Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (12 page)

Still, he couldn’t help hearing the late Phoenix’s warning that Goddard could not be trusted, that he was only using Ash to accomplish a plot involving the frozen corpse of Lucifer Satan. It all sounded crazy, and Ash might have not believed Phoenix if he hadn’t seen for himself the original Satan’s body in the basement tunnels of the royal castle. He made a promise to himself that he’d have nothing to do with that soul-paralyzing corpse-sicle ever again.

As for Goddard, Ash would have to remain on high alert around him. No way was he getting pulled into a plot to revive Lucifer.
Nuh uh
. Didn’t matter how many summer breaks he offered him, Ash couldn’t be bought like that.

But if Goddard were to let him go home and be with his mom again, instead…

Ash feared what his hesitance to immediately dismiss the notion meant.

Chapter Eight: The Sneaker’s Techniques

Ash felt cooler waltzing down the street in his new pair of shorts and a thin t-shirt. He got them from Gio when he went to see him after their chat with Goddard the other day. He thought he’d check in with the tailor and see if he could snag some ‘summer clothes’ before he went and cut off his pant legs to make them into shorts. As luck would have it, Gio had a nice pair of shorts ready and waiting for the boy.

Everyone wore t-shirts and shorts. Ash had never seen the population of Hell in such casual and so little attire. Aura was in a thin tanktop minus his usual coat-cape, but he still wore some light jeans. Despite her fainting just yesterday, Shiva insisted on wearing her armor. She claimed it wasn’t too heavy and that she’d be just fine, but the guys noticed her movements weren’t as fast.

It was early morning and the team walked to North Hell to find the information kiosk Goddard had told them about the day before. They could have flown and found the kiosk faster, but their goal was actually to
waste
time. Plus with all the extra heat, flying just wasn’t as enjoyable anymore. All that wing flapping was tiring work, which unfortunately meant it was doubly so in this heat wave.

Ash enjoyed walking. The trip through West Hell was always one he looked forward to. The desert landscape surrounded by giant cliffs and canyons reminded him of fun family memories in Arizona from his life on Earth. He loved looking at all the dwellings built into the sides of the cliffs, carved right out of the stone over hundreds of years. West Hell had an entirely different charm than any of the other subdivisions of the kingdom.

They passed under a huge “Thank you for visiting West Hell” sign, and on the other side it read “Welcome to West Hell.” They were now in North Hell, the subdivision belonging to the richest inhabitants of Hell. A small amount of them were even called Nobles because of their ancestor’s involvement with the original Lucifer Satan so long ago. North Hell was the oldest section of the kingdom, but had the most upkeep.

West Hell has its vast landscapes and cliff-dwellings. East Hell has the ocean and fishing. South Hell is where all the farming and industry happens. North Hell is where you find anything else. All the best
everything
in Hell could be found there. Restaurants, schools, bars, shops; North Hell has it all. An oasis in an otherwise demon-infested crapshoot.

“Now that its actually hot here, Hell is kind of awesome,” Ash said. He didn’t even miss his peacoat as he felt the hot breeze brush against his bare arms. “I don’t care if it takes us all day to find the registration booth. I’m loving this heat!”

Shiva and Aura were less enthusiastic. This being the first time either of them had ever experienced such heat, they felt like they were being baked in an oven they couldn’t climb out of. Neither of them said much on the trip, but Ash just chalked it up to them not being fully awake yet. Shiva grumbled in response to Ash’s statements of joy. Aura had his eyes occupied looking around at all the bare-skinned girls out walking the streets. His dreams had finally come true, but he did not have the energy yet to show his elation.

They reached the street that would eventually lead to the noble’s news building. The building grounds were typically busy as the various noble elderly put on their little news shows to keep the citizens informed. Of course they also sold newspapers on the side, which was their main source of income. Today’s show was all about the upcoming festival games. The team caught a useful snippet as they walked by.

“…sign up for the Devil Games Festival at the information kiosk on Main Street!” the noble Bliley Braggart shouted into his megaphone. “Naturally, that line will be very long, very busy indeed! But! You can purchase a copy of the morning newspaper for a full list of
all
the kiosk locations around the kingdom, and then plan a trip to a less busy site!”

