The already enormous fence that surrounded our neighborhood expanded and rose, building upon itself with a mechanical clanking, until the black sky was separated from us by bars, and my gated community became a cage. The neighborhood flames grew higher in a sudden burst of light and warmth, and my feathers ruffled as the wave of heat slammed over us.
As much as I tried, my wit never seemed to rub off on him. Maybe it was just that Aleister was relentlessly positive, and insults, clever or not, didn’t come easy to him. “That was-”īut whatever insult Aleister had been going to throw my way was drowned out by the clanging of bells, which was probably for the best. “I think you’re losing it, Mal,” Aleister shouted. It was like the hum of a refrigerator, always there and just as meaningless. Not that I paid much attention to the wailing of the passed-on anyway.
Laughs and taunts filled the air, almost drowning out the sounds of agony beyond the fence. Aleister plummeted a few feet before rising above us all with flaps of his huge wings. The ball whistled through the air, randomly punctuated by the sound of rubber hitting flesh as one particularly hard throw or another was caught or missed. We were more in the death-and-forever-stagnant variety of business. When living in one of the great hereafters, birth of any kind wasn’t a common occurrence. A combination of the very worst parts of dodgeball and keep-away, with just a touch of trash talk and one-upmanship, it was a game born in Hell.Īnd that was something worth celebrating. The game had taken years to perfect, and I was quite proud of the result. The game was King of the Cage, but Aleister sometimes called it Super Smashy-Smash. I dropped my unusually light backpack onto the nearest park bench, stretched my black-feathered wings, and launched myself into the air to join my friends, who were already airborne. Sure, vacation would be for relaxing and adventures, maybe a little mischief and a lot of fun, perhaps even an existential crisis or three, but that first sensation of nothing to do? Oh yeah. You only get that feeling for an afternoon, and I was determined to enjoy it. I had no desire to rush that sense of perfect freedom before break. “We’re playing,” I confirmed, without picking up my pace at all. (Tolerated me, whatever, same thing.) “Are we playing or what?”
“Dork.” Lilith rolled her eyes, but I didn’t take it personally. When you had wings like we did, walking was something you saved for inconveniently tight spaces or short distances, but some days, when I wanted to be in the moment, there was something nice about putting one foot in front of the other. “It’s a nice day,” I said, and grinned wickedly at my friends. “There he is,” Aleister exclaimed with obvious exasperation. In other words it was a perfect afternoon, and with our much needed week of vacation before we started a new school year, I had an extra bounce in my already jaunty step. I kicked one out of the way before it could untie my shoelaces, and watched as it ran to hide in the moving shadows cast by the flames flickering beyond the wrought iron fence. Leaves skittered along the sidewalk, filling the air with a dry rustling sound, which alternated with tapping as some of the leaves sprouted legs and scurried across the ground. My stomach rumbled, and I idly wondered what my parents were making for dinner. The scent of torment wafted on the breeze like delicious barbecue, briefly overpowering the ever-present odor of pumpkin and decay. And an eternity in hell is a very, very long time. If they can’t manage it before their parents realize they’re gone, they’ll be grounded for an eternity. And what’s even worse, they’ve managed to bring the escaped soul with them! As the essence of one of history’s greatest manipulators gains power by shifting the balance on Earth, Mal and his squad-mates-along with some new friends that they meet along the way-work desperately to trap the escapee, save the people of Earth from the forces of evil, and find the portal back to their own dimension. But when Hell’s Bells ring out-signaling that a soul has escaped from one of the eternal circles, Mal and his friends can’t help but take the opportunity for a little adventure.īefore they know it, they’ve somehow slipped through the veil and found themselves in the middle of Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night. The suburbs that is, not the fiery pit part. Mal and his friends are just your regular average kids from hell. A group of kids from hell come to Earth on one of the craziest nights of the year-Halloween-in this snarky, witty middle grade adventure about teamwork, friendship, shattering expectations, and understanding the world (or otherworld) around us.