Chapter 7

"There's a monster in our way," I said drily, glancing at Cadence and Damiel.

Cadence's brows drew together, and a slight frown touched her lips. "The demon might have told us the way, but she didn't make it easy for us."

"That is not the demons' way," said Damiel.

"If she thinks this settles her debt, then she and I will need to have a little chat."

Harker stared at the monster who stood in our way. "Why is it just staring at us instead of attacking?"

"Maybe it's waiting for us to state our intentions." I looked up at it and declared, "I'm Leda Pandora. This is Nero Windstriker. Cadence Lightbringer. Damiel Dragonsire. Harker Sunstorm. And Bella Pierce. We're here for an audience with the demons' council."

In conclusion, I smiled brightly.

The creature did not return the gesture. Instead of hellfire pouring out of its mouth, it was words that fell—loud, rumbling, and like an avalanche.

"Turn back, pull out, withdraw, flee; the council shall not hear your plea."

"Charming creature, isn't she?" Harker commented.

I smirked at him. "She might not be the friendliest monster I've met, but she is the only one who can banter back. And she even rhymes. It's kind of cool actually."

Harker snorted. Even Damiel looked like he was close to laughter—or maybe he was just getting excited thinking about attacking the stone beast. I was still holding out hope it wouldn't come to that. From the looks of its stony exterior, I could probably chip away at it with my sword for hours, and it would hardly notice me. I didn't think my magic would make much a dent in that enchanted rock either.

So that left me with just good, old diplomacy. "Please, we really must meet with the demons' council," I said to it. "It's urgent."

"Destroyer of worlds, angel of sin; for you, Pandora, only death waits within."

I frowned. "How rude. There's really no need for name calling."

"She doesn't sound happy," Nero observed.

"I can't imagine why. After all, I even said ‘please'."

"You see, Pandora, this is why it's better when monsters don't banter."

"I don't know about that. I think it's actually more fun this way."

Nero shook his head slowly. "You would think that."

I looked at the monster, wondering aloud, "But banter doesn't seem to be working on it."

"Maybe if you bantered in rhyme?" Bella suggested.

"Do you really think that will work?" I asked her.

"Well, what do you have to lose?"

"Nothing but my pride." I drew in a deep breath, then turned to the monster. "We've traveled so far to get to you," I said, feeling rather foolish. "Turn back now? No! That we just can't do."

"That's the best you can do?" Bella hissed at me.

"Yes," I hissed back. "I failed poetry in high school, remember?"

"Great beast of stone and rock and…" I looked around at the scenery. "…gravel. Please step aside and allow us to travel."

"Stone and rock and gravel. Those are three words for the same thing," Harker whispered to Nero.

"I'm glad to see you've made good use of the thesaurus I got you, Pandora," Nero said with a smile so dark and delicious that I almost forgot to be mad at him.

"You got her a thesaurus?" Harker looked at his best friend. "Or is that a code word for something dirty?"

"In this case, a thesaurus is just a thesaurus," I laughed. "About a month after I joined the Legion, Nero found me in the library. He came bearing gifts. I was all excited until I realized it was another book. He'd got me a thesaurus because my mission reports read—" I dipped my voice deeper. "—‘as dry as furniture assembly manuals'."

Nero folded his arms over his chest and hit me with a good, hard glower. "I do not sound like that."

I blew him a kiss. "Sure you do, honey." I returned to my story. "Anyway, I could not allow an insult to my literary genius to stand unchallenged. So I told Nero that my mission reports wouldn't be so dry if he'd let me sprinkle in some subplots and subterfuge. And maybe a few raunchy affairs too. That's when he suggested a career change to angel gossip magazine columnist."

"She called me an insufferable angel with absolutely no sense of humor," Nero added.

"And then he pulled me behind a bookcase." I chuckled. "And that is the story of the time I made out with Nero in the library for the better part of an hour."

"It was more like two." Nero smiled, looking utterly pleased with himself.

"That isn't the story I know of you making out with Nero in the library," Bella said. "I heard he helped you get a book from a high shelf, then you tackled him against the bookcase."

