Page 87 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“Okay, I think whatever is going on, Satan is behind it.”

“Satan?” she asked, sucking in a sharp breath.

“I’m not happy about it, either. He’s a nasty piece of work.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“Well, we have to try to find Connor again. The problem is, I have no idea how to navigate these catacombs. They all look the same.”

“Can’t you—how did you put it? Manifest, yes. Can’t you just manifest us to him?”

I shook my head, wanting to kick myself for not having that ability. “Not yet. The catacombs won’t let me yet. My powers have been coming to me in spurts. So maybe I’ll be able to do it, but for now…” I closed my eyes and really tried to concentrate on manifesting us to Connor. Nothing happened. Not even a shimmer of magic. To make sure my magic still worked, I cloaked us again. Then I zapped a crumbling piece of wall. Itdisintegrated the rock to dust. I wanted to scream, cry, and shout obscenities as loudly as a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. Alas, I sucked it up, shaking my head again. “No.”

“I guess we pick a direction and start walking.” Shafira was right. What else could we do?

I shrugged. “We’re off to see the wizard…” I teased while picking a direction and we set off on this new leg of our adventure.

“Wizard?” Shafira asked. “Now we are finding wizards?”

“It’s a movie—never mind. If we survive this, I’ll show it to you.”

We picked a direction and went for it. The dampness made my clothing stick to my body. I hated wearing damp clothing. We walked for what seemed like hours until we came to another set of stairs.

“Should we?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Why not? I doubt any stairs are going to land us in a beach resort with beautiful cabana boys bringing us drinks.”

“What do you know about cabana boys?”

Shafira laughed. “My country might have its issues, but I’m still a part of the world.”

Fair enough. “To be clear, I’d direct the cabana boys to you because Connor would blow a gasket if he found out I was getting drinks from scantily clad men in speedos—or whatever they wear at beach resorts.”

“And to be clear, I’d welcome that.”

We both snickered, but it was time to put on our game faces. We didn’t know what we were about to walk up into. I used my power to cloak us. The bubble enveloped the both of us, but I made sure Shafira saw me.

“This is so weird,” she said.

“You get used to it.”

I took the lead, starting up the stone steps. The air grew dryer and warmer the higher we climbed. We emerged into an empty hallway, continuing on until we found the office space for this quadrant, whatever quadrant we were in.

No one appeared to be as happy working here as they did back in Luc’s office, but Luc was a fun guy. I couldn’t blame them. Still, they didn’t look as hopeless as those back in Satan’s office. I had no idea whose office we found ourselves in.

None of the demons noticed our presence. My cloak held just as I commanded it to. We walked until we stumbled upon the stairs leading up and out of Hades.

“This is it,” I whispered. She nodded, following me up. I pushed open the heavy, wooden door, bracing for where we were about to find ourselves.

Hardpacked dirt.

Brown, dying grasslands.

We emerged by a dead tree, or itlookeddead. There weren’t any leaves. They had probably been swallowed up by the giant trunk. I wasn’t kidding. The trunk had to be as big around as a compact car. I’d never seen anything like it before.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine at this point.”

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