Chapter Thirteen

THIRTEEN

Diary of Effrijim, Demon Sixth Class

A s if it's not hard enough to know that your own mom doesn't recognize you—although to be fair, I didn't recognize her, either, not that I would because she left a couple of days after I was born—but then you find out your dad was one of the most feared beings in the history of the Otherworld, and it kinda wallops you.

I knew I had to help my mom even if she didn't remember me because she'd been stuck in the Beyond for so long, but man alive, I never thought I'd go scuba diving to do it. And yet, as I dove under the black—and surprisingly warm—water, the headlight illuminating a few yards in front of us, I had no idea just what we'd find.

Let me tell you what we found—a whole crap ton of scary.

We didn't see the bodies until we swam down for half a minute; then all of a sudden Parisi's headlight caught the foot of a body floating upside down. It was enough to give me the willies, although that ramped up when, as I swam closer to the body, it twisted, the bound hands flailing as the man turned to face me. He opened his mouth in what was probably a scream and tried to grab at me in a scissor move with his legs.

He just got one of his legs around my torso before I could move away, and was pulling me toward him, his hold like iron, when all of a sudden I was jerked backward, and Parisi was there, waving her sword at the guy. He continued to silent scream at us, and at a gesture from her, I followed really close to her as we swam forward another ten yards or so before she suddenly pointed upward and started to ascend.

I was right on her heels, and when we broke the surface of the water, I made it to the shore in record dog-paddling time.

"Fires of Abaddon," I said, coughing a little at a near intake of water into my lungs as I spat out the breathing-device mouthpiece. "That was the creepiest thing I've ever seen in my life, and I worked in Abaddon for more than four hundred years."

"So the Upside-Down Sinners thing wasn't just an atmospheric name?" Mabel asked as Parisi likewise took off her breathing thing and sank down onto the floor, staring at nothing.

"Yeah," I answered, and looked at Sally, trying to tell if she knew what was in the lake. On the whole, I had a feeling she did, even if she hadn't ever seen it for herself. "It looks like they're chained by their hands to the floor. I don't know how many there are, but one of them tried to grab me with his legs, so we got out of there."

"I believe the last count is one thousand three hundred twenty-seven sinners," Sally said, pursing her lips as I shook off the water that was trying to get through my undercoat.

"Jeezumcrow," Mabel murmured, her eyes huge.

"That's not the worst." I wondered if I had cell reception in the Hour. I thought not, but I had a sudden urge to call Aisling and tell her a dead guy grabbed me, but that my mom had saved me. "They're alive down there. Just floating, but they can scream. Kind of. At least, I think that was a scream. What do you think?" I asked the last bit of Parisi, who gave a little shudder and looked up.

"Yes. They are very much alive. I didn't realize there were so many of them. I don't know what this Destroyer person looks like. I assume you don't know, either?" she asked me.

"Nope." We both turned to Sally.

"I'm sorry, I can't go in the lake. That's a hard-line no," she told us, but, after a moment's thought, added, "He is a demigod, though. Parisi, you should be able to feel the power surrounding him. That's what I'd suggest you look for ... someone who feels like dark power. Lots of it."

She didn't look thrilled with the idea, but I'll give my mom this: she held to her promises. She stood up and picked up my breathing apparatus, strapping it onto my head. "I'll do my best, although this is not at all the sort of saving I had imagined. I normally fight body to body with swords and daggers and my lovely pair of pearl-handled ladies' beheading axes. I like the axes."

"As do I. There's nothing more satisfying than a really well-balanced beheading axe, especially if you get a good swing going, but honestly, you don't have anything to worry about the lack of physical combat," Sally said with the tiniest of smiles. "You'll have more than enough action trying to get Desi out of here. And speaking of that, I'd like to be done before Sasha tattles to Terrin that we're actually in the Hour at this moment, so onward, mes braves !"

"If I don't come back up, tell Ash to give me a half hour to get the perfect Newfie form in mind before she summons me," I told Sally.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Have you thought of a form a little more useful?"

"Like anything could beat this one?" I asked, and gave another shake that had her sputtering rude things in French, but I paid her no mind as I followed Parisi back into the unpleasant lake.

This time, Parisi held out one of the lanterns she'd snagged on her way back into the water, and swam down with it held out in front of her like a beacon.

