Nick looked at Nekoda. “You’re taking al of this weirdness in stride. Should I be afraid?”
“I almost got eaten by zombies tonight, Nick, and I rode in a truck with Bubba’s driving. Some guy flashing out of the room and another one turning into a dog isn’t exactly the scariest thing I’ve seen in the last few hours.” Simi came up to lean against Kody’s shoulder. “Oh, the Simi thinks you’ve seen things much, much scarier than that.” Nekoda paled a bit, but didn’t elaborate.
Nick pul ed her away from the others so that he could speak to her with a little bit of privacy. Gah, this was awkward. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but deep inside he was stil afraid, even after everything they’d been through, that she’d shoot him down.
“Um, Kody … I was wondering …” He let his voice trail off as his fear mounted.
Just ask her out already.
Good grief, Nick, she kissed you.
Yeah, but she’d thought they were going to die. Now that they weren’t dead she might be regretting that kiss. Wishing she’d saved it for someone who was better looking. Smarter.
Someone not dressed in a goober shirt.
“What?” she asked.
Man up, boy. You faced down demons tonight. How can you shirk now?
Then again, fighting demons was a lot easier than asking out a girl he real y liked. They couldn’t hurt his feelings.
With one word, she could crush him.
Just do it!
Taking a deep breath, he glanced away and spoke before he chickened out. “Would you like to go to the Café Du Monde with me tomorrow after school and grab some beignets? That is, if my mom doesn’t ground me for life for letting Bubba tranq her?”
Time seemed to hang on forever before she spoke. “Sure.
I’d like that a lot. But no more zombies, okay?” In that instant, Nick felt like he could fly. “Yeah, al right. No zombies.”
But in his head was the voice of Ambrose. You only learned part of lesson one tonight, kid. You have nine more to go. Do you really think making time with a girl is the thing you should be focusing on?
Honestly? Yeah. ’Cause when he looked into Kody’s eyes, he could see into the future. There was something about her that warmed him, and after this night, he real y needed that.
Especial y given the chal enges he would have to face in the future.
Lighten up, old man. This is my life, not yours, and I intend to make the most of it.
Ambrose flinched as he heard Nick’s voice in his head with words that sent a cold chil down his spine. But he pul ed back and left the kid alone to enjoy his victory.
“Unfortunately, Nick, you are living my life and God help us both, we’re making al new mistakes.”
He just hoped that this time they didn’t kil everyone he loved.
As for Nekoda …
Ambrose had learned long ago to fear anyone he let near him whose past and future he couldn’t see. Any time he’d made that particular mistake, the person had done their best to destroy him.
And in his gut, he knew Nekoda would be no exception.
A new face. A new chance.
But would it be enough … That remained to be seen.
EPILOGUE
It was almost dawn before Bubba dropped Nick off at Kyrian’s house. They’d had to run back to the store to let Brett and company out of the storeroom before Nick could face the dragon known as his mom.
Caleb stood beside him in the driveway while Nick looked up at Kyrian’s mansion with holy terror gnawing on his gut.
“You ever had something you real y dreaded doing?” Nick asked him.
“Yeah. It usual y starts first thing in the morning when the alarm clock sounds and I know I have to go to school to learn stuff I already know.”
Nick could definitely commiserate with that. “How do you stand it?”
Caleb shrugged. “You’re my assignment, Nick. You do what you have to do or a bigger demon eats out your liver and uses your spine to pick its teeth.”
The sad thing was, Nick wasn’t sure he was joking about that. “Yeah, wel , I just want to say thank you for everything you’ve done to keep me safe. I’m real y sorry you got swarmed tonight and beat on so badly.”
Caleb was completely stunned by the heartfelt words. Not once in al these centuries had anyone ever thanked him. Not even when he’d bled for them.
Nick held his hand out to him.
He started to mouth off, but changed his mind. He wasn’t going to slap down someone who was being nice to him. It was too rare. “My pleasure, Nick.” He shook his hand and inclined his head to Nick’s newly healed arm. “By the way, you might want to keep that thing in the sling for a while yet. Your mom would freak out if you show up healed.” Nick tucked it back into the sling. “Good point.” He took a step toward the door, then stopped. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yes, you wil . Evil always stalks you, kid.” Caleb smiled before he turned into a raven and flew off.
Nick watched him vanish into the darkness.
What a screwed-up day this’d been. But at least he’d survived it, and he strangely felt better about himself and his future than he’d ever felt before.