The odd trio were the only people on the short platform, and no one spoke as they watched the outline of the ancient carriage approach, carried on a track down the mountain. It was still dark, and Eddie tried to estimate how much time had passed since she had left her living room.

  When she’d checked her phone upon reaching the station, she’d discovered that it was no longer turning on. This could probably be blamed on it’s earlier in dip in the sea, and she hoped that once dried out, it would be working again. She really didn’t want to have to dip into her dwindling savings for a replacement, and her insurance company were unlikely to accept “a demon tricked me into jumping through a portal over an open ocean” as a valid excuse.

  Luckily, whoever had owned the spell book before her had had the foresight to enchant it with protection from such obvious dangers. It’s pages were still as crisp and dry as before. She hadn’t been able to inspect it fully though, Nero had glared at the book with such obvious hatred that she quickly slid it back into her backpack for fear of ruining the tenuous good will that now existed between them.

  As the carriage creaked closer Thane paced up and down, swinging his arms by his sides. Nero by comparison stood at Eddie’s side, staring into the middle distance. His eyes were unfocused and it was clear he was lost in thought. He scratched at his forearm absentmindedly, then caught himself doing it and lowered his right hand to his side.

  Unable to hold it in any longer, Eddie voiced something that had been bothering her since she first arrived.

  “Nero, Daisy wasn’t human.”

  Nero looked to her, his brows furrowing as he tried to catch on to her train of thought.

  “She is, or she was, a dog. A golden retriever. Do you think that will matter?”

  “That she was a golden retriever?” He wasn’t following.

  “That she doesn’t have a human soul.”

  “Ah.” He shook his head. “It shouldn’t make a difference. All souls able to pass on are drawn to the summit. They assimilate into the mist gathered there and when they are ready, they rejoin the living world.”

  “You mean, like reincarnation?”

  “Sure.” He itched his forearm again, thinking. “Although animals tend to be reincarnated faster, so we should hurry if you’re to find Daisy and say goodbye before it’s too late.”

  Her stomach dropped as she thought about what she might say, how she could possibly put into words the devastation she was feeling.

  It was at that moment that the tiny wooden carriage arrived from the darkness, lit by the glow from a cast iron lamppost at one end of the platform, it was painted in the same bright yellow as the station. There was a single door in the centre, with a greeting written in swirling red and gold cursive.

  “This way to your final death!”

  Eddie glanced at Nero, who reached for the door. She wondered if this was another deception on his part, another trick that would put her life in danger. But he couldn’t be trying to kill her, she reasoned, because if that was what he wanted then he wouldn’t have stopped Marduk. Hoping she was right, she walked up to the carriage.

  Through the low door frame she could see two leather benches at either end of the tight space, facing each other. Eddie slid in, her height meant that she could sit up straight, but her head wasn’t far off the ceiling and the part of the bench she wasn’t sitting on was only just big enough for her backpack. They wouldn’t all fit in here.

  Thane seemed to come to the same conclusion as he bent over to look through the doorway. “You two go on without me. I’ll not be needed at the top, Marduk won’t return for a while.”

  Eddie frowned. Nero patted him on the shoulder before he followed Eddie inside, folding himself into the small space. Eddie had no idea how, with such long limbs and considerably bulkier frame, he managed to do it gracefully.

  Nero looked to his friend, only able to turn his head. “I’ll come by the club after we’re done. We need to go over the plans for extra security measures ahead of the game.”

  Thane gave a nod, then shut the door to the carriage. His voice was muffled as it came through the glass window pane.

  “Good luck Eddie, I hope you find her.”

  She thanked him with a wave, and he rapped his knuckles on the roof before the carriage set off, accelerating quickly along the steep tracks.

  Eddie and Nero faced each other in the small booth, Nero’s size making it impossible not to knock his legs with her own. The silence felt different somehow, charged with a tension Eddie didn’t want to put a name to, and she was suddenly aware of how close he was. Neither of them spoke. Bushes and trees rushed past as the carriage tore up the mountain, the city and its inhabitants below falling away from them.

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  Up close, Eddie could see dark lines of a tattoo peaking out from under Nero’s collar. She had a sudden urge to lean in, her tired mind wondering what she would smell if she were to rest her cheek on his broad chest, what she would taste if she licked along his tattoo. She watched the movement in his neck as he swallowed, and when she looked up his eyes were fixed on hers. Sanity returned to her in a rush, and she flinched, her face burning. What had gotten into her? She grasped for something to say to dispel the awkwardness.

  “How can Marduk come back?”

  “Demons can’t be killed in the same sense as living creatures, if our bodies are destroyed beyond what they’re able to repair then we reform. It happens, albeit very, very rarely. Marduk will be reforming as we speak, with any luck you’ll be long gone before he returns.”

  “You think he will come looking for me if I’m still here?”

  “He might.” He looked bothered at the thought of not knowing. “Let’s not hang around to find out. I don’t make a habit of destroying those residing in my city. Bad for business an all that. One starts to look like a tyrant.”

  “What’s reforming like?”

