Except neither she nor Khent was sleeping in bed.
“What the hell?” She ran her hands over herself and rushed to the attached bathroom. She looked to be in one piece, still dressed in the pink tee-shirt and jeans Morpheus had created. Frowning, she hurried back into the bedroom and stared at a blank wall.
No hint of a door to Nergal’s realm.
And no Khent.
She had no idea what time it was, but if they’d both been sleeping, the sun had to be out. She tried to rush out of Khent’s room and found the door locked.
Great. She was about to yell for help when she spotted movement on the floor, in the shadows cast by the dim lightsalong the baseboards. She crouched down to study the creature now paused as it watched her.
A small lizard. No, a dead salamander. Its once-burning, fire-kissed skin had been reduced to a dull crimson, the creature’s golden eyes glazed over with death. It flicked its tongue at her and crawled up her jeans and arm to sit in her palm.
“Can you help me get out of here?” She focused on the tiny creature, planting images of Mormo and Rolf, of anyone who might be able to help her outside this room.
It cocked its head then returned images of burning down the door.
“Go for it.” She nodded and set it down.
The little guy scurried forward and spat a tiny ball of flame at the door, which exploded into an inferno. The fire blazed red, gold, then turned black before the entire door crumbled to ash in seconds.
Val stood gaping. “Oh, er, nice job.”
Mormo appeared in the hallway outside, wearing the same clothing he’d had on when he’d been outside, yelling at the mess Grizz had made in the front yard. “What the…?”
Val got herself together as the salamander climbed up her torso to rest on her shoulder. “We have a major problem. What time is it?”
“It’s near sunset.”
“But not near enough. Morpheus took Khent and I to see Nergal. But then stuff got out of control. Morpheus went down. Demons started attacking. And Khent sent me back here. He’s all alone battling demons and the god of awfulness.”
“He prefers God of War, Pestilence, and Death, actually.” Mormo studied her. “You say Morpheus took you there?”
“Yes. I don’t know why. I thought we were in a dream. Except when I got back, Khent and I weren’t sleeping in the bed.”
“Sleeping?” Rolf appeared next to Mormo in the hallway. “Is that what you call that racket you two were making earlier?”
Val flushed and ignored the grinning vampire, though he had his own bad case of bedhead with half his hair sticking up. “I’m not kidding. Khent’s alone in Irkalla.”
“He’s always leaving me behind. I don’t like it.” Rolf scowled. “Typical reaper. Thinking he can fight death all by himself. What an ass.”
“It wasn’t deliberate,” Val snapped. “Morpheus dragged us there for some stupid reason, got knocked out, and basically left us to fend for ourselves. I’m only here to get help. So come on.”
She turned around and stared at the blank wall.
“Well? Where are we going?” Rolf stood too close to her back, literally breathing down her neck until the salamander puffed at him, and a small part of his hair caught fire.
“Ouch. Cut it out you little bastard.” He hissed at the salamander, which hissed back.
Mormo swore under his breath. “Why would Morpheus take you there? Nergal isn’t someone we want to deal with until we have to.”
“We went through a door. It was right next to the bathroom here. But it’s gone.”
“Duh.” Rolf shook his head at her. “Thanks, Captain Obvious.”
She gave him the bird.
He winked back.