It revealed row upon row of bodies, long chains from their hands descending into the depths. I have to admit, for a few seconds, I was doubting the wisdom of trying to find my dad, but before I could figure out how to convey that to Parisi, she swam onward, her sword held in one hand, and the lantern in the other.

I figure it had to be about at the end of our ten minutes of air when we hit a part of the lake that was cold. Like, intensely cold. The sort of cold that even the thickest of Newfie coats won't keep out. Parisi gestured, and dove even deeper until we could see a metal grid on the lake bottom, from which all the sinners' chains ascended.

A black shape loomed before us. Parisi hesitated for a moment, turning her head to look at me. I didn't know what she wanted, so I just nodded and hoped that if something really bad was in what looked a whole lot like a black shroud, I'd have enough time to get my replacement form just right.

And then she reached out, tearing the fabric off the body that hung there so silent, encased in cold that I could start to feel freeze my body.

The body twisted around to face us. I couldn't see much other than he had long black hair, dark eyes, and an expression that made my stomach want to flip-flop. He stared at Parisi for a moment, then arched back, his legs kicking out while he tried to use his shackled hands to grab her. She jerked back out of his reach, dropping the lantern in the process. It settled to the ground beneath us.

I noticed that the mini oxygen tank was starting to frost. My body was definitely freezing, my heart rate slowing down to the point where it was hard to see or even think.

And that's when I saw the shadow emerge from the right. One minute we were a few yards away from the man in the black shroud, who continued to struggle and thrash, his face contorted, and the next, three boggarts were on us, one of them stabbing at my side with a nasty dagger.

I don't know how Parisi fights on land, but submerged in a lake filled with 1,300 sinners, she was the best I'd ever seen.

The second the dagger stabbed into my side, Parisi was there, kicking at the boggart before doing a very slow twirl to swing her sword at the two who were closing in on her from behind.

Green leaked out of their headless bodies, the surprised expressions on their faces enough to distract me from the fact that I could no longer feel my legs.

The third boggart took one look at Parisi and swam off. Without looking at me, she grabbed my collar and started to haul me upward.

Halfway up, the oxygen ran out.

We surfaced to a dull throbbing sound that seemed to echo through the stone itself.

Sally was pacing the shore, her hands gesticulating when she saw us. "There you are! What have you been doing down there to set off alarms?"

"Boggarts," I gasped when Parisi more or less dragged me out of the water. My legs felt completely numb, and I was having a hard time getting my lungs to take in oxygen. "Three of them guarding the dead guys, including the one who I think is my dad. Parisi killed them. I think I have frostbite on at least half of my body. Man, if I lose another toe, I'm going to be so mad. I'm missing two as it is. Minus three is just not a look I want Cecile to see."

"We have to leave now," Sally said, and for once, the look of amusement that usually lurks in her eyes was gone. She packed everything into my backpack, and Mabel was waiting impatiently at the entrance to the stairs up.

"But we didn't get my dad," I said when Sally tried to lift me to my feet. My legs felt like rubber and didn't want to hold my otherwise magnificent form. "He's still down there, seriously pissed."

"We don't have time for this," Sally said, and with a couple of words sent me spinning into the Akasha. The regular part of it.

I looked around at a startled troll who held a yoga mat and a large water bottle, clearly about to pass by the location where Sally had flung me.

"I really hate it when people treat me like a demon," I told the troll.

"Dude," he said in a surfer drawl, then proceeded past me.

It took a half hour before I felt my toes again, and a few minutes after that, a familiar sense of being pulled started down my back. I sat down, letting the feeling consume me.

"Jim! Are you all right? Parisi said you were freezing, and had lost some toes. Here, I have an electric blanket for you. Just sit there and let me cover you in it." My vision cleared and Aisling loomed into view, her face twisted with worry.

"I'm OK now," I said, rubbing my head on her leg as she knelt next to me, because even a demon lord needs to know you love them. "Parisi saved me, although I had no idea that Sally could banish me to the Akasha. I thought only you or a duly authorized representative of you could do that."

"I have depths," came a Southern drawl from behind me. I gave a little shiver of pleasure when the heat of the blanket soaked into my still damp coat. "Or so my current partner says. Romantic partner, not Terrin, although, come to think of it, he's made references to my naughty side more than once. But there we are."

