As hundreds of monsters screamed, clawed, and scrabbled towards us, I readied myself for a fight even though it was pointless. I’d watched them die and come back repeatedly in their melee. “Virgil! What the actual fuck! Get us out of here!” I snapped, not daring to turn away from the oncoming horde.

“I didn’t realize that one was in here today,” he replied. “If the Calaveras don’t stop them, I fear I am not allowed to assist.”

I cursed, opening myself to my Fae magic, not knowing what else I could realistically do against so many. I clapped my hands and a section of white floor thirty paces wide and ten feet deep rattled weakly, but didn’t shatter. I pushed harder, frowning as my magic struggled against… something unseen. Probably because this was Hell, not the regular old Fae elements it was used to manipulating. I pressed harder, seeing stars in my eyes, and the ground suddenly collapsed beneath them, sending fifty monsters plunging to their… well, out of the way, since death didn’t really seem to be an inconvenience down here. Maybe they would fall forever.

Those behind the falling monsters didn’t even hesitate, most leaping over the new hole in their arena with sheer glee in their eyes – the chance to actually kill someone after an eternity of fighting and killing foes that rose back up after a few moments.

Carl cleared his throat and I felt his hand slap against my chest, gently shoving me back.

Talon helped him, jumping in front of me and using his other hand to push me back further until I was standing beside Virgil, panting. I was fucking exhausted. Breaking that floor had been… so hard. Impossibly hard.

So what the hell was Carl doing?

I gripped Virgil by the robes, snarling into his face from inches away. “Get. Us. Out!”

Not a flicker of concern crossed his face. What could I do to him? He was already dead. Other than the slight inconvenience of dying and having to put himself back together after, he didn’t have anything to worry about. Let the bully monsters slap him around a bit, eviscerate him, steal his lunch money, whatever. He would soon stand back up, brush off his robes, and continue on with his daily work.

But we weren’t dead. We couldn’t just walk away from this.

“You’ll want to see an Elder at work. It’s a rare sight…” Virgil said, glancing past me. I spun, frowning. I had seen Carl fight before. It was amazing, but not enough to stop the tide rolling towards him.

Carl gripped two swords in his hands, held high and out as if… No. What was he doing?

Then he began to sing. That Sound of Music song again. As he did, he flicked his swords back and forth like a conductor would direct an orchestra. His voice had never been designed for singing, not even close, but he gave it his full effort.

And as he flicked his swords back and forth, directing his nonexistent band of musical instruments…

Bodies exploded in clouds of frozen gore.

Then charred ash.

Then smoke.

Then motes of dust.

In fact, each tone of his voice seemed to hold a different finishing move. High pitches were shattered ice. Low pitches were dust – nothingness. Long, drawn out notes were explosive, gory detonations.

The army of monsters died screaming, one by one, several at a time, or entire sections where he pointed his ivory swords. Talon’s eyes were wide and his jaws hung open, his spear the only thing seeming to keep him on his feet.

Carl glanced back at me over his shoulder, smiling delightedly. He even flung a hand my way and I jolted in horror as if he was attacking me. Then I realized he intended for me to sing with him. Not knowing what else to do, I joined in with a stunted, rasping voice. And felt something latch onto my mind like a rope, drawing something from me to wrap around those ivory swords like ribbons of white silk.

He drew those cords from me, twirled them around his swords, and then flung them out.

Alaric Slate, airborne and only a dozen feet away exploded in a shower of golden dust.

My eyes watered as I sang louder, stunned, but realizing that I was… smiling. This felt…

Good. It wasn’t that he was taking anything from me, but rather like he was showing me how to efficiently use my power in this place. As if he was driving the car that was Nate.

Gateways of white fire appeared in the center of the arena, right where the rear faction of the monsters were now trying to run away from the musical onslaught of Elder Carl. They ran straight through the Gateway and only bones erupted from the other side, still smoking.

Talon joined in the chorus, and I saw red ribbons rip out of his chest, almost ethereal. They twined around Carl’s other sword before he flung them out. Where he pointed his sword, the monsters collapsed into thinly sliced strips of steaming flesh – as if struck by a thousand swords simultaneously.

Only a minute had passed before it became obvious that all the monsters were fleeing from us.

Carl stopped singing, and then gave the arena a formal bow before sheathing his swords.

The Calaveras stared at us. The monsters were huddled against the back wall of the arena, as far from us as they could get. I stared at the dead bodies, what remained of them. They were going to get back up any second. None of this really mattered. I spun to Virgil. “I think we should leave now…” I whispered, hands shaking.

He nodded, and calmly turned to resume his walk away from the pits.

I kept an eye on the arena as I backed away. Some of the bodies began piecing themselves back together, but for others it would be a longer process.

Carl smiled at me. “You did well, Temple. With practice, you could do much more. Do you have something to eat in your purse?” I found myself reaching into the satchel blindly, not even correcting him. I pulled out a bag of jerky and handed it over. He tore it open, tossed the trash on the ground and walked past me, chomping on a long strip of jerky as he hummed to himself. He didn’t look back at the arena. Talon shot me a very deep look.

“This is not the end, Temple!” a very distant, but familiar voice snarled. Alaric.

I just turned away, trying to remember how to use my legs as I followed Carl and Virgil. With the amount of magic Carl had… helped me use, I should have been unconscious. But I wasn’t. Stunned, but not drained. As if him using it through me had prevented me from dipping into my well of power. Or was it just because we were in Hell and my body couldn’t sense how close it was to exhaustion? To giving up. To dying. Because I was already dying.

“How do you feel, Wylde?” Talon asked in a hesitant purr.

“Hungry,” I said, surprising myself.

He frowned at me. “I meant… emotionally.”

I blinked at him. “Don’t tell me hungry isn’t an emotion, because I feel that shit in my soul.”