I was heading right for the church. Of course, part of this was about testing just how far the illusion went.
So far, it was holding. Maybe it had been taken out of our memories.
“Are you sure we’re in Hell, not the spirit world?”
Hans set his lips. “We’re in Hell. Either Lucifer put us here to try and trick us or one of the tricksters did.”
I didn’t have the sense of my father’s presence any more. That, though, I was sure they couldn’t fake.
Unless, of course, he was in on it. Unless he was in on getting me out of the way while everything was resolved. “I think my dad’s out of whatever prison he was in.”
Hans nodded. “But that doesn’t mean he can help us.”
He might also have got out of there while he could, not realizing I was still in danger. I tapped the bracelet again, but if Zaid had us tracked he couldn’t get to us.
Or he thought we were still looking for Loki. I glanced up.
Kanesha gasped. “The sky.”
“I see it.” A flaw in the illusion. It looked almost like just a few pixels in the corner of the screen were damaged, but that part of the sky was red. “I was hoping if we disbelieved firmly enough then the illusion would go away.”
Kanesha nodded. “Maybe…maybe we are. But I just…I want out. Or something to fight. Or both.”
I knew how she felt. I slipped an arm around her for a moment, kissed her lightly on the ear. “Then let’s find something to fight.”
But that meant breaking the illusion. Maybe… I drew my sword and tapped the ground with it. Nothing happened. “Sadly…Hans?”
I glanced at him. He’d stopped and was looking at the gap in the sky. “Hold on,” he murmured.
I had to remind myself he might be a few hundred years old. Probably not a few thousand with such an ordinary name. But…
I held on. Waiting while he sniffed the air, almost like a dog himself.
“Okay. This way.”
He abruptly turned to the northwest. I glanced at Kanesha and then followed him. He was…he might know something, feel something, sense something.
Or someone.
We turned into an alleyway and were jumped by half a dozen war demons.