He continues as if I never said a word. “Their swiftness is moderately unexpected. We assumed they would trickle in separately over time, but they must have regrouped before arriving.”
The blood drains from my face. “Michael… who are you talking about?”
Please don’t be?—
“TheProfuga, of course.” He looks at me dully, his expression bored. “The fallen Watchers.”
My heart leaps so high into my throat that I choke on it. I would have been less shocked if he had reached out and slapped me. “I-I thought the demons were imprisoned.”
And the Council summoned themhere?Does Abaddon know this? Oh God, if he’s going up there to fight them off all by himself, then I have to warn him!
“Yes, a convenient rumor that ceased to be true some time ago. In response to our summons, they’ve made the audacious decision to come barreling down the tunnels together. The organized coalition is a mockery of their insignificant authority, really, and too similar to theirprior rebellion for our preference.”
Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.
“Abaddon is in danger.” My head feels light, muddy with panic. “I have to?—”
Michael scoffs like I’m the most idiotic human on the planet.
“And what exactly do you think you can do, with your weak little mortal body?” The pupils of his eyes are tiny, constricted beads as they narrow in on me in sheer disgust. “I’ve seen what power resides in you, and I know you have zero control over it. You would be nothing more than a liability to the Destroyer.”
In such a short time, my resolve to survive this conversation with wit has crumbled. I can feel his words worming their way into a deep-rooted insecurity of mine, because… he’s right. Iamweak. And I’ve been stupid to pretend I can make any sort of difference. I have no business being in the same room as these beings, let alone a battlefield. In a fight against a celestial warrior—any of them, even the lowest of their ranks—I’d die pathetically fast.
This power has been wasted on me.
As if it can hear my bleak thoughts, the entity suddenly thrashes within my soul, grabbing the entirety of my attention.
It shouldn’t be possible for me to forget Michael’s eagerness to kill me, but I’m suddenly enraptured by this thing. It’s rousing without being threatened. Howstrange.
Does it feel the inexplicable urge to protect me, just as I did for it?
If this is my rare chance to learn more about the nature of my parasite, then a brief slip of focus from my current company is worth the risk.
I shut my eyes and immediately let myself slip into that blind ocean of the immaterial world. My ease in doing so might be the only thing I’ve mastered here, and until today, I’ve never been grateful for it.
The star seems to beckon me to it, thrashing around the core of my soul. I recognize it, and it seems to recognize me, too. It calms at my proximity.
It’s the most disturbing thing I’ve ever witnessed.
Not only is the worm acting like a beloved pet, but I feel more enmeshed with it. It’s starting to seem less like an unwanted parasite and more like a symbiotic relationship. Like a mere shadow of my soul.
I swear, it even has a malevolence about it thatisn’tdirected towards me. It’s fighting off something foreign to both of us. Perhaps it’s even asking me to help it.
What a crazy and fucked up theory.
But it didn’t end well for me the last time I refused to give in to my unwanted urge to protect the entity, so I suppose it’s time to start testing my hypothesis.
“Stop.” Throwing my eyes back open, I look up at Michael with a newfound, fierce determination. “You’re crossing a line.”
To my absolute horror, he gives a small, disturbed smile.
I’ve never seen him smile before, and I wish I never did. It makes my skin feel like it’s covered in spiders. It’s not just twisted amusement. Something about him is very,verywrong.
How am I the only one who sees it?
Well, at least my soul’s shadow agrees, considering the entity has stopped thrashing like an enraged, caged animal. I can’t even feel it anymore—and for some strange reason, that bothers me. I almost liked knowing I’m not completely and utterly alone with Michael.
“At least you can sense interference.” He takes a step closer, immediately prompting me to step backward. A wall hits my back—the stone pillar—and Michael’s sick smile grows even wider. That, combined with my disintegrated connection to my angry shadow, shatters any fragile confidence I had left. “Too bad that’s all you can do. I’ll admit, I didn’t think you’d survive yesterday. You proved me wrong, which doesn’t happen often. I would say you should be impressed with yourself, but you only made it as far as you did because of me. You arenothingon your own. The key is wasted on you.”
