“How do I know you aren’t lying?” Elijiah asked, but I could tell he was taking the bait. Clearly the oracles are powerful if he’d gone on a personal mission to kill Priya’s mom. For years afterward, he made sure that Priya would not inherit the same power. This told me that there’s a way to stop him and he doesn’t want others finding out. I just needed to find out exactly what that was and how I could make it happen.

  “Why would I lie? You said yourself there isn’t anything out there that can stop you, and I just want to see my girlfriend and make sure she isn’t suffering in the demon prison of hell. I don’t feel like it’s that much to ask. Let me see and talk to her for ten minutes, and I’ll tell you who the other oracle is,” I said, trying to keep my voice nice and even.

  He sighed dramatically and thrummed his fingers on the wooden table, but I already knew he would agree.

  “Fine.”

  “Today?” I asked.

  “Tomorrow,” he countered. “Today I’ll show you what will become of your gatekeepers and the old deathwalkers, in order to remind you to play your role dutifully.” He pushed away from the table. “Finish your meal and we’ll go.”

  I stood up abruptly, already not wanting to add any delay. “I’m finished, let’s go.”

  “To the dungeons.” He walked away, not bothering to wait for me.

  “Okay sure, yeah, I’ll follow,” I grumbled and then shivered. I didn’t know what to expect but I knew it wouldn’t be good.

  We had gone back to the elevators and went through the scary-looking glass tube again. We arrived at a place that I thought was the queen’s chamber. My brain couldn’t figure out the afterworld's tunnel system. Realistically, I would never be able to get back to the queen without Elijiah guiding me or a really good map.

  Fuck.

  But this time, when we entered the metal door simply by walking through it, we stepped into a field. It was dead, dark, and barren, like a desert void of all color except ghosts and apparition-looking forms. It was lifeless and expansive. A never-ending field of sorrow.

  “The Gatekeepers Grove,” Elijiah said snarkily.

  The color drained from my face as I took in the sight before me: hundreds of gatekeepers in ghost-like form walking in circles with lost expressions. They bumped into one another, not seeming to recognize anything, anyone, or themselves. Some screamed, cried, and raged about. It was like watching a whole bunch of adults have a breakdown all at once, with no help in sight.

  “Why…why are they like this? Why didn’t you let them rest?” My knees felt weak. He was truly a despicable creature. The pain on their faces was palpable. It was like watching a horror film in real time.

  “They were the queen’s beloved ones and I wanted to make them suffer so she would suffer,” he replied, shrugging like the answer should have been obvious. His hatred of the queen oozed out of him in waves. The fact that he was intentionally trying to drive the gatekeepers to madness and demonhood, simply to spite the queen, was despicable. His desire for revenge had no bounds.

  I spotted one ghost who simply sat in the dirt. Her white hair floated around her in thick waves and she looked serene. The only one who seemed to find stillness. Everyone else was ridden with emotions that were so painful it was hard to look at them for too long.

  “Can I talk to them?” I said, hating that I had to get permission but I didn’t want to jeopardize my chance of talking to Priya.

  “Sure. They won’t understand what’s going on, but do as you wish. Let this serve as a reminder of what will come to Priya if you do not behave.” He smiled wickedly.

  “What about that one?” I said pointing to the woman who sat.

  “She was the oracle I killed. She’s sat like that since I brought her here. She hasn’t moved or made a sound since the day I killed her. Her eyes haven’t even opened once. You’d have more luck getting a boulder to move.”

  “Priya’s mom,” I whispered, my gaze going wide. Tears welled in my eyes and I made my way to where she was sitting. “Sneha?” I sat down directly in front of her and crossed my legs.

  She made no move to show that she had heard me.

  I reached out and placed a hand on hers. I was expecting to feel smoke through my fingers, but I connected with warm flesh. I stared in wonder at my hand touching hers, and looked over to see Elijiah was still tormenting the other souls. How she had remained corporeal here for years was nearly impossible to comprehend.