  He grimaced. “It’s not pleasant. It’s like trying to pull yourself out of quicksand, or perhaps magma is more accurate. All your nerves are on fire as you grow your body back. It’s…excruciatingly painful. But, better than the alternative I suppose, there’s something so final about the way you living creatures just cease to exist when your bodies break. It’s, what’s that human phrase? Like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” He seemed to remember why they were there in the first place, adding, “Sorry, that was rude of me. My condolences on your loss.”

  She ignored his afterthought. “So you’re immortal?”

  He nodded. Eddie blew out a low whistle. She couldn’t imagine living forever, watching the world change and grow, civilisations rise and fall, and outliving all of it. They passed the rest of the journey without talking, Eddie thinking about what she would say to Daisy when they found her. Her ears popped twice as the carriage rose higher and higher up the mountain. After a while, Nero’s low voice broke the silence.

  “We’ve arrived.”

  They slowed to a halt, stopping at a platform identical to the one at the base. Bright flowers in hanging baskets hung from the deserted ticket booth, and past that…

  “What is that?!” Eddie exclaimed as she climbed out, feeling the blood return to her legs. A white wall of mist stretched as far as the eye could see. It hung thick and heavy in the air, obscuring even the sky from view. Eddie couldn’t see further than a few feet past the ticket booth.

  “That, that is where we’re going. Keep your wits about you, and whatever your reason for returning to the living world is, hold onto it. The mist will try to tempt you into giving up your soul too.”

  She shuddered. “What happens then?”

  “If that happens, there’s nothing I can do to help. I don’t have the power to bring anyone back from the dead.”

  His words echoed in her head, sparking a memory from earlier that evening. “But someone does.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You said it before, in my flat. Only one being can do that, and He rules over the Otherworld. Sound familiar?” She couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice.

  Nero glowered. “Whatever you’re thinking right now, forget it. He is an incredibly powerful, immortal being -”

  “As are you, and you’re helping me.”

  “He is not going to be interested in a rogue witch’s request to bring a dog back from the dead. It’s completely beneath Him.”

  “Or, it’s such a small request that it will be no bother at all.” She grinned.

  “No.” He said forcefully, taking a step towards her. Imploring her to listen to him. “He doesn’t see anyone in the Otherworld, he certainly won’t meet with you. Stick to the plan Edina, say your goodbyes to Daisy and I will return you home before anyone notices you’re missing.”

  They stared at each other in a stand off, neither willing to relent. Eventually, Eddie sighed and strode forwards towards the mist, past Nero. “You’re right, I’m sorry, I was getting carried away.” She swung the rucksack onto her back, pushing her arms through the straps. “Let’s go.”

  ***

  He sighed too, and started to follow, but she was already several steps ahead. “Don’t go too far or I won’t be able to see you.”

  She didn’t appear to hear him, striding purposely into the dense mist until she was just a shadow. He growled, speeding up. Infuriating witch.

  He jogged after her, looking around. He was only a couple of feet in but already the mist had closed around him, and he could see nothing but white. The further he moved from the station lamps, the darker it got too, but he pushed on hoping to catch up to Eddie. Noises were dampened in here, where he would normally hear footsteps and breathing, he could hear nothing at all. He cursed. “Eddie? Where are you?”

  Silence hung heavy around him. He turned each way, straining to hear her. As much as he’d like to, he couldn’t leave her stranded in here.

  Suddenly, a shadow ran past him in his periphery, and he paused, wondering if the mist was playing tricks on him. Was it a soul? Or was it Eddie? Her scent rippled through the air, and he gave chase.

  ***

  Eddie knew that what she was doing was foolhardy, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. She ran as hard as she could, channeling magic and praying it would dull the noise from her footsteps and breathing as she sprinted back the way she came. She didn’t know a spell for that, but she’d felt before the way her magic mixed with her adrenaline, making it more malleable and easier to direct. If her plan was to work, she needed to evade Nero. She thought she saw his shadow silhouetted against the station lights and dodged around it in a wide arc, but if it was him, he didn’t move. After what felt like far longer distance back than she had travelled forward into the mist, she burst from it, and careened past the ticket booth.

  “NO!” Nero’s roar came from behind her, he must have spotted her after all.

  She dived into the waiting carriage and slammed her hand to the ceiling, knocking on it twice, the same way Thane had done earlier.

  It didn’t move.

  Nero was almost a the platform, a murderous look his face. She reached over wildly and yanked the door closed with enough force to rattle the windows, and the carriage immediately began to speed away from the station, accelerating down the mountain fast enough for her stomach to drop.

  Just in time, as Nero skidded to a halt exactly where the door had been just seconds earlier.

  Eddie watched his shrinking form as he stood, braced, chest heaving and fists clenched, rage twisting his features and causing his blue eyes to blaze. They burned bright into her retinas, so that when she turned around to face the front of the carriage, she could still see them, two angry sparks of light, staring back at her, judging her, admonishing her.

  She could deal with his anger if it meant a chance at bringing Daisy back.