“I don’t want you climbing into a monster’s mouth either, Pandora,” Nero told me.
“It will only be for a moment.”
“A moment is all it takes to get eaten,” Bella pointed out.
“You’re all worrying too much. I’ve got this totally figured out.”
“How reassuring,” Bella said drily.
“I’m going with you,” Nero insisted.
“No. There’s no reason for both of us to get eaten.”
“That’s it. I’m vetoing this plan.” Nero’s voice was resolute.
“You can’t veto the only plan that will work.”
“Watch me.”
“No, you watch me fix this,” I said.
“I’m going to do more than watch, Pandora.”
I smirked in the direction of his voice. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
I ran toward the sounds of hissing flames and rushing water. Toward the heat. Toward the sprinkles of water droplets pelting my skin. An angel’s magically-boosted senses didn’t stop at only sight.
My palms slammed against the sphinx’s stony surface. I slid my fingers across it, finding the edge of the mouth by touch. My pinky finger bumped against something sharp and pointy. A tooth. I gripped the tooth, and I had to use both hands. It was as big as a stalagmite. Then I pulled myself up and climbed inside the monster’s mouth.
There I felt the intersection point of the spells. I stood there for a while, in the crossfire, but it didn’t kill me. Slowly, the spells began to balance. Water and fire were in harmony. Night and day could exist at the same time. Everything was quiet, at peace. I could see again.
“How did you know that would work?” Harker asked as I climbed out of the sphinx’s mouth.
“I don’t know actually. It was just a gut feeling.”
Not only was the magic in balance, the monster was pacified. It yawned sleepily, then lay down, revealing a glowing tear in the air behind it.
“The magic mirror that leads to the demons’ council chamber,” I said.
Damiel climbed onto the sphinx’s arm and proceeded to interrogate it. “Why did you attack us if we answered your riddles correctly?”
“Asteria told me to,” the creature said. It wasn’t rhyming anymore. Maybe it was too tired.
“Who is Asteria?” I asked.
“The Demon Princess,” said Cadence. “Daughter of Alessandro, the Demon King.”
“Why does Asteria want us dead?” Damiel demanded of the sphinx.
“She owes you a debt.”
“And she doesn’t like owing anyone a debt.” Damiel’s mouth tightened. “So she tried to have us killed.”
The sphinx yawned. “No. Asteria was doing you a favor. She wanted to keep you on your toes, to remind you not to take it easy in the demons’ council chamber.”
“I must remember to thank your mistress appropriately,” Damiel said with a hard edge, his words as sharp as his steel.
“Are you finished threatening the monster?” I asked him.
“Quite finished.”
“Good,” I said, moving past the sleeping sphinx to reach the nearly-invisible magic mirror. “Then let’s go. We have a date with the demons’ council.”
8
Demons' Playground
I’d been preparing myself for this moment for over a week, but now that I was here, standing in the demons’ council chamber, I realized that nothing could have prepared me for this.
Seven demons sat on seven thrones—except they weren’t really thrones at all. Some demons sat on the living, breathing bodies of their subjects; others used their supernatural slaves as ornamental flourishes.
But the worst part of it all was that these poor people didn’t even look like they were being forced to do this. I could see it in their eyes. They looked at the demons with faith and devotion, like they were just happy to be in their presence. It made me feel really uncomfortable. People weren’t furniture to be contorted, positioned, and sat upon.
The chamber was massive, the seven demons spread out into their own distinct little kingdoms.
“Leda Pandora, we know why you have come before us,” said the demon at the center of the very long row.
His name was Alessandro, and he was Lord of the Dark Shifters and King Demon, leader of the council. Alessandro looked like he’d walked right off the front cover of a romance novel. His long golden locks cascaded over his shoulders, shining against the purple silk of his regal suit. The enormous crown on his head shone just as brightly as his magic-infused hair, and the proud tilt of his nose told me he felt secure in his power.
Alessandro’s throne was made up of dozens of shifters. Their bodies had shifted together, merging into an ornate sculpture of bodies. The living throne sparkled and shone like gems and precious metals, like silks and rare materials. And the whole throne was covered in the many shifters’ eyes and mouths.
You’re staring, Nero said in my head.
I’m trying not to. But it’s so wrong. They’re treating these people like props and decorations.
They knew you were coming, he replied. So they put on a show to rattle you.
It’s working.
Don’t let them know it.
I won’t, I promised, stepping forward. “We’ve come on a mission of peace,” I declared loudly, now addressing the demons.
“We’ve heard these words before,” said a demon in a see-through white dress shirt and a pair of bright orange leather pants.
I’d read through the Legion’s descriptions of the seven ruling demons. This one was obviously Seth, the Demon of Healing and Fairies. He wore a ring on every finger, several in each ear, and one in his bellybutton, clearly visible beneath his barely-there shirt. His dark hair was shaved short to his scalp, hardly longer than the stubble on his face.
Seth’s throne was made of people. Lots of naked people, in a pyramid of positions. It looked like one big Kama Sutra collection, several pages all merged into one big erotic exhibition.
“We accepted the gods’ offer in good faith last time, and we got burned,” said a female demon.
This one was Violet, the Demon of Nature. She looked like a little girl in her fancy yellow sundress with a big satin bow. Her hair was pale purple with glittery gold highlights, and her feet were bare.
Violet sat on a flowering tree. Elementals hung from the branches like ornaments. A sky elemental cast a gentle breeze on Violet, making her hair move just right, like a wind machine at a photoshoot. A second sky elemental controlled various rumbling lightning orbs, directing the lights around the demon to make her look perfect from every angle. Three earth elementals were conducting blossoms, birds, and butterflies in flight and song, like instruments in an orchestra. Two sea elements controlled a show of snowflakes and a cloud of floating water droplets. A fire elemental was burning incense, creating a perfume around Violet that was both light and heavy, both floral and musky.
“The Guardians are too big of a threat to ignore,” I said. “Only united can we defeat them.”
“Thus far, they’ve only attacked the gods,” said Sonja, the raven-haired Demon of the Dark Force. Her green-blue eyes panned across her fellow demons. “Let the gods fight the Guardians. Whichever side survives their confrontation will be severely weakened.” A calculating smile twisted her lips. “Then we’ll take them out.”