Into the Abyss полностью

As it was, there was no one to blame for his situation. Except maybe Lenamare and Jehenna for enslaving him, this Exador guy for warring on Lenamare, his friends Paul and Reggie who gave him the joint, his mother for moving them to Harding, ‘to get away from the old place,’ and forcing him to have to go to a stupid party to make new friends. His stepdad for divorcing his mom. Finally blame the whole stupid party for making him take the damn joint.

Blame himself for taking the joint. That was it, of course. It was his own fault. No one else’s. One lousy joint, and here he was literally damned to hell. A little severe, but maybe those right-wing preacher types weren’t all crazy. They were certainly correct in this case. Oh, sure, it wasn’t exactly what they’d meant, but the idea was there. It was kind of, Tom thought, like believing that you can’t get pregnant by having sex just once without protection. No one ever died from one joint! Not until now. Now he was doomed to being some sort of robotic killing machine going around munching up humans at the beck and call of some two bit wizard. Ok, maybe, thought Tom, an eight bit wizard. Tom almost smiled to himself. If the guy can throw nuclear bomb spells, then he’s definitely worth a buck. The guy was certainly playing with a full byte.

Of course, all of this useless philosophizing wasn’t getting him anywhere. One would think he was the villain, going on for hours on end with a boring monologue of their innermost thoughts, rather than the heroic man of action. Heroic Man of Action! Hah! So what action could he take? How was he going to get the girl back so she could continue hating him.

Of course, if this were a movie, or a book, and he rescued her, then the hero handbook would require her to fall madly in love with him. She’d forget the fact that he was a demon and love him for what was inside instead. She’d realize that he was the good guy and everyone would be happy, they’d marry, the book would end. Then in the sequel they’d set out together to rescue their half human-half demon children from some other evil megalomaniac. What could they do for a trilogy?

Give it up, Tom told himself, you really are going insane. “So, what are the chances these demons that grabbed Jenn work for the guy besieging the castle?” Tom asked Rupert.

Rupert stopped pacing abruptly. Tom had been quiet for so long, that his voice had startled him. “Well, I don’t know. Why would Exador’s people want Jenn? Do you have any enemies? Could it be some ancient feud of yours? Could they having been trying to sabotage what they thought was your assignment?”

“I doubt that. I don’t have any enemies that I know of.”

Rupert looked at him curiously. “Oh. You killed them all off? Little gruesome, but practical I suppose. Cuts down on revenge crazed maniacs.”

“No! I didn’t kill them, I’ve just never made any enemies that would be around here.” On Earth maybe, but doubtful, Tom thought.

“Really, in all those centuries, you’ve never made an enemy?”

Tom looked at the kid exasperatedly, “No. Just exactly how old do you think I am? Never mind, is there anyone else who might send demons to kidnap Jenn? Lenamare or Jehenna?”

“Lenamare or Jehenna waste that kind of magic on a student? Not even if the student’s life depended on it. Jenn didn’t have any enemies that powerful, that I know of. Her parents weren’t nobility or anything.”

“So then, it must be Exador. Would they have taken her back to the army?”

“You’re the greater demon. Where do you normally drag women off to when you kidnap them?”

“I don’t drag them off,” he looked at the kid, harshly, knowing what he was thinking. “No, I don’t just kill them on the spot either.”

“I didn’t say you did. But I don’t know. Seems as good a place as any.”

“Of course, if Lenamare nuked the army, there probably isn’t anything left to take her back to.”

Rupert nodded, he didn’t know much of anything about the spell, other than it was supposed to be powerful. He supposed Tom would understand such things. “I don’t know where Exador’s castle is. Thus the school is the only place they could have taken that we know where it is.

“Unless they took her to the Abyss...” Rupert added a second later.

“The Abyss? Well, yeah, I guess, but what would they do with her there.”

Rupert got kind of pale.

“Sorry, assuming they work for Exador, and he wants something from her, then what would they do with her in the Abyss?”

“Hold her there. It would be impossible for her to escape from there. She isn’t a good enough wizard to get out. Actually, I don’t think any wizards are that good.”

“True, but then, how would we find her? Finding her there would be just as hard as finding her here.”

“Would it? I’ve never been there. Would you take me some time?”

Tom looked at the kid askance. What the hell? literally, was wrong with this kid?