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“Not until our business is concluded. It would be foolish to give you a way to escape before then.” He gestured around the room.
A large balcony sat at the other side of the massive space, and it overlooked an open courtyard. In the center of the courtyard towered a tree with an archway in the center. “The bridge,” he said from so close behind me, I jumped.
“It’s a tree, not a bridge. They’re not that similar, you know?”
He shook his head and pointed toward it. “That is the point where this level of the afterlife connects with the others. It is the passageway between levels, and the center of the power here.”
I thought back to what Hunter had said. “I was told souls could move between the realms, to wherever they belonged.”
He nodded. “Wardens, the creatures who fill the dead zone, can pass through that bridge with spirits who do not belong in the area they are in. That can mean moving them to a better or worse level. However, they still use that bridge.”
“If it’s there, why do you need wardens?”
“Because the path between is treacherous and difficult to navigate. Wardens are one of the few who can find their way. Most who venture in without a warden never make it out again.”
I recalled the creature that I had seen the night I had met Hunter, which felt like a lifetime ago. “One showed up in my house…”
He turned to stare down at me, a calculation in his eyes that made me more than a little hesitant. “Wardens are drawn to things that do not belong where they are. You, mortal, seem to consistently be somewhere you do not belong.”
Truer words were never spoken.Still, I kept that to myself and turned to survey the room. It had a sitting area, a large bed, a dining table that sat eight, a bathroom through an open doorway. On the balcony, which didn’t appear to close or have drapes, were more places to sit. It reminded me of some penthouse room in a fancy hotel where diplomats and princes might go to stay.
Then again, what was hell if not some horrible travel destination that always sounded better in theory than person?
“Does the room meet your needs?”
His words were so careful, so polite. It set off alarm bells in my head. This man was, by all accounts, the most powerful being in hell, and yet he spoke to me as if he were an errand boy.
“Tell me what you want,” I said again, his careful demeanor enough to make me risk it. “You drew me here, so clearly you need something. Just come out with it.”
“That will come in time,” he answered. “For now, rest easy knowing I do not wish you dead. I have questions I hope you have answers to, but such things must be approached in the right way. Tonight, we will have a get-together to welcome you. There is clothing in the closet through that doorway, but if you require anything else, simply let the guard at the door know. There is also water on those shelves—I know how much you mortals need your liquids.” He stepped away with a slight bow, something old world and strange.
“I want to know if the people I came with are safe,” I blurted out as he turned away.
He paused, then glanced over his shoulder. “We want many things, mortal. What you will discover here is that they are all possible…for the right price.”
With that, he was gone, leaving me alone in the room, cut off from the people I relied on, and more confused than ever.
