I shrugged, taking a sip of the cold pop. Setting the glass on the coffee table, I looked at the three men in my life.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t see the person’s face. In the vision, I was looking at everything through my attacker’s eyes. I saw what they saw. But I know it was someone I knew and trusted.”
“How?” my dad asked.
“Because I smiled when I saw them, and they stabbed me right there.” I pointed. “Right in our own kitchen.”
The room buzzed with silence. They were all probably thinking the same thing I was. Who in my life would want to kill me? Who did I trust enough that I would never suspect? And, the most important question, why?
8
Initiation
“You’ve seen, haven’t you?” Scarface poked his sausage finger at me.
The hobgoblins had been running through my yard for twenty minutes. Chay had been there for eighteen of those minutes. Xavier seventeen. We sat in the sunroom, watching. It was too cold to go outside and sit on the deck, but I still got the faintest whiff of sulfur as they ran past the windows. Now that their playtime was ending, I stood at the door to hear what they had to say.
“Seen what?” I asked.
“How you’re going to die,” Scarface said with a twist of his deformed mouth.
“No, actually, I haven’t.” That was true for the most part. I’d seen visions of someone trying to kill me. But I didn’t die in any of them, and there was more than one way the person tried to make it happen. Choking and stabbing. I wasn’t sure of my preference. Although, I was almost positive it was neither.
“You’re a liar.”
“You’re a pain in the ass. Go away.” I kicked snow at him.
“It won’t be long, Milayna,” Scarface warned.
“Whatever.”
“Milayna’s coming to our house to play!” Friendly exclaimed in his shrill voice.
There were two puffs of white smoke and the little red goblins disappeared, the scent of sulfur heavy in the air.
“Well, that was interesting.” Xavier covered his mouth and nose with his hand. “They stink.”
“You get used to it.” I walked back into the sunroom, Chay and Xavier following close behind.
“I’ve never seen one up close before.”
“Really?”
“No, they aren’t all that common where I come from.” Xavier smiled with a quirked eyebrow.
I shrugged. “I guess not.”
“Well, now that the party’s over, I guess you should be on your way.” Chay glared at Xavier.
Subtle, Chay.
“They won’t be back?” Xavier asked.
“My house is close if they are.”
“Okay, then. I guess I’ll see you at school, Milayna.” Xavier bent and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before he strolled out the door, whistling.
Chay took a step after him. “Chay Roberts! Don’t you go out that door,” I said through clenched teeth.
He looked from me to the door, clearly weighing his options. “He kissed you.”
“On the cheek. I barely felt it.”
“You were trying to feel it?”
“No! Look, the important thing is this…” I took his face in my hands and kissed him, my tongue dipping slowly between his lips before I gently sucked his bottom lip in my mouth. Pulling back, I looked into his blue-green eyes. “I kissed you. Which do you want to go after, the one who kissed me or the one who kissed you?”
He smirked and lowered his lips to mine, grazing over them softly. “Definitely the one who kissed me.” He leaned in for another kiss when someone behind me cleared their throat.
“Damn it!” Chay threw his arms up in the air. They came down with a thwack against his legs. “I swear, Milayna, I’m going to kill him. And he’s so infuriating that no sane jury is going to convict me of it either. Hell, they’ll probably give me a medal.”
I turned around and rolled my eyes. “What do you want, Xavier?”
“Well, on my way home, I came across a group of not-so-nice looking demi-angels. I believe you call them Evils.”
“And how do you know they’re Evils?” Chay licked his lips before sucking his bottom lip into his mouth.
“Call it a sixth sense,” Xavier said blandly.
We walked around the side of the house, stopping short before Muriel ran into us.
“Drew’s on his way. What’s he doing here?” She jerked her thumb in Xavier’s direction.
“He can answer, you know,” Xavier snapped.
“Sorry. Check the ‘tude, dude, geez.” She glared at Xavier before looking at me with her eyebrows raised.
Oh! She doesn’t know yet. She’s probably trying to figure out a way to get rid of him before the fireworks begin.
“Muriel, there’s something you should know about Xavier. He’s an angel.”
Muriel opened her mouth, and then snapped it shut.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” I said with a frown.
“Well, whatever. We can sort all that out after the fun is over. Jake and his crew are here.”
“Jake?” Xavier asked.
“Yeah. He’s the worst. A real badass who gets off on the fights.” Drew jogged to us from the side yard. “He has a thing for Milayna.”