s body, she got to see Nav’s face—no matter how twisted the whole situation was. She was also worried that if she let the body-snatching demon out of her sight, she would lose Navin for good.

Newton grimaced. “I’ll show you why I can’t go any further, shall I?”

“Go ahead, then. Astound me,” Donna said.

Newton reached out with both hands. His palms app-eared to press against some kind of invisible barrier, like he was standing behind a pane of glass.

“You’re trapped?”

Newton nodded, downcast. “The Demon King knows I’m here. Damn it all to Hell!” He made the sign of the cross, then winked at her.

He continued to search the air in front of him with his hands, doing a good impression of one of the old-fashioned mimes that Donna sometimes saw outside Ironbridge’s Central Mall. It was surreal.

Newton punched the barrier. Hard. “You’d best go on. Demian will be waiting for you.”

He hit it again.

Donna swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat. “Don’t keep doing that. Remember whose body you’re using.”

Newton examined his knuckles. “Good point. Oooh …
pretty bruise, wanna see?”

“No,” she snapped. She took a deep breath, scared to leave Navin behind but not really having a whole lot of choice. What was that famous Winston Churchill quote that Robert liked? “If you’re going through Hell … keep going.”

Donna figured that she’d better keep going.

She trudged up the side of the hill, trying not to think about what would happen at the top.

The higher Donna climbed, the darker it became, as though somebody with a giant eraser was rubbing out the sun. It was a strange sun, with that jaundiced light, but at least it had provided
some
kind of illumination on the earlier part of her journey. She stopped for a moment and rested against a jagged boulder. The mountainside was scattered with them, as though a giant’s teeth had fallen out. She tugged off her coat and left it behind, spread out on one of the rocks, then tied her hair back into a loose ponytail. Despite the receding light, she was getting hotter rather than colder. She checked the contents of her messenger bag and was surprised to see everything remained intact. Being “dead,” at least in her case, obviously didn’t mean you moved on to the next realm without your worldly possessions.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Donna staggered to the summit and walked onto a mercifully flat shelf of land. There were tufts of blackened grass sticking out at intervals, but other than that it was made up mostly of red-tinged earth. Dust gathered around her and made it difficult to see as she walked forward, slowly, taking care so as not to fall off the edge of the world.

She was so busy watching where she placed her feet that she only realized she had company when he was directly in front of her.

Demian smiled benevolently. “You made it.”

Donna pushed her damp fringe out of her eyes. “I did.”

“I am … glad.”

“Was this some kind of a test?”

His silver brows rose. “Test? No. How could it be? I did not know you planned on killing yourself.”

“Got you with that one, did I?”

“It was not something I’d predicted.” He regarded her with his coal-black eyes. “You are a surprising creature, for a human.”

Donna was too busy catching her breath to reply. She tried to look over the demon’s shoulder, but the cloud of red dust was too thick.

Demian held out his hand to her. “Come, let me show you my kingdom.”

Donna almost laughed. “A guided tour of Hell? I don’t think so, Your
Majesty
. I’m here to find the Grove of Thorns.”

He inclined his head. “And you need to pass through the city to reach it. Why not let me escort you? You will reach your destination unharmed—I give you my word.”

Donna nibbled her lower lip and considered his words. She had to admit that, for a demon, he did seem more honest than she’d been led to believe. Newton was all about games and trickery, but Demian was almost straightforward in his dealings. She tested his words in her mind, looking for the hidden clause that would allow him to harm her.

Demian’s hand was still extended, never once wavering.

She said, “You won’t hurt me, in any way?”

“As I keep telling you, I have no desire to cause you harm.” His eyes turned sly. “You are almost dead, anyway, so I wonder why you would worry so much.”

“I don’t want to end up all the way dead,” she replied. “Not if I can help it.”

He seemed to think about this for a moment. “If you don’t give me a reason to cause you injury, then you really have nothing to worry about.”

Donna shook her head. “And there’s the catch. How do I know what would drive you to change your motivation toward me?”

“I swear, on my kingdom, that while you are in the Otherworld with me on
this
occasion, I will not harm you in any way—no matter what—nor will I allow harm to come to you by way of any of my subjects. How does that sound?”

“Pretty good,” she admitted. “What about the Gallows Tree? Will you help me reach that?”

“Ah,” he said. “That I cannot do.”

“But you want the Philosopher’s Stone as much as anyone else.”

“That is undoubtedly true, but you must remember that I am forbidden to enter the grove, so I won’t be able to help you beyond escorting you there.”

Donna blew out a breath. “That’s good enough.”

