I wouldn't have gone back to the realm if given the choice. Maybe for a couple sparse healing lessons, though I'd gotten all the basics down a couple weeks ago. But I would have simply avoided any sort of contact with the other demons, most of all Jack's boss. I knew the more frequently I visited, the more he'd want me dead, until suddenly he wouldn't be so powerless to just kill me himself. I, like many other reasonable people, wasn't too into getting killed by an ancient grudge-holding demon. So I kept my distance for a while.

But one day, Chernobog summoned me to the realm. And based on the reactions I managed to catch on the way, you didn't ignore a summons from that guy.

Jack offered to go with me in a heartbeat, and I wasn't stupid enough to refuse. Sure, the most he probably would've contributed to this meeting was tossing up some smug remark and making his boss even more angry, but at least with him I'd be safe around the other demons. Maybe I could just make him wait outside.

I was being led by a strange voice in my head—no doubt Chernobog's—through some winding halls the realm was riddled with, far from its dry and burning center. I figured that he was bringing me to the room he'd confronted Jack in before I was dragged into that failed round of HTA training. The atmosphere of the hall I was currently walking down held the same aura as that, the same dizzying coolness which gave me the impression that I was in some rudimentary outer-space simulation. Chernobog's voice dug into the middle layer of cranium in my skull, winding inside and out like a corkscrew. It felt no less violating than the approximate 1,000 other times he'd done it.

After a while, just as he told me to turn "round the corner and between those two pillars," the noise in my head completely shut off, not even leaving so much as an echo. Like there'd been a disturbance in the radio signal. Like something else had been waiting to cut him off for minutes now. I stopped in my tracks, and Jack did the same with a knit brow.

"Did something happen?"

"Your boss just went AWOL. Tell me this isn't some extremely holy place that'd burn his skin off if he entered?"

"Fingers crossed," he said, folding his arms and staring at the two pillars ahead of us. They were shining, polished marble with dark blue cracks overlapping like spider web across their surfaces. The space around them was pitch black, as was the rest of this hall; I couldn't tell where one wall started and the floor began, how far out I could stretch my arms before I grazed something. There was barely five feet of space between the pillars, and an intricately carved arch connecting them over our heads as a way to seal the entrance. Light seeped out of whatever sort of room this was supposed to be, pooling at our feet but not allowing us to clearly see what was on the other side.

Jack nudged me in the arm.

"Are we stepping inside, or...?"

"Just promise me you'll control yourself if he shows up again," I found myself saying. He scoffed and bit at a lip nervously.

"You don't have to say that. I'm great at control. Never lost it my whole life."

I snickered. "Right. Okay..."

We crossed the threshold hand in hand, stepping into what looked to be an old coliseum—stone pillars worn and toppled, the sky a haunting black, sand and dirt packed down beneath our feet so hard that we barely made any tracks. It was like we were in a whole new dimension. Jack's ears perked up, his left swiveling back towards the entrance.

"This isn't right," he said, more or less to himself. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What, you think we're gonna get ambushed?"

"Like he's not exactly the type to do that. Just...stay close to me, alright?"

He tightened his grip on my hand, and I ended up practically dragging him to the amphitheater's center in waiting. I frowned when a whole minute passed, uneventful, and cupped both hands around my mouth.

"Hello?"

Without a second to waste, something crashed behind me—no, crumbled. The very ground started to quake, and I almost fell turning back around.

The pillars marking the entrance to this coliseum had fallen behind us, blocking our only way out.

I stumbled back and managed to grab Jack's hand again before anything else could happen, assessing the rest of my surroundings. All the space between the other pillars was pitch black, like we were suspended in empty space—if we tried leaving by any other means, we might fall into nothingness.

Stupid, goddamn Maitland-house situation. Now we're trapped.

My breathing hitched as I started to really process what "we're trapped" meant in a place like this.

"Goodness, why so scared, human? We've done hardly anything yet."

I heard a smug, seedy voice from behind me, so real and so close to my ear that I half-expected to hit somebody in the face as I whirled around. Nothing was there. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words reached me. All I could think was, That's not his boss. That's not his boss.

