“He’s going to let this continue?” Satan asked. The giant red-skinned man sat in his cavern office behind a large obsidian desk. In front of him sat a young woman with sea-green curls and olive skin. Isla nodded an answer to his question.
“He wants to see, ‘how it plays out’,” she said. Her exasperated eye roll gave away her true feelings on the subject. Satan sighed.
“I feel like he’s losing interest in the whole thing. Between this and letting Ballisea run wild,” Satan gestured at Isla with his hand. “He didn’t even come in person.”
“He has been doing it for a while,” Isla agreed. “Some of the Middlemen think he’s following your example. He might be considering a successor.” Satan’s eyes went wide in shock; but, he couldn’t say he was surprised.
“You can’t mean…,” Satan paused looking for the right words. “She’s a Zero! She was at least. now she’s -,” Isla interrupted him.
“Now she’s running her own afterlife. After being just you two for so long, the big guy thinks a third competitor could spice things up. He thinks she couldn’t possibly make any headway this late in the game,” Isla shook her head. “We’ve been trying to convince him he’s underestimating her.” Satan nodded vigorously.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned,” he chuckled. “Even if the bossman said, ‘I have no doubts Dana Sharp will win this round’; that would still be underestimating her. He sees everything, but he doesn’t notice everything.” Isla nodded.
“We know. The scarier part is; she’s found somewhere to hide.”
“What?!” Satan asked. “That’s… that’s impossible! Where?” Isla rolled her eyes again and giggled.
“If we knew that she wouldn’t be hidden.”
“And he’s still not going to step in and stop it? That’s cheating.”
“Big man says it’s not cheating if we can’t catch her doing it. Which, we can’t.”
Satan grumbled under his breath for a few moments, the finally shook his head.
“You know what I just realized? It’s not my problem anymore,” he said. “Julie’s almost done with her quest, then I’m out of here. If he’s not going to worry about it, I’m not going to either.”
“That’s what the Middlemen decided too,” Isla nodded. “It’s business as usual, just a bit slower,” Isla said. She stood from the chair. “Was there anything else you wanted to bring to his attention?” she asked; a black portal opened to her side. Satan shook his head.
“That was everything. Thank you, Isla,” he said. Isla nodded, waved, then stepped through the portal.
