My head pounded and my hand burned as if I were the one touching the demon.
Dark hair. His shoulder leaning against the wall and his finger hooked in his belt loop. The demon laughs. Lily sidles over, and the man kisses her.
Slowly, the room righted itself. The lockers stopped spinning and my vision returned to normal, but my stomach still cramped. I sat and bent forward on the bench, wrapping both arms around my middle. I gritted my teeth against the intense pain, not sure why my stomach still hurt. Usually, when the visions ended, so did the physical effects.
End it, Milayna. Or I will.
“Oh!” I jumped up, nearly falling backward over the bench.
“What?” Muriel stood next to me and looked around. “What happened?”
“It’s like Azazel was talking to me.”
Muriel and I gathered our things and hurried out of the locker room. I wanted to get home. The vision turned my blood to ice. I couldn’t stop shaking. I needed to go home where I felt safe. But I wasn’t safe anywhere. None of us were. Not really.
***
Two weeks, four days until my birthday.
We sat at our usual table at lunch Friday afternoon. Drew’s mouth was stuffed full of fries when he asked, “Hey, who wants to go out for a movie tonight?”
“Me,” Muriel said a little too fast. I smiled to myself. They were so into each other.
“I’m up for it.” I looked at Chay.
“I can’t.” Chay shook his head. “I have a project due in American History.”
“You waited until now to start that? That’s a third of our total grade, Chay.” I looked at him with wide eyes.
“Yeah. I’ve been procrastinating.”
I snorted a laugh. “Ya think?”
In the end, it was Drew, Muriel, me, Jake, Jeff, and his girlfriend Trina who went to the movie and out for burgers. “What’s up with you and Jake?” Muriel looked in the bathroom mirror and rubbed on some lip gloss with the tip of her pinkie.
“What do you mean?” I looked at her, my brows drawn over my eyes.
“He’s being awful attentive tonight,” Muriel said and looked at me sideways.
“Really?”
Muriel shrugged, and I followed her out of the bathroom and to our restaurant booth.
We went out to dinner at a local diner. It was going fine. Everyone seemed to be having fun, joking and telling funny stories that took our minds off everything happening in our lives.
A man. Gray hand. Shaking hands.
It was just a flash, not a full-blown vision, but a flash of images scrolling through my mind, gone as fast as it came. I tried to shake it off without anyone knowing anything was wrong.
“Are you okay?” Drew asked.
“Yeah, why?” I pulled a fry through my puddle of ketchup.
“You zoned out for a minute.”
“Sorry.” I smiled at him.
Everyone started talking at once. Conversations overlapped and I tried to focus. I laughed at jokes, answered questions, and joined in telling embarrassing stories about people. Drew was in the middle of a story about our horrendous English teacher when I happened to look over his shoulder and spot Jeff walking back to our table from the restroom.
He stopped at a table and smiled wide at whoever was sitting there. Drew was blocking my view. Jeff talked for a few seconds, then pulled out a chair and sat down. He talked and laughed for a little over five minutes before he returned to our table.
When the group got up to leave, my gaze landed on Jeff’s mystery table. I sucked in a breath and could feel the color drain from my face. Lily and Shayla sat at the table, eating burgers and fries. And Jeff stopped and talked with them like nothing was wrong.
What’s going on? This is exactly what Azazel wants. I’m starting to doubt everyone.
My mind kept going back to the images and the warning Chay gave me. You don’t know who you can trust, Milayna.
After dinner, we all went to a movie. The girls and guys argued over what to watch, gory versus lovey. Finally, we settled on horror. In the middle of the movie, another flash of images passed in front of my eyes.
Gray hands. Gray face with a grotesque smile. A man with his back to me. Burgundy Abercrombie hoodie and black boots with silver buckles.
Cold panic stabbed me. Jake was wearing a burgundy Abercrombie hoodie. I couldn’t remember what type of shoes he had on. I peeked at the floor, but the theater was too dark for me to see.
My hands started shaking, and bile rose in the back of my throat.
My dad said demis feel calm around each other, that being together was soothing. I don’t feel that with Jake. I feel unbalanced, not at all calm. Chay warned me. I don’t know who I can trust. Why didn’t I listen?
I couldn’t concentrate on the movie. I thought about Jake’s shoes, picturing him at the restaurant, in the movie theater’s lobby, but I couldn’t remember them. I twisted my fingers together in my lap for ninety-three minutes—I know because I counted every one—before the movie finally ended.