Part 5 (2/2)
”But we need you!” Breanna said, frustrated.
”Maybe if you beg hard enough.”
So that was it. The demoness liked to annoy, and so she did the opposite of what was wanted. ”Then I guess we'll just have to ask some other demon to help us. Maybe-” Breanna cast about for a name, but couldn't think of any, because she didn't know many demons.
”Demon Molish,” Xeth said.
”D. Molish?” the swirl demanded, outraged. ”He's no good at anything express.”
”At anything what?” Breanna asked.
”Incontestable, absolute, certain, categorical, explicit-”
”Positive?”
”Whatever,” the swirl said crossly. ”All he does is destroy. You don't want him.”
”Demon Lete,” Xeth suggested.
”D. Lete? He's a total subtraction!”
”A total what?” Breanna asked, beginning to appreciate what the zombie king was doing.
”Remove, obliterate, eradicate, damage, ruin-”
”Loss?”
”Whatever! All he does is take things away. You don't want him.”
”Demon Flower,” Xeth said.
”D. Flower? He's a rogue! All he does is-”
”Never mind,” Breanna said. ”I'm sure one of them will do. They all surely know the way.”
The swirl became a s.h.i.+mmering female shape. ”Know the way where?”
”To the Demon Grossclout. But that's none of your business.”
”The hades it isn't!”
”The what?” Xeth asked.
”Never mind!” Breanna repeated. ”We don't want the likes of her annoying the good professor.”
”It's my right to annoy Grossclout!” Metria flared, light flas.h.i.+ng from her solidifying body. ”I've been doing it for centuries.”
”Then you must have lost your touch by now. He's seen it all.”
”He hasn't seen it all!” The dress on the female form shrank dangerously. ”I held some in reserve.”
”Will you please go away?” Breanna demanded. ”We are looking for someone else to lead us to Professor Grossclout, and we can't do it as long as you're in the way.”
”Then you're stuck, because I insist on doing it. So there.”
”But someone else could do it faster and better!”
”The purgatory they can!”
”The what?” Xeth asked.
”Never mind! I'm sure another demon could have us standing there before Professor Grossclout before I could count to ten. One, two three, four-”
There was a sudden wrenching, and smoke surrounded them. Breanna did not let it distract her from counting. ”Five, six, seven-”
The smoke cleared. ”And what is the meaning of this intrusion?” a commanding voice demanded.
Breanna stared. They were standing in a cla.s.sroom before the Demon Professor himself. The young demons seated behind them t.i.ttered. Metria was nowhere to be seen.
”Uh, we needed to find the Ring of Power, and-”
”The what?”
”It's a-a-” Breanna stammered, daunted by the sheer overwhelming presence of Grossclout.
”I know what it is. Is your head filled with mush? What business do you have with it?”
”We-we have to-”
”In my office.”
The room changed about them, and they were standing in his office, before his ma.s.sive ironwood desk. Grossclout sat behind it, his visage menacing.
”To find it, to fetch the dandy p.o.o.p-”
”The Swell Foop! Who put you up to this inanity?”
”Well, the Simurgh, actually, because-”
”Out with it! What's the phenomenal emergency to justify such a pursuit?”
”The Demon Earth is missing, and we have to save him, because-”
”Because we need the gravity. Of course. But this is not a thing for mortals to tackle. How did you get involved?”
”Because only another Demon could have abducted a Demon, and that means-”
<script>