Chapter 6
When I’d first ‘woken’ in the mortal realm and tried to settle into something resembling a life, I’d watched movies, mostly with Jess who seemed to be unaffected by anything at the time. Now, that made more sense. She was a literal demon without a heart.
Well, it seemed I’d slowly been changing that about her and the other Demonspawn loyal to my mother.
Before all that, though, one of the movies had been the Wizard of Oz. Jess related a little too much to the Tin Man, while my favorite part was that it featured a good witch, not just a bad one.
My mind kept flashing back to it now as we pushed through the undergrowth just outside the barrier protecting the campus.
There was no yellow brick to keep to and no group of little people singing about a path to follow, and maybe there was a witch or two, but that wasn’t why I kept flashing back to the movie.
It was this illusory promise of something beautiful just ahead. And we couldn’t reach it.
We’d been walking for what felt like hours.
My concept of time might be skewed in a place where there was no normal day or night schedule thanks to the sun and moon not exactly making an appearance.
But even if I just counted the steps as a way to mark the time…
well, I’d lost count after about three-thousand six-hundred and seventy-two.
Then I’d started all over, because the Enchanted Forest—our destination, still seemed damned far away. We’d passed the boundary as we followed Uni into the woods, but we never quite seemed to be able to reach the perimeter.
And when I lost track again, this time at two-thousand eight-hundred and change, I almost screamed.
The lure of sparkling green trees with leaves of emerald and a glowing sort of beauty was a type of mockery. I couldn’t understand the endless nothingness we had to travel between the school’s barrier and the edge of the Enchanted Forest.
Even from a physic’s standpoint, it didn’t make sense—I could actually smell the hypnotic scent of exotic blooms and the rich, verdant lushness of life. So close I could all but taste it.
And yet the forest was so far away. Frustration bubbled up inside me and I stopped walking. Turning away from my mates and the insidious beauty of the forest, I covered my face with my hands.
Logan’s voice, rough and sweet, caressed my ears. “Lily?”
He touched my lower back and I forced myself not to jump, not to snap. My emotions were in chaos and I knew they had to feel the echo of that, because I could feel their emotions, too—the confusion, the anger, the worry.
Turning, I gave him a weak smile. “I’m just…”
The words faded. My mouth fell open.
In front of us, the Enchanted Forest spread out like a fantasy scene come to life—and it was right there. Just a few feet away.
“Lily, are you okay?” Logan touched my shoulder.
This time, I scowled and didn’t bother trying to put on a happy face. “I’m not sure. I might be going crazy.”
I caught the nervous look he darted at one of the others—Orion or Kaito, probably. When Kaito joined us, I allowed myself a humorless smile.
“Lily.” Kaito took my hand.
Squeezing gently, I met his gaze. “I’m okay, Kaito. Just, are you guys seeing this? It’s so… weird.” I didn’t know if that described what was going on, and I didn’t know if the weirdness was in my head, or if it was the forest, but it was the best I could summon up.
“The Enchanted Forest is more than it appears,” he said, wisdom in the depths of his eyes. “We might not be able to trust anything we see in here.”
Now he tells me.
“But we have to go in,” I said, focusing on the mossy green and the verdant emeralds just feet away. “This is the only way to get to Hell without running into a bazillion angry witch spirits intent on sucking out our insides.”
“Yes.” His pained look was not reassuring. But he didn’t let go of my hand, not then, and not as we stepped into the forest rich with an alien magic I couldn’t identify.
We were here.
That magic hit all of us at once. I felt the shock of it through to my very bones, pushing in, squeezing, as if trying to get to the very core of me. With a ragged groan, I pushed the magic and fell out on the other side, saved from a hard fall only by Logan’s quicker reflexes.
He panted and took in our new surroundings, his eyes glowing and half-wild.
On my other side, Kaito swayed, then steadied, bumping the heel of his hand against his skull.
“Anything shake loose?” I asked, taking a stab at humor to ease the ever-tightening fear gripping me.
“No.” He gave me a somber look, either unamused by the joke or just too worried by our predicament. Maybe nobody had entered the Enchanted Forest for a reason.
Turning to check on the others, I said, “Fine, Kaito, anybody else get my joke? I—” I stopped the words freezing in my throat as my mind processed what lay in front of me. Or rather… what didn’t.
Every one of the men whipped around, all of them sensing my fear.
Hell, the school, everything else was just gone.
Panic gripped me by the throat and I rushed forward. The power of whatever barrier protected the forest slammed into me and I smacked my palms against it. Electrical sparks shot upward over what now looked like a shimmering veil but I ignored it, too focused on what wasn’t there.
Except…
“The Academy is still there, Lily,” Logan said from behind me, accurately guessing the source of my fear. “Hell is still there, too. Waiting for us to come out on the other side.”
Orion came up behind me. Wrapping his big, warm arms around my middle, he nuzzled my neck. “Your other Virtues haven’t disappeared, either, little star. This is just some sort of protective magic from the Enchanted Forest to play tricks on the mind.”
