Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by J. L. Murray Read Free Book Online

further inquiry, which was a blessing in disguise in my book. I didn’t like talking about the past. And I wasn’t comfortable enough with Gage to tell him not only was I friends with cops, but I used to be crazy about one.
    “Excuse me, but this area is off limits,” said the officer. He had kind blue eyes and a round face that would probably always look younger than he was. Right now he was probably in his twenties, but he looked like a kid to me.
    Gage showed him his badge and the boy smiled in relief. “I am so happy to see you guys. I’m getting totally freaked out being here alone.”
    “Why are you here alone?” I said. “Aren’t you supposed to have someone with you?”
    “Supposed to,” said the kid. “But there’s some big homicide going on, they needed all the help they could get. “
    “Because of the judge’s murder?” I said. “Even for a public official, that seems pretty over-the-top.”
    “Nah, that’s old news,” he said, not questioning that I knew about the judge. I loved these badges. “Mass murder happened a couple hours ago. My partner went in, but I never heard back from him. And someone had to stay here.”
    “Lucky you,” said Gage. He looked past the kid at the enormous hole in the ground. “You see anything come out of there?” he said. “Any noises or funny feelings?”
    The kid looked at me, frowning. “He’s completely serious,” I said. “Best just answer the question.”
    He took off his hat and smoothed his hair. “I haven’t seen anything,” he said. “But the mayor was here.”
    “The mayor?” I said. “What did she want?”
    “Dunno,” he said. “Just sort of looked into the hole and left without saying anything. Kind of weird.” He frowned. “Something else weird, too. I got here before the sun came up, around 4:30, and there was this light coming out of the hole, like someone had lanterns down there. Like, really deep down, ‘cause it was sort of dim. Like when the sun shines through the curtains.”
    “Anything else?” said Gage.
    “Can’t think of anything,” said the kid.
    Gage and I slipped under the police tape and walked gingerly across the cracked pavement.
    We were at the section of road that was starting to turn in on itself. Bits of the street crumbled down into the hole, hitting the sides and dinging off the metal of the streetlight and semi truck. Gage and I got on our bellies and peeked over the edge. Even on a briskly bright day like today, with a cold sun lighting up the winter landscape, the pit was so deep that I could not even begin to fathom the depth of it. I imagined falling into it would be like Alice, following the white rabbit down the rabbit hole and falling for so long she had time to have tea on the way down. Only falling into this rabbit hole would be incredibly unpleasant. There would be no conveniently-placed magic mushrooms. Definitely no tea. This was the road to Hell. Literally.
    Gage and I scrambled back from the edge, apparently entertaining the same vein of thought. We retreated some distance from the pit, then looked back at it, both lost in thought.
    “Why here?” I said.
    “Why summon here?” said Gage.
    “Yeah. I mean, why not in the middle of the art museum or a swimming pool, or City Hall for that matter? Why this particular spot?”
    “Good Summoners know their stuff. Where the weak spots are, what spells to use, that kind of thing. They have to get creative because it’s all under the radar. Everything’s unknown, or close to it. So whoever did this would have known where to go, the exact location. Whether it was a thin spot between Hell and our world, or if that was the spot that corresponded with the place in Hell they were going for and they were a powerful enough summoner to barrel through. It’s another universe, Hell is, but it’s not another physical world. It’s hard to explain, and we don’t have a lot of time on our side.”
    “We have a week,” I said.
    “Says your