Black Night

“Of course,” I replied.

“No!” Gabriel shouted from the floor. He turned to Amarantha. “You cannot let her go there. She is human; she will never survive.”

Amarantha’s only reply was to blast him again.

“You have accepted my offer. It is done.”

I looked at Amarantha. “Let me know if Focalor agrees.”

She nodded, her eyes filled with glee. She definitely expected me to get pasted.

I glanced at Gabriel. “I will come back for you.”

He shook his head, and I could see he was already grieving for me.

“I will come back for you,” I said again, and then I turned on my heel and walked out.

It probably goes without saying that J.B. and Beezle were not happy with my decision. J.B. followed me back to my room with a clenched jaw and Beezle spent the whole time saying things like, “Who’s going to take care of me when you’re dead?” and “Is that fool really worth your life?”

J.B. slammed my bedroom door shut behind us. “Are you out of your mind?”

I crossed the room and dug in my pack for a granola bar. I was suddenly ravenously hungry. I unwrapped the bar and chomped it down in a few bites, then dug around looking for something else to eat. Unfortunately, Beezle hadn’t left much behind after his nervous binge this morning.

“Did you hear me?” J.B. asked.

“I know exactly what I’m doing,” I replied, sitting on the bed.

“I don’t think that you do. You have no idea what’s in the Maze,” he said grimly, running his hands over his head. Whenever he got nervous or upset, he would tug on his hair. He was starting to get that bedhead-y look, and that told me more than his tone that he was really unhappy.

“Why is it that nobody has any confidence in my ability to survive this thing?” I said. “You told me just this morning that you believed I could handle myself because I beat Ramuell.”

“Ramuell was nothing compared to the Maze.”

I thought about that for a minute. “Okay. So tell me what I’m facing here.”

“I can’t. It’s different for everyone,” he said.

“How can that be?”

“The Maze is enchanted. Each person who enters must face their worst nightmares, their most horrible monsters. And the worst your psyche can dredge up is far more damaging than anything that Amarantha can devise. No one, and let me emphasize this, no one in over a thousand years has survived the Maze.”

“Oh.” This was not good.

“Right. Oh.” J.B.’s fists buried in his hair.

“The best we can hope for is that you will return alive but insane,” Beezle said.

“Well, on the upside, this means that Antares will probably get eaten by something,” I said. “Because I know that if there’s a competition between myself and a representative from Focalor’s court, he will be jumping up and down to volunteer.”

“Yes, but would Focalor be willing to waste one of his best lieutenants on a suicide mission?” Beezle said. “I know that if Lucifer or Azazel was here, he would not let you do this.”

“Lucky for me neither of them are here,” I said dryly. “Look, I’ll just clear my mind or whatever and get through it. I’m not powerless.”

“It’s not a matter of clearing your mind. Do you think this is some simple enchantment that will skim the surface of your brain? The Maze is a living thing, a creature of immense power. It can see into every nook and cranny. It will find horrors that you never even were aware of deep inside you,” J.B. said.

Now I was starting to get scared. But I wasn’t going to tell them that.

“I have to do it,” I said.

J.B. grabbed my shoulders. His face was desperate. “Doesn’t it mean anything to you that you’re going to die for someone who can never love you? Doesn’t it mean anything to you that I am standing right here and that I need you?”

He’d been so good-natured when I’d turned him down that I hadn’t realized he felt this way. I hadn’t thought that there was more to it than a flirtatious attraction.

I shook my head and swallowed the tears that I felt burning in my throat. “I’m sorry, J.B. I’m more sorry than I can say. I never wanted to hurt you.”

His hands fell away, his shoulders slumped. “That’s what girls always say when they don’t want you.”

“I guess being the children of immortals doesn’t exempt us from stupid human clichés,” I said, trying to smile.

He gave a hollow laugh. “That will be a real comfort to me when they bring back your body.”

I took his hands and stood up, my eyes on his. “You believed in me before. Believe in me now. I will come back.”

“In how many pieces?” Beezle said.

“One,” I said. “I promise.”

“You can’t make that promise,” J.B. said.

I smiled. “I’m Lucifer’s granddaughter. Promises are a family specialty.”

J.B. left, and Beezle went with him.

“I can’t stay here and watch you tick down the moments until your inevitable death,” he said.

“Give me a break, Beezle,” I said, hurt that he didn’t believe in me, that he didn’t want to stay with me. “I figured you’d want to make gloomy pronouncements until it’s time to go. It helps me get psyched up.”