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I turned in a frantic circle "Even if we hadan elevator ride, I think Loretta and the fey have some control there But there’s no other way out"

Ric looked left to the river of churning corpses, then right to the sleek metal elevator doors Their closed state seemed like a slap in the face to our survival

"They didn’t have elevators in Dante’s day," Ric pointed out

"No That’s an extension the Inferno HotelDante’s Inferno territory I curse themovie It’s his fault"

"Delilah" Ric bent to kiss -back heels on the journey to this hellhole and was now barefoot No wonder the rocky ground roughed up

"You caainstus from this trap"

I jerked away "You can do that?"

He shook his head at ree this is not part of the Inferno’s tourist attractions, although that elevator is I don’t even want to speculate on what our host, Christophe, did to set up his Millennium Revelation hotel empire, or what backers he used"

"Probably the Black Prince of Darkness," I suggested "Opposites attract"

"Not relevant to our situation"

"Which is pretty dire I mean, barefoot in Hell?"

Ric smiled "Listen, Del I studied Dante’s Inferno and Paradiso in high school, reot Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter"

"Sorry," Ric said "I can assure you that Dante Alighieri did not have elevators in his hometown of fourteenth-century Florence or in his Inferno"

I looked around "You’re saying there are service stairs in Hell?"

"Not really forh school, Dante’s Inferno is shaped like the caldera of a volcano"

Do we do volcanoes? Irma asked

"Too Science Channel for me," I told Ric "Caldera is the inside of a volcano?"

"It funnels down inside the volcano"

Ooh, I get it Think a really big zit after the gooky white stuff has burst and leaves this red pit in your cheek

Irross to dwell on, and I was too weary to think with my left brain, and my blank face probably showed that

"Think an ancient amphitheater," Ric said

My mind was blank except for Oedipus Rex

"A football stadius and tiers of seats, wider at the top, narrower at the bottolass? Hell is shaped like a shaken-not-stirred Jarinned "That’s the stuff It’s a rocky road carved out of raw earth and stone, one really big and rough-hewn circular staircase What spirals down, can spiral back up Come on!"

He headed back to the bloody river, limpses of the left side of his suit coat It would be incredibly lucky if that point-blank arrowhead hadn’t pierced ht linen-and-silk blend

I stopped ere close enough to see the upended centaur’s lower four liht themselves Loretta had deserted her faithful steed to hound her father through other levels of Hell, no doubt

Ric picked up the arrows he’d grabbed and the bow Loretta had dropped He went over to study the creature’s shoulder gashes "Too bad Quicksilver isn’t here to fix those"

"I only soothe scars, not fresh wounds," I said, although even that was enough to get me into trouble "That’s why I want you up top ASAP for inspection and treatraze Meanwhile" Ric squatted by the downed creature, patting the glossy horse shoulder "This big guy needs to get on his hooves again The wounds are superficial," he toldto help lever your foreparts up, okay?"

Churning hooves quieted as Ricsideways on the rocky ground

"You don’t want to be a sitting target on the banks of the blood river for too long," he told the et you up on your feet again and return the arrows and bow that will rearm youif you’ll carry ain and be back on the job in, say, half an hour"

The man bared square teeth as blunt as any horse’s, but nodded his stiff neck and flowingus The horse part had been trained to do just that

I watched the ht into statuesque equine glory as Ric grabbed the man’s mane and helped the coered upright, Ric easily leaped atop the bare back astride

Wow A two-h, Irma marveled

Ric filled the quiver on its human back with the confiscated arrows, but prodded his shoulder blade with the pointed end of the bow as a reminder as boss He leaned down to extend uy"

Me, ride pillion? I usually like to drive myself, but there were no reins here

So Ride pillion on a centaur? Priceless

I vaulted up behind Ric, glad I earing bell-bottoh-stretching footprint place machine

Wait! Irma was insistent We did horses very well at summer ca into a jolting trot, then got a an a canter as sait’s rise and swell felt as sweet as a wave to a surfer

I laughed with relief and an odd joy,Ric’s ahead of hs and torsos conjoined We had become a bi-beast, a hybrid rider on a hybrid steed