“I guess you’ll have to settle for me,” I said with a lot more bravado than I felt.
“You think you’re ready for me, Milayna?”
“The question you should be asking yourself is—are you ready for me?” I smiled. “Because you’ll have to go through me to get to Chay.”
Lily rushed me with a scream. Her face turned almost as red as the hobgoblins. I stood my ground. Partly because I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing me run and hide, of knowing how scared I really was, but mostly because I needed to prove something to myself. That I was strong enough to fight Azazel and his demons. That I was worthy of being a demi-angel.
Lily threw a jab. I blocked it, knocking it away. She kicked. I grabbed her ankle and jerked her toward me, jamming the heel of my hand into her nose. Thick, foamy blood oozed from her flaring nostrils, and a look of shock registered on her face. Before she could regain her composure, I kneed her in the gut and pushed her away. She stumbled down the driveway before falling backward and hitting her head on the concrete. It took her a moment to stand. When she finally stood, she held her head, looking dizzy and disoriented.
I immediately wanted to go to her and check her injuries. Make sure she wasn’t hurt too badly. Ask her why she betrayed the group and tell her it wasn’t too late to change her mind and come back. Then she opened her mouth and my hopes of her returning to us died.
“You’ll be sorry, Milayna,” she said, wiping the blood from her nose with the back of her hand. “This isn’t over.” She glared at me before stalking off into the darkness.
With a new sense of strength, I walked into the backyard. The hobgoblins were scurrying around, swinging on the swing set, climbing the fence, shimmying up the clothesline poles, and sliding down the ropes like a zip line. They acted like a bunch of demonic toddlers hyped up on too much sugar.
I looked at Muriel. She sat with her elbow on the picnic table and her cheek in her hand, watching the hobgoblins run through the yard. The rest of the group had similar looks of boredom on their faces.
“Milayna,” one of the fat, red goblins said in a singsong voice. “You’ve come to play with us.”
“Why haven’t you dealt with them?” I asked the group sitting at the table.
“You try to catch them,” Drew snapped. “Sometimes, we just have to sit and wait for them to get bored.”
I walked into the middle of the yard. Three of the five goblins ran over to me, chanting my name in their screeching voices. The other two were trying to figure out how to get down from the clothesline.
“Would you please get them, Jake?” I pointed at the two pitiful excuses for goblins hanging by their hands from my mother’s clothesline, their feet kicking in the air as they cackled with glee.
Jake plucked them from the clothesline, knocked their heads together, and dropped them to the ground. They disappeared with two small pops. All that was left was a circle of white smoke blowing in the breeze.
“Where’s Chay?” one hobgoblin asked, looking at me with its big eyes. A tuft of black hair stood straight up on top of its head.
I’d think they were cute if I didn’t know what they are.
“He’s not here.”
“Chay, Chay, Chay,” they chanted. “Come play with us.”
“I told you, he’s not here.” I picked up one of the goblins and dropkicked him across the yard. He disappeared in midair, leaving nothing more than a puff of smoke and a violent curse behind.
The last two grew angry. Their faces changed from soft little creatures to the hard, menacing demons they were. Their eyes turned black, and a snarl tore from one’s throat.
“You’ll be sorry you pissed us off, Milayna. He’s coming for him,” one red midget said, “and then you’re next.”
“I’m shaking in my shoes. Get out of here before I dropkick you like I did your brother.”
Drew walked up behind the two goblins and picked them up by the scruff of their necks. He walked to a black hole in the far corner of my yard. I didn’t see it until he dropped the goblins down it and kicked the dirt back in place. It fused together, closing the small tunnel leading to the goblins’ home down south.
I stared at him, and he shrugged. “There’s always a portal somewhere. We just have to find it. I happened to spot that one.”
“Where’s Lily?” Shayla asked.
“She left.”
“Good riddance.”
We walked into the house through the patio doors. I saw Chay sitting with his back against the side door, still mumbling under his breath.
“Sleeping on the job, Chay?” Drew drawled.
“Sidelined. Bummer,” Jake said, laughing.
“Shut up.” Chay got up and walked to me. I braced myself for the yelling to start. Instead, he brushed the hair out of my face and gazed into my eyes. “Are you okay? Did she touch you? Because if she touched you, I swear—”
“I’m fine,” I whispered.