"Ah, so that's what he calls the Highest? Would explain a lot."

The voice returned, much more distant and casual as if it had already given up in its mission to frighten me. I leaned closer to Jack and whispered, "What is this? Why can't I..."

"There aren't only demons like Edith, Vickson and me that live here, Sawyer," he muttered into my ear. "These things...let's just find a way to leave—"

"And how are you planning to do that?"

There it was again. It sounded concentrated this time, honing in on the two of us and speaking intimately. I held back a shudder and balled my hands into fists.

"I have to be somewhere, you know," I said in an attempt to cover up my fear. "We both do. What do you think will happen if Chernobog catches—?"

"Ooh, being extra-brave now, aren't we?" Another voice spoke from right behind me, and both of us whirled around, frustration building up in me when we saw nothing there. Again.

"A word of advice, human: don't just start spouting names and expect any good to come of it. So reckless with it, too...no forethought whatsoever! Although I wouldn't expect much different from any friend of yours."

Just like that, it became very clear these things weren't talking to me anymore. Jack narrowed his eyelids but didn't move, as if he knew it wouldn't make any difference.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" His voice was quiet but lined with danger. "Think caref—"

"Aw, come now, little prince," the second voice said without hesitation. "Just...look at it. That's all you need to do. This girl, she's human! And you're a killer bound to the Highest's command."

"She is from the other side, Jack," the original demon hissed. "She can't be trusted."

"Oh, I'm what now?" I stepped forward, my fear melting away, very much ready for a fight. Jack's eyelids widened as he pulled me back by the shoulders.

"No. Not now," he whispered. "You don't—"

"Let go! I want to understand exactly what these things are saying about me. What was that about being trusted?"

"Boisterous! Ha!"

For whatever inconvenient reason, a third voice chimed in as if they were simply here to enjoy the show.

"I love it. Picked her wisely, Jack, didn't you? Eh?"

"I'll bet you thought she could save you from us," the first voice crooned, its sound swimming above our heads in a circle as if binding us together with string. "That maybe all this time, what you've needed was a break."

"From the violence."

"From your father."

"From the big, bad demons always picking on you..."

A tiny murmur from a good few feet away was able to break the chanting: "I mean, technically we don't have to bet on it. We can hear your thoughts."

Jack seemed to ignore that last remark; he held on tighter to my hand and knit his eyebrows. Though he hid it fairly well, there was no use in denying it—he was afraid.

"What are you talking about...?"

"We know you've been slacking off, Jack dearest," the demons said as one, words dripping with malice. "No kills, no terror for weeks on end. Not caring what happens to those around you, as long as you don't hurt...her." Their collective voice dropped a good few pitches, out of what I could only assume to be disgust. I looked down and saw a thick, dark layer of mist swirling around our feet, ensnaring our ankles as if preparing to drag us underground.

"Since you care for her so much, we thought we'd make her just about as useful as you."

Jack bared his teeth. "If you even think about—"

"Now."

The air itself seemed to take a swipe at my eyes, missing by about a centimeter. I staggered back as something hit me in the stomach, an invisible force that felt akin to a brick. It didn't take long for things to descend into utter chaos from there; both Jack and I were being punched, prodded, pulled by the hair, twisted by the arms, thrown to the ground. Even the quickest incantation I could remember wasn't fast enough to fix anything between the demons' blows; fighting back was our only option, except we didn't know exactly how to do that, either. They could inflict physical damage on us. We couldn't do the same so easily.

We must have been dragged away from each other at some point, because I heard a weak scream from across the coliseum and the sound of claws ripping through flesh. Whatever they were trying to do to me, they were doing to Jack tenfold. I choked on a gasp, my mind flashing to my darkened house, the basement, Chernobog impaling Jack with a single swift motion from upstairs...

No. He can recover, he's done it before! I wasn't going crazy last time. I can't be going crazy. As long as these things go away, he'll be fine. We just need to stop them.

