Page 37 of As Above, So Below

With a backward step, as he knows it is unwise to turn his back on a Death Bringer, he leaves the hells, pulling the trapped souls with him. A final, fanged smile flashes across his face before the door closes, and I’m left in the pitch black darkness.

A magelight springs to life behind me as Ylara comes sprinting down the hall. Stopping beside me, I meet her gaze.

“He knew you?” Ylara asks, confused.

“He knows Vaelyn,” I reply with a sigh. “Apparently well enough to know Vaelyn has a twin.” If I remember the next time I see him, I have questions about my brother’s acquaintances in Cerwiden.

He should not be telling mortals about the structure of the hells.

Or Netharis’ other children.

It doesn’t matter how long they’veworkedtogether.

Ylara and I continue down the hall for what feels like a century in silence, arriving at a wide crossroads. Taking the lead, Ylara presses on and I fall in behind her. More time passes, and the corridor begins to ascend, relieving my ankles and feet of the disgusting filth I’ve been wading through for over an hour.

She leads us right, and the corridor widens into a chamber-like space.

A strange, low-hanging, green mist cloaks the room, and thescent of bergamot clings to the air. It’s an unexpected scent to stumble upon, which is unnerving in itself. It overpowers the scent of death and decay, masking it away.

This room, like thousands of others on this layer, should sit empty. Nothing should be stored here. Instead, it’s cluttered with shelves, desks, tables, all littered with books, jars, papers, scrolls, and in the center a massive black cauldron rests over a small fire.

Clearly, this shadow hag has made herself quite at home in the god of death’s tower. Whether she’s incredibly brave or incredibly foolish stands to be determined.

Behind the cauldron, a figure in dark gray shifts, andbrightyellow eyes pierce through me before sweeping to my right where Ylara stands. In a rush, the figure dances around the cauldron, eyes wide. Her moth-eaten and time-worn robes swirl around her feet as she moves, and a lopsided grin appears on her weathered face.

The hag, who might have resembled a human woman at some point in her life, bounds closer with the same energy of a creature centuries younger.

“Dark one!” she greets with surprising warmth, clapping her hands in excitement as she stops outside the silver glow of the magelight, leaving a wide space between us.

She would be taller than I, were she not hunched over, pitched as if there’s a weight around her neck pulling her forward. Her eyes pin against Ylara, excitement gleaming in the strangely bright color.

Her eyes are the color of the sun, I realize.

“It has been too long.” Her breathing comes in labored heaves.

“Things have been strained these last few weeks,” Ylara answers softly. “It is difficult to move throughout the Tower.”

“Is it because of the quaking? Do you know what caused it?” Sunshine asks, her eyes narrowing as her fingers worry at the ends of the shiny, black, braided rope around her skeleton-thin waist.

Clenching my jaw, I remain silent as my sister slowly glances in my direction. The hag follows the glance, and her eyes sweep over me before widening, as if she’s finally noticed Ylara isn’t alone.

“She was right,” The hag says, her words pouring out of her quick and breathy. “She said I would see you again. I didn’t think I would.But Nektos—Nektos has plans. I have my part to play and play it, I shall.”

“You speak in riddles, hag,” I say coldly, taking a small step back. “I’ve come to barter for information, not to play a role given by any god.”

“Resemblance is uncanny,” she mutters under her breath. “Few differences. Height, eyes—eyes like Aether—wingspan, feathers…”

What in the nine hells is she talking about? It’s as if she’s taking a visual inventory of my appearance. Stepping back again, I shift uncomfortably under the weight of her critical study.

“Sunshine, we need to know if escape from the hells is possible,” Ylara says, and the hag’s wide eyes race to my sister.

The shadow hag bursts into cackling laughter.

How Ylara could ever suggest visitingthis hagis beyond me. She’s touched by madness, likely the result of spending too long in the hells.

An unnaturally wide smile stretches across the hag’s face revealing a mouth filled with pointed and jagged teeth as her eyes gleam. In a few steps she closes the remaining distance, and upon stepping into the light, the whole of her mangled face becomes clear.

If she had been beautiful once, no signs of it remain.