“So what is that going to do, exactly?” I ask him.
“I’m going to pour this on your scythe, which will enable it to track down your bloodline. The power should pull us to your mother, or at least someone in that bloodline.” He turns to my guys. “You might want to hold on to her,” he warns ominously.
My pulse starts to race again, and my mouth opens in surprise. Shit. This is all happening really fucking fast.
“Wait!” I call out at the same time Tazreel asks, “Ready?”
I open my mouth to say, “Fuck no!” but of course, the arrogant ass doesn’t wait for anyone to answer. He just tips the bottle over, dumping the entire contents of it onto the blade of my scythe.
“Are you kidding me?” I demand, but the oozing, molasses-thick liquid is already coating the blade, and there isn’t anything I can do to stop it.
Taz reaches forward and grabs my arm, just as my demons grab onto other various parts of me. I don’t even get time to suck a breath in and reprimand Taz about waiting for permission or lecture him about not pouring demon hump blood on other people’s scythes, because as soon as the red liquid drips off the blade of the scythe and lands on the ground, something yanks on me hard.
I go portaling straight downward, like Alice fucking Liddell falling straight into the rabbit hole. Which is just fucking great, because I hate bunnies almost as much as I hate birds. If I come out of this whole thing with a cotton tail, I’m going to be pissed.
18
It feels like we all get sucked down into demonic quicksand, pulled right to the center of earth. Then, somehow, we flip right-side up again and go barreling skyward in pure darkness. It’s the worst fucking rollercoaster ride ever, and my stomach lurches angrily.
Just when I’m sure there will be ralphing in my near future, the pull on me stops and there’s once again solid ground beneath our feet.
I blink in shock, feeling like the wind was sucked out of my lungs, and I wheeze as I bend at the waist and try to get my bearings.
“Breathe, Maverick,” Iceman tells me as he places a comforting hand over my back. As though my body responds to his suggestion alone, my lungs immediately cooperate and inflate.
I gasp and steady myself for a moment and then straighten up, looking around as everything comes into focus. We’re surrounded by flat land, covered in bushy green trees as far as the eye can see. We’ve landed on top of a lone hill—the only higher elevation around—and from our vantage point, we have an unobstructed view all the way out to the horizon.
I notice gray baleful-looking clouds slowly moving in the distance as if they have nothing better to do than ruin a beautiful day. Anxiety starts to percolate in my stomach. Hopefully, they’re moving away and not toward us. I look away from them, not wanting to track potential impending doom.
“Uhh, where are we?” I ask, once again focusing on the funny looking trees in front of me.
Crux steps up next to me, running a hand through his wind-whipped blond hair as he taps his tongue piercings over his bottom lip, lost in thought. “I think we’re in Minnesota.”
Everyone looks over at him. “Really?” I ask in disbelief. “That’s what you’ve come up with?”
“Yeah,” he says with conviction. “Definitely Minnesota.”
I start to laugh, and he turns faux offended eyes on me. “Have you ever been to Minnesota?” he challenges.
I pause. “I have not,” I confess, and Crux tilts his head, the look on his face cocky. “So then, how would you know?”
“We are not in fucking Minnesota,” Jerif tells him.
“I know it’s hard for you not to be a prick,” Crux tells Jerif teasingly, “but I’ve been here before!” he insists. “This is Minnesota! Without a doubt.”
“When were you in Minnesota?” Echo asks dubiously. “And what the fuck for?”
“Uh…” Crux’s green eyes suddenly flicker over to me, and a look of guilt crosses over his face.
“Really?” I laugh. “A demon booty call happened in Minnesota?” I can’t keep the hilarity out of my tone. I don’t know why it’s so funny to me, but it is.
“Crux?” Iceman calls from behind us.
“Hold on, Raf, I’m winning an argument,” my surfer demon says dismissively. “Anyway, as I was saying,” he goes on, drawing a hand out toward the landscape. “This is definitely the place.”