Chapter 61
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no!”
“Okay, wait. It’s not
as bad as you think.”
I started kicking and
beating on the door closest to me. Because we were, of course,
still stuck in hell’s waiting room. “I hate everything! Satan, you
bitch, let us out! Your daughter can’t take over the family
business if I strangle her with my disgusting leggings! Which I’m
going to do! If you don’t let us out!”
“Betsy, stop
screaming and look.”
“Why?” My fists were
getting numb. They had good craftsmanship in hell. “Look at
what?”
Laura pointed. I
looked. “There’s only one door left. All the other ones are
gone.”
I stopped in
mid-pummel.
She was right. When
we’d started this series of timehoppin’ hijinks, the entire room
had been wall-to-wall doors, each about two feet apart. The others
were gone; there was just the one left.
“This better mean
what I hope it means.”
“Sure it does.
Otherwise, what would be the point?”
“Yeah. Why would
the devil want to fuck with people just
for the sake of—”
“Okay, okay, you made
your point. Really loudly, as usual. Come here so I can hit you in
the face so we can time travel some more.”
“I just wish that was
as cool as it sounded.” I straightened and faced her. “Sock it to
me. Literally, I guess.”
“Nah, watch!” She
gave me a gentle shove . . . and the knob turned!
“See?”
“You are getting the hang of this!” I wouldn’t deny it;
I was happy for her and delighted for me. “Damn, Laura!
Niiiiice!”
“Yeah, I figured it
out after we came back from rescuing Nick.”
“Well, that’s—wait.
What?”
“I just wasn’t
completely sure I didn’t have to smack you . . .”
“Nice try. Remind me
to accidentally kick you in the shins for a couple of hours.” The
door swung open, and we stared into the abyss. “Onward and
upward.”