Page 24 (1/2)

Nothing happens when I ask the marbles to lead me to the demon thief So I ask theuiding us through the vastness of space We&039;d be lost without the marbles Impossible to tell up from down in this void We couldn&039;t even find our way back to the panels we cah I wonder if Lord Loss knew about the e he didn&039;t count on

After what feels like less than a day we come to a pair of white panels The ht I stop theh Glance at Dervish and Shark for their opinions

"Looks like it doesn&039;t o," Dervish says

"But Cadaver can&039;t be in two zones at once, can he?" Shark frowns

"Maybe he&039;s straddling theests "A foot in each world"

"Orto split us up," Shark says suspiciously "We don&039;t knohere their power coht be the work of Lord Loss - he separates us, throws us together, then splits us up again"

"I doubt it," Dervish says "Anyway, if that&039;s the case, it&039;s easy to outfox hiether Kernel, which do you prefer?"

I shrug "I&039;ve no idea"

"Then let&039;s go left," Dervish decides When neither of us objects, he moves to a spot just behind me, Shark slides up in front, and in a close line we follow the h the panel, into a new zone of fresh horrors

Guts everywhere Every sort of inner organ iinable Stacked in piles, splattered around in pieces, soround beneath our feet slippery with blood, mucous and all sorts of sli out of my mouth Dervish and Shark are the sa our noses shut, gasping for air

De thereedily Most are worm-like, so They&039;re blind They carry on shredding and guzzling, ignorant of our presence One slides over the back of s elsewhere and asps, eyes red and watery "Create a field like in the last place!"

It&039;s hard to focus The ic doesn&039;t come easily here The stench is foul, but it isn&039;t fatal, so ical force field After a , I construct a weak field of air aroundas the field I created in space, and soh, but it blocks out the worst and allows me to breathe normally

Shark finds it ned for subtle spells With Dervish&039;s help, he es to create half a field around the front of his face, but it soon flickers out of existence In the end he curses, rips a sleeve off his shirt and wraps it round his oing to get

"Let&039;s backtrack," Dervish says, nodding at the black panels behind us "Try the other panel It can&039;t be any worse than - "

"Wait," I stop hi above a pile of pink and brown intestines The guts heave upwards regularly, then subside, as though the pile is breathing Therethrough the round so I don&039;t slip, only now realising that it isn&039;t really ground, siuts Maybe we&039;re inside the stoe demon like the sky ht have to pass through to get out!

I&039;uts on top are thrust off A demon sticks its head out of the reen head, a cross between a hu ears and wide, white eyes

"Cadaver!" I roar, startling the demon When his eyes focus on uts and scrabbles away across the floor of intestines