Page 100 of In Between Death and the Devil

“You did.” I heard more than saw his smile. “Just like I knew you would.”

I buried my face in his chest and let him hold me, unable to answer. Maybe I wasn’t such a hopeless case after all.

CHAPTER 27

“What and where is the Pool of Memory?” I asked Fen as we prepared to leave the Guardian’s cave. I felt wrung out and buzzing with energy at the same time.

“Like this,” he gestured to our surroundings, “it’s in a place unconnected to either castle. I’ll take you when you’re ready. As for what it is,” he considered for a moment. “It might be easier to show you.” With his arm around my waist, he created a shadow portal and led me through it.

I sighed in relief when we stepped onto the black-and-white-tiled floor of the hidden throne room on the bridge. Dark as it was, it was far more mundane than the Guardian’s cave, and that felt immensely reassuring. “I thought you said the Pool of Memory isn’t in either castle.”

Fen and I each produced a handful of lights that we sent into the air above our heads to follow us. “It isn’t. I’m not showing you the Pool. I’m showing you something else.” He led me to the stairs and up onto the balcony that ran along the back of the room.

As we reached the top, our lights illuminated a large mural on the back wall. From what I could see, it took up the entire length of it. Scenes flowed into each other, each one showing a pair of people—one in white and one in black. The genders varied but every scene had one person wearing each color. I gasped when the figures in front of me moved. It was like looking at a Soul Record, except the figures were in the style of a painting.

“It’s the history of the In Between,” Fen said, as I watched two women using their powers to build and shape the bridge. “Different Deaths and Devils over time.”

“So many of them.” My eyes widened as I counted the number of pairs I could see.

“It’s one of the reasons Death had the bridge blocked off,” Fen said, following me as I walked while taking in the different scenes. “Before I ascended, she and the Devil lived together on the bridge, but neither of us wanted to live near the other, and the mural runs counter to her story that we’re immortal. It’s proof that we’re transitory, only fulfilling a role for a period of time.”

Living together. That sounded nice. I imagined what the room below might look like, lit up and full of people. Tempters and Judges. One whole instead of two halves. I swallowed a small lump in my throat, a little stunned by how much I wanted that.

The mural lit up in the section in front of me as two men battled with light. There was a softness to the scene that made me think of a time past, but there was no mistaking the action. Or the way one of them crumpled and burst into a shower of sparks while the victor raised a golden ball above his head.

“This is a challenge, and that’s the Orb,” I said, my mouth suddenly dry.

“Death is not the first to refuse to leave.”

“Is this how you knew that such a thing was possible?”

“Yes, though it doesn’t give us much information.” He pointed to a section further down. “The scenes that lead up to that challenge are different from this one, and neither of them show the Pool of Memory.”

“But the Pool is on here?”

He nodded and led me to just past the halfway point. “Here.”

The scene in front of us showed a thin young man standing at the edge of a small lake. It was surrounded by rocks and fed by a waterfall in the near distance. He looked visibly unnerved, but after a deep breath he walked resolutely into the water until he was submerged up to his chest. Then he ducked his head underwater. The scene rippled, as if time had passed, and he burst from the water gasping and clutching his chest. His face was pale and he looked like he’d seen a ghost. Shivering, he made his way back to shore, and then the scene reset and began again.

I swallowed. Whatever the man had seen or experienced underwater—a memory probably, given the name—didn’t look pleasant. The Guardian had said my first trial was “to trust what has been”. I assumed that meant something to do with my past.

Gods. Was I ever going to be able to escape it? Maybe if I got through the trials and unseated Death, I’d be able to leave it where it belonged.

“Are you on here?” I asked.

“No. Death and my predecessor are,” he gestured to a spot halfway to the next staircase at the edge of a large, blank section.

“Why not you?”

He shrugged. “The mural isn’t the work of human hands. The In Between decides when and what to include. Besides, they’re all pairs and I’m not.”

Yet. He wasn’t a pair yet, because he was waiting for me. Fear and sadness seized me, making it hard to breathe for a moment. If I failed, what would happen to him? I’d weighed my soul, but I still had three trials to pass that I had no idea how to prepare for. The chances for failure were higher than I was comfortable with.

I wondered what Fen had thought as he’d watched me struggle with the weights. Did he regret being paired with me? He’d said he knew I’d initiate the challenge, but he’d also barely touched me since we kissed in his Dungeon. He wanted us to get to know each other before we went any further, but maybe there was more to it than that. Maybe he wanted to be sure I could actually succeed before he committed to something more between us.

“Do you really think I can do this?” I asked.

“Yes.” He said it without hesitation. “I know you can. That you will.”