I just need to...

As I tried standing up on shaky legs, something hit me on the back of the head and knocked me down. Hard. I collapsed with a loud ringing in my ear, feeling like something was lodged in my skull. Though I didn't have the energy left to scream, the pain rippled through my body and boiled me alive. I let out a weak cough, digging my fingers into the sand. Did they just throw a stone at me?!

Through the yelling and muffled, distant laughs, I thought I could hear one of them say, "I got it!" But I didn't have the time to try and figure out what it meant. Even if I did, I might not have cared enough to. I kept my eyes shut, which proved to be a wise choice, because something swiped at them again as I lifted my head and probably would have cut one in half if I'd kept them open.

"Jack!" I yelled into the ground, still laying low. I heard his voice from several feet away, desperate and strained as the demons seemed to reel themselves in.

"Boss!" he called. His breaths were quick and guttural, as if he were on the verge of angry tears. "Chernobog! What the hell is this about?! You—you're just going to let them—"

"Please." One of the demons sniffed in annoyance. "Your 'boss' wouldn't get involved with this if you were on the brink of death. Or...double-death, I should say." They all snickered, their voices becoming a distant echo. I felt Jack's hands on my shoulders, but didn't dare open my eyes just yet.

"You're sick," he snarled at the sky. "We haven't done anything to you, and you just—"

"Neither have all those humans you slaughtered," one said simply. "But we all have our reasons, now, don't we?"

"That's enough."

I found myself becoming annoyed out of all things, clenching my teeth, scraping a fistful of sand from the ground and crumbling it in a circle before me. How accurate that circle was didn't matter—my eyes were still closed. I said under my breath, "Defendat daemonia" and arranged my thumbs and forefingers into a rectangle shape, laying them down where the circle's center should have been. One of the demons said hurriedly,

"What are you—"

And I moved my hands sharply, separating them and breaking the circle's outline in the sand. I heard the sound of scraping metal and resisted the urge to cover my ears; I needed to keep my hands grounded for this to work. Wind howled and echoed in my head along with various yells and protests, and soon I knew they were trapped. Not exactly what I expected that to do, but works for me.

"Go. Leave," I said, my voice breaking slightly in the air. It seemed to bounce off of something about fifty feet from us. Jack started lifting me from the ground, but I jerked away from him.

"No," I hissed. "I have to stay like this. It'll break if I don't."

"Just what do you think you're doing?!" the leading demon yelled from its improvised prison. I scoffed, despite still being frightened out of my wits.

"I'm not doing anything. This spell, on the other hand, could do something real nasty if you don't go. Right. Now."

"You're lying, human, this can't do anything to us. We will break out of whatever you've done, and you'll suffer some more for it—"

"You can try," I said, mock-contemplatively. "You might run out of energy, though. Even if you don't, this spell doesn't just hold you. The more you struggle, the more you fight, it'll just kill you faster. Like, uh...slow-burn holy water, I guess." Mixed with Chinese handcuffs, I would've added, but that might have put a damper on the scare factor. Do they even know where China is?

"You—this is—we know you're lying! We can read into your each and every thought, we know what you're thinking even as we speak—!"

"Am I thinking, 'oh, god, I sure hope this works'? Am I thinking, 'I sure hope they go away and don't come back'?" I forced a weak chuckle. "I think you're forgetting that I'm human. That means I suffer from a little something called empathy. Maybe you should stop thinking about what'll happen to me if you don't back down, and start thinking about what might happen to you."

Though I was sure the spell's hold on them hadn't changed, I could feel the uncertainty and terror in their prolonged silence. I heard Jack's unsteady breathing next to my ear as he kept his grip on my shoulders, careful not to move me too much. I still couldn't bring myself to open my eyes.

"I think you know what to do," I continued, trying my luck one more time. I was surprised by how easy this all came to me; being in this realm, where a disaster was always one bad chance encounter away from happening, had sharpened my senses and forced me to think quickly. Not that I didn't already know how to do that, what with being...well, me. But Sawyer Rafael from two months ago would have died, right here and now, if faced with all this.

