Unleashing Chaos

Chapter Fourteen

Jace pulls the BMW up to a deserted bus station at the edge of town, and he narrows his eyes as he puts the car in park. "You're sure this is it?"

"Yep," I say, looking down at my phone and the instructions I got from the medium yesterday when I spoke with her through text.

"If this isn't some seedy shit, I don't know what is," Jace says.

"At least it isn't in the last stall of a rest stop in the middle of nowhere. That's how Mandis, Grub, and I came in."

Jace wrinkles his nose as we get out of the car, and he unloads our two small suitcases. "Gross. I do not like the sound of that. In fact, that would have been when I bailed on this trip."

"Yeah, you would've had a meltdown for sure," I tease, bumping him with my hip. As I look up at him in the pre-dawn light, his face looks a little pale. "Hey, are you okay? You sure you still want to do this?"

"I'm scared as hell, but I trust you. This will be fine."

The way he speaks is just as much for his reassurance as it is for mine. I can feel the pull of hesitation in every step he takes, and his rigid stance has me questioning if he is remembering to breathe. Going to Infernis is a big deal for a human, and I understand the fear. But once we're in my home realm, he will see that it isn't that different from his.

"Will it help if I explain what's about to happen?"

"Nope," he says quickly. "Let's just do it. I don't want to get even more freaked out by knowing what to expect."

"All right. But I promise, you're going to love it there. I know it. Now come on," I say, holding my hand out to him. "The medium is waiting."

"Wait," he says as we approach the station. "Does this medium need to think we're...together too?" He glances down at our clasped hands.

I nod. "Yeah. All the mediums think as one being. If one of them thinks we're faking it, all of them will. And they would definitely report back to my father."

"Wait, what do you mean, as one being?"

"Think of it like this: the mediums all share one conscience, they share thoughts, function as one. Don't let them fool you; they may look human, but they aren't."

He just shakes his head in awe as we enter the station. An exposed lightbulb hangs in the middle of the ceiling with two steel doors on either side. The hum of electricity comes from behind one, and the other is silent.

I open the door leading into the quiet room. A curvaceous blonde with a low-cut shirt sits behind an oak desk. They smack on a piece of gum and examine their pink nails that look more like talons. "Can we help you?" they ask.

"I need to return to Infernis," I say.

Their big brown eyes framed with false lashes ping-pong between Jace and me. "Papers."

I dig out my identification and hand it to them. They set to work, pulling up my credentials on their computer, their nails clicking on the keyboard.

Jace leans in and drops his voice, saying, "Demons have passports?"

"So do angels. They can't let just anyone pass."

"I never thought of it that way," he murmurs, and I know this is just the beginning of the wonderment he's going to experience over the next two days.

The medium returns my identification card. "It says here that you have clearance to bring one human with you. Is this him?"

"It is."