do now?” Mat asked, watching the remains of the candle as it sank into the lava below.
Demetri pushed himself up off the rocky ground, stabilizing himself along the wall, and looked across the cavern. “I hope they’re okay.”
“You hope they’re okay?” Mat looked back at Demetri and frowned. “I mean, I do too, but we don’t have a way back.”
Demetri brushed off his suit and gestured to himself. “Uh, hello, I was born here.”
Mat let out a long sigh. “Right. Right. So, how do we get out of here?”
Demetri shrugged. “I dunno.”
“What?” Mat shouted. “You just said—”
“I know, but we’ll figure it out. There are a few ways, I think, but we need to stop somewhere first.” Demetri started down the rocky path toward the bridge.
“Stop where? Not the bridge guy. He was an asshole.”
Demetri laughed. “Ted? He’s not an asshole, just a stickler for rules. And no, not that way.”
Mat followed behind Demetri as they made their way back to the bridge. He brushed off his pants and straightened his shirt before noticing that Demetri was looking right at the gate.
Mat followed his gaze, looking into the mass of swirling shadows. “You aren’t planning on going through there, right?”
“I was,” Demetri said. “Why?”
“Margaret told me not to.”
“Margaret?”
“She’s a relative. A ghost.”
“Ah,” Demetri smiled. “She’s right, you shouldn’t, if you are alone.” He held out a hand. “But those rules don’t apply when you’re with me.”
Mat looked at the gate and shivered. He could feel a pull from it, a desire to fall in and get lost. Could he trust Demetri to know what he was doing? He was born here, after all. And that smile on his face, the slight dimple on his cheek . . .
“Okay,” Mat said. He wrapped his hand around Demetri’s, feeling a warmth as Demetri squeezed tight.
Demetri smiled and pulled Mat over to the gate. “Just walk through. It might feel weird, but don’t let go.” He stepped through, vanishing behind the darkness.
Mat let Demetri pull him, and the darkness engulfed him.
Cold was the first sensation, pouring down on him like a waterfall, begging him to give up and let the cold bore into him. If Demetri hadn’t held onto his hand, if Mat hadn’t felt the warmth in his palm, he wondered if he’d stop and stand under that waterfall forever. But Demetri pulled, and Mat stepped out into a place filled with gray light.
Mat let go of Demetri and lifted a hand, shielding his eyes as he blinked and they adjusted to an overcast sky. “What the hell?”
He found they were not at the mouth of a cavern but at the top of a hill overlooking forests and mountains covered in dense tendrils of fog in all directions.
Mat frowned, eyeing a gate filled with white swirling mist outlined by a black stone frame at the top of the hill.
“Not quite hell. Some people call this place limbo.” Demetri took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I always loved the smell. My parents kept our summer home here because of the air.”
“Is that where you’re taking us?”
Demetri nodded. “Yep. My brother and I used to mark all the weird ways to the surface and stash the notes there. It’s been a while, but I’m hoping they’re still there.”
“The brother that remodeled the restaurant during our date?” Mat asked, remembering the man with the horns crawling out from the hole in the ground.
“The one and only Damien,” Demetri said. “About the date—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mat said. “I think I ruined it anyway with the whole sending you here.”
Demetri smirked. “And yet you came here and found me. So . . .”
“So?” Mat asked.
Demetri bit his lip and looked at Mat. “So, this could be a continuation of that date. I don’t think you ruined it. And if you don’t think I ruined it, then who’s saying the date’s over?”
Mat felt the heat rise in his neck. “Oh. Oh! Sure. I mean, strolling through some sort of spooky woods after traveling through some death gate is a little weird, but yeah.”
“Sorry,” Demetri said, kicking at the ground. “That was stupid.”
“No, it’s not. That’s not what I meant.” Mat stepped closer to Demetri. “It would definitely make a strong impression.”
Demetri smiled. “Perfect, then it’s a date.” He turned around and started down the hill, waving Mat along. “Follow me. I promise this won’t be boring.”