"No. No, no, that blasted healer, what if—what if it's already started to take effect?" One of the demons began to chitter frightfully, letting all the possibilities sink in. "This stupid human magic, i-it isn't like ours, who knows how truthful she's really being—?!"

"Calm yourself. She still hasn't opened her eyes yet," another said with the impression of an excited, mischievous child. "Wait til she does, wait til she does—!"

"None of you will be waiting for anything if you don't leave right now!" I spat, holding back a gasp when my hands nearly slid from their spot on the ground. Jack shifted his hold to my wrists, keeping them locked in place. I wondered why he hadn't said anything so far; I thought he'd be jeering and mocking them while we stayed safe from their touch. He might have been too surprised to say anything of substance. It didn't bother me; I appreciated the help more than any words he could've stringed together.

"...fine," the demons said in unison. Their voices all harbored varying amounts of boredom, fear, annoyance, and whatever other emotions I couldn't bother to deal with now.

"We hope to see you soon, human," said one mockingly, placing a strange emphasis on the word see. The others stayed silent as my spell quieted and unfolded, a sign that they were drawing away.

When silence reigned for a whole five minutes, with no sign of the demons around, I lifted my hands off the ground and collapsed into Jack as the spell began to wind down completely. I heard a sound that suggested the very air around us was bending, contorting to try and right itself. I realized with a trace of fear that my basic protection spell had manipulated the air into a shield, a prison cell...

Jack was hesitant to speak. From the way my eyes were still closed, he must have thought I'd passed out.

"...Sawyer?"

He was so quiet that if there had been anything or anyone else in this giant arena, I wouldn't have heard him one bit. He shook me very lightly, though I could hear his panic at my lack of a response.

"Sawyer."

"I'm fine, Jack, I just need to rest."

"That was amazing," he breathed without hesitation. I knew he was trying to comfort me, but his voice was shaking like nothing else. "You were amazing. What the hell has Nyx been teaching you all this time? A spell that kills demons? How did you—"

"It doesn't kill anybody." I coughed and sat up on shaky elbows, mustering a smile. "I made that part up. Actually, I pretty much made all of that up. It's a shield spell; I must've done it wrong somehow, if it ended up trapping them..."

"Okay, that's arguably even more amazing." Jack shifted his grip on me, turning my body to face him. I coughed again, my head hanging, my limbs still weak, the pain in the back of my skull still sharp and pulsing. He sighed and brushed a few locks of hair out of my face.

"You can open your eyes now. It's over."

For some reason, I still didn't want to do it just yet. Something felt wrong. I sucked it up, though, and settled on covering my face with my hands to make it easier.

"Okay."

I slowly opened one eye. Then the other. Then I spread my fingers for a peek at his face, to make sure he was really there, but saw nothing except black.

"...did they turn off the lights?" I whispered. Jack hesitated.

"No? I don't think so. Take your hands away from your face, they're blocking—"

"I'm looking through my fingers, dumbass. I just can't..."

My voice broke before I could say the next word.

"I-I...no. What kind of sick joke is this? My eyes aren't still closed, are they? Did something glue them shut?!"

I felt him grab my shoulders, then pull my hands from my face. "Nothing happened to them. They're open, I don't know what you..."

"Why can't I see you?" I asked, so quietly I could barely hear myself. When he didn't answer me, I started yelling.

"Why can't I see you?!"

My breaths became quick and shallow, my heart started beating faster than ever before. Whatever I'd felt before while getting attacked by the demons, that was nothing. This was fear, it was horror, scooped straight out of its container.

Jack hugged me close after I nearly started crying for the fifth time.

"Sawyer...you're blind," he said gently. I had a strange feeling he would have said, It's not so bad once you get used to it, but he and I both knew those words were useless right now.

"You're blind," he murmured into my hair, as if he was singing me a lullaby. I could feel the tar dripping onto my head as he searched for something to say that would help.

But nothing will.

I'm blind.

I'm blind.

I'm...