"And I once saw Nero stacking more and more books on her head until they all came crashing down. Books, Leda, and Nero," said Harker.

"Ok, ok. Fine. We made out in the library heaps of times." I put up my hands. "But let's not share all those stories in front of the in-laws, guys. I need to make a good impression."

"I think it's too late for that, Pandora," Harker said. "They've already met you."

"Laugh all you want, Harker. Because when Bella brings you home for dinner, I will be the one laughing.

"Especially when her little sister Tessa demands to plan your wedding," Damiel told him. "She's trying to build up her portfolio, you know, and angel weddings are all the rage right now."

I wasn't sure who turned a brighter shade of red: Bella or Harker.

But Bella did look hastily away and stared up at the stone creature. "It hasn't said anything for minutes.

I shrugged. "Maybe it didn't like my poem."

"Well, I liked it," Damiel declared. "Very reminiscent of the great philosopher Solas's early preschool works."

"Haha. Very funny, Damiel." I planted my hands on my hips and gave him a good, solid glower. "You know, it's easy to stand by and make jokes, but I don't see any of you composing impromptu poetry to a monster."

"Of course not. Of all of us, you are the most capable of conquering seat-of-your-pants poetry," replied Damiel.

"As of yet, the beast has not tried to injure, mar, or otherwise maim us, so maybe it actually likes Leda's poetry," Nero said.

"Injure, mar, or otherwise maim?" I repeated, a smirk drawing up my lips. "It looks like you are the one getting good use out of the thesaurus you gave me."

"I might have glanced at it once or twice. You were gone for a whole week, Pandora. And tearing through hordes of monsters just doesn't hold the same appeal to me when you're not at my side."

"Nero, that's so sweet." My voice trembled, my heart skipped a beat, and tears pooled in my eyes.

"I hate to break up this touching moment, but we're in the middle of dealing with this monster," Damiel said.

"It's obviously done talking to me. One of you should try and see if you have better luck." I flashed my teeth at Damiel. "And I nominate you, General Dragonsire."

Cadence smiled at him. "You can be very poetic, Damiel."

"Only with you, Princess." He held her gaze for a few moments, then looked up at the monster. "Our mission is crucial, our intentions just. So, lady, how about you stop making a fuss?"

I laughed. "That's even worse than my poems."

And yet the monster opened its mouth and spoke to him, "Blood of the immortal, destiny unfold; there is a way forward, behold. Three questions I'll pose, answer them true; and the gateway shall open for you."

"Riddles," Bella said. "If we wish to pass, we must answer three riddles."

I canted my head to the side, looking up at the monster. "I thought it looked kind of like a sphinx."

"Have you ever met one?" Bella asked me.

"Well, no. Until today, I thought they were a myth. Have any of you ever met one?" I looked at Damiel. He'd traveled the realms for two centuries, and seen more than any of us.

"No, I can't say that I have," he replied. "But I once did battle with a Man-Eater."

I glanced at Cadence.

She shook her head. "No, I've never met a sphinx."

No one else had ever seen a sphinx either.

"Well, I guess we do it like in the books. Damiel, tell it we're game to play," I said.

He lifted his hands and addressed the beast, "We accept your challenge of cunning and wit; but if you lose, don't go throw a fit."

This time, even Cadence snorted at his poem.

"It's the rhyming." He frowned. "It's so much easier without the blasted rhyming."

The sphinx opened its mouth and, like a drop of honey, the first riddle flowed smoothy off its tongue. "Give me food, and I will live. Give me water, and I will die. What am I?"

"Fire," Bella said immediately.

"I can run but never walk, have a mouth but never talk. I have a head but never weep, have a bed but never sleep. What am I?"

"A river," Bella answered again.

"You're good at this," I told her.

"Too good. I'm feeling rather superfluous," Damiel said.

The sphinx powered on with its third riddle. "What breaks yet never falls? What falls yet never breaks?"

"Day and night," Bella said.

"I knew that one. I knew them all." Damiel leveled a cold look on poor Bella. "She's too fast."

"Failure builds character, Damiel." Nero arched his brows. "Or so you always told me."

