Chapter 1

The door to hell stands under a fluorescent light in an alley in Queens. The devil himself showed me.

***

I didn’t hear any music coming from the building. Nobody was smoking outside, and no other partygoers had arrived, just Roman, his friends Raine and Norhan, and me. The situation had all the elements of a CSI episode, and I’d be playing the part of Corpse Number One.

I knew that leaving a bar with a group of strangers was a terrible idea, but I coul. . .

Chapter 1

The door to hell stands under a fluorescent light in an alley in Queens. The devil himself showed me.

***

I didn’t hear any music coming from the building. Nobody was smoking outside, and no other partygoers had arrived, just Roman, his friends Raine and Norhan, and me. The situation had all the elements of a CSI episode, and I’d be playing the part of Corpse Number One.

I knew that leaving a bar with a group of strangers was a terrible idea, but I coul. . .

“Done told you already boy, there hain’t been nothin’ a’tall odd ‘round here a’late... ‘ceptin’ ‘f’course fer the two o’ you!”

Beidon managed a sickly grin even while groaning inwardly - this was going about as well as he’d anticipated.

The grizzled old Pothandler of a foreman sucked his teeth and glared down the broad plane of his stone-slab nose at Beidon. The nose, the crags, and the pencil-thin eyebrows closely resembled Gordun’s, though unlike his countryman’s the fore. . .

“Done told you already boy, there hain’t been nothin’ a’tall odd ‘round here a’late... ‘ceptin’ ‘f’course fer the two o’ you!”

Beidon managed a sickly grin even while groaning inwardly - this was going about as well as he’d anticipated.

The grizzled old Pothandler of a foreman sucked his teeth and glared down the broad plane of his stone-slab nose at Beidon. The nose, the crags, and the pencil-thin eyebrows closely resembled Gordun’s, though unlike his countryman’s the fore. . .

There were 200 of us assembled in the school hall. The morning had just begun and I wanted out.

There is nothing worse than this, drowning in a sea of navy blue assholes. Everyone had navy blue shorts, shirt, jumper and socks. ‘Hi, my name is Michael’ I offered to shake his hand, but he just looked at me like I was queer. You may wonder how someone looks at you as if you’re queer, well… the corner of his lip twitches as if about to snarl, his eyebrows lower as his eyes focus on . . .

There were 200 of us assembled in the school hall. The morning had just begun and I wanted out.

There is nothing worse than this, drowning in a sea of navy blue assholes. Everyone had navy blue shorts, shirt, jumper and socks. ‘Hi, my name is Michael’ I offered to shake his hand, but he just looked at me like I was queer. You may wonder how someone looks at you as if you’re queer, well… the corner of his lip twitches as if about to snarl, his eyebrows lower as his eyes focus on . . .