Death in a Paradox

The Eighth Chapter

A/N: I'm just going to start with I'm the worst person ever. Anyways, pay attention to my load of characters. You really don't have to care about Eva, Laura, Otto, Jason, and Kjerstin (mostly) since they don't come in until the next book (which is going to be tragic).

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The Eighth Chapter

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Augustus

With the shadow bracelets, I didn't feel very nauseous after jumping dimensions. I actually felt good and like my magic was replenished. I looked at the bracelet and smiled.

"I'm worrying for the job safety of the Dimension Jumping Safety and Control department," I joked. Annabella raised her eyebrows.

"That's like the easiest job in the whole Society and they get paid more than the Society spends on  R&D," she smirked, "so I hope they loose their jobs." 

The entrance to Hell's Garden, like many Necromancy Society sponsored places, was concealed and you needed a pass to get in. Unfortunately, when one is in major trouble searching for a missing ex (ish) girlfriend with a supposedly missing girl, it's hard to get one. 

"How do we get a pass, exactly?" I bit my lip and asked Annabella. She looked at me like I was stupid, which I felt like at that moment. 

"The shadow bracelets have a special feature that allows you to open hidden gates. It also has radar and a GPS," she smiled while showing off her intelligence. She never ceases to amaze me. 

"Can you actually not be able to create something?"

"I'm trying to replicate the botulinum toxin using water from the Lethe and magic, but it's not working."

I scoffed. "That's so tragic. You can't replicate a food borne illness that causes paralyzation."

"Shut up. It could come in handy."

We walked down a street and later down an alley. I was suffocating- I chose to wear a blue shirt with a fleece and long jeans, which is something you wear on a cold day in Poland, not in Egypt. Annabella, the stupid planner-aheader (that's so not a word), was wearing shorts and a Doreen t-shirt.

"Here we are," Annabella smiled. We rounded a corner to a hot dog stand.

I was like, wait, there are even hot dog stands in Egypt, and then Annabella knocked out the poor guy selling the hot dogs with a few expert hits before she got behind the hot dog stand and started tinkering.

"Was that necessary? The poor guy is probably stuck here selling hot dogs, not hiding entrances to Necromancer gates!"

"Shut up Maxwelby," she replied and held up two mauve passes. "Take one, look like a stupid rich kid on vacation."

- - -

I'm not really the hating type, but if there's one person I hate, it's Gabriel Laczkowski. See, Annabella and Meredith love the guy. They met him at some convention one summer in Krakow and had a fun time blowing up stuff. He's that typical annoying foreign guy that gets all the girls.

Now, I don't care that Meredith isn't even my girlfriend at this point, or the fact I'm don't even like her in that way, I remember the one day he and Meredith talked for a long time when he stopped in Chicago and it almost got serious. I think there's some of that ivory left, because now that I'm face to face with this guy I want to punch him in the face for making Meredith cry.

Annabella doesn't.

She's just casually talking with some Polish jerk that hurt her best friend while I sulk around next to her. They're even talking in Polish now, which totally sucks, because I know about ten words in Polish, and half of them aren't very polite. The worst thing is that Gabriel knows I was with Meredith, I can just see from the way he looks at me, and he speaks English, very well, yet he chooses to speak Polish. This is the type of classic jerk.  

They finally say goodbye (this word I know) and I finally pull Annabella away from Gabriel.

"I hate him," I tell her.

"Gabe? Why?" I'm thinking, oh, so it's Gabe now, but Annabella is being pulled away by a monstrous bamboo plant before I can react. 

My first stupid thought is why the hell would the Necromancy Society make evil bamboo plants?

- - - 

So then after walking around in long sleeves in Egypt and meeting my greatest foe, I have to jump over your average, small "Do Not Cross" fence and run after Annabella and wonder why a bamboo plant wants to kill her.

I saw Gabriel look at me weirdly before walking off to probably report me, which means that even though whoever they send after Annabella and me might not catch us, but they'll know where we were and be able to predict our next move.

"Annabee? Hit something or shout," I yelled. I heard muffled screaming and a large amount of leaves being hit, and some scary sounding hisses of the plants Annabella probably hit. That's reassuring.

I finally got to the place where Annabella was.

There was my favorite British-wannabee torturing diva standing next to her with a knife at her throat.

"Hello Mister Maxwelby. Look, it's that orphan girl we talked about."

Annabella looked very offended for a moment and Carson Girard actually let her speak.

"The correct term is master, not mister, you idiot!"

Oh, Annabella. How funny you are. When you have a knife at your throat and just got stereotyped, you correct someone on terms.

Then I had to turn my attention to the problem at hand, which was Annabella with a knife that looked a lot like her own at her throat. I could tell Annabella was thinking, and a small smile formed on her lips.

Of course! This was the first thing we learned at Doreen. I'm surprised it took her this long to remember. 

She pulled the knife out of Girard's hand and pushed him back. He probably wasn't used to people fighting back and was slightly shocked.

"This one bites? Well, I can't say I'm not impressed," he took out a wicked knife. Annabella turned to me and whispered, "Find the box," before engaging in combat with Girard. He was disarmed in seconds. I tried to run, but there was a magical boundary put in place around the area that Annabella, Girard, and I were in. Girard picked up his knife and yelled.

"I'll be back for you, demon child! I will make sure my mistress kills you!"

"Demon child?" Annabella asked when he left, then she shrugged. "That's a new one." I laughed at her nonchalance over a horrible nickname. "Box?" she asked. "Magic barrier," I motioned with my head. We started walking around the restricted area with killer when a question popped in my head.

"Why didn't you just kill him?"

She looked over at me, and I could almost see hurt in her eyes.

"I'm not a murderer, Maxwelby."

In that moment, I was sure I was still controlled by the ivory, because a voice with an abnormal accent, surely magical, whispered not yet, little Annabella.

"Anyways, this is the second time I've heard mentions of a mistress. I'm betting Kunze and Girard are working for the same person, one way or another," Annabella told me.

"You're right. I saw Gabriel, so I suggest we hurry up. I also say we avoid this mistress lady as much as possible until we find the-"

Annabella kind of squealed.

And that's the story of how I tripped over one of the most important artifacts in the world, ladies and gentlemen.