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That’s another reason why I have to lower the dimmer on my app. Sorry, but it’s one thing to accept that this is a demon realm and that there are obviously dried bones in the ash. It’s another to see them everywhere. The first few feet, I couldn’t avoid them, though they’re more spread out the further I go. Still, it’s bad enough I have to hear them crunch under my shoe. I’d rather not see them at the same time.
Find the flower, Hope. Forget about the monsters and the bones and that, if I get turned around in here, I’m fucked. Duke Haures promised me that it was possible to get in, get the flower, and get out since the ashbalm grows closer to the edge of shadows. I shouldn’t have to gotoofar, but if I do manage to get lost, I’m pretty sure they won’t leave me in here to add to the piles of bones.
Besides, there’s a good chance, if I give up and scream bloody murder, Loki would come and find me. He promised Kennedy that he’d help me, and that’s after he already did, giving me the hint that started me on this path. If her demon is anything like mine, he will if I actually need him to—for her sake, and for mine because I’m Sammael’s mate.
That thought it mind, I focus on what he told me to do just now: I follow my nose.
The stink of sulfur and rotten eggs is a lot fainter in the shadows so I’m not so sure what he wants me to do; it’s still pretty powerful, and I hate to think how many shampoos it’s going to take to get the odor out of my hair. I tiptoe a little further out, not wanting to go too far since the duke saidedges, and gasp when a strange cookie-like scent suddenly forces its way through the acrid stench before slamming right into me.
Seriously.
Whatever it is, it’s good enough to make my mouth water, but I pause when the scent triggers a memory that has my throat tightening in a good way.
It takes me a second to place the familiar smell and why it means so much to me, but I swear to God, it smells like the chocolate chip cookies my mom used to make every Christmas. I haven’t smelled that aroma in years—mainly because not even Jo or I could cook them just right—but it touches me deep inside of my chest.
Huh. Is that what Loki meant? When he said that it would call to me? Because, not gonna lie, as soon as I catch a whiff of that, I actually want to go searching for the source of it. I know it won’t be my mom—not with her gone these last six years now—but the familiar smell fills me with such a sense of nostalgia, love, and, yes,hopethat I head right for in the direction it’s blowing in before I realize I’ve moved..
The delicious cookie smell grows stronger. I keep going, using my phone to guide my way, and when I see a hint of orange peeking through the shadows, my heart starts pounding against my ribcage.
The bones under my feet seem to crunch even louder, though my racing pulse nearly drowns out the sound as I hurriedly jog forward. Dropping my phone, covering the light with the back of my hand, hiding the screen against my hip, the orange glow blossoms into a small fire amongst the darkness.
And that’s exactly what it turns out to be when I’m close enough to make out details. It’s a black flower whose bloom is a constant, flickering flame set on top of its shadowy stem.
There’s only one of these flowers growing from the ash. Hoping this is therightone, I drop low to the ground, careful to avoid the flame as I pluck the stem right out of the sandy dirt.
As soon as I do, the fire disappears. It doesn’t even smolder; it’s just gone. Not only that, but the stem beneath my gentle grip crumbles away. I wasn’t expecting it, and I mutter a quick curse as I catch the tumbling flower in the hand holding my phone.
My screen illuminates the flower.
Shit.
The whole damn thing is made of ash, held together by a wish and a prayer. I probably should’ve been expecting that—I mean, the clue’s right there in its name—and I just about stop breathing in case my exhale has it disintegrating.
After a few tense seconds, I admit that the flower is a little sturdier than that. Sure, part of the blossom fell away when it hit my phone, and half the stem is gone, but the rest of it is still intact.
Let’s just hope I can keep it that way.
CHAPTER19
ASHBALM FLOWER
HOPE
Ihave never, ever felt so relieved in my life as when I take that last step out of the shadows.
The heat slams into me, but I was prepared. Besides, after the way I took tiny steps, going so slow that it seemed like an eternity passed between me plucking the flower and emerging back into the red sky and high temps of Sombra, I needed a little warmth to knock out the chill that had settled in my bones.
According to my phone—still clutched between white-knuckled fingers, hoisting up the ashbalm flower—I was in there for twenty-two minutes. At least fifteen of them were spent bringing the flower back.
But I did, and Loki is waiting outside for me just like he promised he would.
Still in his shadow form, he glides over to me. Without a word, he reaches for the flower.
I wasn’t expectingthat,either. I can’t stop the big demon, and too stunned to really react, all I can do is say, “What? No—”
In my mind’s eye, Loki grabs the ashbalm flower and it crumbles to dust in his massive hand. I’m already thinking about how I’ll have to go back in there and see if I can find another flower and, oh my God, I really, really don’t want to do that again and—
Oh.
