He laughed a little too hard, as if I’d just said the dumbest joke ever. “Seeley. No. Reapers aren’t allowed to partake in Thieron’s challenges. You know that. Don’t play dumb. It’s insulting.”

“What do we do, then?” Widow asked. “Cover you while you torment them inside that box?”

Soul nodded. “Exactly. Thieron amplifies different abilities in you, me, and Phantom. You got lucky with all the protection mojo, since it allowed you to block out interference from outside forces. I’m gifted in something else entirely.”

“What’s that?” I replied.

He lit up with excitement. Clearly, the Soul Crusher loved talking about himself. “I can play with pockets of time and space. I can manipulate realities, make my own rules, play the part of a god in these little bubbles. It’s how I locked Taeral and his friends in my Zetos box. Unfortunately, that also leaves me more or less defenseless against the Hermessi. Part of the challenge, I guess,” he said, shrugging.

Thunder echoed from above, muted but still loud enough for us to quickly realize that it wasn’t some natural phenomenon. Death had given me an edge for this mission, allowing me to tap into my sentry abilities, which I’d naturally left behind upon entering Reaperhood. She’d thought I’d need everything I could possibly make use of, in order to succeed without upsetting the universal balance. I was now able to look up and use my True Sight. “They’re coming.” I sighed. “The Hermessi.”

“Which ones? Is psycho Brendel among them?” Widow asked.

Soul looked as though he’d chewed on a whole lemon. “Please don’t tell me that wench is here. Ugh, my skin crawls just thinking about her! I can still feel her touch all over me, from when she dismantled Thieron… Ew!”

I nodded. “Yeah, she’s with them. We’re in for quite the fight.” Dozens of colorful fireballs shot through the depths of the ocean, headed our way. The Hermessi were made up of raw elemental energy—from their four types, I was most wary of Water here. Fire was weaker, and so was Air. Earth could potentially be a problem, but it all depended on how the Widow Maker and I organized our defensive tasks. “Widow, I’ll focus on Air and Fire. You’re stronger and more experienced than me. I figure you can handle Water and Earth, right?”

“Sure, give me the capable ones.” He grunted. “Chicken.”

“We can switch, if you’d like. I’m just aware of my limitations as a Reaper,” I replied.

Soul giggled. “Seeley’s right.”

Looking up again with my True Sight, I analyzed the enemy as best as I could, judging by the intensity with which they shone. Something caught my eye—a flash of green, coming down from a different direction. It glowed in a peculiar shade of emerald, far brighter than the other Hermessi, except Brendel. Her orange sparkle was almost unaffected by her deep dive. Could that be Fallon and Kabbah?

I would’ve welcomed the assistance.

“Sorry I can’t play with you,” Soul said. “I’m useless on the outside until they release me.”

“Play with us?” I mouthed at Widow, utterly astonished by Soul’s chilling weirdness.

Widow shook his head again. “Don’t ask.”

I could feel the tension rising in the room. The white glowing coral would only protect us for so long. It was up to Widow and me to keep Taeral and the others safe. Death had already allowed me that privilege after the Eirexis episode. She’d been quite specific, actually. She’d said that, no matter what happened, if Taeral and his crew got to pieces of Thieron, I’d have to do everything in my power to keep the Hermessi from stopping them. Thinking back on it now, I realized that Death knew what the challenges were and what they would entail.

Yet she’d never told me about them. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to retrieve Eirexis, Zetos, and Phyla, but I’d had zero clue about the complexity of these tasks. I felt sorry for Taeral, stuck on this quest while his father was held hostage under the Hermessi’s influence, while his whole world was at risk of total annihilation.

I worried about Vesta a lot, and about the Novaks and the rest of the fae in the sanctuary, too. They had it the hardest, barely able to defend themselves against this ritual. At least I was down here, and I was able to do something about it. Unsurprisingly, I had something in common with Widow and Soul—the disdain for this so-called universal balance. More than once I’d considered it antiquated garbage, but I was too insignificant in the greater scheme of things to rebel against it. I feared the potential consequences, though more than once I’d thought about what it would be like to break all the crucial rules of this world…

Until then, however, I had to brace myself for what came next. From what I could see, the Hermessi were racing through the ocean, headed for the bottom and determined to obliterate anyone and anything that stood in their way.

