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it.
    Why was it that they always had to start over? She had lost her soul to rescue him from Hell, and here he was…acting just like he always did, just as she had feared. What did she expect, really? For Kingsley to change?
    “There you are.” Danel suddenly appeared by her side. “Our train leaves from the other side of the station.”
    Mimi stared at Kingsley in disgust. When the girl next to him slipped a hand into the back pocket of his jeans, Mimi turned to Danel with a crazed look in her eyes.
    She grabbed his hand and swung him in her direction. “Kiss me!” she hissed, pulling him to her. She threw herself on him, kissing him passionately, as if he were the one she loved with all of her heart and not the boy across the way.
    The angel looked shocked at first, but soon he opened his mouth to hers, and Mimi could tell that he was enjoying it…a little too much. He put his arm around her waist, pulled her hips closer to his. Ugh. There was no question that he was definitely enjoying this. She had to make it stop before it went too far.
    Repulsed, she opened her eyes.
    Across the length of the station, Kingsley was staring straight at her. His dark eyes boring into hers. Did he recognize her under the illusion? Under the disguise? Did he know it was her? He stared at her and Mimi panicked.
    She impulsively crafted a spell that caused the train that had just pulled into the station to speed up instead of slowing down, almost crashing into a few commuters waiting for its doors to open. Several people began to scream while others backed away nervously, and the station master ordered everyone to keep calm over the loudspeaker. Just the distraction she needed.
    Mimi wrenched away and pushed Danel off of her.
    He wiped his lips with his jacket sleeve, his eyes glazed. “Never knew that’s how you felt about me. I mean, Abbadon’s a friend, but we can work something out.…” he said.
    “Shut up,” Mimi said, straining to see across the busy platform.
    But Kingsley was gone.

S EVEN
Bliss
    o what do we do now?” Ahramin asked, when nothing worked.
    The passage wouldn’t open, no matter how much they tried. Bliss thought her head was going to spontaneously combust, and she wasn’t alone—the boys were massaging their temples too.
    “This sucks,” Ahramin said. “We need a new plan.”
    “We need to regroup,” Lawson said. “Since we’re back in Hunting Valley, then we should go find Arthur at the cave; maybe he can help us.” Arthur Beauchamp was their patron and their friend; the warlock was the one who had helped the wolves when they’d escaped from the underworld to live aboveground.
    They agreed to the plan, and were about to keep moving when Malcolm stumbled against a tree root. “Can we take a break for a minute? I’m exhausted,” the young boy said.
    “We’re all exhausted,” said Bliss. They had just defeated Romulus and the Hellhounds, and had plunged from that battle to prepare for another. “I think we need to rest and get him something to eat.”
    “The cave’s too far, then. Let’s just find a place right here,” Lawson decided. “You’re right, we might need to take some time to lick our wounds.”
    They made their way through the woods and the suburban maze back to the main center of town. It was cold outside, just like when they’d left. Bliss guessed they had been gone a week since they’d traveled back in time, and she wondered how Jack and Schuyler were faring in Italy, and what Mimi and the rest of them were up to.
    They found a diner and ordered plates of breakfast—pancakes, eggs, waffles—and they fell on to the food hungrily. “You feel better now, Mac?” Bliss asked.
    “A little. I just have a headache—like it feels odd to be here. Like we’re not at the right place, like I woke up from a strange dream that lasted too long.”
    “This might explain it—” Edon said, showing them the newspaper he’d picked up from the next table and pointing at the