The Hanging Hill

96

The goons named Badir and Jamal shoved Meghan and Derek down the switchback ramp leading to the storage room.

And the Minotaur, thought Meghan.

She could smell something burning. Oily. Foul. Like a malfunctioning furnace.

Mr. Grimes and Hakeem shoved open the swinging barn doors.

“Inside!” growled Badir.

Meghan felt the pistol muzzle being jabbed into her ribs. “Now!”

“Shall I lock the doors?” Hakeem asked.

“No need,” Grimes chortled. “We’re all alone. Leave them open wide so my army of demons can march forth to conquer the world!”

“What about the other boy?”

“The playwright’s son? Bah! The child is a weakling! He is no match for Moloch and me!”

Meghan would’ve disagreed with the lunatic but she was too busy staring at the brass man-beast.

There was a barbeque grill between its knees and it was glowing, turning red like a burner on an electric stove top.

The bull’s horns were acting like chimneys, sending streams of wavering heat and smoke straight up to the exhaust hood.

Grimes raised his arms toward the statue.

“King of the two regions, I invoke you!” he cried out.

Meghan stared toward the ceiling. She knew they were about two stories below the stage-right side of the theater. That was where the scene shop was—the place where they constructed all the set pieces for shows.

If this was a storage room for scenery, that meant there had to be some sort of freight elevator. A trapdoor. Some way to raise and lower heavy objects. Otherwise, how did they get the statue down here?

Now Hakeem, Grimes’s assistant, stepped toward the statue. “Mighty Moloch, for lo these many years have we waited for this moment!”

Meghan looked over at Derek. He was trembling.

“We have longed for a high priest of Ba’al, an heir to the royal bloodline, to journey forth to this portal under the full dog moon to unleash our avenging army of demons!”

Okay. Now Meghan’s knees were knocking, too. She’d met one demon—Lilly Pruett. But a whole army?

“Brotherhood of Hannibal, prepare to reap your reward!” cried Hakeem. “Prepare to raise a legion of merciless mercenaries to restore the glory that was Carthage! My brothers, prepare for Pandemonium!”

Meghan knew what that meant.

They were going to reestablish the capital city of Hell!