“Yeah.” Rubbing my fist over my heart, I dragged in air and made myself focus. When I did that, I could feel the others—two more mates calling me as I’d called them to me and a rage demon cooling his heels in his dream realm. The panic eased a bit more. “Something here is just really wrong.”
Logan paused, head cocked as he scented the air. From under his lashes, his eyes glowed.
“What do you sense, Logan?” Kaito asked, his voice low.
Logan shook his head, eyes still focused inward. “I’m still trying to figure that out. But there are other shifters here.”
“What does that mean?” Orion demanded, the commander in him taking over.
Logan bared his teeth at him. “I don’t know, sunshine. I’m still trying to figure it out.”
Sunshine? I had to bite back a laugh as the two started bickering.
My dark-haired Hunter caught my eye.
Dante crouched on the outer edges of our group, gaze on the ground. The others caught me watching him and one by one, they all turned to do the same.
“What is it, Dante?” I asked.
Grim-faced, he shook his head as he dragged a finger through the earth and lifted it. We all watched as he rubbed his fingers together. The fine dirt fell away, a slight shimmer marking its fall.
“Is the dirt here sparkly, or is that just me?” I asked.
Dante looked at me, our gazes connecting over the distance between us. Instead of speaking, he turned his hand toward me. A faint shimmer lingered on the pads of his fingers and thumb.
“Glowing dirt,” Kaito muttered. “Peculiar.”
“Logan’s right about the shifters,” Dante said, glancing toward my wolf, then at me.
“I wouldn’t be able to guess at the shifter part in particular, but I did pick up on something supernatural from the second we pierced that protective barrier.
I’ve got no idea if it’s dangerous, either, but given where we are, I’m going to assume yes. ”
A rustling in the undergrowth had all of us tensing. Dante drew a blade while the others formed a loose circle around me.
A squeaky little cry that was slowly becoming familiar emerged from the underbrush just a second before a black and white head popped out with a silver horn on top. Grabbing Logan’s arm, I said, “Wait!”
Uni’s eyes widened at the sight of us and he dashed out of the greenery, coming straight at me. I held out my arms, laughing as he jumped into them. “You silly thing,” I chided. “You almost had Logan going Big Bad Wolf on you.”
Uni nuzzled my cheek before giving Logan a decidedly smug look before shooting his gaze toward the forest.
A shuddering boom resounded around us, my blood roaring in my ears.
Above me, Kaito grunted and I felt a lash of pain from him through our bond, but it was gone a second later.
Then there was another. Something knocked me off my feet and I landed face-first into the sparkly dirt.
Kaito fell on my back, luckily not breaking any feathers thanks to Dante’s bind.
My breath rushed out of me at the impact of the demon who could stand to lose a few pounds.
Kaito looked slim, but looks were deceiving when it came to demons.
It was probably why I struggled to get off the damn ground with my wings.
“Be still,” Kaito rasped into my ear.
Something swirled around us, investigating, seeking. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end until it ventured on, the noise and chaos swirling around us coming to a stop.
Kaito sucked in air and shoved off of me. “It’s gone. For now.”
“What’s gone?” I demanded, working myself upright. Uni quivered in my arms and I looked down at him in dismay. I hadn’t even remembered I’d been holding him. “Oh, baby, are you okay?”
“He’s fine,” Logan grumbled. “Animals from the Enchanted Forest are pretty damn sturdy. I don’t know about us, though.”
When I met Logan’s eyes, there was a glint of humor there and I glared at him. “He’s a bunny, you jerk. You’re a big, strong Alpha wolf. Of course I’m worried I might have smooshed him.”
Logan just smiled at me. With a roll of my eyes, I looked at Kaito and asked, again, “What the fuck was that?”
He’d been staring into the trees but at my question, he sighed and turned to me. His eyes burned with power, the silver and red glow almost painful to meet. “Lucifer’s essence, in effect. It seems he’s rigged the forest in a way. I felt his power only a few seconds before it went critical.”
All of us stared at him.
“Are you telling us that Lucifer’s power is haunting the Enchanted Forest?” Dante asked.
“Yes.” Kaito didn’t offer anything beyond that short, simple response.
And I guessed there wasn’t any need for one.
Frustrated, I buried my face against Uni’s fur.
My mentor was the first to speak. “We’ll get through this, Lily. Don’t let him intimidate you. That’s what he wants.”
Kaito’s voice, smooth and calm, broke into my mental reserves threatening to shut down and I met his eyes.
His demonic powers were on full alert, eyes glowing and the silver tattoo on his cheek glittering with raw power that called to mine.
But it was the compelling warmth of his gaze that held me captive.
“How do we get through the forest?” I asked him, relaxing.
“One step at a time,” he replied, stepping back with a hand swept out before him, as if ushering me into a ballroom.
“Off to see the wizard,” I muttered under my breath.