  “Do not make any noise or indication that you can feel me, Lincoln dear,” Sneha said, her lips barely moving. I nearly fell over. The screams and cries of the others echoed around me as I strained to hear her words.

  The queen had been right about talking to the oracle.

  I tried to act like I was distracted by all the other beings and like I was actively ignoring Elijiah as he snickered and tormented the ghosts.

  “You don’t have to speak, but simply listen.” Warmth oozed from her whispers. I wanted to ask her a million questions and hug her and tell her I was doing my best. But what she had to say was much more important than my need to comfort her or myself.

  “First off, thank you for loving my daughter. I miss her dearly and I know she has suffered greatly because of this angel of death and my own murder. But you need to listen closely, Lincoln. You need to incapacitate the guard that travels with Elijiah to stop the dampener I’m sure they used on you. You have ancient power within you begging to be released. The queen used her own fail-safe when she cast out Anthonia’s power. She included a seed of her own, pure and whole, to bloom as soon as it made it into the afterworld. That is the power I am sure you’ve recognized begging to be released.”

  I touched my hand to my chest realizing the waves of energy that had been coursing through me in my time in the afterworld was the queen’s power aching to come home. It had been growing since my time here, but it was never accessible to me. I’d been trying to find a thread of connection to it like Priya taught me to do with my silks, but it always slipped through my fingers.

  “Additionally, don’t eat anything from here, as I am sure it contains a dampener as well. Instead, find the kitchen yourself and ask for the queen’s meal. They will know that means without magic. You must contact the gatekeepers and call them here. When the queen’s magical border disintegrates in three days’ time, the gatekeepers can cross and will be able to be in the afterworld without harm until the magic is restored. The demons will be disoriented only for a short amount of time. Your window to succeed will be small, before all hell truly breaks loose.”

  I swallowed and gave a small nod as her eyes fluttered open for a split second and I saw Priya’s eyes. It nearly broke me, but the golden eyes I saw were gone before I could think about it too much.

  “You must break the red ruby stone in the makeshift crown in order to release the power back to the queen. You will need the help of the gatekeepers to keep Elijiah at bay long enough to break the stone, then the queen will do the rest.”

  I glanced over to where Elijiah was flying straight at the ghosts and swerving to avoid them at the last minute. It sent them screaming and cowering to the ground. I clenched my fists and focused back on Sneha.

  “I was only hanging on to deliver this message to you. Once I am done speaking to you, I will surrender my soul and be returned to my place of rest as the oracle, leaving my fellow brothers and sisters.” A single tear slipped down her cheek and she made no move to wipe it away.

  “The power will go to Priya almost immediately. Ive only been able to hold on this long because I bound myself to these final words. I have been sitting and waiting for you for so long, my dear. I am tired and I’m ready to be released from this hell. The others cannot manage the final surrender because they do not contain the power of the oracle. I am hopeful that you will be able to send them to rest with the queen’s help, once you succeed. Tell my children I love them and I am so proud of them.”

  She had a lot of faith in me considering I had very little in myself.

  “Thank you for giving my daughter the gift of love, Lincoln. I foresee a future bright with happiness and joy for you two. As well as with my son and Grey. Do your best, dear. I know you will free the queen.”

  “Because you can see the future?” I whispered.

  “No, because I believe in you.” She gave a small smile. “Now, the words I am ready to speak: Death, I welcome you.”

  The feeling of her started to slip through my fingers and in the blink of an eye, she was gone. Tears ran down my cheeks. I swiped at them and stood up abruptly, wanting to get away from where she’d been sitting so Elijiah wouldn’t notice.

  “Show me the deathwalkers,” I said, walking to where Elijiah was still teasing souls.

  “Get tired of the suffering?” he asked, laughing darkly at my obvious sadness.

  “Something like that.”

  “Well, I will warn you. The deathwalkers are arguably worse off,” he said, grabbing my arm and dragging me off to the metal door.

