Rowan let Gretta pull him along. He remembered what was down here and wasn’t sure that even a god could survive it. This wasn’t reality—not Earth or any domain of the immortals he ascended with. This place was a part of the entity that was magic itself, and the rules of this reality were unpredictable and fickle. He didn’t understand how beings could also be places when he had last visited, but now that he had been to the domains of his peers, he understood that they were realities unto themselves with rules shaped by conscious thought. This place had that same feeling, but the intelligence behind it was vast and unknowable. It was the being behind this reality that allowed him to be immortal, but Rowan knew that it could revoke his membership at will.

The light he held glowed steadily, but as they moved, it cast shadows off the jagged rocks—the fangs of this underworld. The path led down, and the tunnel was widening. He felt unseen eyes watching him.

“What was that?” Gretta stopped and looked around.

Rowan moved closer and then started pulling her along. “Don’t stop. They’ll catch us.”

There was a scrap of metal against stone somewhere nearby.

Gretta nearly tripped over a rock as she scanned the shadows. “What will catch us?”

“I don’t know what they are,” Rowan said. “Maybe demons?”

“I don’t think demons are real,” she said.

A faint, raspy laugh passed through the tunnel. The rumble was deep, like the earth's shifting, and it was hard to tell where it was from. The tunnel itself seemed to lengthen subtly, like reality was stretching.

“I didn’t study much about ascension,” Rowan said as he pulled Gretta along. “But, the one bit I remember from my time here is the rule that you cannot stop moving no matter what.”

“What happens if you stop moving?” Gretta asked. “That sounds like a dumb rule.”

A flutter of leather echoed through the cavern. A warm draft wafted past, carrying the stench of rotten eggs.

“Did you know twelve of us set out to ascend?” he said.

Gretta’s eyes widened. “There are twelve gods?”

“No, only five made it. Seven didn’t survive this tunnel,” he said. “That’s why those who survived took on more than one role.” He glanced back. Sweat was now running down his temple. “I’m not just the god of chaos, but the god of fortune.”

“And why Ellie is the goddess of light, order, and judgment?”

Rowan nodded. “Abby suspects that if even one more of us had not made it, the ascension would have failed. We wouldn’t have had the strength to take on so much power.”

“They are getting closer,” Gretta whispered.

Rowan nodded. “I feel them, too. Nadia thought the demons here were what was left of the beings who failed to ascend. This was their eternal prison.”

Footsteps from behind them echoed through the tunnel. Rowan and Gretta were moving as fast as they could through the jagged obstacles, but there was no way to run without risking a fall.

“What do you think?” Gretta said, nearly out of breath.

“I don’t think they kill you,” Rowan said. “I think Nadia is right—they make you one of them.”

The cave opened into a massive area filled with boulders and crystal shards. The light from Rowan’s hand glinted in thousands of colors off every surface. Gretta hesitated, but Rowan pulled her along.

“No stopping,” he whispered.

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A drum started from somewhere to their right. Thump-ba-da-thump. Thump-ba-da-thump. Thump-ba-da-thump.

Gretta glanced around as they scrambled over rocks. “What’s happening?”

“Don’t look at their faces,” Rowan said. “They will drive you mad.”

“W-what? You can’t go mad looking at—”

Pale fleshy creatures started oozing in from the left, and before she could look at them, Rowan tugged her along forcefully.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m trying to keep you sane.”

Behind them, the slap of leather on the air made her glance back for a fraction of a second. Hooded people with bat wings floated after them. When one of the creatures noticed her looking back, it started to draw back its hood. She turned away. She felt a greasy sensation of the creature’s stare against her skin and imagined the full force of that maddening glare against her mind.

Rowan slipped and fell. The magic light he had been holding went out, sending them into darkness.

“Keep going!” He let go of her hand as he tried to scramble up.

The room wasn’t pure black. Now, dancing colors danced in the dark, and a faint white light glowed from a crack in the wall ahead.

Gretta risked a moment to scan nearby and spotted the shadows of closing creatures, then rushed back to him and helped him up. Rowan was limping.

“I sprained my ankle,” he said. “I’m going to slow you down.”

“Lathiel,” she whispered, and energy poured through her and into Rowan.

There was already a steady warmth of her magic against his, but the added influx of the spell washed through him and to his ankle.

“Thanks,” he said as his movement evened out. “I’m better.”

“I’m going to slow you down,” Gretta mocked. “No heroics. We came together, we leave together.”

“Head for that light!” Rowan pointed toward an opening that a boulder had obscured until they were closer. “We get there, and we’re clear.”

“Ah, Rowan,” a voice boomed. “You have returned, brother.”

A tall, muscular man with a face resembling Rowan’s but broader and more angular smiled as he stepped before them. He looked human, except for his pure black eyes and the black talons at the tips of his fingers, which glowed with a sickly yellow light.

Rowan knew that face, even though he hadn’t seen it in twenty-five years. His older brother—the same one who called him a runt but still gave him a ride to school—was trapped here forever. For a while, Rowan had held onto the stupid hope that maybe, just maybe, Thadius had found a way out. But there was no mistaking those blackened eyes and the sickly glow of his talons. For a second, something flickered across Thadius’s face—recognition? Regret? Then he grinned, fangs glinting in the dim light. Yeah. No getting him back.

“Get to the light,” he whispered to Gretta. “Don’t look at anyone or anything.”

The man grinned. “You will join us, won’t you?” He leaped forward toward Rowan with his claws ready to lash out.

“Not today, Thadius.” The clawed hand nearly gutted Rowan, but he managed to lean to one side, grab Thadius by the wrist, and throw him toward the jagged rocks. Before Thadius had landed, Rowan was already dashing after Gretta.

Wings beat against the air, followed by a hollow scream. Rowan dove forward, knocking Gretta into the light. Together, they tumbled through.

They landed on a hard, flat stone floor with Gretta on top of Rowan. He had managed to grab her waist and twist as they came through to absorb the impact. He lay there groaning as she struggled to untangle herself from him.

“Well, what do we have here?” A man with red hair and a pistol stood over them, smiling.

Behind him, Gabriela was in a circle with Sofia bound up and in a separate circle. Sofia’s face was tear-stained. Her mouth was gagged, her hands and feet were bound, and her hair was a tangled mess. She looked desperately from Gretta to Rowan. Leaning against the far wall, casually smoking a cigarette, was Victor.

Victor smiled. “Michael, have you met Miss Sulivan and Mister Carter?”

Michael raised his pistol toward Gretta. “I’m about to get to know them.”

“Hair is looking kind of greasy there, Vic,” Gretta said. “No time for a shower?”

“I’ve been busy, but I expect I’ll have a little time off soon,” he said, brushing back his blonde hair, which Rowan noticed was rather greasy. “Just a few loose ends.”

Gabriela was chanting in a low voice, and Rowan realized that the ritual to bring Marcus into the world had begun. Magic was gathering, and it felt powerful. As they spoke, a god was finding his way into a new host. Reality itself was warping with the strain of so much power.

Sofia’s voice pleaded desperately into Rowan’s mind. Hurry, he’s going to get in. I can’t stop him.

Rowan met her eyes and answered her prayer: Hold on! We’re coming! He coughed as he struggled forward. “Save Sofia.”

Michael’s finger twitched, and Rowan swept a leg out to trip him. The gun went off, but Gretta was gone. The bullet ricocheted.

Rowan grinned. “You shouldn’t have done that.”