"Nero, I'm getting the distinct impression that you don't like me."

"It must be your keen power of observation, perfected by years as the Legion's Master Interrogator."

"Well, that was easy," I commented. "Thanks to Bella."

We all looked at the sphinx. It didn't move.

"Ok, we answered your riddles! So open the gateway!" I shouted up at the monster.

It belched a fireball at us. We all jumped aside.

"Maybe you answered wrong?" I asked Bella as the sphinx opened its mouth and a deluge of water shot out.

"No, the answers were right." She frowned.

A flash of brilliant light blinded me. A moment later, total darkness fell. And then white again. And black. The light pulsed back and forth, from one extreme to the other. The crackle of the fire and the rumble of the water told me they were there, but I could no longer see them. I couldn't see anything anymore.

"This was never about the riddles," Cadence's voice said beside me. "It was about our answers."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Fire and water. Day and night," she replied. "In the legends of the sphinx, its riddles are a barrier to entry. They give it power over those who wish to pass. But it seems our answers also give it power. Everything that comes from an angel is packed with power, including her words. The sphinx channeled the power of those words into the spells it cast against us."

"But Bella is a witch, not an angel. Witches can't cast firestorms or deluges," I pointed out.

"She might be a witch, but she is the granddaughter of a demon," replied Damiel.

"How do you know that?"

"It's my job to know things."

I knew I was supposed to trust him. I'd been the one to insist that we needed to trust him and Jace and a few other angels, that only together would we be strong enough to take on the Guardians. But I had to admit that a part of me was worried about what Damiel would do with his knowledge of Bella's heritage.

"And I might have recently drunk a vial of Venom," Bella said so quietly that I hardly heard her over the crackling flames and rushing water.

"So what does that make you now?" I asked her.

"I'm not sure. I feel different, but I don't seem to have any new powers."

"You have enough power to fuel the sphinx's spells. Fire. Water. Day. Night."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I'd be making things worse. I was just trying to help."

"Of course you were trying to help." I smiled at her. Even though I knew she couldn't see it, I hoped she could hear the smile in my words. "Bella, there isn't a question in the universe that you won't try to answer."

Back when we'd been kids, the teachers had loved her for it. Some of the kids hadn't taken as kindly to her scholastic achievement. They'd left her alone, though, after I'd coated their school chairs in superglue. Having your ass glued to a chair gave you time to rethink your old prejudices—particularly if you didn't want to repeat the experience.

"Not to put a stopper in this touching moment of sisterly bonding, but we really must focus on the matter at hand," Damiel said.

"I'm thinking." I frowned. "Can anyone see anything?"

"Total darkness followed by blinding whiteness," said Harker. "But the water and fire aren't attacking us again. I wonder why."

"A sphinx spends its time torturing its victims with riddles before eating them. In other words, they like to play with their food," Damiel said, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

"I am no creature's food," Nero declared.

"Then I suggest we figure a way out of this predicament before the sphinx rings the dinner bell," said Damiel.

"Fire. Water. Day. Night," I said.

"That's the problem, Leda, not the solution," Damiel told me, and this time, a hint of impatience crept into his voice.

"Fire and water. Day and night," I said again. "You know what those are made of?"

"Opposing forces," Nero said immediately; we really did operate on the same wavelength. "Just like you, Pandora."

"Right. I think I'm the solution. Opposing forces exist inside of me in harmony."

"In chaos, you mean."

"In orderly chaos."

"So what's your plan, Ms. Orderly Chaos?" Harker asked me.

"Well, the sphinx ate Bella's answers and then turned them into spells, which it spat at us. I think the mouth is the key. The words that came from Bella's mouth. The spells that came from the sphinx's mouth. So I'm thinking if I can just get to the sphinx, then climb into its mouth, the source of the spells, I can balance the chaotic opposing magic."

"Your plan is to climb into the sphinx's mouth?"

"Why, Damiel, you sound surprised," I chuckled.

"Nero, you married a lunatic," Damiel declared.

"So did my mother," Nero told his father.

"If Calli were here, she wouldn't want you to climb into a monster's mouth," Bella chimed in.

"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."