Mat rubbed his hands together and chased after Demetri. “Do I get the special tour? What’s first?”
“Ha ha. Just stay close. This place can get a little weird.”
A flash of light caught Mat’s eye, and he looked to his left. A bright blue tree shimmered, leaves moving gently in the breeze. “Like that?” he asked, gawking at the tree. Then, as if on cue, the blue leaves fell off and flapped in the wind. What Mat had thought were leaves were, in fact, hundreds of butterflies resting on one tree.
“At night they glow, moving from tree to tree, leading you deeper into the woods,” Demetri said.
“Woah.”
Demetri wrapped an arm around Mat’s shoulder and guided him through the trees. “Come on, I promise there is more ahead.”
Mat couldn’t keep the smile off his face as they traveled further into the woods. Not only from Demetri, whose arm lay heavy on his shoulder, but from the oddities and beauties that lined their path.
They stopped at a patch of brightly colored flowers and watched as they grew nearly five feet tall in front of their eyes. Then they walked around a pond with a frog the size of a large dog resting in the middle, croaking out the most intricate song Mat had ever heard.
“Cool, isn’t it?” Demetri asked as they passed by a copse of crystalline trees. “My parents let my brother and I roam around here when we were growing up. I remember I once found a pond filled with rainbow pearls. Never found it again.”
Mat ran a finger along one of the quartz-like branches on the tree. “How do these exist?”
“My mom said this place reflects imaginations and desires from the living.” He knelt down and touched the ground. “It used to be my favorite place.”
“And now?” Mat asked.
Demetri looked at Mat. “And now I have a life up there. One that’s hopefully worth going back to.”
“Hopefully,” Mat said, biting his lip. He stared at Demetri’s lips, tracing them with his eyes. He imagined how nice they would feel against his. How nice his facial hair might feel. “Look, I—”
Demetri closed the space between them and planted a kiss on Mat’s lips.
It was everything Mat wanted it to be. He pushed back, rubbing against Demetri’s scruff. The crystal trees around them turned into a crimson red before fading to pink.
Demetri lowered his head and stepped back. “Sorry.”
“Don’t. I’ve been wanting to do that.”
Mat watched Demetri bite his lip and look away, and wondered if Demetri’s cheeks were as hot as his.
“Come on,” Demetri said. “The house is this way.”
They continued on in silence, Mat’s head reeling as they passed by more strange sights bubbling up around them.
Eventually, they stood at the edge of a clearing which opened up onto an enormous lake.
A home, made of wood as dark as night, stood at the edge of the waters. Large windows peaked on both sides of the house, and a wrap-around porch led out into the water. Wooden ravens rested on the corners of the house like gargoyles peering out into the woods.
The roof was steep and high, covered in black shingles except for a glass peak that stood higher than the treetops.
“Mom and Dad would let us play up there,” Demetri said, pointing to the peak. “We could see all the way to the mountains up there.”
They walked down a stone path lined by shoulder-high shrubs covered in ripe red pomegranates and stepped onto the porch. Demetri grabbed the silver handle of the large black oak with silver inlays and pushed it open, holding the door for Mat.
“What, no locks?” Mat asked.
“Nope. Most people can’t get past the ravens.”
Mat shivered, imagining what might have happened if he went here without Demetri. He quickly stepped inside, which was even more gorgeous than the outside. White marble with black veins covered the floor, and a slate fireplace stood next to a wall of windows that overlooked the lake.
Beside the fireplace was a figure, standing with their back turned to Mat.
“I wondered when you two would show up.” He turned, and Mat recognized the face in an instant. An older, and now hornless, version of Demetri.
“Damien?” Demetri asked.
“Brother,” Damien said, slowly sauntering toward them, eyes on Mat.
Mat looked down at Damien’s feet, knowing all too well what would happen if he let Damien catch his gaze.
“So you know what I’m here for?” Demetri asked.
Damien reached into his pocket and pulled out a small yellowed piece of paper. “Yes. Yes, I do.”