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We find ourselves on the deck of apool Deck chairs are strewn about the place Bodies everywhere, ripped to pieces, stomachs carved open, heads and lie and spread slowly, seeping into the cracks between the planks The water of the swinores the corpses He&039;s seen worse in his time I have too But it still hits htmarish scene like this It only takes me a few seconds to recover but Beranabus doesn&039;t even need that He&039;s instantly alert, looking for threats, sizing up the situation I see hihtly and, once I overcoed with ic We&039;re on Earth but it feels like the Demonata&039;s universe We can operate at full capacity here

"We&039;re encased," Beranabus says "The ship&039;s been sealed off by a bubble of ic They must have a lodestone"

Lodestones are rocks which were filled with s known as the Old Creatures They ruled our world in the distant past, holding the deo, but left the charged stones behind Many have drained of power over the centuries, and Beranabus destroyed ryuse of them But some remain, secreted away, either unknown to hies sometimes find them and use the the Demonata to spend more time here and wreak maximum havoc

"Where&039;s Juni?" Beranabus asks

"Lower down I thought it would be wiser not to face her until we&039;d assessed the risk I don&039;t know if anyone&039;s with her, but there&039;s an openIt&039;s not very sturdy Only weak deh it"

Beranabus thinks about that, then says, "I&039;h the , leavingI play out crazy scenarios insideback to life and attacking I&039;ve never seen a zo Dead when I was a child, but my parents wouldn&039;t let me watch it

I don&039;t have any hair-I&039;ve always been bald-but if I did, it would be standing on end I&039;ve got a bad case of what my h theafter Beranabus This ship is bad news We&039;ll wind up dead if we stay, bleeding sacks of flesh and bone

Before I can bolt, Beranabus returns and the others cross after hih away h of the universe to knoe need never fear the dead, only the living

The Disciples are nervous Bec scans the lower decks and says there&039;s only one demon onboard with Juni I tell the others about the open

"We should go back," Sharmila says "Juni has set this up to ensnare us"

"Why would she be expecting us?" Dervish asks

"Lord Loss et Juni Perhaps everything-the attacks on Dervish, Juni revealing herself on the roof of the hospital-was designed to lure Beranabus here The deht be poised to cross and finish us off personally"

"Not through that ," I tell Shar close to Juni

"Then through another," she says "We have never been able to explain why Lord Loss can cross when other hs "You could be right, but we et a better shot at Juni If she&039;s not expecting us, it&039;s the perfect time to strike If she is and this is a trap, at least we can anticipate the worst The erous, but it serves us as much as her If Lord Loss doesn&039;t turn up, we can etaway"

"Are you sure of that?" Sharmila frowns "If we have to open a ne"

"We won&039;t," Beranabus says "Kernel will stay here and guard our escape route You&039;ll know if any other s open, won&039;t you?"

"Yes," I say confidently