Sally was seated on the couch in Ash and Drake's living room. Mabel was gone, but Parisi was curled up in a chair with another blanket around her. But it was her expression that had me getting to my feet and going over to nose her hand. "Hey," I said.

"I knew him." Her face was a mask of confusion, her eyes dark with pain. "I knew him, and yet, I didn't. That was him, yes? The one you want freed? He was in such torment."

"That was him," I said, giving another shiver at the memory of the despair in what had to be my dad's eyes. "How did you guys get out? I assume you had Mabel zap you out?"

"Yes," she said, then pulled the blanket up higher on her shoulders, her eyes troubled. I studied her for a moment. She looked like a Bollywood actress, with shiny black hair, dark gray eyes, and an oval face with a little cleft in her chin. I thought of my human form, and wondered about the fact that it also had a chin cleft. "The reaper took me, and Sally took herself. It matters little. I must meditate on this. I do not understand, and that disturbance will have a detrimental effect on my ability to protect."

"What happened other than you nearly froze to death?" Aisling asked, setting down in front of me a bowl of what smelled like broth.

"No meat? No veggies?" I asked her, sniffing the bowl again.

"Drink your warm broth," she said in an annoyed tone that filled me with relief. Not that I minded being pampered, but I didn't like the strain around her eyes. I slurped at the soup while Sally and Parisi gave a brief recap of our adventure.

"Boggarts," Aisling said with a near snort. "Those bastards are just evil. You think they're guards, Sally?"

"I don't know for certain, not having looked specifically into the running of the Thirteenth Hour, but yes, it was clear how they swarmed us that they were intent on stopping Parisi and Effrijim from freeing the handsome Desi."

Parisi shot a sharp glance at Sally, but almost immediately withdrew back into the confines of her blanket, her expression abstracted.

"You recognized him, though," Aisling said, turning to Parisi. "That must mean your memory is returning. That has to be a huge relief."

"No, I do not know the man. That is ... I recognize something about him, but I do not know him. It is clear, however, he is in torment, and as a defender of those who cannot help themselves, I am obligated to release him from his prison."

"I don't know how we're going to do that with the place crawling with boggarts," I said with a faint flicker of hope. If Aisling was right, then Parisi was getting her memory back, even if it was just a little bit at a time. "We'd have to get rid of them, and I can't do that by myself."

Sally heaved a dramatic sigh and rose from the sofa. "I suppose I shall have to volunteer to distract the guards while you and Parisi rescue Desi. If Mabel is done with her phone call, we can return to the Hour. Jenna is waiting for us near the Hyde Park toilets."

"Oh, I don't know. ... Is it safe for you to return so soon? Jim's form was almost destroyed by the cold," Aisling said, making me give her another fast head rub to the leg. "And Parisi seemed to be affected by it, as well."

"Affected but not damaged by it, defenders being what they are," Parisi murmured.

"If we're going to the Hour again, I'd strongly urge you to get going now rather than later. The director at my ballet is not going to be happy if I have to take more time off for an injury that has actually healed." Mabel appeared in the doorway, not looking annoyed, as I'd half expected, but somehow worried. Anxious. Almost frightened.

I wondered about that.

"Jim?" Aisling looked at me with a line between her brows. "Do you feel up to it?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's no walk in the park with burgers after, but I kinda feel like I have to help, you know?"

"I know," she said, and gathered up the stuff for my backpack.

It took a little longer than we anticipated, but an hour later, we trotted down the stone stairs to the Lake of Upside-Down Sinners.

"Fresh breathers," Sally said as I nosed the devices out of my backpack.

"Check," I said.

"Underwater flares, six."

"Check. You think those will work?"

She gave the slightest of shrugs. "If I was a guard swimming around a black lake filled with thirteen hundred sinners, I'd certainly be interested enough in strange lights to go investigate."

"Suppose so," I agreed, although a bit hesitantly. I wondered if Sally knew just how devious boggarts could be. They were on Aisling's list of least favorite beings, because they were the size of a six-year-old child and looked like they were a million years old with twisted, hunched backs and faces that would give even an elite wrath demon nightmares. And they were cunning. Very cunning.

"The flares are just to get their attention." Sally examined them, twirling them around her fingers. "And when they come out of the water, I'll hit them with the flamethrower."

