Zac cringed. “Hold on. Tula is going to do what exactly with Mitt—”
A ball of fire exploded in the sky, just like the one he’d heard about from witnesses in Sedona.
“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.” Cimil high-fived K’ak.
“Cimil, what’s going on?” Zac roared, his patience gone. “Where is Tula?”
“Tula is taking one for the team. Oh, and if I were you, I’d close my eyes. Makes the trip a little less painful.”
“What journey?”
“We sealed all the demon portals except the one in the janitor’s closet. It’s very tiny. Makes it easier to guard and keep unwanted immortals out. But we need it to make one final trip out of the underworld and perform a body swap for Tula.”
The sky lit up with a bright flash, and Zac felt his body disintegrate to nothing.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Tula woke up on the beach, the warm ocean wind blowing against her skin, and a sense of peacefulness blanketing her weak body. The sand was cool and damp beneath her, but the hot sun on her face made it too unbearable to stay asleep.
Slowly, she sat up, stretching her arms and legs. Human arms and legs. Oh, thank gods. She was finally back in her body. This feels incredible!
She got to her feet and gazed out over the blues and greens of the calm bay. Piles of smoldering wood sat unattended at both sides of the long stretch of sand.
Where was everyone?
The last thing she remembered was carrying Cimil and K’ak to El Corazón on her back and then trying her damnedest to get Zac’s attention. That dang demon king had tricked her. He said if she played by his rules and Zac chose her, he’d give her back her body.
But Zac had chosen her that morning in the diner. Oh, that kiss. Hilbert was the nastiest male she’d ever seen, complete with rotting teeth and a body stink that put a garbage can to shame, but when his lips touched hers, it shook her deep. Her toes had gone numb, and her heart had fluttered so hard she’d thought it might fly away. So. Good.
But she hadn’t been allowed to react. “No matter what, you cannot reveal yourself to anyone until the two weeks are up. Even if they guess.”
Maury had wanted her to fail, every rule constructed with dishonest intentions. That she knew. Her mama hadn’t raised no fool. “Always listen to your heart. Ain’t nothing purer in this world. Won’t ever lie to you. Won’t ever tell you to love somethin’ you shouldn’t.”
Resisting kissing Zac back had been so painful that she’d thrown up outside. Her soul had literally revolted, but if that was what it took to secure her and Zac’s future, then that was what she’d do.
Then Maury had appeared and told her a new lie: Zac lost the bet. Zac was off making love to a body she didn’t occupy. He couldn’t tell her apart from a demon.
“Liar. Zac is in Hilbert’s body. I know it from that kiss. And I know he recognized me. Our connection is unmistakable,” she’d said.
But Maury had insisted she was wrong, and now that Zac had lost the bet, she belonged to Maury.
That was when Tula stepped up. She had to be brave. “Do what you must, Maury, but Zac loves me for me. I won’t betray him, and I won’t help you hurt him.”
Maury smiled and then did something to knock her out. When she woke, invisible and feeling a little stabby, she knew right away what he’d done.
He gave that dang unicorn my body! I swear, one day I’m going to have her locked away. Minky would do anything to get her hoofs on Zac. Tula then flew back to LA and headed straight for Zac’s penthouse, hoping to find him, but he was gone. That was when Cimil showed up with K’ak, looking for her. Cimil couldn’t stop laughing when Tula told her that Maury had swapped out her body with Minky’s.
“This is priceless,” Cimil said. “I’m going to take pictures. But first, we need to go over our next steps. The demons are currently on El Corazón. Maury thinks I don’t know their plan, but I do.”
The plan had been to secretly build a new demon portal there on the island. Turned out, the island’s history—very evil, supernatural stuff—provided excellent construction material, and after nine months, it was almost complete. With the mermen gone, the demons could easily keep the portal a secret and keep people off the island, protecting their one and only portal—a necessity for the demons living in the human world.
But what the other demons didn’t know was Maury’s real agenda. He planned to use the portal to maintain power. Demon-kind would be forced to do whatever he said, or they’d face banishment. No portal for you! Add to that the fact that the gods’ portals were going to be destroyed in case they ever escaped the underworld, and Maury would have unchecked power over the human world. No real competition. No gods. Him in control of the only working portal into the demon kingdom.