The black Mercedes cruised down the highway. Soren lounged back in the driver's seat, a pair of demonic ghost hands gripping the wheel on either side, steering with casual precision. He'd left New Orleans behind hours ago. The car was a little souvenir from the witch academy—Fiona had plenty of luxury rides; she wouldn't miss one.
He glanced at the communicator in his hand. Nico's GPS ping kept flickering like a dying lightbulb. He pulled up the map, zoomed in, and frowned. The coordinates landed in a big empty patch of nothing—no roads, no towns, just raw wilderness.
"What the hell is that woman doing out in the middle of nowhere?"
Still a ways to go. Soren let part of his mind drift and sank his consciousness into Silent Hill.
He materialized on a high tower at the edge of the town. Gray sky overhead. Chained in the air by four heavy links was the angel he'd dragged back from Miles Town. Divine power trickled down the chains, feeding into every corner of the domain. It was the best balance he'd found—keep the angel alive and regenerating off its own light while letting Silent Hill drink the overflow.
He looked out over the forest town. After swallowing Yutun's essence the place had grown a twisted black forest. Now angel juice was pushing things further. The endless ash rain had finally stopped. The gnarled black trees had picked up faint golden veins along their bark, like someone had blessed them with holy light and then left them to rot anyway. Weird as hell, but it worked.
Soren blurred down to the church.
Alessa stood in the middle of the nave, staring at the stone floor. A single withered seed sat planted in a crack between the flagstones.
"What's that?"
Alessa just shook her head.
"Fine."
She'd been quiet and obedient since he pulled her out of Silent Hill the first time. This was the first time she'd taken initiative—apparently for a random dead seed. Deep beneath it he could feel dark and light power twisting together in a strange, steady loop, both feeding the thing. Whatever grew out of that was going to be interesting.
A raw, piercing scream ripped out of the forest town.
Trees toppled. Birds exploded into the sky. Fire and black smoke clawed upward.
Soren's eyebrows lifted. "Damn. Madison's actually getting somewhere. Couple days in and she's already throwing fireballs?"
He dissolved and reappeared on a tree branch overlooking the chaos.
Madison was sprinting through the woods, hair wild, dress torn, turning every few seconds to hurl another fireball over her shoulder. "What the actual fuck is this place?!"
She'd followed him and Zoe out of the academy on a jealous whim. The second she stepped past the gate the world flipped. No day or night. Houses fused with trees. A fucked-up sun hanging in a dead sky. And the monsters—Jesus. Four-armed hounds, sloshing meat blobs that bounced like living tumors, spider-human hybrids that ran on human legs. Alessa's greatest hits, apparently pulled straight from whatever horror movies she'd been bingeing inside the domain.
Soren watched from the branch, half amused, half resigned. He was going to have to start filtering her viewing material. Kid was going to grow up thinking every monster in existence was fair game for arts and crafts.
Madison spun, threw another fireball, and a massive shadow dropped out of the trees right in front of her.
She didn't even think—she just shoved both hands forward on pure instinct. Telekinetic force slammed into the thing. It barely rocked.
Only then did she get a good look.
Towering. Triangular iron helmet. Two fluffy little deer antlers sticking out the sides like some demonic Bambi. Leather skirt caked in dried blood. Rusty executioner's blade in one hand. Pyramid Head—except Alessa had given it a cute little makeover.
It raised the blade and brought it down like a guillotine.
"FUCK!"
Madison threw herself sideways, hit the dirt hard, and rolled. Mud streaked her pale skin. She kept rolling as the blade whistled past again and again.
"I want out. I want out of here right now!"
Her focus sharpened to a razor. The edge of her body flickered—just for a split second.
Soren's mouth curved. "Teleportation. One of the Seven Wonders. Life-or-death pressure really does cut the learning curve."
He watched her scramble behind a half-wall of fire she'd conjured on the fly. The flames bought her two seconds. She locked eyes on the roof of a nearby house.
"I want to be there. Let me be there!"
Her form blurred.
When the blur cleared she was standing on the shingles, chest heaving, a wild grin breaking across her face.
"Got it!"
She turned, ready to gloat down at the monster—only to see Pyramid Head's little black wings snap open. They beat once, twice, and the whole hulking bastard lifted off the ground, blade raised, coming straight for her.
Madison's eyes went wide.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"