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Quinn’s eyebrows lower over her eyes, and she gestures toward Maddy. “Shewas able to come through the portal?”
“Yes, I was able to come through the portal. Something about Spider’s venom and all that.”
“Ah.” Quinn stares into the distance. “They’ll be back soon.”
“Who will?” Maddy turns around to peer the direction Quinn is. She’s feeling some better which probably means the venom is wearing off even more, but it also means the venom is wearing off even more, and it might be harder to get back through the propped-open portal.
They’re running out of time.
“Every creature I’ve killed comes back.”
“Comes back?” Maddy echoes, her stomach churning.
“Each one is resurrected, no matter how many times I kill it. I’ve tried beheading, dismembering, strangling. It doesn’t matter how they die or how many times they die. They come back.”
Maddy scowls. “Are you saying Spider’s going to resurrect, even though we killed him?”
Quinn’s gaze strays to Maddy, and then she makes a slow circle as though an attack is imminent. “Why are they waiting?”
“Probably because we’re here.”
Caleb circles the perimeter of the clearing, his body practically vibrating with tension.
Quinn grimaces and shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Is Spider going to resurrect?”
“Probably not?” Her answer ends like she’s asking a question.
Maddy doesn’t like it. “What do you mean ‘probably not’?”
“Well, I can’t be sure because he’s out there and he was in here and got out of some portal or maybe he’s inhabiting someone…”
“Explain.” Maddy’s head is still swimming, and she’s tired. They have to get out of here, but she’s not sure she can survive another encounter with Spider.
“I say ‘probably not’ because you killed him out there. Which means you probably ended his real body. But that’s not the way all this works in here. Time is different; life is different. And I can’t be sure which Spider you ended unless I can see the body.”
Caleb makes another lap. Maybe that’s what he’s doing with all the nervous energy floating around. It feels wrong here somehow.
Maddy gestures to Quinn. “Well, we need to get out of here before everything in this world gets into the moral plane anyway, and you can look over his body back in Veritas. I doubt they’ve cleaned it up yet. Can we get out of here now? It’s a miracle we haven’t been attacked yet.”
Quinn frowns. “Oh, the portal closing has nothing to do with how many of these creatures wind up on the mortal plane.”
Caleb comes to a stop between them. “What do you mean?”
Quinn rams her stick into the ground and leans on it as though they’re discussing the weather, not some invasion. “The living force of these creatures has been trapped inside the hosts of bodies back in the mortal plane. Until those hosts are destroyed or exorcized, those creatures will never truly die. They’re shadows or echoes of the originals.”
“So, even if we close this portal, we’re still going to have more show up in the moral plane?” Caleb crosses his arms and strokes his chin. “That’s not helpful for overcoming Orion.”
“No, not when it means Orion will have endless reinforcements,” Quinn agrees.
Maddy shares a look with Caleb. They need the obsidian, but maybe cutting down on how many enemies they’re fighting all at once isn’t a bad idea. “Let the creatures come. We’ll find their bodies as they show up. They have to be collected somewhere.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it’s likely that Orion trapped groups together. Where do we know of a collection of members who aren’t acting quite right?”
Caleb’s eyes widen, and Maddy can tell he has the same thought she does.
