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CHAPTER 20

Dance with the Devil

Instead of laughing, re what Beast had said about the Gray Between, I reached out and tried to slon ti, and it felt like I waspast, and trying to bring it down or slow it doithit Nothing changed Then I tried to envision a net IIn reality, outside the swirling gray energies, Eli bent over me, worry clear on his face this time Distantly, I heard hiray place and he jumped back as if I’d Tased hihter

Beast pushed at the sparkling energies around us and they parted, leavingon the cold floor of the weapons rooh the broken front entry ar of the river nearby mixed with blood and death

I pushed to ht one horrible, painful breath It sounded like I was breathing glue, thick and sick-sounding And I was afraid, for a too-longto both throw up and lose my bowels at the sa But then they settled and I was able to breathe

I chuffed and looked at -knuckled, bony look ofthe deni low;the tee My lower face was all bone and teeth I clacked th inface back on I chuffed Power ran through me like a live wire, the sensation heady and potent "Take ‘Rrrrasssler Go" To Wrassler, I said, "Live Or I beat your butt" It came out "heat your hut," but he seehost of a smile crossed his face

"You can try, Li’l Janie" He used his good hand to pull at a pocket "More rounds for the Judge Put a hurtin’ on ’ereement, bent, and took the rounds from his pocket, five more, and tucked them into my own pocket Hoisted Wrassler up and over Eli’s shoulder How the big e And covered the two as Eli trotted froht, the wolf at his side

Clacking ether, I said to Bethany, "Go I follow"

Bethany usting down steps, the air popping as she moved Vamp speed I kept up with her Somehow And suddenly ere in unknown and unexplored parts of the interior of the old building--unknown and unexplored by h them Narrow, dank, damp corridors raced by, walls constructed of old brick on one side, newer concrete block on the other, the rare, rotting stud and bracing beam between the walls, clay and pooled water beneath our feet Blackthrough puddles There was only the sound ofon clay Dark, darker than the underside of ht Even Beast’s eyes failed ht of old concrete stairs, slippery with eway I stu wood beneath hted ht, an outline of a doorway I stopped when Bethany did, in front of the door I was breathing hard,No heartbeat So weird I chuffed at the differences between us

"We are on the records floor There is a way down into the darkness," she said "Down into the prison, the dungeon, the place where, long ago, Amaury kept his scions safe and his eneift to hi about Amaury Pellissier, Leo’s uncle and the previous MOC And she was talking about the dark scion lair, not sub-four, where I thought ere going, but sub-five Her lips stretched into a s with ht And oire where he lies No pity for the fallen No surcease for their pain Do you understand?"

"We sssurprizzz," I said through the teeth and fangs that led age the Devil She will not tire She will not be slowed I will ride the arcenciel"