The first room welcoming AJ and Aida as they stepped through the front doors of the miscellaneous building reminded AJ of Winterberry’s rec center.

  However, this one was much more appealing and was holding no more than ten occupants (which was already much more than what the Winterberry rec center had at any given time). They were all male and female demons with horns protruding out their heads, varying in skin colors, from a blackish purple to a rosy pink. Some wore lab coats, and others scrubs.

  The eclectic aesthetic of the room was breathtaking, with its cool undertones and twisty patterns all over the floors, walls, and furniture.

  AJ felt like she was on the set of a 1960s movie that happened to include a demonic cast of characters. Even with the demons in the room, it was a complete far cry from the hellish landscape past the front doors. The room had a foosball table, a chess table, and a couple of dart boards with which the demons entertained themselves.

  AJ started moving around the room, trying not to make direct contact with any of the demons. She wore a white chemise shirt, not low cut nor too high. The sleeves were puffed till her wrists with cuffs fashioned with pleats. And for her lower half, she wore black leather pants and boots of the same color.

  As she scouted the room, she began to cower, reached for the top of her horns, and tried to push them down. AJ stopped when she spotted a vending machine, and then a thought came to her mind that sounded like it would spur into a marijuana-induced debate between a couple of stoners: “Is there demon currency?” “Does the Netherworld have an economy?” “Does that mean there is a Ministry of Finance?”, “Are there taxes here too?”

  She received a tap on her shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts before it reached Zeke Rosario-levels of overthinking.

  AJ wondered if Zeke was doing okay…

  “Cafeteria or gym?” Aida asked in her regular voice.

  AJ raised a brow, but the confusion didn’t last long as she studied Aida’s figure and forgot all about the question.

  Aida wore a beige, skin-tight tunic dress with a cinch belt, making her waist look even smaller, complimenting her small, supple body. AJ guesstimated Aida to be maybe 5’4, just an inch taller than Naomi and an inch shorter than Zeke.

  “Is there something wrong?” Aida said as she looked down at her tunic dress.

  It was a good thing Aida wasn’t a mind-reader.

  “No,” AJ said in a harsh tone. She cleared her throat and attempted to attenuate her speech, switching to her human voice. It was hard for AJ to understand how, but it was as easy as blinking. “I mean… uh… what did you ask me?”

  “Come,” Aida said as she walked towards the doors to the side of the room.

  AJ followed her, keeping a good distance from her to continue analyzing her body from behind.

  How come Aida gave herself and Naomi dresses while she got leather pants? One part of her trying to convince herself that it was done randomly clashed with the other part that believed there to be some malicious intent.

  It was possible that Aida was just like many other women in AJ’s life from classmates to cousins. Aida, like them, didn’t believe her to be able to flaunt femininity as gracefully as her.

  Can’t flaunt what you don’t have.

  AJ was baring her teeth by the time Aida reached the glass door and opened it for her.

  “After you,” Aida said with a smile.

  Something about the smile irked AJ. It looked fake. Her holding the door open for her felt like some cruel form of mockery, as if saying that no guy would ever do the same for her.

  AJ endured the burning pangs in her chest that felt like acid reflux, giving Aida a quick side-eye as she stepped into the corridor.

  In front of her was another clear glass door leading to the cafeteria, and to her right was a spiral staircase.

  “Out of all the rooms the signs on the wall mentioned, I think the gym and cafeteria will probably be the best places for information,” Aida said. “Unless you think other rooms will be better.”

  AJ pursed her lips, thinking about how she didn’t see any signs and was too busy dealing with troubling thoughts. “No, I agree,” she said, not wanting to admit the truth, and turned to the glass door. “Let’s go to the cafeteria.”

  AJ led the way and stopped a few steps in to look around.

  The cafeteria looked more like a European café, but it wasn’t small. It was vast and covered in a green and brown palette. Various artsy pillars rose from the checkered brown floors, which connected to a deco ceiling.

  Then, AJ noticed the numerous demons seated at tables enjoying their meals and others in the cafeteria line. They all filled the room with lively chatter.

  AJ stared at their horns and then reached for hers again as she hunched over.

  “Did you have to make my horns so long?” AJ mumbled.

  “What’s wrong with them?” Aida said, turning to her.

  AJ had forgotten about Aida’s supernatural hearing, but a part of her did want her to hear it anyway.

  She opened her mouth, ready to unload her grievances onto the Geneticist, but nothing came out. AJ averted her gaze and said, “So all of them are demons who work in the hospital?”

  “Some of them could be patients, too,” Aida said. “These aren’t only Alpha Demons; there’re some Beta ones, too.”

  “Humans who became demons…” AJ said. “Doesn’t that mean they are only here due to eternal punishment?”

  “Being sentenced to spend the afterlife in the Netherworld isn’t the only means for living beings to become demons, but that is the general rule,” Aida explained. “Maybe, Gill outsourced some workers for the kitchen.”

