More silence.

“Paca, what the hell are you doing? Get out here!” Ezekiel barks.

“Hold on! I’m trying to decide on the perfect outfit!” she calls back.

“Fuck’s sake,” Jude says from inside the fog. “Keep talking so I can find you.”

“I’m coming! Fluffy is so freaking cute! But…you might want to stand back.”

I have a bad feeling about this…

The horses start shifting away, restlessly whickering and stomping to the side, as though they’re growing anxious.

I hear a sharp curse from Jude, and suddenly he’s leaping out of the fog, eyes wide as…the fog starts to glow…red…and redder…and redder…

Jude slides to my side, whirling around with his scythe extending. My own eyes widen as a monstrous, towering beast begins to emerge. Horns are protruding from its huge head, the only thing peeking out so far, as the fog glows brighter and brighter.

Red flames are swirling all around it, as it kicks out a massive hoof, slinging up some damn hot fire that forces me to take a step back. I suppose we’re not immune to Fluffy’s fire.

Gage’s horse stumbles backwards, releasing one high-pitched neigh. Fluffy snorts, a flaming gold ring dangling from the center of her nostril.

The bull’s muscled, beastly body presses closer, forcing all of us to unconsciously move back more and more, granting it all the fucking space it needs to press on. I swallow thickly when the fire starts leaking from its body, dripping like drops of water.

Fluffy commands attention. That’s for damn sure.

Her tail whips behind her, sending a spray of more flames from side to side, as she finally stops moving, towering over us and the already massive horses.

Paca’s head pokes over the top, her eyes wide and way too excited, as she sits atop the beast like it’s her favorite new throne.

“Check it out! It’s the same one as the bull who hunted all those unicorns!”

“What the actual fuck is she talking about?” Ezekiel asks distractedly, eyes still appraising the flaming red bull.

I hold my hands up in a how-the-hell-should-I-ever-know-what-Paca-is-talking about gesture.

“You know! From The Last Unicorn!” She pats the monster’s head. “Poor Fluffy. Lady Amalthea forced you into the sea and set all those wicked, vicious unicorns free just because you killed one measly prince. You saved the world from those damn beasts, and that’s how you were repaid.”

Coo-fucking-coo.

She’s finally so far gone that I can’t even try to figure out what the hell she’s saying.

“But it’s fine. We shall have your revenge once I’m finished destroying Jahl,” she coos, patting Fluffy’s head. “We’ll hunt them all down. Every last one. It’ll be a movie about your heroics after that.”

I glance over to Jude, who is gaping at her like she’s lost her damn mind. Gage shrugs, sighing, clearly just as lost as all of us.

“The old you named that motherfucking thing Fluffy?” Jude finally asks.

She peers over, blinking as though she’s forgotten we’re standing here at all.

“She’s such a sweet, fluffy ride. I can see why the old me named her that,” she states in a prim tone…before baby-talking the two-ton beast again.

“If you’re done getting reacquainted, we should get moving. There’s a limited window to reach the Pure Branch for today,” Harold cuts in.

Shit. I forgot he was here.

Fluffy starts immediately, as though she’s decided to take lead, and I have to jump out of the way when the heat rolls off her, almost burning my skin without even touching me.

“How is that thing more pure than we are?” Gage asks very seriously.

“It’s not. But it can handle the maze that keeps others at bay. Paca trained all your animals to do so. She also ensured you could be the only ones to ever mount your steeds. Fluffy can’t be mounted by anyone but her. Not even hell-spawn can withstand that heat. Only The Apocalypse can,” he tells us with no emotion. “It was just another form of bragging rights for that crazy bitch,” he adds in a muttered breath.

The Four Horsemen follow along behind The Apocalypse, as a fallen angel trails them, so they can prepare to save the world…while The Apocalypse talks about revenge on all unicorns to a bull that snorts several times in what sounds like agreement.

No one’s ever going to take us seriously.

I can’t even deal with this shit right now.

Chapter 24

EZEKIEL

My eyes skim the nearly invisible barrier that separates the gray purgatory from…the endlessly black piles of sludge just beyond.

