Frank and Megan wished me luck. I nodded at them, but said nothing. Liam didn’t say anything either. This was just another moment in our lives together, yet always pulled apart.

“Megan and Frank, come here to my side. This is your first lesson.” The two young necromancers went to him and he put a hand on each of their shoulders. “I will draw strength from you, and you will help me open the veil. It is the only way. It will also show you how to open the veil, both to the deep level and to any other place you should need to travel.”

They let out dual gasps as his fingers tightened on their shoulders.

In front of me, the veil opened, slowly, like it was being pushed through thick, black mud.

Yet it wasn’t blackness that awaited on the other side, but a strange flickering twilight that gave me an instant headache.

“Bad light,” Alex grumbled, blinking, his eyes watering. Mine were doing the same.

“Three hours, then be back at this point,” Thomas said.

There was nothing for it but to go and go fast. I stepped through, Alex at my side.

The deep level of the veil was odd. Really odd. Like everything had been drawn by a sketch artist, yet never fully finished. Gray and black, shades of white and off white. No color I could see. Hell, in a way, Alex and I fit in not too badly, if it hadn’t been for my auburn hair and his golden eyes.

I took in where we were. An archway made of what looked like black steel, woven with bones, brittle and nearly grey with age. Each bone had symbols etched into them, so that not a piece went without a marking. Although I didn’t recognize all the symbols, a few looked similar to those on the doorway in the castle. Which meant this doorway would either keep the demons out, or keep them in.

None of that mattered at the moment; we had to get Pamela and Milly.

I Tracked them and almost gasped. While I clearly felt them and knew what direction they were in, they were not close. Easily a thousand miles away. Easy.

Shit, shit, shit. Even if we had a car, there was no way we could do this in three hours! Panic nearly set in but I bit it back. We would find a way. We had to.

“Come on, Alex, we have to go.” I started to run, as fast as I could, my heart pounding with fear for my friends. What I hadn’t expected was the way the landscape shifted and turned under my feet. The ground blurred and I stumbled to a stop, Alex ramming into me and taking us both to the ground.

“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t see you, ground is funny.” He rolled up to his feet and brushed himself off. I looked around, behind us in particular. I couldn’t see the archway. How was that possible?

“The deep levels of the veil can do strange things, Rylee. You can travel hundreds of miles within minutes, if you so choose.”

I spun, my jaw dropping. Giselle stood in front of me, a sword in one hand, and a thick, short spear in the other. She was younger than I’d ever seen her, her hair without a single grey in it, her face without a single line.

“Giselle, how the hell are you here?”

“When the worthy die, they are sent to guard the rest of the levels of the veil from those cast into the deep level.” A grin slipped up over her lips. “It is rather fun at times.” Her smiled faltered. “But why are you here?”

“Orion took Milly and Pamela. And he plans to take Milly’s child and possess it.”

Giselle paled and lowered her weapons. “Mother of the gods.”

“Come on, you can help us.”

She shook her head. “No, these are the borderlands between the sixth and seventh veil. I stand here, but cannot go deep into the seventh veil.”

Too good to be true, I should have known. “Then watch for us, because I’d bet my ass we’re going to be running flat out in order to make it back here in time.”

“I always watch for you, Rylee. Now go. Save them both as I know you will.” She smiled and then lifted her spear in a salute. I turned away, my heart lighter for her belief in me. Time to run. Hundreds of miles, well shit, maybe we weren’t so screwed.

Alex and I ran full out, the landscape blurry and strange around us, the smell of old basements closed for years then suddenly opened, the musty scent of eras gone by and perhaps of bad things in the past surrounded us. Not the worst smell I ever breathed, just off putting. Here and there we glimpsed figures in the distance, no doubt they were demons but we didn’t stop. And again I was glad Alex was covered in black fur and I had my black coat and dark jeans.

For now we were unnoticed, and though I didn’t think it would last, I would take it while I could.

I clung to Pamela’s threads, using her for the most part to guide me. She was scared, but calm and a shining piece of hope sung through her. She had faith it would turn out okay. Damn, I loved that kid. With each step we drew closer and closer, the feel of her in my head hopscotching rather than smoothly moving in my direction. Didn’t matter, the end result was the same, even though it felt weird.

I reached out and put a hand on Alex, slowing us both. “We’re close. How does the bracelet feel, is it warm at all?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Nice and coolio.”

“You feel it warm up at all, you tell me, okay?”

With his eyes as serious as I’d ever seen them he nodded. “Gotcha.”

I looked up and took a step back. A freaking high rise building shot out of the ground, the dirt around the base looking like it had been planted and then grown as opposed to having been built.

At least a football length wide and several football lengths high, I’d never seen any building so fucking big in my life.

“Holy shit,” Alex whispered. “Pamie and Milly in there?”

“Yeah, they’re in there.”

He let out a soft groan. “That’s not goody good.”

Above us the building seemed to answer him, groaning, the girders and whatever grinding against one another. I reached to my back and pulled my swords free. Just in case. I snorted softly. Who the hell was I kidding? I was going to need my blades, it was only a matter of time.

Approaching the building, I looked for an entrance. No doors, but lots of windows on the lower levels. Once we drew up against the behemoth I almost wished we hadn’t.

It was a building, yes, but it was alive. The wall was skin, thick, dark, and pebbled, and whatever the building was made out of had been carved and hacked to resemble a building on our side of the veil. I put a hand out, touched the wall.