The demon essence Tally had hit us with had inadvertently started something I had no idea how to control.

“Jessica.” Rourke’s voice was urgent. “Listen to me. If you go, I’ll be right behind you. I swear. The witches will get me there right on your heels. Just hang tight until I get there. Find a place to hide.”

“Rourke,” I gasped, trying to push myself completely upright. I managed to stand and stagger a few feet. “You can’t come after me. Give me your word you won’t go to the Underworld. Once I get there, I’ll have some reasonable cover, but you won’t. They’ll probably think I’m a demon with all this demon essence inside me. But they’ll know your signature once you land. Please, you need to stay here.”

A vicious sound erupted out of his throat. “Nothing is going to keep me from going after you. Nothing. I don’t care if they send a thousand demons to hunt me down, I promise I will find you.” His fists continued to pound against the edge of the circle. I knew they were battered and bloody by now. “If the demons find me, I will wreak havoc on the Underworld and give you the best distraction you’ll ever get down there. I will gladly let those bastards catch me if it gives you a chance to escape.”

“No,” I argued, pain in my voice. “Please, Rourke. Let me go alone.” Images of him being torn apart by demons raced through my mind. “We need to stick with the original plan. It’s the best chance we have to get Tyler out. You need to promise me you’ll stay here.”

“She may be right,” Tally stated quietly. “If her signature has changed now that she’s taken in the demon magic, she may indeed be undetectable once she arrives. She will be able to navigate undercover for a time. It might be enough to find her brother.”

“Arrives where?” Rourke bellowed. “Where exactly is this circle sending her, anyway?”

“There isn’t one place it lands,” Tally answered. “When the witches fuel it, we can pick from a number of designated places that are known to be low traffic. But we aren’t doing this, she is. It’s going to be keyed to wherever she directs it.”

“Then you need to give her directions,” Rourke said, his voice low and menacing. “And do it now. I want her in a ‘low-traffic’ area. She’s going to need all the help we can give her.”

The ringing reached a fever pitch in my mind.

It blocked out everything else around me. I could barely hear the conversation. I cupped my hands behind my ears and strained to hear Tally and Rourke, but almost nothing came through. “You’re going to have to tell me now!” I yelled. “We only have a few more minutes at most. I can barely hear you!”

“Giving you directions is not going to be that easy,” Tally shouted, her voice projecting. “In my lifetime, I’ve only sent two witches to the Underworld, and both of them were seasoned spell casters. And they were only there for moments at most, just to do recon. We have very few concrete details about the Underworld. The demons keep it secretive for a reason. We’re only grasping at straws here.”

“All that doesn’t matter now,” Rourke urged. “There has to be someplace that will guarantee her the best chance of survival. Where were you going to send her in the first place?”

“The trash heap.”

“The what?” Rourke said.

I strained to hear Tally’s answer. “Demons are fastidious about their persons, as you saw with the Prince of Hell. No hair is out of place, no button undone. They go to great lengths to keep their home life as sterile as possible. But they generate a fair amount of trash. We’ve figured out, over time, that they bring it to one single area. It’s approximately ten miles wide and twenty miles long from what we can gather. It’s also well away from their normal habitats. It’s the best chance she has.”

“Fine,” Rourke answered. “If that will keep her off their radar, it works for me. She can hide in the garbage until we get there.”

“It’s not exactly like that.” Tally hesitated. “We were going to arm her with spells. The area is still watched. I’m not sure if it’s the best—”

“Hello!” I called. “It’s not like I have a better option, and I hate to tell you this, but we’re out of time.” The circle quaked so hard it rattled my bones. “Tell me what to do and you’re going to have to yell it because my head is filled with a shrieking noise.”

I heard her shout to others in the room and I could sense movement. “We’re going to try and direct you to the garbage dump,” she called, “but be on the lookout because there are demon beasts that eat the trash. I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard they are formidable.”

“What kind of… beasts are you talking about?” I asked.

Small ones, I hoped.

“The common term on our plane is chupacabra, a mix between a reptile and a dog, but in the Underworld they are simply referred to as hell beasts.”

Lovely. My teeth had been clenched so long my jaw ached. The waves of sound and motion began to overwhelm me completely. My body was now shaking with enough force it felt like I was going to break apart, and the noise in my head sounded like a high-pitched siren. “How do I get to the dump?” I shouted, unsure my voice was being heard.

Outside the circle there were frantic calls and more footsteps. Tally’s voice rang out. “Join hands,” she ordered to someone, likely her witches.

The ground undulated beneath my knees like a roiling ocean. Tally’s voice came in and out as she yelled, “… try to… deserted lands… farthest from She’ol… demons’ prized city.” Then Tally’s voice addressed me directly, shouting, “Jessica, we will act as a beacon! When you fall, push your magic back up through the circle and search for us. We will try our best to show you the way!”

Time was up.

The crashing vibrations consumed me in one huge powerful wash of energy. My body shook and my teeth rattled. I plunged my hands deep into the earth one last time, hoping it would keep me rooted in this world.

But nothing I could do would stop the tide now.

I was going whether I liked it or not. A tornado of power swirled around me, lifting me up before it sucked me into a vortex, sending me spinning end over end. I was on my way to the Underworld.