I’d like to say it could have been worse. I’m sure lots of people hate their job, or their boss, or the people they work with. I just couldn’t relate to those people. They have options. They can quit their job, move out of town, or drop off the grid. The only option I had was a guaranteed one-way ticket to Hell when I died, and that didn’t include dental.

I grouped my fellow employees into three categories: the plebes, the damned, and the demons.

You came here of your own free will, Claire. I won’t be denied. You’re mine now, and I intend to keep you.

What exactly did you expect me to do? I told The Boss what you said, but he’s not going to budge. Nobody gets dental.

You have your orders,” Mab shouted at the guards. “To the Deeps with her.” The men led me from the great hall, taking me along a series of corridors to the back of the castle, then winding through another long corridor and into a spiraling stairwell that appeared to have no end. We went further and further down until finally it ended so deep in the ground it felt like a grave. My pulse quickened as we reached the bottom. A single dark door lay ahead.

The blue of winter, the brown of spring, the red of summer, and the fall of green. I seek the place of treasures past. I seek the truth of sand and glass. I call to the wind of seasons past. I bring with me the best of summer. I am the one with whom you bask. Deliver me and complete your task.