The pitch worked, as scores of people pushed forward to buy the newspaper, apparently choosing to save time over money.

“Look at all those idiots desperate to give up their money to those greedy nobles,” Ash said with a grin. He turned and said this to Aura, and when he looked back at the line he was surprised to find Shiva standing in waiting with a handful of skorch to buy a paper. She came walking back over to the guys as she idly flipped through the pages of the paper.

“Says here the nearest kiosk is only a block away, near the entrance to East Hell,” said Shiva without looking up from her newspaper.

“I can’t believe you paid for that….” Ash grumbled. The nobles had been extra cruel to him in the past, and he hated the idea of supporting their business in any way.

“Let’s just go sign up and get back indoors already,” Shiva said, too hot and tired for her usual banter.

“You know…” Aura said to get Shiva’s attention. “You might just
enjoy
this heat if you
dressed
more appropriately for it. I’m thinking a short skirt would suit you nicely.”

“Leave me out of your little dress-up fantasies please, Draxler,” Shiva replied in disgust.

By the time the team reached the small information booth in East Hell, Shiva looked like she was going to pass out again. She’d fallen behind in their walk, but when she saw the festival kiosk her eyes lit up and she raced toward it. Ash and Aura power walked to catch up. The booth was round, with four workers sitting behind the counter on each side.

There was a lot of information laid out on the large billboard that wrapped around the top of the kiosk, such as event times, records, and descriptions of each game that could be played. Each of the four lines moved quickly as the people spoke to the workers in the booth and signed up their teams. Shiva stood in line for only a couple of minutes before getting to speak to the person behind the counter.

“I need to sign up,” she said, not the least bit excited.

“Okay,” the guy said, sliding forward a clipboard with a bunch of people’s names on it. “Single player games are posted over there, but we require a team of five players for most of the games. Which would you like to register for?”

Shiva groaned, her irritation building. “He says we need five people,” she told her teammates. Ash and Aura just shrugged.

“Let me direct your attention to this board right here,” the guy behind the counter said. He pointed them to a nearby board that had a bunch more names on it. “This board is for people looking to find a team to join, or for a team that needs to recruit some more players. Please feel free to utilize it if you need a few more teammates.”

“We’ll be back,” Shiva said as pleasantly as she could. She stepped out of line and the next person moved up. Ash swiped a festival flier that had a huge list of events compiled on it to look over later before they left.

“How about we get some breakfast while we brainstorm?” Ash suggested.

The team moved to a small restaurant on one of the main streets in East Hell. Inside it was packed with excited people who were likewise there to talk about the festival. It took a couple minutes, but Shiva eventually claimed a free table for them to sit at. She flopped down in the chair like a tired dog.

“Some of these games sound pretty cool,” Ash said. He’d been looking over the flier he snagged on the trip over. “I’d like to play ‘Push Ball’ and try the ‘Flame Obstacle Course’ for sure.”

“I’m just interested in watching the women’s ‘Lift Ball’ games,” said Aura. The description of lift ball that Ash read on the flier sounded a lot like beach volleyball to him, and it was no wonder why Aura would be interested in being a spectator there.

The server came and took their orders. Shiva only wanted an iced coffee, and when Aura heard that he had to order the same with a side of bacon. Ash ordered one giant egg with a glass of something called grapple juice.

“Which games do you want to play, Shiva?” Ash asked her.

Shiva was busy fanning herself with the newspaper, but snapped out of her heat exhaustion to reply. “I don’t care what we play. I don’t even like games.”

“They’ve got another Devil’s Duel tournament listed,” said Ash as he eyed Shiva intently. “What do you think about that?”

“I couldn’t care less,” she replied smugly.
A perfect lie
. The server came by and dropped an iced coffee in front of her. The girl picked it up at once, lit the metal mug ablaze, then dumped another cup of ice cubes into it. She sipped slowly on the refreshing drink for a while, ignoring the boys conversation.