  AJ looked over at the brown swinging doors and caught a glimpse of the kitchen as a demon chef stormed into it. Her foot moved on its own and took a step forward.

  Aida grabbed her by the wrist. “Come on, let’s go get some food.”

  Staring at her hand, AJ felt a twinge, thinking about how dainty Aida’s fingers were—fingers men would desire to put a ring on instead of her veteran basketball player fingers.

  The perturbed thoughts lead to AJ shaking Aida’s grip off violently.

  Aida didn’t stop walking. She looked back at AJ and fixed on her with a concerned look, which AJ brushed off.

  The two reached the line, stood behind a towering, bulky demon, and spoke to each other on a low level.

  “Let’s find someone to eat with, and hopefully, we can get some information,” Aida said, looking around. “A table with some doctors would be good. We can pretend to be old patients or aspiring doctors who want to work with Gill.” She turned and looked up at AJ. “What do you think?”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  AJ looked down at her as she frowned. Aida was cranking her neck back just a little too much. It seemed performative…

  Did she really have to look up at me like that?

  AJ crossed her arms and looked away. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

  “So… let’s pretend to be aspiring doctors or old patients?”

  “Sure.”

  Aida curled her lip to the side, stared at the ceiling for a while, and then brought up a new topic. “The Netherworld is home to a lot of interesting creatures. But coming here to observe them isn’t a good idea for me since I’ll be having so much fun that I’ll forget to check my purity levels and could easily let them drop to 0 percent,” She said and snickered.

  AJ gave her a quick look and nodded with her lips pursed.

  The line moved forward, and the girls followed.

  “There’s one creature I’ve actually been meaning to find,” Aida said as her face darkened. “The Amdukias. It’s an endangered creature that demons like to hunt for sport since its horns work as medicine for healing and psychedelic purposes. It’s beautiful. It has the body of a man and the head of a unicorn.”

  “That sounds horrifying,” AJ said.

  “They’re suuuuper cute!” Aida exclaimed with a twinkle in her eye as she raised her fists. “At least it doesn’t act like an unicorn. I love all the beasts, but unicorns are just grade-A assholes,” Aida said. “Anyways, I don’t know how many of them are left, but I want to take them back to my farm to let them breed in peace in a controlled environment and then let them back into the Netherworld…”

  AJ stopped listening to Aida as she went on. Even her “problems” were extraordinary. It must’ve been nice to be born with incredible gifts and live a life filled with adventures where you don’t end up as the deadweight of the group.

  The line moved forward, but AJ didn’t follow, she halted, and some demons cut her in line. She felt the back of her eyes burning up.

  Deadweight… the thought rammed into her head like a freight train, and then she darted for the kitchen doors.

  The place was vast, filled with various ancient and modern cooking equipment and demon chefs.

  The demons were too busy crafting their culinary masterpieces to pay attention to her.

  “Move!” a four-eyed purple demon from behind her shouted and bolted past, carrying a pot of stew.

  AJ paced forward, looking around the intense work area with its stone walls and floor tiles decorated with mystic symbols. She grinned after getting a whiff of the delicious, pungent aroma in the area—a mix of spices and herbs with a hint of smoke and oil.

  It was the most dedicated space for cafeteria cooking AJ had ever seen. She analyzed the chefs, and maybe it was due to their monstrous faces, but the majority looked tired and vexed.

  AJ spotted one exhausted chef standing before a counter with a tray of ham sitting on it. The blue-skinned demon with a single yellow horn poking out of its chef hat was shifty-eyed and cautiously scanning the area.

  Once he had decided the coast was clear, it snapped its finger repeatedly as if it were a busted lighter until its hand ignited.

  AJ moved toward the demon as he proceeded to cook the ham with his flaming hand. He halted once a blonde woman in an elegant striped dress stormed up to the demon and flicked its horn.

  “What are you doing?” the woman shouted. “Use the damn stove, you brainless mongrel!”

  “They’re all being used!” the chef snapped back at the woman without moving its flaming hand from the seasoned piece of pork. “It doesn’t even make any sense for us to use it. We have magic; we can just make it like this. Your rules and instructions are stupid!”

  The entire kitchen stopped, and all demon eyes were on the two.

  AJ got close enough to smell the herby fragrance of the meat and see the beauty of the freckled-face woman that remained even after it was taken over with seething anger. The woman looked human, yet the other demons gaped as if she were the most monstrous thing there.

  The woman glanced at the meat. “You’re ruining a high-quality meal—”

  “It’s the same thing. It’s all fire.”

  “Yeah, but heat transfer can work in different ways,” AJ blurted, and all eyes went on her. She looked back at the demons and cowered. Just as she was turning away the thought crashed into her head again: Deadweight…

  AJ clenched herself all over and got even closer to the two. She looked at the woman and said, making sure to do it in her demon voice this time, “The oven you want him to use is a convection type, right?”

