sharp teeth glinting inside its birdlike beak. Its eight insectile legs rapidly preened each other and picked at the dark stains on Todd’s trouser cuffs.
“Dear God, protect us,” Andy gasped.
Dry, charred branches formed a latticework walkway beneath them, and the air was filled with ash and the smell of burning flesh. Jack coughed. Todd was silhouetted against distant fires on the horizon, huge ovens that glowed dark crimson and belched dark clouds of ash.
“They should not be here. You must kill them now,” the devil pleaded, lifting its head like a mournful dog.
“Hush.” Todd leaned over and pressed a hand against the devil’s bony skull. It whimpered and pissed itself, the ammoniac smell mingling with the scent of the infernal crematoriums.
“You don’t serve the mal'akhim, Todd,” Jack said, doing his best to keep his voice steady. He had a sudden urge to empty his own bladder. “I would have felt it, if you did.”
“I don’t. Follow me. This isn’t a healthy place for humans to stay.”
“Where are we?” Andy asked, clutching the silver crucifix around his neck. “Is this hell?”
“One possibility of hell, as translated through the filters of your senses.” Todd’s voice was low and calm. “I hadn’t planned to bring you here, but circumstances forced my hand. Come on.”
“You’re traveling with a devil.”
“Demon. Amon chose me; I didn’t choose it. It doesn’t like you, but you’re heavily warded.” Todd began to walk, his leather shoes raising clouds of ash.
“What was that thing outside?” Jack asked, remaining still. “That snake-thing?”
“I don’t know. That’s what we need to find out.”
Jack looked at Andy, who hesitated, then crossed himself.
“I don’t see that we have much choice at the moment,” his friend admitted, following Todd.
Jack coughed again, his gaze lingering on the distant furnaces. The tune he’d been humming earlier in the kitchen returned, and he began to murmur it aloud for comfort.
“ I am a poor, wayfaring stranger, while traveling through this world below... ”
Andy looked over his shoulder, his face brightening. Jack coughed again, then followed Todd, raising his voice.
“ There is no sickness, toil, or danger, in that bright world to which I go. I’m going there to see my father; I’m going there no more to roam; I’m just going over Jordan, I’m just going over home....”
The devil Amon groaned and scuttled ahead of them, its eight legs moving like a centipede’s. Todd chuckled as Jack launched into the next verse.
“ I know the clouds will gather o’er me; I know the pathway’s rough and steep.... ”
The dry, blackened walkway beneath their feet seemed to shift and writhe as they walked, and as Jack sang, he had the distinct impression that they were stepping through an endless succession of gateways. But the song reassured him; it had always reassured him. It was one of the oldest in his repertoire, learned at his favorite uncle’s knee in Kentucky.
He’d seen a lot of strange things since then, things that had put him and kept him on his path as a folk magickian, but he’d never seen anything as strange as giant worms ripping through the earth and diabolic crematoriums belching out the ash of damnation. Still, as strange as this was, he wasn’t any more afraid here than he’d been in that bar outside Reno the night he’d felt his vision blur and his left arm and leg grow numb.
“I’m going there to see my Savior, who shed for me his precious blood; I’m just going over Jordan, I’m just going over home.”
He repeated the last line one more time, then fell silent.
“This is it.” Todd turned abruptly to his right and reached out. “We’ll exit here.”
“Where?”
Todd smiled, his fingers hovering over the handle of a heavy door that hadn’t been there a moment before.
“All sorts of places, at this very moment. An infinite wave of places. Let’s collapse the possibilities,
“Dear God, protect us,” Andy gasped.
Dry, charred branches formed a latticework walkway beneath them, and the air was filled with ash and the smell of burning flesh. Jack coughed. Todd was silhouetted against distant fires on the horizon, huge ovens that glowed dark crimson and belched dark clouds of ash.
“They should not be here. You must kill them now,” the devil pleaded, lifting its head like a mournful dog.
“Hush.” Todd leaned over and pressed a hand against the devil’s bony skull. It whimpered and pissed itself, the ammoniac smell mingling with the scent of the infernal crematoriums.
“You don’t serve the mal'akhim, Todd,” Jack said, doing his best to keep his voice steady. He had a sudden urge to empty his own bladder. “I would have felt it, if you did.”
“I don’t. Follow me. This isn’t a healthy place for humans to stay.”
“Where are we?” Andy asked, clutching the silver crucifix around his neck. “Is this hell?”
“One possibility of hell, as translated through the filters of your senses.” Todd’s voice was low and calm. “I hadn’t planned to bring you here, but circumstances forced my hand. Come on.”
“You’re traveling with a devil.”
“Demon. Amon chose me; I didn’t choose it. It doesn’t like you, but you’re heavily warded.” Todd began to walk, his leather shoes raising clouds of ash.
“What was that thing outside?” Jack asked, remaining still. “That snake-thing?”
“I don’t know. That’s what we need to find out.”
Jack looked at Andy, who hesitated, then crossed himself.
“I don’t see that we have much choice at the moment,” his friend admitted, following Todd.
Jack coughed again, his gaze lingering on the distant furnaces. The tune he’d been humming earlier in the kitchen returned, and he began to murmur it aloud for comfort.
“ I am a poor, wayfaring stranger, while traveling through this world below... ”
Andy looked over his shoulder, his face brightening. Jack coughed again, then followed Todd, raising his voice.
“ There is no sickness, toil, or danger, in that bright world to which I go. I’m going there to see my father; I’m going there no more to roam; I’m just going over Jordan, I’m just going over home....”
The devil Amon groaned and scuttled ahead of them, its eight legs moving like a centipede’s. Todd chuckled as Jack launched into the next verse.
“ I know the clouds will gather o’er me; I know the pathway’s rough and steep.... ”
The dry, blackened walkway beneath their feet seemed to shift and writhe as they walked, and as Jack sang, he had the distinct impression that they were stepping through an endless succession of gateways. But the song reassured him; it had always reassured him. It was one of the oldest in his repertoire, learned at his favorite uncle’s knee in Kentucky.
He’d seen a lot of strange things since then, things that had put him and kept him on his path as a folk magickian, but he’d never seen anything as strange as giant worms ripping through the earth and diabolic crematoriums belching out the ash of damnation. Still, as strange as this was, he wasn’t any more afraid here than he’d been in that bar outside Reno the night he’d felt his vision blur and his left arm and leg grow numb.
“I’m going there to see my Savior, who shed for me his precious blood; I’m just going over Jordan, I’m just going over home.”
He repeated the last line one more time, then fell silent.
“This is it.” Todd turned abruptly to his right and reached out. “We’ll exit here.”
“Where?”
Todd smiled, his fingers hovering over the handle of a heavy door that hadn’t been there a moment before.
“All sorts of places, at this very moment. An infinite wave of places. Let’s collapse the possibilities,
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