This was not Hell. And that was not the Devil. That was Shirley?

And Lan?

And they were on a—spaceship?

They were moving very quickly. Shizuka looked in the rearview screen and saw a distant ball of fire.

“Don’t worry. He won’t catch the runabout,” Lan said. She motioned to Shirley.

“Please open a commlink to the control center.”

“Commlink opened, Mother.”

There was a brief pause, and then, “Lanny, are you okay?”

“We’re fine, Aunty. But let’s chat later. Please activate the stargate.”

“Yes, Captain. Stargate activated!”

At that moment, the entire city went dark. Not just the electric lights, but electric cars, cell phones, gaming devices. Everything went silent except for the giant pulsing donut.

On the front screen, Shizuka saw the Big Donut crackle with lavender and blue. Roseate splashes of space-time danced upon plasma sprinkles as the donut began unfolding, expanding.

But then the donut went dark, before weakly sputtering to life again.

“Aunty! What is going on?”

“I’m sorry, Lanny,” said Aunty Floresta. “We’re doing our best here, but the warp field won’t hold steady.”

“The stargate power levels are fluctuating as we feared,” Shirley said.

“Aunty—reinitialize the Big Donut. Shirley, circle the ship around, and let’s do this again. Shirl—”

Lan paused as she saw the viewscreen. The image of the fireball now filled half of the display.

“Mother! The demon is closing fast. He will reach us in four seconds. Three, two—”

How was this possible? There was no way that a ball of fire should catch an Imperial runabout.

Orange flames raked the ship.

“I just felt something touch me!” Shizuka said.

“There’s no place in existence you can hide!” Tremon’s voice roared.

“Evasive maneuvers!” Lan said. “Shields! Where are my shields?”

The runabout lurched wildly as it was grazed by another blast of hellfire.

“Shields at eighty-nine percent and holding. He’s making another pass.”

Why was he still approaching? Lan’s mind raced for an answer. Shit! Of course. The runabout was designed for space, and they were still within the planet’s atmosphere.

This was bad. This was really bad.

“Shirley, more power!” Lan shouted.

“Mother, shields are failing.”

And then the runabout was swallowed by the furious ball of Hell.

Shizuka felt a presence clawing through her, hooking into her chest. It was more than fire, more than Tremon. Her skin blistered with lies. Her stomach festered with guilt and shame. Images of her dead students crawled in her eye sockets; a plague of curses howled in her ears. You belong here, with us. You know you deserve this, have you no shame? Let go … let go. It was fire, but more than fire. It was pain, but more so, a hopelessness, a grayness, a perverse sense of peace …

“Hold on, Shizuka! Hold on!”

Shizuka felt a hand. Someone else’s hand was holding hers tightly. Lan.

Lan!