I laughed. “Good night, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I lay in bed, listening to the deep timbre of my dad’s voice, followed by Chay’s easy laughter. It infuriated me. I threw the blankets over my head to drown them out. I’d just grabbed my MP3 player and earbuds when a soft knock sounded on my door.
“Come in,” I called to my dad. To my complete shock and horror, it wasn’t my dad who walked through the door. “What do you want?”
He stood in the doorway, his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “What did they want?”
“Does my dad know you’re up here?”
His lips twitched. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to hide a grin or a frown. I decided I didn’t care. “Yes, he knows. What did the hobgoblins want, Milayna?”
“Same old stuff.”
Chay rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”
“I don’t want your help. Get out.”
“I know. But you need it, and the group needs yours.”
Ugh, why does he have to be so reasonable? And why, after just having mind-blowing kisses with Xavier, is my heart doing all kinds of stupid things just looking at him?
“They said they were watching me,” I answered finally.
He walked to the window and opened it. “How long have they been sitting out here?”
“I don’t know. Wait, how did you know they were out there?”
“I had a vision. Who are they watching you for?”
“How am I supposed to know?” I tossed my music player aside and stood up. “I assume Abaddon, but it’s not like we had a heart-to-heart. I asked who and they answered in riddles like always. You figure it out.”
He nodded. His jaw working, he turned his face from me. It wasn’t until then that I remembered I was in my pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. A thin T-shirt. My face burning, I yanked my robe off the hook on my bedroom door and slipped into it.
“Did they say anything else?”
“Just that he had some games for us to play. But you know how they are. That could mean a snowball fight or—”
“Something much worse,” he finished. We were both remembering the garage fire they started that almost killed a man.
“Yeah. There’s that, too.”
“Milayna… about tonight… I didn’t like you being with him,” Chay said, his face averted.
“You gave up your right to care either way.”
He looked at me. I stared back at him. He was not going to make me feel guilty for going out with Xavier. Not after the things he said. He surprised me by agreeing. “I know.”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out my ring. He laid it softly on the table beside my bed. “Just in case.” He looked into my eyes then. I felt the electrical buzzing moving through my nerve endings. I looked away before a bridge to his emotions could be made. I didn’t want to know what he felt. I didn’t.
He left, closing the door with a faint click behind him.
***
“Why can’t he come?” Benjamin whined.
“He just won’t be coming for breakfast on Saturdays anymore.” I tried to keep my patience.
Little brothers can be such a pain.
“Just because you’re mad at Chay doesn’t mean he can’t come play with me.”
“Maybe he will.”
Over my dead body… Of course, that’s a real possibility right now.
“Good! Then I’ll call and ask if he’ll come over.” Benjamin grabbed the phone. I reached around, took it out of his hands, and held it up where he couldn’t reach it.
“No, he isn’t coming over today. Maybe another time.”
“You’re just saying that. You know, you go to Hell for lying. My Sunday school teacher told me so,” Benjamin said just before he stuck his tongue out at me.
Yup, I’m just saying it. I’ll probably go to Hell anyway if the demons have their way, so I might as well use up all my lies now.
Of course, I didn’t say what I was thinking out loud so Benjamin could hear. We were trying to shield him from as much of what was going on as possible. There was only so much a seven-year-old needed to know.
Breakfast was horrid. I sat with Benjamin on one side of me and an empty chair on the other. I didn’t know where to look. Every time I looked at Benjamin, he glared back, mad because I wouldn’t let him call and invite Chay to breakfast. Every time I looked at the empty chair, I got mad because I wanted Chay to be there. I wanted things to be normal, to make sense again.
After breakfast, I helped my parents with some chores and then spent the rest of the day doing homework—a pretty boring day. It wasn’t until that night that things got interesting.
First, Chay showed up. He was just telling my dad the reason for his impromptu visit when I saw Xavier jog up the front porch steps.
What are they doing here? This can’t end well.
“They’re coming,” Xavier said when I opened the door.
“Who?”
“The Evils and another group of people.”
“Demi-demons,” Chay told him.
Xavier looked up and glared at Chay. “What’s he doing here?” he whispered to me.