"What flamethrower?" I asked, looking up from nosing the pair of bolt cutters toward Parisi. She was adjusting a belt on top of her wet suit, strapping to herself her axes, scabbard, and sword.

"Didn't I tell you I found a flamethrower lying around?" Sally looked as innocent as a baby whose mom diminished into another realm a few hours after his birth. "You know how boggarts dislike fire."

"Yeah, but not the big imps they like to run around with," I said, thinking back to the previous Christmas when we were stuck in an airport.

"OK, I'm down to less than an hour before I have to leave," Mabel said, looking out of sorts with everyone. "Mysteriously appearing flamethrowers aside, please, for the love of Freed, go rescue your father."

"Who's Freed?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Maker of my favorite pointe shoes. Vámanos !" she answered, shooing me toward the water.

"Oh good, this has a handy intensity knob. I just know those boggarts will appreciate the maximum distance of flame. Are you ready?" Sally twirled a couple more underwater flares.

"Yes," Parisi said, snagging the bolt cutters and also tucking them into her belt. "Although I have my doubts about these snips being able to cut through the chain binding the man Desi."

"Oh, you're going to have to help them along," Sally said as she flipped a few switches on the flamethrower I one hundred percent had not seen her bring with us. "Give them some oomph."

"Oomph?" Parisi wrinkled her nose. "I do not know this oomph. Is it a spell?"

"It means you're going to have to use your power to help," I told her, eyeing the black water. I really didn't relish going in there and possibly freezing this fabulous form, but I couldn't leave my dad down there. Not only were the vamps counting on him to deal with their big, bad, but he was my dad. It would be nice to have more family than just Aisling, Drake, and the spawns.

"Then let us proceed and relieve the poor sufferer from his torment," Parisi said with a lift of her chin as she marched into the water with a gesture toward me. "You do not wear the wet suit?"

"Naw, I'm a Newfie. I gots me a waterproof undercoat."

"Very well, then," she said with a nod. "Come along, demon Jim!"

"Aye aye, mon capitaine ," I said, giving her a jaunty salute that she completely missed. Sally saw it, though, and smiled as she snapped two flares to mix the chemicals inside them, then tossed them into the water as I dove in.

This time, we stayed close to the surface, where none of the dead sinners could grab at us. It wasn't until we hit that freezing cold corner that we dove down into a darkness that seemed to be made up of dense, dark nothingness. Cold nothingness.

I ignored the burning of my ears and toes as the cold immediately seeped into them, and focused on helping Parisi as she approached the man around whom there still remained tattered bits of the black shroud. He twisted around as we approached, his legs kicking wildly.

Dimly, in the distance, I heard some sort of an air horn sound; then the top of the water was lit up like someone was letting off fireworks right above the surface.

That'll get the boggarts' attention, I mused as Parisi deftly avoided being kicked or captured by Desi's wild legs, and sank down to the bottom, where she started to cut at the manacles.

She kicked around a couple of times, which I assumed was her getting her oomph on, and by the dim light of my headlamp, I saw one of the shackles drop. The instant it fell free, Desi grabbed Parisi by the front of her wet suit. I dove toward him, knocking his hand away and baring my teeth, but before I could do more, the black shapes were on us again.

Sally's distraction clearly failed, but the two attacking boggarts didn't last long. I bit one hard on the arm, spitting out the nasty blackish-green blood that filled my mouth. Parisi dual-wielded her beheading axes and put them to use. She stared at Desi, who was struggling to release his still-bound hand, but the booming noise we'd heard before—which Sally had said was an ancient alarm system intended on drawing more guards to the area—was making the water reverberate, so we swam upward again.

We were attacked three more times as we made our way to the edge of the lake, brilliant flashes of flame momentarily lighting up the entire area, making the surface of the water dance with its reflected glow.

Parisi beheaded the last boggart that had followed us, leaving us to drag our half-frozen selves out of the water.

Sally stood with one hand on her hip, surrounded by a pile of blackened and burned boggarts.

"We must leave now! Effrijim!" Sally said, slipping the flamethrower's strap across her chest.

"I know, I know. Mabel takes Parisi out, and you zap me back to the Akasha. Please tell Ash not to wait so long this time. It's cold with wet fur."

Fifteen minutes later, I was snuggled up with the same electric blanket, and another bowl of boring broth in front of me. "At least it's hot," I said as I sipped at it, wondering if my toes would ever be the same.