  I had my answer but I didn't like it, and I didn't like that my bluff to Elijiah came true. Priya was the new oracle, and that was not something I was going to divulge to him anytime soon. But it did mean that Priya’s life was in serious danger, starting right now.

  25

  Elijiah was right.

  The deathwalkers looked much worse. They weren’t ghosts. Most of them were wraiths well on their way to becoming demons. I thought the gatekeepers were tortured, but it was nothing compared to what I saw here. It broke my heart. And the tears fell almost immediately. I didn't wipe them away. My emotions are not a weakness. They make me strong, grounded, and dedicated to what I need to do.

  This time, when we passed through another metal door, we walked into what felt like the equivalent of a human zoo. It was repulsive. They were cages upon cages that held all the deathwalkers. Their auras were all wrong, dark and heavy. Some were fading into demonhood right before my eyes. Their time was already up.

  “I wanted to show the queen that if she would shun her original deathwalkers, the angels of death, I would make the cheap knockoffs pay for it dearly. A decade is a long time to be tortured and held back from rest. They’re starting to lose faith, and that is tainting their souls. They will soon be beyond saving,” Elijiah said casually.

  I walked around the cages. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of deathwalkers and I made myself look at as many faces as I could. I promised I would help free them to their place of rest. They all would’ve found peace if they’d died the normal way. Now, they’re being forced into something despicable in order to survive Elijiah’s eternal purgatory. I wanted to scream.

  This was all so wrong.

  Some slammed their bodies against their cage walls and others crouched in the corner looking feral or scared. Some had turned to picking at their skin or eyes or hair. The madness simply running rampant through their bodies and minds.

  “So, you’re accelerating their descent to demonhood?” I asked, wanting to hear him say it out loud. I wanted him to confess to his monstrous actions and see the look on his face as he did.

  “Oh, yes. I have ways to fuel the fire in their souls that manifests from the dark. A decade is a long time for me to work and reinforce my own agenda. They simply needed the right push to fully connect deeper to the madness that comes from being trapped in the afterworld, without the promise of peace.” He smiled maliciously and looked positively delighted at his own work, painfully laid out in front of us.

  I gave one more hard look at as many of the cages I could, then took a moment to breathe, to imprint this picture in my head forever, to let the anger and sorrow roll through me. The kernel of the power that had been blossoming in my heart seemed to quake in response. The queen’s power seemed to thrash inside me, but I had no way to release it yet. I didn’t know how to access it, so I let it build and push against my skin and my head until it nearly blinded me and caused me to double over.

  I wanted it to rise, to grow. I needed it to. I turned away from the cages after and the power hummed underneath my skin.

  I had seen enough.

  Elijiah and I exited slowly and he babbled on about how, if you were careful, you could stall demonhood for years and that he had lost a few deathwalkers early on to experiments that worked a little too well. He prattled on and I focused on my breathing. I could do nothing to help those who’d already succumbed to his disgusting ways.

  Mentally, I was tallying my to-do list. I had three days to prepare for the borders to break down between the realms. I needed to:

  Take care of this dampener in Selene.

  Don’t eat the food.

  Get a message to Priya.

  Destroy the blood crystal to free the queen.

  Awaken her power and mine.

  As far as to-do lists go, it wasn’t the longest one I’d ever had. But it was definitely the fucking hardest.

  “Can I see the kitchen?” I asked, switching subjects. The inhumane sounds of the deathwalkers seemed to slowly fade away as we made our way out.

  “The kitchen?” Elijiah repeated, lifting one eyebrow.

  “Yeah. Unlike you, I need to eat more regularly and I’m a snacker, as you know, so I would like to see where I can grab something if I want. Plus, I barely ate earlier because I was so anxious to see what you had to show me,” I said, trying to choose my words carefully.

  “Of course, this is your home after all,” he said, fluttering his hand and leading the way. The word home made me shudder and I gritted my teeth. His version of the afterworld would never be a home to me.