“Get ready,” I said to Widow. “They’re coming.”

I decided I should reveal myself to the plane of the living, prompting several fish that swam across the white sand to scatter, suddenly frightened by my appearance. I’d noticed I did more damage if I was fully anchored in this dimension.

“If we hold out for long enough, it might give Taeral the shot he needs at getting Zetos,” Widow replied, as if reciting a mantra.

It was a good thing to focus on. The endgame. The ultimate objective: helping a future Reaper save the world. I was on board, as long as it helped Vesta and her people survive. That girl deserved a longer life than what the Hermessi had planned for her.

Taeral

Without our abilities, we were pretty much screwed, trapped in a mystery which we had to unravel, one way or another, if we wanted to get out of here and complete this mission. The Soul Crusher had quickly established himself as a calculated lunatic, and this was the worst kind of foe.

“There’s a minor advantage here for you,” he said after a while. “I thought you should know. In here, time passes at a slightly slower rate. Mind you, that doesn’t mean you have weeks at your disposal! But it’s not just minutes, either.”

We’d spent the last twenty minutes checking the room from top to bottom, worried that if we pressed the wrong lever, it might trigger something unfortunate. The Soul Crusher had yet to explain what these things did. I’d asked, multiple times, but he’d been quiet until now.

“What’s the time difference?” Lumi asked.

“If I’m not mistaken… I don’t know!” The Soul Crusher laughed.

“You’ve yet to give us the rules for this room,” I said, ignoring the string of curse words leaving Raphael’s and Herakles’s mouths—and Eva wasn’t far behind them. “How do we get out?”

The Soul Crusher paused. “I thought that was obvious. I find myself once again doubting Death’s decision to send you over here. Press the right lever, and you’re out! Duh.”

“I hate him so much right now,” Eira murmured.

We looked at each other, until I exhaled sharply and motioned around me. “Might as well pick one and get started, I guess?”

With four walls covered in levers, it was difficult to actually pick one. We were all on edge, aggravated by the knowledge that all hell was about to break loose outside, once the Hermessi got here. I needed us all focused and calm, but our circumstances weren’t helping. No one responded well to being locked up in a room at the bottom of the ocean by a psychopathic Reaper.

Herakles muttered something under his breath as he walked over to the nearest lever and pulled it.

“Herakles, no, wait—” Riza stopped herself at the sound of a hiss.

“Don’t pull that yet? Is that what you were going to say?” Raphael replied, equally irritated by Herakles’s reaction.

“We had to start somewhere!” Herakles defended his decision.

“It shouldn’t have been that one,” I said, looking up. Though barely noticeable, I could see the air shimmering softly in a corner of the ceiling as the hissing persisted. The air smelled funny. I tasted sweetness on the tip of my tongue.

Amelia was the first to cover her mouth and nose with both hands. “Guys, it’s gas. It’s a toxic gas.”

“Oh, for…” Herakles’s voice trailed off, his breath cut short as his eyes bulged. He started choking, coughing and wheezing. Riza was instantly by his side, but the gas hit her too.

Everything happened too fast. I didn’t even have time to react. I felt something swell and expand in my throat, making it impossible to breathe. I dropped to my knees, poison spreading through me like liquid heat.

Someone said something—maybe Lumi, I wasn’t sure. Hands fumbled with a backpack, and I could hear the clicking of straps and rustling of waterproof fabric. Glass clinked.

“Oh, God…” Varga croaked, collapsing.

“Healing… Healing potion,” Nethissis managed, reaching out to Lumi.

I followed her desperate gaze, but my body gave out. I ended up flat on the floor, my face soft against the cold stone. Lumi wobbled as she made her way toward me. She handed Nethissis a few vials. I could see them being passed around. At least I understood now why the Soul Crusher had taken away the pulverizer stuff and the breathing devices, but not the healing potions. The jerk wanted us to live through as much of this as possible.

Herakles was unresponsive, but Riza, despite her condition, managed to push the potion down his throat, lifting his chin and forcing him to swallow. Everything went white. My blood burned. My bones ached as though a claw hammer had come down on them, over and over.

Was this it? It couldn’t be. Death had made me immortal. I’d wake up eventually. But the others? What about them?