“The ‘Demon Rodeo’ could be entertaining,” said Aura.

“To
watch
,” replied Ash. “I don’t think I’d like to take part in it though.”

“The ‘Hoop Course Relay’ might be fun too.”

“We should probably decide on our remaining two teammates first,” said Ash. “Any ideas?”

“If we get super desperate I could ask Sars and the guys,” said Aura.

“
Pass
,” said Shiva.

Aura shrugged defensively. “Okay then Miss Satan, let’s hear
your
pick.”

“I could ask Killian,” she said.

“
No
,” Ash and Aura replied simultaneously.

“I thought you’d feel that way,” Shiva said with a satisfied smirk. “I actually agree. I don’t think Kill understands the concept of teamwork.”

Neither do you though
, Ash and Aura both thought.

“What about Gio or Yazma?” Aura asked. The tailor and the teacher were always eager to help in a pinch and came to every party the team had thrown.

“I talked to Gio about the games yesterday when I went to pick up the shorts,” Ash replied looking glum. “He said he was going to be way too busy working on
team uniforms
for people to actually play any games.”

“
Uniforms
,” Shiva scoffed. “What kind of dorks like to get dressed up for this stuff?”

“Everyone, apparently,” replied Ash. “It says here team uniforms are mandatory.”

Shiva answered with an annoyed groan. It was becoming her favorite method of communication.

“And what about the lovely miss Yazma?” Aura asked. Being a beautiful lady, Aura was in love with her.

“She’s on a team with some people from the school she works at,” Ash replied. “It looks like our options are limited.”

“I could ask gramps,” Shiva offered. She was referring to her grandfather Wilhelm Satan, the previous King of Hell. The old coot had been nice to the team during his time as their teacher, but Ash still hadn’t quite forgiven him for the whole ‘using his granddaughter to take control of the kingdom’ plot yet.

“You don’t have to bother him,” Ash said, dismissing the idea. Wilhelm had gone back to work in the development of West Hell since the rebel coup failed. Ash thought it had something to do with how he couldn’t stand to be around Shiva anymore knowing he’d caused her so much pain by putting her through the failed wedding with Phoenix.

Shiva shrugged. “Okay, then I guess we either make some new ‘friends’ right now,
or
we take our chances with that desperate people board.”

Ash’s giant egg showed up, and he was surprised to see it was exactly what he’d ordered: a huge egg, shell and all! The big white egg took up the entirety of Ash’s plate, at least twice the size of Ash’s head. It came with a small mallet to break the shell open. Inside, there was a fully formed demon bird the size of a crow, cooked to a crisp right in the shell.

Breakfast food is a little unsettling in Hell,
he thought. It tasted good though, as he wolfed it down and listened to Shiva and Aura try to hash things out.

Aura was confident his pals from the southside gang could provide two more teammates, but Shiva was having none of it. She thought his former friends were “too weak” and “too stupid” to be of any use.

After way too long listening to them bicker, Ash finished his meal and stood up. “It’s settled then,” he said. “Let’s just try the wanted board. Maybe we’ll meet someone cool.”

Both Shiva and Aura turned to face Ash and laughed. “You have demon grease all over your face,” Aura told him.

Without a napkin in sight, Ash grabbed the festival flier he’d been carrying around and wiped off his mouth with it. He didn’t stop there though, and continued wiping the sweat off his forehead and arms as well. As they exited the restaurant they passed by a man collecting the garbage. Ash tossed the balled up flier into the man’s garbage bag as he passed, nodding respectively to him.

When Shiva, Ash, and Aura left the restaurant they planned to head straight back to the info booth to start looking for teammates. They made it almost a block before an unwanted pest spotted them from afar and decided to play a nasty little prank.

As they walked down the moderately busy street Ash felt something small collide with the back of his head. It didn’t hurt at all, but there was a loud
POP
that startled the group. Ash spun around quickly to confront his attacker. Shiva and Aura checked the surrounding area as well.

No one could find the source of the attack. As they twisted their heads in every direction looking for anyone threatening, another loud
POP
went off. This time Aura jumped forward rubbing his butt.