The demons chased me. I was alone in the dark, outside. None of my neighbor’s houses had lights on. I ran home. The door was locked. I reached for my key, but it wasn’t there.
I ran across the street to Muriel’s, but no one answered when I knocked.
I darted around a group of demons and through my backyard. Chay. Jumping the back fence, I found the only house in the neighborhood with lights on and ran to it. I pounded with both fists on the blood-red door.
“Help me,” I screamed.
The demons grew closer. I could smell the sulfur radiating from their bodies, see their sickly gray skin.
The door opened and I fell inside, hitting the floor with a grunt. I scrambled away from the door, kicking it closed.
“Thank you,” I said, out of breath.
“They told you not to trust me,” he said. I looked up into his blue-green eyes, staring coolly back at me. Slowly, he opened the door and the demons walked inside, grotesque smiles pulled across their yellow, dagger-like teeth.
I opened my eyes with a gasp. I’d fallen asleep doing my calculus homework. Raising my head, I smoothed the pages of the book back into place.
I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hands. I’d had the dream before, months ago. It didn’t mean anything then. I could, and did, trust Chay with my life.
But I couldn’t help but stew over the possibilities. Chay had definitely been acting funny. We’d had more disagreements than the entire time we’d been together. It worried me, and I hated that. I hated second guessing him, looking for clues of his betrayal. But my visions had never been wrong before and in them… I didn’t want to think about it. He loved me, and I loved him.
He would never hurt me. He wouldn’t.
I kept repeating that over and over.
The hobgoblins were trying to stir up trouble. That was their job. My visions might have never been wrong before, but I believed they were wrong about Chay. And I never had a vision that Jeff was going to betray me to Azazel, so they weren’t always reliable indicators either.
I can trust Chay. I believe that.
***
Monday. I hadn’t talked with Chay all weekend. He texted a few times, but other than that, we didn’t talk. I chalked it up to him being sick. He was resting and didn’t feel like texting or talking on the phone.
“Hey, you look better.” I saw him sitting at our station when I walked into chemistry class. “I didn’t think you were going to be here.” He hadn’t called to ask me to ride with him like usual.
“It was a last-minute decision,” he mumbled, not looking up from the notepad he was doodling circles on.
“Oh.”
“You feeling better?” he asked.
“Yes. I have a doctor’s appointment after school.”
“Mmm.”
I walked to the table. He didn’t stand and take my bag like he always did. He didn’t pull out my chair for me like usual. Most disturbing was that he didn’t kiss me—he didn’t even look at me.
Xavier sat behind me, tapping his pen against his book. He flipped it on the desk and stood. “Here, let me get those for you.” He took my bag and slid my chair out. I didn’t really expect anyone to do that for me; it wasn’t like I thought myself a princess or I was a drama queen. It was just that Chay always did it. I couldn’t figure out the sudden change.
“Thanks. You really didn’t have to,” I said quietly to Xavier and sat down. I flipped through my chemistry book. Chay didn’t seem to care that Xavier helped. He just continued doodling.
“It’s no problem. Anything else you need?”
“She’s fine,” Chay answered for me.
I gave Xavier a small smile and shook my head. He ducked his head and looked at me through his long, black eyelashes. My breath hitched in my throat. He looked like he should be a cover model, not a high school senior. He chuckled as if he’d heard my thoughts.
He can’t hear what I’m thinking, right? I mean, I have limited telekinesis powers as a demi-angel. Maybe he has telepathic power as an angel. Crap.
“Did you get the homework done?” I asked Chay.
“Yeah.”
“You think you could look at me when you answer? And maybe use more than one word?”
He dropped his pen and turned to me. His face was pale and his cheeks sunken and sallow. His normally bright eyes were dull and lifeless, with dark purple smudges underneath, like he hadn’t slept for days.
I took a deep breath to hide my shock. He looked horrible. “Are you sure you feel up to being here today?” I ran my fingers over his stubble-covered jaw.
“Yes,” he answered, jerking his head from my touch.
I curled my fingers and let my hand fall to my lap. “Sorry. You just don’t look like you feel well.”
We didn’t speak for the rest of the class. Xavier bumped my chair twice. I ignored it both times. On the third time, I shot him a dirty glare. He flicked his gaze toward the piece of paper he laid on the table in front of him. He shot it across the tabletop at me. I rolled my eyes, but I took the paper.
Need a ride home?