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“We nearly died getting even that much,” Darius says. “We tried to go back this morning with more manpower, but the pit was empty.”
“Then you have failed our bargain. You are not strong enough to offer protection for the Bone Yard.” Nickodemus sets the skull on top of his throne. “Leave.”
I stiffen. “We’re not giving up, Terror from Beneath. This is only the first clue.”
“Then why are you here?” He whips toward me, his claws raised. “I tasked you to find what is taking my children. Not to bring me empty bones.”
Marc and Darius both move to stand in front of me, and flames erupt in Darius’s hands. “Step back, Nickodemus, or your kingdom ends here.”
Gently, but firmly, I move them aside. While I appreciate their desire to protect, I don’t need it. “Wewillfigure out what did this. Flint is still at the grave site with Sharpe, searching for the bones.”
“If they are missing, then you have already failed.” He turns and lumbers back toward the tunnel he came from. “Leave me to my grief.”
“Wait.” I step after him, only to come up short when Marc grabs the back of my shirt. “What’s going on in the Bone Yard? Why are there fewer beings walking the street?”
Nickodemus grips the wall, his thick talons digging into the wooden beam that holds up the ceiling. “You have not fulfilled your bargain. Leave before I kill you all.”
We exchange uneasy glances and retreat from The Cellar, not turning our backs until we reach the alley once more.
“I don’t like this,” Marc mutters as we head toward the street. “He knows more than he’s saying.”
“All we can do is keep running the case.” Reminded of another case we’re running, I turn toward the Poison Frog. “Let’s go in and ask about Jimmy while we’re here. This is the least packed I’ve ever seen the bar.”
“Jimmy?” Marc questions.
“Drug dealer who disappeared in the Bone Yard,” Darius informs him. “We took on the case yesterday because Pen was bored.”
“Youwere bored,” I correct, “and avoiding paperwork.”
“Wewere bored,” Darius amends. “He’s most likely dead.”
The statement sends disquiet through me. While I had the same thought when we took the case, with the sudden shift in the Bone Yard and what’s happening with the boogeymen, I find myself hoping that we find Jimmy still alive.
We don’t need another body right now.
I collapse my batons and return one to my belt to free my hand while keeping the other at the ready. The bar may be less packed, but not less dangerous.
I push open the door to the Poison Frog, only to come up short. Not because of the noxious fumes of liquor and ozone that sting my eyes and nose, but because of the caged madman sitting on the bar.
“This is unexpected,” Darius rumbles from behind me.
The man grips the bars and shouts over the conversation in the bar, “They ride with death, and the world burns. You can’t stop it. No one can stop it!”
“Hey, don’t we know him?” Marc says.
I nod and continue farther inside. “Yeah, that’s the crazy prophet we were in lockup with. How’d he end up here?”
“All paths are paved in blood!” the madman screams.
“Boo!” Several demons hiss and throw peanuts at the man.
“Give us something new!” a few yell.
A club bangs against the cage, and a baby-faced man shouts, “Come on, old man. What’s the next sign of the apocalypse? We have a bingo card to fill!”
The madman’s eyes roll toward us, and he presses his whisker-covered face against the bars. “Sacrifice your queen!”
The baby-faced man looks toward us and grins. “Well, well, well! The queen herself is in the house!”
