Magic - Chapter 54
The tunnel had collapsed behind us and the track beneath us disappeared, leaving Lily to crash two feet onto the ground.
This is the second book in The Godsverse Chronicles, a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.
Ollie wasn't looking for trouble, but after she saved the Antichrist from being slaughtered, it came for her.
Ollie lived by one rule. Never get involved with anyone for any reason; humans, demons, fae folk, it didn't matter. They were all trouble. Keeping her distance was how she survived in the criminal underworld for so long.
Keep your head down and don't piss anyone off. That was her motto, especially since her clients all had access to powerful dark magic.
She thought she had a flawless system for keeping her nose clean, so how did she wind up in a stolen car, with a demon spawn in her back seat, driving away from her ex-lover and a gang of demons ready to skin her alive?
That's a good question.
And why did she agree to help save the demon's life so she didn't get sacrificed to open the gates of Hell?
An even better question.
She had one rule. One stupid rule. And tonight...it goes right down the toilet.
Now, the only way for Ollie to get her life back is to save the girl, prevent the Apocalypse, and track down the people who betrayed her.
They will pay. Oh yes, they will all pay.
“You’re a damned fool,” my mom said when I told her what I had planned. I knew it. “You know that angels weren’t meant to survive in Hell, right? That’s kind of the whole point.”
“I thought the point of Hell was to punish the wicked.”
She bit her lip. “Actually, neither of those is the point, but that’s not the point. Suffice to say, I’m worried you won’t be able to survive the heat, my love. I’m worried about so much more than that, but I’m worried—I’m worried about all of it.”
I clasped Mom’s hands inside of mine. “I appreciate that. We’ve had our—I’ll just call them differences for the sake of time, and I thought we would have time to get over them. That’s the thing with eternity, you always have more time. Now, I don’t know if I do, so I have to get this out.”
“Dear, you don’t—”
“Yes, I do. This isn’t for you. It’s for me. I’ll never forget what you did to me, but I can forgive you.”
She smiled. “As you know, I don’t think that I did anything to warrant forgiving, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
I pulled my hands away. “Even now, at the end, you can’t just admit you did anything wrong in our relationship?”
She shrugged. “I did the best I could, and I am an angel, so that’s quite good.”
I stood up from the table. “It’s fine. I’m not forgiving you for you. I’m doing it for me, but…oh my god. You make it nearly impossible to be the bigger person.”
“I love you,” she said, still smiling at me. “No matter what, always know that.”
“I know, Mom.” It wasn’t enough. It was never enough just to love somebody if you treated them terribly, but that was her cross, and the minute I stepped out of her house, I promised myself I wouldn’t think about it again. I still had two stops to make.
The first was Phil’s house. No one answered when I knocked on the door. Instead, a hologram dropped from the door, a perfect representation of Phil, except translucent.
“I always know your knock, Ollie,” he said. “Unfortunately, you are late. We are ready to leave. Fortunately, I would never leave without saying goodbye. Meet me at the coordinates below.” A string of numbers scrolled across his hologram chest, and I wrote them down. “I’ll be waiting for you, but please don’t make me wait long.”
The coordinates were in Death Valley, in the center of a rock formation that kind of looked like it was giving me the middle finger. Phil’s ship shimmered silver at the top of the mesa, and I lifted myself up on it to find him and Candy waxing the outside of the craft. It was as circular as the drawing he showed me, with a cockpit smaller than I imagined would be comfortable for two people, even if one of them was an alien.
“Ollie!” Candy shouted when she saw me, running up and wrapping her arms around my neck. “Can you believe it? Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It is,” I said, looking past her to Phil, who finished buffing the outside of the ship and turned to me. “I can’t believe you guys are going.”
“I’ve talked about it for a long time, no?” he said. “I didn’t know the exact date, but I was always very clear about my desire to leave this place. With your impending trip, I thought it was best for me to leave now. One less thing to regret leaving behind.”
Candy let go of me, and I walked over to Phil. I placed my hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad you waited for me. Thank you.”
“I knew you would find a way to say goodbye.” He didn’t catch my eyes, which was good, so he wouldn’t see me crying. “I have always appreciated our friendship.”
“How long have you had it finished?”
“A week, give or take,” Candy started and then looked down at her feet. “But you weren’t asking me. I’ll go inside and get ready.” She hopped up the ramp leading inside the ship, leaving Phil and me alone outside.
“You will be careful, won’t you?” Phil asked.
“I can’t promise that,” I said. “And without you to temper my mood, who knows what I’ll get into.”
“I could run those calculations for you, but I’m afraid I left most of my equipment in my house, which is now your house.”
“No way, Phil. I couldn’t—”
He held up his hand. “The deed is done. It’s in your name. You need a safe place to conduct your business, and I made sure that my house is as safe a lair as anywhere on Earth. Please take it. It will make me feel better that I have done my part to protect you, as you have always tried to protect me.”
“I’ll take it,” I said. “But I’ll never tell my mother about it.”
“Oh god, no.”
I laughed and wrapped Phil in a hug. “You are my best friend.”
“And you are mine.”
We held each other for another moment, and then he stepped away and walked into the ship. The ramp raised, and the jets under the ship kicked up enough sand that I retreated up the hill to watch the rest of the launch from there. I stared after it until it was out of sight, then collapsed on the ground and cried until I had nothing left in my eyes, and I was caked in a thin layer of sand.
The last stop was to see my father. He and Blezor were sharing a drink behind the bar when I walked inside. Nothing had changed since I saw him last. Not for him, at least. Everything changed for me.
“I’ll be in the back,” Blezor said when he saw me, leaving me to talk with my father.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Dad asked.
“Yes, Et’atal is still in Hell, and we are going in after him.”
“Dangerous business, that,” he said. “Is there really no other way?”
“I’m sure there is, but this is the one that presented itself first.”
He nodded into his drink. “Impetuous. You get that from me.”
“Mom would beg to differ, I think. Though she does blame every unflattering thing about me on you.”
“She would.”
I stepped closer to him. “I have a favor to ask you. I know we just met, but I can’t trust Mom with it.”
“Anything.”
“If I get stuck in Hell, I need you to find a way to summon me back. I’m half demon, so there must be some spell that can get me back to Earth if I get stuck.”
Dad nodded. “Count on it.”
“Thank you. Now, it’s time to do something stupid.”
This is the second book in The Godsverse Chronicles, a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.