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Alice walks beside me, a length of rough, grassy rope pulled tight over her armored shoulder. My legs hurt and I’m sweating like a hippo in the middle of a triathlon. She, on the other hand, looks like she’s carrying a basket of daisies to Grandma’s house.

“This isn’t fair,” I say.

“What?”

“You angels have all this Incredible Hulk strength. Why do the rest of us have to pull at all?”

“Isn’t there an old saying about idle hands?”

“I wouldn’t know. The only sayings I can remember are old Iggy and the Stooges lyrics. See? All this pulling is bad for my health. I think I’m having an aneurysm.”

“Do you even know what an aneurysm is?”

“A little furry thing. Like a wombat.”

“Right on the money,” she says. “If you’re having such a hard time pulling, why don’t you use some of your hocus-pocus to float the gun where it’s supposed to go.”

“You’d lik

e that, wouldn’t you? I’d probably blow it up and let you angels off the hook.”

“Seriously, why don’t you at least make it easier for yourself?”

“I can’t take any chances on hurting the gun.”

We pass a pond of hot, bubbling shit. The smell is excruciating. Welcome back to Hell. You whined all this time about being in the Tenebrae and now you’re on home turf. Happy now, asshole?

“Did Death tell you something about the gun while you were out there?”

“Yes. But I can’t talk about it here. The only thing that’s important is getting the Light Killer.”

“Then shut up and keep pulling, Bessie.”

“Bessie?”

“Isn’t that what you call cows?”

“Bossie.”

“Trivia. I knew we kept you around for something.”

“Keep pulling, Supergirl.”

The Magistrate calls a cigarette break at midday. Everyone in the dog pack that’s still speaking wants a light from a 20K gold lighter.

Afterward, I sit with Alice by one of the nuke-blasted trees.

“I want to show you something. I got it when I was with Death.”

“You’re not going to trick me and show me a spider, are you? I hate spiders.”

“It’s not a spider.”

“It better not be.”

I take out the amber blade, but keep it hidden under my coat.

“It belongs to him. He uses it to cut souls from their bodies. He says it’ll kill anything.”