I watch in amusement as Max grins and goes over to Dex, putting a meaty palm on his shoulder and pulling him in to a hug. Dex winces, looking like he’s being crushed by the giant ginger. But eventually he pats him (rather awkwardly) on the back, and I swear there might be just a hint of emotion in his eyes.
Maximus releases him and then slaps Dex on the back, HARD, making him cough.
“Okay, okay. I get it,” Dex says, looking pained. “You’re real. Didn’t have to break my ribs like that.” He looks between the both of us. “So now what? Dex is all filled in here, no more secrets. Right?” He glares at me.
I throw up my palms. “No more secrets. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I really wanted to. I would have if we didn’t see him tonight.”
“So you wanted to come back tonight because of him.” He jerks his thumb at Maximus.
“And Samantha,” I tell him.
Seconds after her name falls from my mouth, the house fills with the sound of a door unlocking from the floor above us and slowly creaking open, followed by a thump.
The bathroom.
I look at Dex, wide-eyed. I do not want to run into her again.
“Hey, big guy,” Dex says to Maximus. “You wouldn’t be able to do anything about a troublesome dead woman, would you?”
Max’s expression turns grim, which I have to admit, puts all the fear back in me.
“Follow me,” he says, lowering his voice. He goes down the stairs as Dex and I exchange a look of surprise, and then Dex quickly scoops up his camera, peering at it as we hurry after Max.
“This better not be broken,” he grumbles. “And I can’t believe he fucking kissed you and you didn’t say shit about it.”
“Sorry,” I tell him under my breath. “It’s not like it left an impression on me.”
Max lets out a derisive snort from ahead of us as he leads us down yet another set of stairs, going into the basement. It’s barely lit from my flickering flashlight.
“In here,” he says, opening a heavy door.
“Oh great, he’s leading us into a basement,” Dex says. “Fucking love basements.”
We step into a cold room that’s lit by ochre-colored windows that line the upper part of one wall, facing onto the street, the streetlights providing just enough glow. There’s a brick fireplace with a Moorish arch above it, and broken Middle Eastern lanterns strewn between old leather furniture.
“What is this place?” I ask, shining my flashlight around.
“I’m guessing this used to be the smoking room, back in the day,” Maximus says.
Dex seems more preoccupied with getting the camera to work. I zip open my purse and find an extra flashlight, handing it to him.
“Here,” I tell him. “I think I left my EMF reader upstairs.”
“You can come get it next time,” Max says.
“Next time?” I repeat. “You think there’s a next time? If that was Samantha Poe up there in that bathtub, I’m sorry but there’s no way in hell that we’re talking to her.” Not to mention the fact that I’ve seen her outside this house. “No, we’re getting you out of here tonight.”
“I told you last time, sweetheart. It just ain’t that simple.”
“But you said you had a connection with me.”
Dex looks up from his camera, glaring at the both of us. “A connection?”
I give Max a pleading look like, please don’t fuck this up and say something that will set Dex off.
But Max gives me a smirk, and I don’t like the look of that smirk.
“We do have a connection,” he says slowly. “Happens when you’re that intimate with someone.”
Dex’s hands nearly crush the camera. “If you don’t shut up,” he growls at him, “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Like I said, I’m already dead.”
“What if the both of us kill you?” I threaten him. “That might count for something. Stop being such an instigator. We’re trying to help you, you jerk.”
“Fuck that, I’m already having second thoughts,” Dex says.
“Looks like the gang’s all back together,” Max remarks with a smile.
“Shut the fuck up,” Dex and I both say to him in unison.
The sound of the floor creaking above us steals our attention. All three of us look up, sucking in our breath. Well, Dex and I do—I don’t even know if Max breathes or not.
There’s someone walking across the hall on the main floor. I want to think it’s Atlas paying us a visit, but I know that’s probably not the case.
“Are you sure we’re safe down here?” I ask Max, trying to keep the panic from my voice.
“I reckon so. She’s never come down here. None of them do.”
“None of them?” Dex practically spits out. “Who are the rest of them? And are any of them missing a leg?”
“Ah, I see you’ve met Victor, then.”
“I think I met Victor’s leg…”
“What is this place, Max?” I ask him. “It’s not just a house. Jacob said as much. He said it exists on another plane.”
He sighs and sits down on the leather armchair, dust flying up from his weight. “I don’t really know. I’ve got no answers at all.”
“Well, what did Jacob say when he brought you here?” Dex asks. “You didn’t ask him where you were? You just thanked him for the ride and that was it? No tip?”
“No.” Max gives him a steady look. “If you could understand my frame of, well, mind at the time, then you’d know. Look, the two of you have no idea what Hell is like.” Dex opens his mouth and Max quickly waves at him dismissively. “You don’t, okay? You gotta trust me on that. The Veil has layers, Hell has layers too. The deepest ones…well, I’m thankful I guess I wasn’t there. I doubt anyone would have been able to get me out, and if they had, I’m pretty sure my brain would be scrambled eggs by now.”
“Delightful,” Dex mutters.
“So no, despite not having scrambled eggs for brains, I wasn’t really aware of where Jacob had brought me. Heck, I have no idea when that even was. What is time here? It might have been last week. I mean, how much time has even passed since I died?”
“Three and a half years,” I tell him solemnly. “Give or take.”
“Huh,” he says, placing his hands on the armrests and tapping his fingers on the leather, deep in thought. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Okay,” Dex says after a moment, and I can see he’s trying to give him space. “So you’re here in this house, which may be a giant portal or a waiting room or who knows what. You’ve obviously had to interact with everyone else in here.”
“Not everyone,” he says slowly, still staring straight ahead at the fireplace. “And not everything. There are things in here I don’t want to meet. Things that might take me back to Hell.”
“What things?” I ask, uneasiness building in my stomach.
“I reckon you didn’t see it with the witch?”
I blink and look over at Dex. He’s staring at me with the same befuddled expression. “Witch?” I repeat.