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Greg chirped once more at Moon and bobbed to where he’d been standing near Sky.
“For me, it’s a feel thing. There’s a power difference between minions and demons. One is a double A battery, and the other is like grabbing a fallen power line. But you can probably tell by their appearance. When you gaze at a minion, they appear very hazy or fuzzy to humans. Like they’re out of focus. Their features are smoothed over. Demons have all the scary details.”
Moon snorted. “Like twenty-four bit versus 4k. Gotcha.”
“I noticed we haven’t encountered any plant life. No trees or flowers,” Chen said.
Sky’s expression wilted, his smile falling off his face and sadness creeping into his eyes. “This is the underworld. Life isn’t born here. I think the demons would argue that plants are the realm of the fae, whom they like even less than vampires.”
That just left Chen’s brain wondering where minions and demons came from if nothing was born here, but it felt better to leave that question for another day. The faster they could get out of there, the better.
“How far do we need to travel?” Chen inquired.
“Don’t know,” Sky replied. He repeated the question to Greg. The minion cocked his head to the side, his brow furrowing before clearing and pointing. The noise the creature made was like two squirrels fighting over a single choice acorn. Thankfully, Sky understood it. The answer didn’t appear to be what he wanted to hear, though.
The necromancer’s round shoulders slumped, and a long, low groan rumbled up his throat. “Miles. He said it’s something like ten miles from here. That’s going to take forever.”
“If we spend hours here, that’s days in the human world, right?” Moon demanded. “We need to get back faster than that. Chen’s brothers need him, and Chen needs to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible.”
Chen squeezed the hand he was holding and flashed Moon what he hoped was a reassuring smile. He was out of practice with that particular expression. “No one seems to have noticed me yet. We’ve got time.”
“You’ve been noticed. We’ve all been noticed,” Sky grumbled. “Humans aren’t supposed to be running around the underworld—dead or alive.” Sky turned to Greg. “Can you find us some kind of ride or shortcut?”
The round minion chirped once and shot off in a flash, moving far faster than he looked capable of.
“Why haven’t we seen any ghosts or human souls?” Moon asked.
“Because this part of the underworld isn’t meant for human souls. This is where the demons and minions live. Seeing humans here is akin to pigs escaping from a slaughterhouse. It’s weird and wrong to them. It means something has gone wrong or something is broken.”
Moon’s entire body sagged as he glared at his friend. “Seriously? Pigs from a slaughterhouse? That’s the best you can come up with?”
Sky threw his hands into the air.
Moon shoved his free hand through his hair and glanced down the street as they waited for Greg to return.
“Sky…sorry,” Moon mumbled. “I know I put you in a shit spot by asking for you to do this. Your help means a lot to me. We might not understand all that you’re risking, but we appreciate it.”
The necromancer leaned forward so he could see around Chen’s body and smirked at his friend. “You know I’d do anything for you.” He snorted and straightened, throwing a huge grin at Chen. “Mad, Red, and I were sure you’d be impossible when you finally fell for a guy.”
“Hey, asshole! You’re the one who made us listen to you sighing over hottie goth boy next door for two years.”
“Like you wouldn’t have mooned over Chen for two years.”
Moon tipped his chin up and smiled. “Nope. I would have hit on him immediately.”
“It’s true,” Chen chimed in. “He flirted with me while I was in the middle of kidnapping him.”
Before Sky could respond to that tidy bomb, there was a huge cacophony of noise roaring in the distance and getting louder, as if racing closer. Every instinct demanded he draw his sword and pull Moon behind him as he faced this…whatever…head on.
But Moon was a powerful witch with his own skills. He’d more than proved that in last night’s battle.
Bright flashing lights accompanied the cacophony when this large, cart-type thing turned the corner and barreled down the now empty street.
“What the fuck…” Sky said, his voice drifting off as the abomination raced closer.
“It’s a party peddle cab!” Moon shouted. He stepped to the curb and pointed at it. “I rode one of them when I was in Savannah for Bryce’s bachelor party. We pedaled around the city, drinking, singing eighties songs, and bar hopping. I can’t believe they have these here.” Moon gazed at Chen. “Do they have these in your home?”
“I honestly have no idea.” Chen turned his attention to the thing that stopped in front of them with a squeal of tires. It appeared as if someone had placed a four-sided bar on a set of four fat tires while a bartender stood in the center.