  The woman put her hands on her hips and nodded, concentrating and analyzing AJ.

  AJ studied the meat and the fire and said, “What you’re doing is using radiation cooking, which works best with small amounts of foods. For this entire ham, it isn’t ineffective, in fact, you would be sacrificing some of its flavor.”

  AJ caught the woman still staring at her but now with a look that seemed to say: “Go on.”

  “Radiation energy is transferred by electromagnetic waves,” AJ started again and then stopped for a moment to look around, spotting a stove.

  It was mostly made out of stone and wood. Under it were two doors, each one over the other. The one on top was an oven, and under it was a compartment where wood burned. She hoped they functioned in the same way the ones from her world did.

  “Radiation energy will only heat up the surface of the food,” AJ continued. “Convection is a type of heat transfer that is better for roasting this ham over here. The fans and pumps of the oven move the air around the food as new molecules are added to the surface of the food to generate heat. Convection allows for the food to cook faster and evenly.”

  “What?” the demon chef said as it stared back at AJ in confusion.

  The woman pulled the demon by the back of his collar and stepped up to AJ. She began analyzing her up and down and then her fingers. “What are all of you looking at? Get back to work!” The demons scattered back to their stations, and then the woman shot a glare at the humiliated chef. “Get out of my face.”

  The chef scoffed, extinguishing his flames, and walked away.

  AJ was taken aback by how beautiful and human-like the woman was. When the woman, much shorter than her, smiled, it made AJ feel warm inside, like a motherly embrace.

  Aida appeared from afar, right in AJ’s eyeline. When their eyes met, she rushed up to her.

  The woman pointed at a bowl of spiced honey near the ham. “When should we glaze the pork? Before or after roasting?” she asked, getting back AJ’s attention.

  “I would say the last 15 to 20 minutes of baking,” AJ said.

  “Why?”

  Aida arrived just in time to hear AJ’s answer.

  “Because it is necessary to manipulate the Maillard reaction, which is a browning process that requires an amino group and a reducing sugar. It can be manipulated to bring out complex, delicious food flavors.” AJ turned to the ham. “Glazing the ham sooner will cause the sugar and the ham’s skin to burn. With the glazing and roasting process we can bring out flavorful compounds like thiophenes and furans.”

  AJ noticed Aida staring in awe while the woman’s smile grew. “You are a Beta-Demon, correct?”

  “Yes,” AJ affirmed as quickly as possible to avoid showing any hesitation.

  “What’s your name?”

  “...J.” AJ said.

  “Okay, J. Were you a nutritionist before you died and sentenced to the Netherworld?”

  “A… erm… student.”

  The woman nodded and settled a finger on her chin. “Fantastic. Most of these Alpha Demons think they know what they’re doing with their archaic cooking methods and are annoyingly insubordinate. I’d prefer to work with humans who actually understand culinary science. Still, not many of them have been sentenced to the Netherrealm, or at least, the ones who are allowed to leave imprisonment.” The woman’s eyes narrowed at AJ. “How come Gill never told me about you?”

  “I’m not sure, sorry, Ma’am, I—”

  “Call me Sylvie,” She said and then looked off to the side. “He’s awfully busy today, so it makes sense.” She directed a thumb over at the ham. “You take care of this ham, okay?” She turned and was startled by Aida. “Who’re you, another newbie?”

  Aida scratched the side of her head. “Well, I—”

  “If you’re as competent as she is, then help her finish the food, and what’re you two doing without your coats? Go grab some in the back and stop wasting time. We’ve got demons to feed!”

  Sylvie stormed off.

  “Um, AJ… what’s going on?” Aida asked.

  AJ turned on a heel and walked. Aida followed. “It looks like I just got a new job. We can use this place to get information, maybe from Sylvie herself,” she said in her normal voice.

  They reached the end of the kitchen, where they found a selection of chef coats on a wall-mounted rack.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  AJ frowned and took a black coat. “Yes, I do,” she said harshly as she buttoned it up. The Geneticist not noticing her being less involved in the group in the last couple of months was understandable, but neither Ugo nor Zeke picking up on it really stung.

  But she knew she had to give Aida some credit; she was the one who gave her the idea to look into otherworldly nutrition in the first place.

  AJ had spent most of her time trying to apply what she already knew about nutrition in a supernatural context. Some of the books on seeds and herbs in the Infirmary’s Library were hard to understand, but she had absorbed enough information to know that the ham they left behind was seasoned with golden clary, which was primarily used by solar elves for the shine in their hair.

  Aida took a black coat from the rack. “Okay, I’ll follow your lead, but let’s remember to have each other’s backs, okay?”

  The coat fit AJ better than Aida, but she didn’t know if apparel meant for demons fitting well on her frame was worth celebrating.

  Anderson’s Medical Fun Facts: We are more bacteria than “people.” Intestine bacteria, known as the gut flora, outnumber human cells 10 to 1.