The ground looks to be corroded, and bubbling piles of something akin to tar sputter and spit for as far as the eye can see.

“So this is Jahl’s terrain,” Jude states quietly.

My eyes lift to Paca as she sits atop Fluffy, quiet, her eyes serious, as a small drop of black blood falls from her nose. She catches the drip before it lands on Fluffy, and she cracks a grin.

“Would you dive in that to retrieve my crown if I lost it?” Paca asks me, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Could you take this more seriously?” Harold grinds out. “Just for now?”

Her eyes cut to him, and they narrow, as her smile slips like it was an illusion all along. “Fluffy might get hurt if I take this too seriously at the moment. You shouldn’t have just sprung this on us. A little more forewarning would have been nice.”

“Jahl grows in power almost daily right now, and the Pure Branch continues to weaken. It’s paramount, above all else, to investigate him thoroughly until the fight, in case new threats—”

My breath hisses between my lips as some of that goop turns into a humanoid form, and several begin joining it, until fifty or more rise within a few seconds. Even Harold seems surprised by this, and he stumbles back a step.

I can smell fear rolling off him. He doesn’t show that sort of fear toward Paca, who he helped kill, and who he betrayed. Yet this thing terrifies him with a few gooey puppets.

They begin bashing against the invisible barrier, smoke sizzling from their forms.

“I take it this is new,” Paca states in a dry tone, as the tar-mouths of the forms open and release heavy groans.

“Surrender yourselves. Join me,” those thousands of voices all scream at once in a shriller pitch than before.

I actually wince when they begin repeating the phrase over and over again.

“I’m not sure how this thing manages to seduce people into turning over their minds and souls,” Gage states as he hops down from his horse and moves closer to Paca’s side.

She hops down as well, her gaze flicking around as though she’s casually taking it all in. I see the muscle jump along her jaw, a telling sign the scary wheels inside her fucked-up head are churning.

Something crazy always happens when she gets that look.

“Only Rafael or one of the other archangels will be able to lift the barrier enough for you to rush in. It will take some time to open, but it closes very rapidly. Just a warning,” Harold informs us, keeping a bigger distance from the transparent cage than we do.

“From death comes life upon a grave misdeed. Only then can one sow a truly destructive seed,” Paca says quietly to herself.

“What does that mean?” Jude asks her, eyes narrowing.

She blinks, shakes her head, frowning as she stares at the multiplying goo humanoids.

“It’s another of those stupid riddles that just popped into my head. Lamar and I found it in one of the newest journals,” she murmurs to herself, seeming almost lost in thought. Her eyes quickly flick to Harold and before we can ask more questions, she asks, “Why isn’t Rafael down here showing me the ropes?” she asks, even as the puppets continue to multiply in hordes.

“Because he’s still healing,” he bites out. “However, his balance seems almost steady. At least, it’s steadier than it’s been in a very long while.”

“Tell him he’s welcome. I’ll help him restore the rest once I’m finished punishing him,” she states too brightly, eyes flickering with that volcanic color. “So is this all it does?” she asks, tossing a thumb carelessly in the direction of the tar puppets.

“No,” Harold says with a glare.

“Then…can we see the next trick? This one is tired already.”

“This one is new. Those things touch you, and it could prove difficult to move once you’re in there. Already you were going to have to ride your beasts in there to—”

Paca gasps and leaps onto Fluffy’s back like a damn kangaroo, covering the bull beast’s ears.

Fluffy whimpers.

“Don’t scare her! I can’t let her in there. She’s shaking, the poor thing. Those unicorns fucked up her confidence. They shall pay!”

She lifts a fist into the air, shaking it as though she’s full of conviction and determination.

“Can you stop talking about motherfucking unicorns?” Jude barks.

Paca blinks and looks back at us.

“What were we discussing?”

“Why did I bother?” Harold gripes as he starts moving along the side.

The tar puppets follow him, and I mount my horse once again, inwardly groaning when Paca taunts the puppets.