“It’s beginning,” I whispered. No one answered me. Chay pulled me closer to him.
With the smell of sulfur came the goblins. They ran around my yard, playing like they always did. We tried to ignore them, but their singing grated on my already fraying nerves.
At eleven forty-two, the demi-demons and Evils showed. They stood silently in a line in my front yard.
At eleven fifty-five, the ground shook and the dirt parted. A hole emerged, like someone was drilling their way out of the earth.
We walked outside. The first gray arms appeared, hefting themselves out of the hole. I’d never seen more than two demons at a time. That night, there were a dozen, maybe more, fighting to get out of the hole at the same time.
My parents kissed me. My mother was crying, and my dad was determined. “It’ll be fine, honey.” They pushed me toward Jeff’s car.
Chay pulled me around to look at him. He framed my face in his hands and kissed me hard. “I want my sweatshirt back.” He gave me a crooked grin. “And the person inside it.”
I nodded and pulled his face to mine for another kiss.
“Go with Jeff, Milayna. You can’t be here,” he whispered, his lips skimming over mine when he spoke.
“You take me!”
“I can’t.” And he was right. Next to me, Chay was the strongest demi-angel in the group. If something were to happen to me, he was next in line to lead. He had to stay and fight. Both of us gone would weaken the group too much.
“Go! I’ll be right behind you.”
The smell of sulfur and charred flesh stirred in the air. I knew they were coming for me. I threw the dagger to Chay and let Muriel and Jeff push me through the open car door. This was it. Dozens of pointless fights brought us to this point. A culmination of the stupidity of flying fists and staining the earth red with blood.
The endgame.
***
Midnight, my birthday.
Jeff raced down the road to the church. He and Muriel hurried me inside, closing and bolting the door behind us. It wasn’t until I turned and looked up at Jeff that I knew something was very wrong. When I looked at Muriel, I saw the same wide-eyed expression I was sure was on my face.
Jeff sneered. I always thought he was nice looking in an understated way. Dark hair but light eyes. Lean, but muscled. He was quiet and soft-spoken, but always friendly. But just then his normally friendly smile was cold and his light eyes glinted like shards of glass. “You knew there was a traitor in the group, yet you came with me like an idiot.”
‘Jeff and Shayla used to date,’ Chay had told me. Why didn’t that sink in? Then I saw him in the hall helping her pick up the books Lily dropped.
As I scrolled through my memory, I could pick out things that alone wouldn’t cause alarm, but stringing them together, they all pointed straight to Jeff. Him stopping to talk to Shayla and Lily at the restaurant, Jeff not doing anything to help when Drew and Chay were hurt until he was told to call 911, holding the door open for Shayla and following her out of the school.
My heart sank. It wasn’t Muriel I should’ve been afraid of. It was Jeff. Bile rose in my throat, and my body shook so badly that my teeth chattered. I had to grab onto Muriel to keep from falling.
“All this time, I thought it was you. I’m so sorry, Muriel,” I said close to her ear. “I’m so sorry for doubting you.”
“Me? Why me?” she whispered. Her hand squeezed mine tighter.
“You’ve been standoffish, we didn’t talk or text anymore, you didn’t help me when Jake was pulling me toward the pit, you—”
“Yeah, you don’t have to keep listing things. I admit I’ve been weird. It’s no excuse, but I’ve been scared. Everything was way more intense than anything we’d seen before, and I panicked. I let you down, and I’m so sorry. Maybe if I hadn’t been such a coward, we wouldn’t be here now.”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare blame yourself. This was hard for all of us. So you were scared. That’s normal. No matter what happens tonight, It. Is. Not. Your. Fault. I love you, Muriel.”
Big tears rolled down Muriel’s face when she hugged me. I could feel them pooling in the curve of my neck. “I love you, too. We’ll beat this.” She gave me one last squeeze, letting go when she felt me stiffen. “What?” When I didn’t answer, she followed my gaze.
I saw him. I swallowed back my fear and tried to stand straight, show no weakness. But my body trembled and my arms wrapped around my middle almost without my consent.
He looked just like he did in my dream. He had the appearance of a man, unlike his demons.
“Hello, Milayna. I’ve waited a long time to meet you face-to-face.” He leaned against a pillar leading into the church’s sanctuary, his hands clasped in front of him.
“Azazel,” I whispered. “But—”