The Elements Trilogy: The Secondaries

Epilouge Part 2

The door to the cell creaked open, and both Jamie and Troy shrank into opposite corners, trying to appear invisible. Two demons entered the room, the beautiful boy from Troy's first day in Hell behind them, frowning. "Him," he said, pointing at Jamie. "That's the one."

The two demons started for Jamie, who immediately began panicking.

"Hey!" Troy snapped to attention. "Hey, you can't bump him down a level, he didn't do anything he wasn't supposed too! Let him go! You've no right to do this, no proper grounds! He didn't do anything, you can't do this!" Troy screamed, getting as far forward as the chains on his feet would allow.

The beautiful boy stepped in front of Troy menacingly as the two other demons hauled Jamie to his feet, surprisingly gentle. "Watch your mouth, pretty boy." He warned.

To Jamie's horror, Troy didn't back down, but rather kept going. In a flash, Troy conjured a metal spike out of nowhere and rammed it through the demon's chest. "You. Are not taking him. From this cell. Is that clear? Pretty boy?" Troy snarled.

The demon threw Troy backwards, and he hit the wall with a sickening thud. "You can't kill us down here!" He hissed, ripping the metal spike out of his chest, and flinging it onto the ground. He turned around to face the two demons holding Jamie. "Take him away."

Troy scrambled to his feet, and ran forward, his feet being jerked out from under him when the end of his chain was reached. "No! You can't do this! Bring him back!" Troy panicked and his eyes flicked up to the boy being dragged away. "Jamie!"

"Troy!" He yelled back. "Troy, don't let them throw me in the pit! I don't want to go into the pit!"

"Shut the hell up!" One of the demons holding Jamie roared. "You're not going down! You're going up! Holy shit, the bonds made down here are sickening sometimes."

"What?" Jamie and Troy asked in unison as the cell door was closed, effectively cutting off the boys' view of each other.

"You're being released, Shay. Pardoned for your crimes." The beautiful boy answered.

"Pardoned? This is a life sentence." Jamie said confused.

"Your soul was bargained for. Someone who recently died and should've wound up in Heaven swapped their soul for yours. You go up, they come down. It happens sometimes."

"Who did it?" Jamie asked breathlessly. "Who swapped their soul for me?"

"Her," the demon grunted, gesturing to a woman being dragged back toward Jamie's old cell. "Whoever the hell she is."

"James!" The woman said astonished.

"Wait, stop!" Jamie shouted. "Stop!"

The demons slowed to a halt, and Jamie stared in awe and horror at the woman in front of him. He had never seen her before in his life, yet somehow he knew exactly who she was.

"Mom?"