And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 9-3

THE WALLED CITY OF Dis reminded me of a medieval castle from the height of the middle ages. I had seen them all over Europe, but it reminded me most of the ones in England and Ireland, with its pointed towers and parapets, and gray bricks towering into the sky. It’s black wall were higher, though, easily rising a hundred feet into the air.

“Now,” Charlie said, walking toward a ghostly apparition guarding the front gates, “when we get to the front, I do the talking, got it? You don’t say nothing.”

“Fine,” I replied. “I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

“Sure you can do that, sweetheart?”

I gritted my teeth and glared menacingly at him for a moment, but I bit my tongue before speaking. If there’s one thing I could do well, it was keep my goddamn mouth shut.

“State your business,” the ghastly apparition spat at us, glowing a neon blue that pulsated with every word. It was holding a clipboard, “if you wish to pass.”

“We just gotta stock up at the old homestead, Gil,” Charlie replied with a wry smile.

Gil looked down at his paperwork. “Name.”

“Charlie.”

“Real name.”

A low grumble escaped Charlie’s throat that lasted for ninety seconds. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it a long burp.

“Ah yes,” the apparition replied. “And your guest?”

“She’s nobody,” Charlie said. “Seriously. I would appreciate it if we could keep it under the radar. My wife—”

“Name.”

Charlie turned to me. “Run.”

“Excuse me?” I replied.

“Run!”

I bolted down the edge of the castle wall as Charlie sprinted behind me. His short legs were making him fall behind more and more with every stride I took. Then, with a snap of his fingers, he appeared in front of me.

He slid down a hill and opened a sewer grate. “Get in.”

I rolled down after him and, once I’d dropped into the sewer, Charlie jumped in and covered the hole. We watched as the apparition rose over the hill and continued his slow, pulsating float past us.

“Why didn’t you just snap us into the city?” I whispered.

“You don’t know how our magic works, do you?” Charlie said, waddling down the sewer pipe. “We can’t just bring other people with us when we vanish. That’s against the rules. If we could do that, then I could just snap people out of hell all the time. Unless you got a contract on your head, I can’t transport you.”

The stench was foul and rotten in the sewers. I wretched with every step I took. “This is revolting.”

“Yeah, we smell pretty bad on the outside, but our insides smell even worse. Human noses weren’t meant for this level of disgusting. They’re too sensitive. That’s why I was trying to get us through the walls legit.”

“But you couldn’t do that...because of the rules.”

“Different set of rules, but basically that’s right, sweetheart. You think we are all ruthless savages, but we have rules too. Lots of rules. Hell is nothin’ if not rules.” Charlie doddered forward and pushed up another sewer grate, peeking around. “We’re good. Hurry up.”

He poked up out of the sewer and pulled me up with him. We rose up onto the cobblestoned streets of Dis. I felt like we had accomplished something, but in truth we hadn’t done anything yet. I still had no idea where to find Imogen.