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“Ah.” I turn my head to study Marc, whose cheeks hold a light flush. “That makes sense.”
They haven’t been separated long enough to be used to the new distance. How long will it be before they stop acting like they’re still one person?
“We could do both?” I suggest after a moment. “Fire in the belly will make food poisoning less likely.”
Darius lets out a long sigh. “If we must. But let us at least get it to go so the others may suffer with us.”
“That’s the way to do it.” Marc reaches past me to tap Darius’s arm. “Spread the misery.”
We reach the archway that announces the entrance to the Bone Yard, and my gaze lingers on the plaque attached to the outer wall, warning of the danger that awaits just past the line in the ground. Wards sparkle around the outer edges and within the stones that form the arch.
The magic is supposed to keep the more dangerous beings within contained. No one who actively plans to harm humans should be able to cross the line once they enter, but the tunnel beneath the wall gives lie to those protections.
Why didn’t we sense the breach? And how do we close it off and stop it from happening again? Especially with the city council’s plan to turn this place into a tourist trap?
My steps slow as we enter the demon part of the city, and a shiver of apprehension rolls through me. “Do the streets appear emptier than they did yesterday?”
While they’re still crowded, they’re not as packed as usual, with large, empty spaces between people that haven’t existed since the demons first took over these city blocks. The Bone Yard has always been a place teeming with life, no matter the time of day, but now, a tense wariness fills the air.
Darius peers around and nods. “Yes. But why? Have more than the boogeymen gone missing? Or are residents showing caution for another reason? I can’t imagine Nickodemus would tell anyone what’s happened to his people. It would make him appear weak.”
“Nickodemus preferred to let all his children be taken instead of reaching out for help.” My gaze lands on a group of demons huddled together who watch us with wary stares. “He’d rather go extinct than have anyone know what’s happened at The Cellar.”
We head toward the Poison Frog, which was packed just yesterday, but now no one hovers around the door, and the tables on the patio sit empty.
The unease inside me builds as we walk down the dark alley to the stairs that lead below the bar to The Cellar. When we reach the door at the bottom, it stands open, with no sign of light from within.
My pulse quickens, the lack of security sending trepidation down my spine.
Are we too late? Is Nickodemus gone now, too? Was he attacked after we saw him yesterday?
I exchange silent glances with the guys and unclip the batons at my belt, snapping them to their full length.
Flame erupts in Marc’s hand, and he steps through first, illuminating the dirt floor filled with open graves and the tunnels that peek from the shadows against the walls.
I follow a pace behind him, facing the right, while Darius covers the left, his arms encumbered by the skull he carries. As we step around one of the open graves, I peer inside at the hole that slopes down deep into the earth, leading toward the center of the Bone Yard.
Do they all go in the same direction at first? And do they all eventually lead to the pit of bones?
We reach Nickodemus’s grisly throne and find it empty.
“So you survived where my children did not,” a voice hisses from the shadows.
Marc swings around, the fire in his hand casting a red glow over the tall figure hunched within the darkness in one of the tunnels.
The king of boogeymen has cast off his human trappings since our last visit, and his leathery skin stretches over his bones grotesquely. The mouth below his stomach hisses, baring sharp teeth at us.
Nickodemus lumbers forward, his body hunched forward and his stringy black hair covering his face, with only the glint of yellow eyes visible. “What have you found?”
Darius cautiously steps forward and pulls back the edge of the blanket to expose the multiple rows of teeth within the misshapen skull he carries. “We found a mass grave with this inside.”
The mouth in Nickodemus’s stomach opens in a grief-filled wail that splits our ears.
He lurches forward to take the skull, and fury fills his voice. “Who has done this to my children?”
My hands tighten on my batons, and I keep a cautious distance between us. “We don’t know. There was a monster in the tunnels, but we couldn’t see it.”
“Where are the rest?” His head lifts, and wet snuffles fill the air. “You left them down there?”