  I briefly wondered: if I could save these souls, maybe I could save Elijiah’s too.

  Before I could think on it further, Elijiah threw me against the wall with his forearm across my chest, pushing the air from my lungs. My head cracked against the stone and I nearly bit my tongue off. Pain radiated down my spine and I just knew that my deathwalker healing abilities would have a field day with this wound.

  Goddamn bastard.

  “But try anything funny, Lincoln, and I will show you exactly how good at hurting others I have become in the last several years.”

  I snarled as he released me and I slid down the wall, wheezing and spitting out blood. Elijiah’s beyond saving. There isn’t anything left in him to save and, oddly, that brought me a weird sense of comfort.

  We made our way to the kitchen and I was surprised that there were about ten staff members. They looked like humans of all shapes, sizes, and colors. I wondered why there were so many people staffed here if the angels of death didn’t need to eat. The staff are, in no way, affiliated with the angels. I wondered if they were truly loyal to the queen.

  Elijiah introduced me to Maurice, the head of the staff, then left, saying that tomorrow he would take me to Priya. Shortly after, Selene materialized in his place.

  “I can make you any mortal concoction you want,” Maurice said briskly. He was a short man with a shiny bald head and light brown skin. His eyes glowed like the sun and he had a thick handlebar mustache.

  “Great,” I said.

  I needed Selene to be occupied for a moment, though, so I could tell him I needed the meals without magic. I walked around the kitchen, which looked like the inside of some of the fancy cooking shows I would watch with Mara. My heart nearly broke in two whenever I thought of her, but I had to stay focused. Things would be much worse if I didn't figure this out. I needed to make a big enough disruption to occupy Selene.

  “Why are there so many of you if the angels of death don’t need to eat?” I asked, trailing around the room, touching things, and stalling. Maurice seemed to be irritated that I was in his space, but the rest of the staff parted for me like I was Moses in the Red Sea. Selene looked bored and irritated. Typical.

  “Some of them enjoy food. Some other beings need some type of nourishment. Plus there is simply no other place for us to go. We’re connected to the house and the queen’s power. We are beings of the afterworld, created with the intention of doing this job. This is all we know.”

  So the queen’s beings were created and tied to her magic, but also separate entities of their own free will? Magic was a weird thing that I didn’t fully understand, but I would have plenty of time to ask the queen questions after I released her.

  I spotted some oddly colored glowing liquid in a bowl, and I slowly made my way over to it.

  “What is this?” I peered into the basin. It swirled with colors of a night sky and a deep red, almost like blood. Maurice’s face paled and Selene stiffened. I wondered if this was the dampener.

  “Didn’t you come here to request a snack or something?” Selene asked, shifting so she stood a few inches taller than she had before.

  “Right,” I said, turning away from the bowl. I could feel both of them relax.

  Strange.

  Now I had a distraction.

  “Hmmmm,” I made a big show of contemplating what I wanted to eat and furrowing my brows. I snapped my fingers, which seemed to scare both of them slightly, and proclaimed, “I’ll take some drunken noodles, please. With shrimp. And make it, like, a medium spice, okay?” I flashed a wide smile at Maurice, who simply nodded his head.

  “Right away.”

  “Thank you! I’m so excited!” I flung out my hands and spun around, purposefully catching the edge of the weird liquid, and sent it tumbling to the ground where it hissed and fizzled.

  Jesus, I really hoped that wasn’t the dampener because it sounded like it would rip a hole through my insides.

  The whole staff gasped and Selene cursed.

  “Oops,” I said, dragging Maurice’s shocked expression away from the liquid’s mess as Selene rushed forward and snarled, saying she would fix this and that I was a stupid, clumsy mortal.

  “I need it to be a part of the queen’s meal. Do you understand?” I whispered, watching Selene murmur and wave her hands over the spill as if trying to magically neutralize it.