“So we stick around until everyone is gone and see what happens. Maybe you’ll see more between now and then.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I didn’t really want to see more. The visions drained me. If we were going to have a fight on our hands, I needed to conserve my energy.
It wasn’t long after Chay and I went to the ice-cream truck that the game ended. The stands started to clear and students filed out of the parking lot. They honked their horns and shouted out of their car windows. South Bay had finally won a game.
While we waited for everyone to leave, we decorated our car windows with South Bay blue and gold window paint—declaring our victory. Not just any victory, either. It was a freakin’ blowout. Or, at least according to Jeff and Chay. I just agreed with them like I knew what they were talking about.
“No. Way.”
“Um, Yeah.” I took the cap of the big marker and moved around Chay.
He grabbed me around the waist, picked me up, and deposited me away from his car. “No writing on my windows.”
Putting my hands on my hips, I closed my eyes. I stood there so long that he asked me if something was wrong. “Yes,” I answered, not opening my eyes. “I’m having a vision.”
“What do you see?” He rubbed his hand up my arm.
I pushed him hard in the chest, catching him off guard. He stumbled backward, confused. I ran around the other side of his car and started writing on the back window.
“My vision was that you’d let me decorate your windows and you’d even like it.” I said, laughing. He stalked toward me.
“Write fast, Milayna!” Jeff yelled.
“Muriel, help me!” I said. I was laughing so hard I was surprised anyone could understand me.
“Uh-huh. Nope and no way.” Muriel shook her head.
Chay grabbed for me, and I darted around him to the other side of the car.
“You know you like it!” I said. “Just let me finish this side so it’ll be balanced.” I pointed the blue marker at him.
He shook his head, laughing, and waved his arm at his car. “Continue your coloring project.”
When we’d finished writing our bragging rights on our car windows, we went back and sat on the bleachers.
The concession stands closed, and the people locked up and went home. The football players had changed out of their gear and left for one of the after-game parties. Steven and Jake hurried back outside to meet the group. Soon it was just Uncle Stewart and us.
The field was dark and ominous, eerie without the bright spotlights. We all sat in a row on the bottom bleacher. Drew’s knee bounced up and down as we waited. Chay’s uncle called our parents; they were arriving when the first hobgoblin showed up with a small puff of white smoke. The smell of sulfur filled the air as several more goblins popped out of their portal like little, red hand grenades.
They were in their mischief mode. Running back and forth on the field, screeching and laughing in their banshee-like voices.
It was only minutes later when Lily showed up followed by a group of teens I’d seen around school.
“Chay,” she purred.
“Lily.”
“I see the gang’s all here,” Lily said with a sniff. “I’m surprised your girlfriend let you fight this time.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
I rolled my eyes.
What an ass. He nearly kissed me twice and held my hand during most of the football game.
“Who are your new friends?” Drew asked from the bleachers; his knee still bounced up and down. I didn’t know if it was nervous energy or if he was scared. Either way, the knee bobbing got on my nerves.
I was so fed up with the whole thing already. The visions zapped my energy. I could have laid down in the middle of the football field and taken a nap… while the fight was going on, if I wasn’t so scared. That was the only thing keeping me on my feet.
“Oh, you know. Some family from down south.”
“Demi-demons,” Shayla whispered to me.
I swatted her away. “I know.”
“Well, I suppose we should get on with things.” Jeff kicked his toe in the sandy ground. A cloud of dust billowed around us. “Let’s see. You’re gonna ask us to side with Azazel and turn Milayna over to you. We’re gonna say no. You’re gonna get mad, your friends are going to get mad, and the fat hobgoblins over there are going to get mad. That’s gonna make us mad, and we’ll all end up fighting in the end. So we might as well just get on with the fight now and save our breath.” He walked to stand in front of Lily. “No sense screamin’ and yel—”
Lily round-kicked him in the face. He spat out a mouthful of blood and smiled, his teeth stained pink. “Fighting it is then. You know, Lily, I never did like you much. It doesn’t surprise me that you turned. You’re just that big of a bitch.”