Black and Blue

15 - The Demon Realm

He said he'd meet me there, since he couldn't take chances going out in the open without his disguise; he'd been so recently possessed, we had no idea whether the boss would let him off the hook yet for...well, anything. Uptight theatre nerd Jack Nichols was off the table for now—at least, until he talked things out with whoever controlled the whole disguise thing.

We planned to wait a day or two before we actually went anywhere, and in the meantime I got myself mentally prepared. I made sure to bring minimal supplies on the day of, only packing my bag with a first aid kit, pad of paper and pencil. He hadn't told me what to bring, which annoyed me greatly when I realized this probably wasn't going to be a quick five-minute trip. All he said was, "Don't wear your Sunday shoes," as if I had any. Or as if I'd wear those on a walk through the forest, in the middle of winter, the first few days after a huge snowfall!

I tried wrestling on a coat over my sweater, but the world apparently didn't feel like cooperating with me today. I had a feeling that things were going to get a lot more inconvenient than just that. I was going to the demon realm, the place where Jack supposedly lived, where...well, demons lived. I'd already gotten a strong enough message that his boss, Chernobog or something, didn't like me, and I hadn't even met the damn guy yet. For a moment, I considered putting a cross around my neck just in case, and not five seconds later I was pulling at my hair, wondering how in the world my Catholic grandparents had managed to rub off on me from approximately 1,000 miles away.

By the time I reached the park, my hair felt like it'd been frozen in the shape of a modern-art lampshade. My teeth were chattering, and I realized my fatal error of wearing sneakers outside on a day like this. I spotted Jack sitting on a nearby bench—a real one, evidently—and drumming his fingers on his knees. He hadn't bothered to get dressed for the cold weather, and I asked myself why I was surprised; he probably couldn't even feel it at this point. But as I got closer, I noticed his arms were shaking the slightest bit, his lips paler and bluer than usual, his left eyelid twitching. It was classic Jack, always looking like he was one second away from cold-blooded murder.

He looked up, raising his eyebrows the tiniest bit when his gaze fell upon my hair, though I had no idea what it looked like at this point. He started talking before I could ask.

"So...uh, are you sure you're ready?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I looked at him quizzically, hoping he wouldn't notice how desperate I was to get out of the cold. He sighed.

"I told you, you're just going to have to get used to some new things. And most of them...uh, they're not pretty."

"I remember that. Can we go now?" At his hesitant look, I reached up to touch his shoulder. "Hey. I'm going to be okay in there. Are you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I-I just get annoyed real easy here. Fuckers in there know how to push my buttons," he mumbled, looking into the forest with a bit of an empty stare. He shook his head with another sigh. "Okay. Let's just go."

We ducked underneath some of the lower tree branches as we made our way...somewhere. Jack seemed eager to take the most difficult path possible, leading me down to an obscured, thick area of trees that felt more wild and unruly than the rest of the forest. I hurdled over overgrown roots, fallen branches, hell, maybe even a few dead animals. At a certain point the trees seemed to get faker and faker, like they were either made of plastic or thin air. Jack walked through what looked to be a sturdy oak as if it were nothing. I remembered the trails and benches that turned out to be holograms the first time we came here, and narrowed my eyes as I struggled to catch up with him.

"Uh—just to be clear, we are going to the demon realm, right—?"

"Shh." One of his hands grazed my shoulder as if making sure I was really there. He squinted through the dark patch of trees ahead of us; if we kept on, we would be walking blindfolded. One of his ears perked up like a dog's, and he took one step forward before flinching back.