He bowed, a mocking smile on his face. “I am glad the agreement meets with your approval.”

“Any advice for me?” She hadn’t expected a reply, so was surprised when he took her question seriously.

“Enter the grove alone. You’ll never find the Gallows Tree otherwise.”

Donna narrowed her eyes. “Who would I take in with me? I
am
alone.”

“For now,” he replied.

Nav
, she thought. He’s talking about Navin. Hope gripped her heart and she tried not to hold on to it too hard.

“Will I be able to get home, afterwards?”

Demian turned away so that she could no longer see his expression. “We’ll have to see, won’t we?”

She shot him an irritated look. “You talk in riddles just to annoy me.”

His shoulders stiffened. “You are mistaken. Everything I do is not about eliciting a reaction from you. Some things simply just … are.”

She shook her head. He really wasn’t helping. She was starting to wish that Newton was still here.

Demian continued walking. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand, but that doesn’t mean—”

“I wish people would stop treating me like a child,” Donna said, interrupting him. “‘You wouldn’t understand,’ they say. ‘It’s for your own good,’ they tell me. And you’re doing exactly the same thing.”

Demian stopped suddenly, forcing Donna to stop with him. “Now you really
do
misunderstand me.” His head tilted to one side as he examined her. “It is true that I said that you don’t understand my ways, but I was about to say that I would like it, very much, if you learned. Just because someone doesn’t understand something, doesn’t mean they can’t
gain
an understanding. Given time.”

Time? Donna didn’t intend to spend any more time with Demian than she was forced to. And she certainly didn’t want to “understand” him. He was so very alien to her.
Other
didn’t even begin to describe the way he somehow felt when she spoke to him. Even dealing with the fey didn’t have the disconcerting sense of
wrongness
.

“Here,” he said.

Slowly, the mist cleared to reveal how high up they were. The Otherworld sky was now filled with crimson clouds, covering the iron sun, but a thousand lights like fallen stars glittered far below.

Donna took a tentative step toward the edge of the cliff. She looked down and gasped.

Twenty-one

L
ook upon the Sunless City,” said the demon. He made a sweeping gesture with his hand.

The city spread out far below, buildings and streets and alleyways like a living, three-dimensional map. All the light came from a variety of scattered structures. There was no order to anything—at least, not one that Donna could recognize. There were small buildings next to large. Narrow streets that opened into huge, red-streaked highways. A river the color of dull iron wound snakelike through the center, and towers that almost touched the sky seemed to grow from the very ground itself.

There were no people. No living things scurrying about their business on the streets below. No birds flying through the dusty air. But then, Donna thought, why would there be? They were in the Otherworld. The
Under
world: a land of the dead.

Demian watched her taking in the terrible beauty of his world. She could feel his eyes on her, burning into her with an intensity that made her want to hide.

“Come,” he said. “I will take you where you need to go. Time grows short.”

He extended his hand, palm up, waiting for her with all the patience of a centuries-old tree waiting for rain.

She took his hand. It was cool and dry, his skin even paler than hers. He tugged her toward him, so that she was forced to take an extra step. She found herself in the circle of his arms, looking up into those strange eyes.

Donna held her breath—one hand in his, her other touching his chest to keep him at a distance. Here she was, dying in another world under a strange sun with the king of the demons. Life as a daughter of the alchemists had seemed pretty extreme … wood elves and half-fey boys, magic and changeling girls … it all pushed the boundaries of what she believed was possible. The emergence of her own power, bound for a decade by people she’d once trusted, was yet another step into the unknown.

But this … this was something else. She felt lightheaded, and wondered if their altitude was affecting her. Or perhaps it was the crimson dust that tickled her nostrils and made her feel like she constantly needed to clear her throat.

Demian didn’t move. He didn’t attempt to pull her closer, but he also didn’t release her. The cool mask of his face cracked and the corners of his mouth raised, just slightly. It was the first smile Donna had seen that didn’t seem touched by cruelty.

“Donna Underwood,” he said. “I would have you for my queen.”

“Your
queen
?!” Donna pulled her arm back, but the demon held her with a grip of iron to rival her own.

“Think about it: you are deeply unhappy in your world. I know this is true. Together, we could rule. Not just this realm, but all the realms that stretch throughout eternity. With my strength of will and your ability to access other realms, we could rule not just one race—but all of them.”

Horror crawled through Donna’s chest like a living thing, making it difficult to breathe. “Let me go.”

She tried to jerk her hand free, but Demian simply drew her closer. His other arm clamped her to his body, and it was like being pressed against the cool weight of stone. His silver hair stirred in a sudden breeze.