It’d have been a huge victory for Azazel if he got Muriel, my best friend and cousin, to work against me. Someone I’d never suspect, close to me. Someone I loved and trusted.
Chay’s warning rang in my ears. “You don’t know who you can trust.”
***
I had less than twenty-four hours. The next day was my birthday. One minute after one in the morning.
My mom offered to let me stay home from school, but I decided to go. I needed to be with Chay. And I wasn’t showing any fear. I was going to act like it was any other day. Besides, safety in numbers. Staying home alone wasn’t really an option.
Classes dragged on. Instructors babbled about inane subjects. Things I’d never use, even if I did live beyond my birthday. Who cared what x equaled? Or what ROI meant? I didn’t care about the gross national product or microeconomics. What I needed was someone to teach me how to get through the next twenty-four hours so I lived to see swim practice the next day.
I sat at the kitchen table after school. My parents were there. Chay sat next to me, holding my hand. His dad was there, and so was Uncle Rory. The entire group was there.
“We need a plan for tonight. It’ll be bad. There’s no doubt,” Mr. Roberts said.
“The church at the end of the street,” Jeff suggested. “It should offer some type of protection, more than she’s getting here. The demons have weakened it too much here.”
“I don’t know if a church will stop him.” Chay jammed his fingers through his hair. It was mussed and falling over his forehead from him running his fingers through it all day. I reached up and smoothed it back into place. His gaze found mine, and I let myself get pulled into the blue-green depths, hardly hearing what the others were planning around us.
“It’s as good a place as any,” my dad said. “You hide her there. We’ll stay here and try to keep them distracted long enough that her birth time passes before they realize where she is.” He shook his head and rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know. There are so many variables. Not all churches are protected. And some are more protected than others. I… I just don’t know.”
“There aren’t many options left. It’s a place away from here, but not too far that we can’t get to her if we need to. It’s a church. Chances are better that it’ll give Milayna more protection than she’ll have here. Surely, he and his demons can’t do too much damage there.” Mr. Roberts shrugged a shoulder. “At the very least, it’s a place he might not think to look. He’ll automatically expect her to be at one of our houses. He’s not omnipresent. He doesn’t know what we’re doing, planning, saying.” He ran a hand through his hair. He looked so much like Chay when he did that. “I don’t know, my friend. I wish I had all the answers for you.”
My dad frowned and nodded. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay. That’s the plan, then.” He looked at my mom, and she gave him a quick nod.
“Then it’s settled. When it starts, Jeff and I will take Milayna to the church.” Muriel pulled her hair back and tied it in a messy bun.
I swung my head to look at the others. My dad was looking at the floor, his hand on his hip. He nodded his head.
Wait! Muriel?
“Okay.” My dad looked up.
No, no. I don’t trust her.
I turned to Chay. His expression told me he was thinking the same thing. He ran a finger down the side of my face and smiled. “Jeff will be with you.”
I nodded and tried to smile back. I couldn’t breathe. It felt like fear was wrapping around my throat like a scarf, squeezing tighter and tighter. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to lock myself in a closet with Chay and my family and just wait until it was over.
I want you to go. I trust you.
All there was left to do was wait.
Less than twenty-four hours until my birthday.
Waiting was the hard part. I wanted to be alone with Chay. I wanted to be with my parents and brother. I wasn’t sure who I wanted to be alone with the most. I did not want to be in a house full of people milling around, waiting for the fighting to start. But that was where I was.
Chay never left my side, not even to get something to drink. I was sure he would’ve sooner died of dehydration than leave me.
The clock became a ticking bomb. Every second counted down to the most important event in my life. Maybe the last event of my life. The sound of the constant tick, tick, tick reverberated through my skull until I thought I’d go crazy.
My hands were slick with sweat, and I had to let go of Chay’s hand several times to wipe them on the legs of my jeans. My heart was in my throat, and butterflies the size of trucks were spinning around in my stomach like a tornado of brightly colored wings. I was sure if I opened my mouth to speak, they’d fly out. So I kept quiet and waited.
It was getting dark, and the autumn chill rolled in. I went upstairs to change into warmer clothing. Chay, of course, followed. He waited silently outside my door until I finished.
“You’re still here?” I asked when I stepped into the hall.