“We can go back to how we got in right? Maybe there’s a way to--.”
“You saw what just happened,” I swiftly interrupted before he could get carried away. “Do you really think it would be that simple?”
“Then where do we go? Tell me its far away from this place.”
The undeniable fear radiating from within his eyes solidified his station. It would be on me to make sure he stayed alive. How did I get so lucky?
“Back that way.” I motioned with my hand.
His throat bobbed and he nodded. “I’ll follow you again.”
That was for the best. We began walking in the direction he and I had initially come from. There was an unspoken directive between the three of us to keep an eye out for anything or anyone.
It was a bit easier to breathe with Mel back with me, but nothing was remotely close to being okay. There were so many things to say and until we found Grace and Selena, I wasn’t sure how to bring any of it up. She wasn’t saying much either, which was highly unlike her.
“How did you end up in that chair?” I asked after we’d walked for a minute.
“I was taken there, but I woke up somewhere else. I had a blindfold on until I was put in the chains. I heard people whispering, Lana. I think this situation is bigger than we can even begin to fathom.”
“After what I found, I think you’re right.”
“What did you find?” Dion questioned from behind us.
I shared a look with Mel and gnawed on my lower lip. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to let a few things slip. Thinking about what I’d seen back inside the Abyss—all the death certificates and the pictures. I filled them in, remembering to mention the odd photo from the cabin.
I added as many details as I could, still leaving out the fact our families were involved in all of this. I wasn’t worried about Dion hurting me but telling someone you were sort-of the reason their life had gone to shit probably wasn’t going to go over well.
“The lady you mentioned, this Margo, she was with you in the other place?” he clarified.
“Goetia, and yes.”
“See, that’s not right.” He moved so that he was on the opposite side of me on the sidewalk. “You need a coroner to get a legitimate death certificate. There’s a legal process behind it.”
“He’s right,” Mel said.
“Then it either wasn’t real or...”
“Someone counted her as dead before she died,” Dion finished.
“Or they have someone in their pockets,” Mel alluded.
Two of the three seemed like a reasonable explanation. I’d wondered the same things. When considering who the founding families were and their limitless connections, however the medical examiner and paperwork wouldn’t be an issue to get handled.
“What about this Board of Infernal Syndicate? Any ideas on what that could be?” Mel inquired.
He shrugged. “Sounds like some mafia secret society bullshit to me.”
He was more on the money than he could begin to imagine with that one.
“Do you know where Gracelyn and Selena are?” Mel asked me suddenly.
“No. I was just about to say we should focus on finding them for now. That’s prerogative numero uno. There are maps here like back in Goetia. It told us to go to where you were.”
“And riddles, apparently” she stated dryly.
“Those too.”
“Which way did you two come from?”
“The left,” Dion replied.
“Then we need to go right,” Mel asserted. She looped her arm through mine and gave it a gentle squeeze.
It had never taken this long to find another map before. I didn’t know if this was because the Devil’s Playground was larger than Goetia or because the game masters had upped the stakes. Game masters being our demented ass parents and their deranged friends. It was better to call them that than family.
Looking through the windows of all the buildings we were walking by it struck me again how much effort went into constructing this place. I hated to admit it, but I was impressed.
Dion reached out and touched one of the panes of glass, shaking his head. “Why would someone do all of this? Do you know what kind of bread went into all these details?”
“I don’t think the person responsible for this was worried about how much it cost.”
Coming up on another intersection, the only way we could go was right. Straight was blocked off with large concrete dividers and Road Closed signs. Left didn’t exist. We rounded the corner and one of the first things we saw was another bus stop beside a bench. It was a few feet away, identical to the last one aside from one minor detail.
“Is that a skeleton?” Dion asked.
“Looks like it,” Mel quipped.
I approached the sack of bones wondering if it was real. Thin wires were wound around its limbs and then looped through the holes on the bench’s backrest to ensure the skeletal frame remained upright.