This is one of those times that Ireallywish CJ could read my mind and not just my emotions. First of all, I would have a great bigI told you sofor them. Second of all, this is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for.
Their jaw is ticking away.
Come on, CJ, get her to tell you where he’s at.
CJ swallows. “Hey, Melody.”
Their voice is strained.Come on, CJ, pull it together.
“We should…do the torture in front of her brother.”
Oh, that’s brilliant. A darker route than I would have gone, but it gets the job done. I gnaw on the inside of my cheek to keep from cheering.
Melody smirks. “You’ve gotten ruthless since you left. Where’s the little kid that cried when we learned where hamburgers come from?”
CJ doesn’t react.
“Unfortunately,” Melody says airily, “I can’t take him out of the spire without a ton of paperwork. But he was your friend, right? I’ll take you to see him next time you’re here. He’s with the other ethereals.”
I would have preferred she take us right to him, but this is definitely enough information for me to work with. Pete said he came from a tower in the middle of Tartarus. The interrogator said the ethereal souls are kept at the top of the tower. Melody says that Dante’s with the other ethereal souls. As long as there’s only one tower in the middle of the abyss, we’re back in business.
Without another glance, Melody leaves, disappearing into the dark. I hold my breath.
As soon as her footsteps fade, CJ’s mask drops, and they grab my face.
“Are you okay?”
I stare at them in shock. I expected them to be angry. At the very least disappointed. Bitter. Resentful, even. But this is concern and relief. This…softness—it’s an expression I’ve never seen before.
I’m going to be honest, it’s kind of freaking me out.
“Can you untie me pwease?” I say through squished cheeks.
They blink and release my face. I turn slightly so they can undo the knot.
“I’m fine,” I say, shrugging off the rope and turning to them. “What’s a few days in hell?”
That weird, soft expression is still on their face. “She said they tortured you!”
I shrug. “No big deal. It was like summer camp. I made a friend, got in a fight, had part of my soul sucked out—the usual.”
They mutter a curse, pinching the bridge of their nose. They’re quiet for a while, but I can see the wheels turning, and I know they’re either trying to decide what to say next or counting to ten.
They finally give up and just ask, “Where’s Ezra?”
“Hell if I know,” I say. “Get it? ’Cause we’re in hell?”
The concern is finally wiped off CJ’s face, replaced with their typical annoyed expression. I give them a wide grin. With a jerk of their head, they lead me down the stairs.
“Could be worse,” I say.
We stand at the edge of a precipice, the tower in the distance, only a thin stone bridge running the length of the abyss. Except it’s no longer an abyss, because we can see the bottom quite clearly: about twenty feet down, a literal lake of fire.
Yeah, Ezra would have hated this.
I stand frozen for a moment, watching the flames lick the air.Puffs of dark smoke waft past the bridge toward the crimson sky above, at times so thick it completely obscures our destination.
“Dante’s in that tower,” I whisper.
