“You first,” I gasped, clutching my abdomen as the toxin spreading within me set my stomach on fire. Soon the poison’s flames would meet the ice Avari’s words had driven through my chest, and I knew better than to hope the two would simply cancel each other out. “Give us the soul first,” I repeated, ignoring the shocked faces staring at me. “Or there’s no deal.”

A growl rumbled from the demon’s throat to shake the entire room, and a sudden gush of frigid power sent more frost surging over the edge of the desk and onto the floor. Avari ripped the sunglasses from his face and they froze in his hand, tiny icicles hanging from the earpieces and the left lens. His fist closed, and the frozen plastic shattered, clinking to the floor like glass.

His eyes, now exposed, were spheres of solid black, just like Addison had said. But what her words had failed to convey was the utter darkness encompassed in those obsidian orbs. Looking into Avari’s eyes was like looking into the depths of oblivion. Into the distillation of nothingness.

He was the very absence of all things light and good, and staring into his eyes called forth my own worst fear: that if I were to look into my own heart and soul, I would find nothing more. That I would be just as empty. That my own void would mirror his.

But I wouldn’t let it. If I had to die, at least I could die helping a friend.

“You dare make demands of me?” the hellion roared, shattering a heavy stalactite of ice that had grown from the ceiling. It crashed to the floor, and both Page sisters jumped.

I only smiled. I was a little light-headed, and more than a little out of my mind with pain and with the very thought of my rapidly approaching demise. “I totally dare. You don’t scare me.” I barely noticed the sick look on Nash’s face, growing worse with every word I spoke. He aimed eyebrow acrobatics my way, trying to shut me up, but I ignored him. What did I have to lose? “I’m going to die, anyway,” I continued. “And if you don’t release one soul now, Tod will take off with Bana’s, as well as mine, and you’ll have gained nothing from this little gathering.”

How well did that concept sit with the demon of greed?

Avari growled again, and more spears of ice dropped from the ceiling to shatter at our feet. But then his growl died, and the floor went still beneath me, a temporary mercy for my tortured right leg. And when the sound faded, the hellion’s lips turned up in the single most terrifying smile I’d ever seen.

“Fine. Have your soul, for what good it will do you….” He exhaled deeply, without sucking in a preparatory breath, and what I at first mistook for warm air puffing into the cold room soon revealed itself as a soul. A human soul.

We’d done it!

I glanced at Nash and Tod in relief and in pure joy, ignoring the pain that now wound its way over my ribs toward my right shoulder.

“Kaylee!” Nash whispered fiercely,desperately, and I followed his gaze to the soul now floating steadily toward the icicle-studded ceiling.

Oops. I’d forgotten the most important part. Since Regan wasn’t actually dying, I’d had no urge to wail for her, and her soul was getting away. So I used what I’d learned from Harmony to call my wail up on demand, suspending the soul with the thin sliver of sound that leaked from my tightly sealed lips.

The soul bobbed just below the ceiling, surrounding one of the stalactites of ice. Sweat broke out on Nash’s forehead, in spite of the freezing temperature, as he concentrated on guiding the soul into Regan’s body while everyone else watched. Tod stared at his brother in relief, while Addy and Regan looked on in amazement—evidently in the Netherworld humans can see souls.

But Avari looked…amused?

Was I missing something?

I focused on my wail, on holding most of it back, to distract myself from the pain that now pierced my right shoulder and was inching its way down my arm. Nash brought the soul steadily closer to Regan, and in a sudden moment of comprehension, Addison pushed her sister toward the bobbing soul, to make Nash’s work easier.

My heart beat harder in anticipation. The rush of adrenaline through my veins tried to overwhelm the pain in my bones. Any second, Regan and her soul would be reunited. We could claim success on the part of at least one Page sister.

We couldn’t help Addy—she’d made her own choice—but we’d done what we could.

Nash’s sudden wide-eyed, horrified expression was the first sign that something had gone wrong. “It doesn’t fit!” he breathed, and I wasn’t sure whether I’d actually heard him or read his lips. “It’s not hers!”

Suddenly the hellion’s unprecedented agreeableness and his amused expression made sense, and we all seemed to draw the same conclusion at once: Avari had tricked us.

He’d released Addison’s soul instead of Regan’s.

20

“NO!” ADDISON SHOUTED, her voice strong and shrill, powered by a singer’s trained lungs. Which I could have used in that moment, as my muffled keening thinned. But her protest meant nothing to Avari.

“This is my offer,” he said, softer than before, yet still his words sent cold, ethereal fingers over my flesh, making my goose-pimpled skin crawl. “The choice is yours.”

“Nooo.” Addison moaned that time. “No. Take me. You said you’d take my soul.”

Avari shook his head slowly, a cruel teacher scolding a naive student. “You misinterpreted my words. That happens more than you might think.”

As my wail wavered, my mind raced while I tried to remember everything the hellion had said. Had he actually said he’d trade Regan’s soul for Bana’s? Or just a soul? I couldn’t remember….