Earth to Hell. Kylie Chan

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СКАЧАТЬ the cunning boy whispered.

      ‘Join me and I’ll treat you well, you know I will,’ I said. ‘If you run you’ll end up dead.’

      The girl and the cunning boy disappeared. Running. The follower boy didn’t run; he stood and watched me.

      I bowed slightly and dismissed the sword. ‘Welcome. Kneel and pledge.’

      He fell to his knees in front of me and his face filled with wonder. ‘I pledge allegiance to you, Dark Lady. I am your servant. Protect me, I am yours.’

      ‘Rise,’ I said. ‘Someone will have to complete the taming process for me because I really am an ordinary human.’

      The demon rose and the expression of wonder faded into contentment. ‘As you wish, my Lady.’

      ‘Stone, can you see who is on the night shift for demon duty and ask them to come up and get him?’

      ‘Did it a while ago,’ the stone said. ‘Nigel’s on his way.’

      ‘Now tell me what you did that got the King so annoyed,’ I said to the demon.

      He sagged, miserable. ‘We were on guard duty for the black one.’

      I raised my hand to stop him. ‘The black one? You mean Leo Alexander?’

      He shrugged. ‘Yeah, that one.’

      A stab of pain hit me. ‘Is he okay?’

      ‘Apart from refusing Immortality, ma’am, yes, he is.’

      ‘So, what happened?’

      ‘We were guarding Leo when a hawker came past with sweet bean curd. We all went to buy some, and left Leo’s cell unattended.’

      ‘Is Leo alive?’

      ‘Uh …’ The boy hesitated. ‘Define “alive”, ma’am, and I’ll be able to answer that.’

      ‘If I were to go down there and talk the Courts into releasing him back to the Earthly Plane, would he be able to return to his previous life?’

      He thought for a while, then shrugged. ‘I have no idea, ma’am, because nobody’s ever done that.’

      ‘Na Zha did.’

      His expression cleared. ‘Yes, ma’am, yes, he did, I remember that very well. He went in and took his parents out of Hell. So yes, it theoretically could be done.’

      Nigel appeared next to me, and sagged when he saw the demon. ‘Not another one, Emma.’

      ‘’Fraid so, Nigel,’ I said. ‘Have the seals reset as well, please. Three of them broke in without Lok even knowing.’

      ‘Lok’s over at the New Folly with the girls we rescued today,’ Nigel said.

      He held his hand out to the demon. ‘Take my hand.’

      The demon didn’t move.

      ‘Good,’ I said. ‘Take Nigel’s hand.’

      The demon raised his hand, hesitated for a second, then strode to Nigel and took his hand. His eyes widened.

      ‘Done,’ Nigel said. ‘Where do you want to put it?’

      ‘Wait,’ I said. ‘What number are you?’

      ‘Four Seven Three,’ the demon said, its voice weak with awe.

      ‘Okay, Four Seventy-Three,’ I said. ‘How the hell did you get in here? Our seals are the best.’

      ‘I have no idea,’ the demon said, as if in a dream. ‘We were just told to come to the top floor of this office building and find a woman named Emma. We were told we would be able to come in, and we did.’

      ‘Someone on the inside?’ Nigel said, still holding the demon’s hand and studying it appraisingly.

      ‘No, of course not,’ I said. ‘The Masters are completely loyal, and all the students are examined before entering. We need to recheck those prostitutes’ natures — one of them might be the cause of the problem — but the seals are failing all the time. Stone.’

      ‘Yes, Emma?’

      ‘Get together with Yi Hao tomorrow and arrange a meeting about this. Something needs to be done now about the failure of the seals; we can’t let it go any more.’

      ‘By your leave, my Lady,’ Nigel said. ‘I’ll take this one down and put it away.’

      ‘One more question before you take it.’ I nodded to the demon. ‘As far as you know, is your father planning anything against us?’

      ‘No,’ the demon said.

      He answered very quickly. Interesting. He didn’t need to think about it at all.

      ‘Very well, dismissed,’ I said. ‘Thanks, Nigel. I’m going to have dinner with Simone.’

      ‘And about time too, Emma, it’s past seven o’clock,’ Nigel said. ‘Stop working so hard.’ He and the demon disappeared.

      I grabbed my bag out of my office, returned to the lift lobby, turned off the lights, and pressed the button to call the lift.

      ‘You should have called for backup, Emma,’ the stone said. ‘If you’d destroyed those three and absorbed their essence you would have been converted completely to a Snake Mother.’

      ‘Don’t worry, I had no intention of destroying them,’ I said.

      ‘Just be careful, dear,’ the stone said.

      The lift came and I stepped in and pressed the button for the ground floor. ‘Reminders,’ I said to the stone. ‘Have the seals reset on Hennessy Road again, have those girls rechecked, and call George about sending his kids here for punishment. What do I have on tomorrow? I might get something from the Secretary about Leo; I want to be free if it happens.’

      ‘Energy novices at ten and three,’ the stone said. ‘Gold wants to talk to you about the school for dragons — I’ve scheduled him for four.’

      ‘Lunch?’ I said.

      ‘Free. Any particular time you want to schedule the meeting about the seals?’

      ‘No, whenever.’

      Its voice softened. ‘Don’t go in after Leo, Emma, you’ll get yourself killed. Or the King will find a way to hold you. Or, even worse, convert you. Don’t do it.’

      ‘Leo’s been in there for eight years and there’s still no sign of him relenting,’ I said. ‘If I can talk to him, he might agree to come out.’

      ‘You shouldn’t even be talking to the King, Emma,’ the stone said. ‘That bastard wants you and you know it.’

      ‘He’s СКАЧАТЬ