“I have designed a … token of sorts, that allows me—us—to harvest a small portion of the human’s soul. It resides within the token. They believe that it is our collateral until they repay their debt. And it is, in a way. But what it really does is …” I watched as Jemma Bliss’s Token flared white and then returned to that warm pink once more.

She wasn’t happy. My chest knotted.

I cleared my throat and continued. “It allows us to keep tabs on them, but it also … absorbs the misery we create for them, and—” I cut myself off before I blurted out my theories about it being able to absorb their turmoil in all aspects of their lives.

I wasn’t prepared to let Father or Hellen get greedy with the thing. Not until I’d seen this first experiment through to its completion.

“And how do we then transfer this misery into the Pit?” Hellen demanded, her hand darting towards my open palm. I snapped my fingers closed, snatching my fist away from her and the covetous gleam in her eyes.

“I theorise that we should be able to transfer the energy stored within it into the human souls in the Pit, and through them, the Pit Demons can absorb it.”

“This is very innovative, Junior,” Father said, his eyes glittering with pride. “I’m extremely impressed!”

Hellen let out an incoherent squawk. “But he has no proof that he can get the energy from this token thing into the Pit!” she argued. “I say we take it down there now and release whatever he claims to have collected into the nearest soul and see if he’s all bluster and no substance!”

My gut twisted to the point of pain.

Father’s eyes fell on me. “What say you, Junior?”

I planned my words very carefully. “I am not prepared to risk the soul of an unfinished experiment,” I began carefully, that thrumming in my chest threatening to choke me. “I need to complete the four tasks with her before we release the energy from the Soul Token.”

Father’s eyes were two black holes boring into me. Sweat trickled down my spine, tickling the base of my tail.

“We must not be reckless with the first test of this new invention,” I added, my voice rough. “Once we safely have her soul indentured to Hell, we can test the Token. If it works as I suspect, we can roll this out on a grander scale, and within months, there will be more than enough misery to keep the Pit Demons thriving.”

Father pinched at his chin thoughtfully. Hellen and I both waited, barely breathing, to hear his decree.

“This is Junior’s plot. We must allow Junior to enact it in the way he believes is in the best interests of the long-term goal,” he finally said.