We sailed upon the army of shades ready for an all-out, hair-pulling, eye-gouging fight.

But… they didn’t even seem aware of us. They were fighting… each other. No, wait. One person. I think it was a person. I squinted as Grimm flapped his wings, changing course to aim for the exit, noticing we might avoid a fight after all.

If Grimm was anxious to run from a fight, the odds were not in our favor.

My blood chilled as I recognized the one creature standing against Hell’s army. “Grimm, we need to get out of here. Now. Before we become collateral damage in their fight.”

But I needn’t have bothered.

My old roommate stood near the bubbling pit of oil I had first landed in after falling into Hell. He faced the horde of shades and Candy Skulls and simply flung his hands up. Every single creature toppled over, slamming into the monster behind, row upon row, collapsing like deathly dominos.

My roommate brushed off his hands, looking much more physical now but still smoking, and then shot up into the air like his cloud form I had seen, straight up towards the exit.

Rather than wait for everyone to get up, I urged Grimm after him. I knew I had no chance of defeating him. Not now. Not after all I’d been through. Maybe not ever. I needed help.

We very quietly followed the insanely strong cloud out of Hell, as quiet as three mice.

Except, as we entered the vertical tunnel, the black glass ceiling was solid. Had it already resealed? As I was frowning, I failed to notice the bat-like Candy Skull suddenly launching off the wall just above us, aiming straight for Grimm.

I flung out a sudden whip, but didn’t do more than annoy him before he struck Grimm in the face. I prepared to lash out over Grimm’s neck, but was surprised to see the bat hanging limp, his torso firmly gripped between Grimm’s jaws and his neck neatly impaled on Grimm’s horn, leaving a few inches poking out the other side.

He spat out the body, grunting as he flapped his wings harder. “Hold on very tightly.”

Then the tip of his horn struck the glass ceiling above and over the thunderous crashing sound, I heard a familiar roaring behind us.

“Don’t let Mordred escape, you fool!” Anubis. But… hadn’t my roommate already escaped?

That’s when I saw a dark shadow zip past us, having been hiding on the rock wall below the glass ceiling. As he flew by, he murmured in that chilling, rasping voice. I almost managed to make out the features of his face in the black smoke.

“That’s twice you’ve broken me out of a cage, wizard. Perhaps we’ll meet again soon…”

Then he was gone, fading to nothing like fog before a sunrise.

Grimm landed in the powdery ash, snorting and shaking his head free of the dead Candy Skull. It crumbled to nothingness, leaving behind only the mask. Since this one seemed less damaged than mine, Grimm picked it up with his teeth, tossing it back to me.

I took off my own mask, compared the two, and then tossed my old one aside.

I opened the flap of the satchel, making sure B was still there. “We’re out. Not home yet, but we’re out of Hell.” I wrapped my arms around Grimm’s neck. “Thank you, old friend. You saved our lives.”

Surprisingly, he didn’t comment, simply leaned into me, neighing happily.

I smiled, pulling away, gauging this wasteland. Then I patted him on the neck.

“I think I can take it from here, Grimm.” Not entirely sure what I was doing, I just did what the Map advised, and waved my hand in front of us. With a flash of darkness, a black Gateway erupted into existence, smoke shifting around the circular hole.

Grimm stamped a hoof, emitting sparks, as a view of Chateau Falco appeared before us. Several very startled faces turned to look at us, and their faces paled. But they had been sitting in lawn chairs eating popcorn as monsters fought in the distance. My lucky chair was outside with a beach umbrella propped up beside it. It was empty, or I might have started off by killing someone.

I stepped through, face like thunder, smoke billowing at mine and Grimm’s legs. “B, go to your mother. She’ll be wanting to see you. I’ll be along after I clean this mess up.” Grimm laughed, shaking black blood from his horn, the fog billowing around us.

I hadn’t even noticed that the Candy Skulls bled. I stared down at my hands to find them covered in the black liquid. I wiped it off on my pants before glaring at those before me.

I let the Gateway close behind me.