“No,” I shook my head.
“Why the hell not?” Chay’s voice rose, and I flinched.
“Because if he thinks Muriel is involved, he’ll go to Uncle Rory. If Muriel isn’t involved, it will cause a lot of anger in my family. Maybe something that can’t be repaired. If Muriel is involved, we don’t want her to know that we know. So you can’t tell my dad.”
Chay licked his lips and looked at the sky before he nodded once. “Fine. We’ll tell him you had a vision, but I’m not leaving you alone, Milayna.”
I smiled. “I don’t want you to.”
“I’ll meet you out back.” He walked down the drive. I heard the gate to the backyard creak open before he closed and latched it.
I dropped my things on the foyer floor on my way to the kitchen to grab some cold Cokes and a bag of chips. I jumped when I saw Chay watching me through the patio door.
I opened the door. “What’s wrong?”
“Let’s go to my house.” He filled the doorway, blocking my view outside. But I smelled the sulfur.
“Why?” He didn’t answer me. “Chay? Why?” When he didn’t answer, I grabbed the pops and chips. I elbowed him in the ribs so he’d move from the door and I walked outside, laying the snacks on the patio table.
“This is so messed up! Like, mondo bizzarro.” I watched as the six hobgoblins ran through my yard, cackling and spraying each other with the water hose. I dropped down in a deck chair and leaned back into the cushions. “This is so not how I imagined my senior year.”
Chay laughed and sat down next to me. “They’ll get tired sooner or later and leave.”
“Yeah, I know. Wanna make out while we’re waiting?” I asked with a smile.
“Stupid question.” He moved closer to me and lowered his head to mine.
“Chay! Kissing Milayna? Naughty, naughty,” the friendly goblin squealed. The other five stopped and looked at us. Scarface scowled.
“Get your kisses in now, boy. The day is almost here. Her birthday. No need to get her anything. She won’t be around long enough to enjoy it,” Scarface growled.
Three days until my birthday.
Jake loved the gym. He confronted me the first time in the gym. I supposed it was a logical choice. It was Saturday, so the gym was empty.
We’d finished another swim practice to get ready for a meet we had the next week. Muriel and I were on our way to the locker room, but we made a detour to the vending machines. The back way to the locker room was closest, but we had to cut through the gym. Big mistake.
We were talking about practice. Who did well, who sucked. Who was dating whom, who was cheating… all the good juice. We were halfway across the room when Jake and his friends appeared.
“Nice job at practice today.” Jake smiled. The face I used to find so beautiful now disgusted me.
Neither Muriel nor I answered. We were sizing up the group, calculating our chances of getting out of the gym—through the doors. I wasn’t in favor of taking a detour through Hell.
“Not speaking to me?” Jake raised an eyebrow at me and folded his arms across his chest. My stomach dropped when his biceps flexed, and not in the gooey-swoony way they would have a couple of months before. No, more like the how-the-hell-are-we-gonna-get-outta-this way.
I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and tasted sour.
Fear, Milayna, that’s what it tastes like. Oh, shut up! I should be giving myself a pep talk, not telling myself I’m scared shitless.
I looked from side to side and bounced slightly on the balls of my feet. Closing my eyes for the count of three, I visualized somewhere calming to steady my racing heart. I didn’t trust Jake, so I didn’t dare keep my eyes closed long.
There were four of them. If Chay sensed trouble and came, we’d be fine. We could take them. If not, well, Muriel and I would be visiting a warmer climate, and it wouldn’t be the Caribbean.
When I dropped my bag from my shoulder, it hit the floor with a loud thud. I kept the strap wrapped around my hand, tensing my fingers. Inhaling a deep breath through my nose, I blew it out slowly before inhaling another.
I stared at Jake, trying really hard not to look away, even though I wanted to watch the others. I had to trust Muriel for that and trusting her was something I was having trouble doing, especially since it was her idea to take the back way to the locker room.
“Maybe we can outrun them,” Muriel whispered so low that I had to strain to hear her over the blood galloping behind my ears.
As if on cue, one of the Evils walked around and stood behind us. We’d have to plow through him to get out of the door. That would give Jake and his Azazel-loving homies time to catch us, and I’d rather fight Jake head on than have him gain the upper hand by grabbing me from behind.
“Doubtful.” I shook my head slightly.
Jake stood directly in front of us, blocking our way to the locker room. His flunkies had circled us, one on the left and one on the right. The guy in the back blocked our way into the hall. There was nowhere to run.