“Isn’t there supposed to be a famine down here?” I asked archly. “Couldn’t tell, that creep was very well fed by the looks of it!”

“SJ really has been telling all our secrets, hasn’t he?” Hellen hissed, her wind forcing me on once more. “Famine from soul misery isn’t as simple as your pathetic human needs. It’s a withering of the soul.”

“Demons don’t have souls!” I argued. She retaliated by slapping me again.

“Everything has a soul,” she muttered. “Not all souls are created equal, though. The human soul is particularly … nourishing. Your little lives are so short, so your souls burn extra brightly. And yours … well, yours is delectably powerful.”

She sniffed, and another surge of wind had me staggering forwards, the rock biting into my palms as I just stopped myself from face-planting on the ground.

“Speaking of souls, finally, you will actually be faced with a task that is worthy of winning your soul back. None of this namby-pamby ‘dinner out at a fancy restaurant’ business. You survive what I have in store for you—with your sanity intact, that is—and I’ll return this little bit of your soul to you.”

She produced the Token, holding it in front of me. I squinted. It was so bright. Well, of course it was. I would run out of fingers if I tried to count all the different types of terror I was feeling.

“Pfft! A walk in the park!” I scoffed, but my voice squeaked and shook. Hellen grinned evilly.

“You say that now … but you really have no idea what you’re about to encounter.” She stopped at a door. I strained my ears, but only silence met me.

“In you go!” Hellen cackled, wrenching the door open and shoving me inside. The last thing I saw as the door shut, and I was plunged into pitch black, was Hellen’s sneering face.

* * *

Don’t faint. Do not pass out, Jemma!

My breath sawed painfully in and out of my lungs. Eyes closed tight, head against my knees, hands over my ears. Rocking back and forth. Back and forth.

If I stayed like that, I could pretend that the reason for the utter dark was just my position. Not the completely unknowable space I was locked in. It could be vast, with no walls. No ending.

It could be tiny, and if I reached my hands out, I might find the edges were too close … much too close.

Or … I might not be alone.

I swallowed down a scream, sweat slicking my forehead and making my head slip against my knees.

Just get through this. Get through this, and get that Soul Token back, and get the Hell out of … Hell!