A thought occurred to me. They weren’t the only one with people. I got to my feet. “Restroom?”
Father Andrew pointed to the hallway we came from. “First door on the right,” he said. I headed that way without another word. It was a small, one-person bathroom and it was perfect. I locked the door, put the lid down and sat down. I took a deep breath, let it out and closed my eyes. Then I dropped.
I landed in the Veil almost instantly. “Zahur!” I shouted as I straightened. Nothing. “Zahur! I need you now!”
A figure shimmered into form in front of me. Exactly like me in every way, Zahur frowned at me. The foghorn alarm blared, shaking me down to my bones. When it was done, Zahur was scowling at me.
“What? I was finally making progress on a fucking mountain of paperwork,” she snapped.
Paperwork? Oh, fuck it, no time. “Listen, my friend is possessed by a demon. I need fucking help because this priest and some group called the Templars can’t get it out of him.”
She eyed me. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” I snapped.
Her frown disappeared. “Where are you?”
“Saint Joseph’s in Boulder, Colorado. It’s in the States,” I said.
She nodded. “I’ll send the best to help you.”
“There’s also another thing.” I explained to him what happened on the plane, how I jumped into Isaac’s center.
She was rubbing the bridge of her nose when she was done. “That is not great.” Her hand dropped. “It’s interesting that you can do it, but that it is extremely dangerous. Especially with a demon possessing your friend. If you do it again, that demon can get to you. It could shift to you.”
I nodded.
She tilted her head. “Then again, the energy in someone's center works like the Veil, and you can get to that demon too.” I raised an eyebrow. Interesting. She shook her head, her eyes focusing on me again. “Nevermind, forget about that. Just… don’t do it again unless your friend is… getting weaker. And be careful. Demons like this will eat your soul if they get a chance.”
“Well, shit,” I grumbled.
She met my eyes. “I’m sending help. Get your ass back there.”
“Got it.” I closed my eyes and pulled myself back out.
It took a moment for me to get my bearings and then I was out the door and heading back into the cafeteria. Francis was on the phone a few feet away.
“What did I miss?” I asked.
“He explained the options for Isaac in more detail,” Miles answered before changing the subject. “I talked to Rory. He’ll back up the twin’s cover story to their mom.”
I nodded. “And Zeke? Asher?” I looked at them.
“Already done,” Zeke announced. “Sylvie thinks I’m crashing at Miles’ for a while.”
“My dad doesn’t give a damn,” Asher explained. Well, that covered everyone.
Francis came back. “I couldn’t get through to them,” he announced. “We need that name.” Everyone got to their feet and followed Francis downstairs to Isaac’s room.
We had just reached the door when Francis’s phone went off.
“Hello?” the priest answered. His face grew pale as he straightened. “Yes, sir.”
His eyes found me as he listened to whoever was on the line. “Understood. We look forward to their arrival.” Francis hung up and eyed me for a second before turning to the rest of the group. “Well, that was our… higher ups. They’re sending their best team to come help with Isaac. But they are going to be a couple of days.”
“A couple of days?” Ethan snapped.
“Yes, they have to move slowly for one of their member’s health,” he explained. “In the meantime, we’ll try to get the demon to talk. It’ll distract the demon from Isaac and buy him time.”
“And how are we going to do that?” Asher asked.
Francis sighed. “Each of you will go into the room with the demon alone. It will either start talking to you or it won’t. Then you’ll come out and the next will go in.”
“It’s rather straightforward,” Craig told us as he came out into the hall. “The demon wants to torment you, taunt you. It will help us decide who will sit with Isaac.”
“Who will begin?” Francis asked. I was about to step forward when Ethan headed for the door.
“Let’s get this over with,” Ethan bit out as he jerked the door open. Craig and Father Francis followed. The door closed behind them and tense silence fell.
I crossed my arms and chewed the corner of my lower lip. Zeke began pacing. Asher began massaging the back of his neck as Miles began tapping his fingers against his thigh in a staccato rhythm. Zeke continued pacing the width of the hall. My eyes unfocused on the floor. Why did Francis look at me that way? Who was on the other end of that call? Did... Zahur have anything to do with it? It hit me. I really didn't know that much about Zahur. Shit.
It was five minutes before Ethan came out cursing under his breath. “Next!” He walked further down the hallway, taking deep breaths. Asher was at the door before I could go. After the door closed, I went to Ethan and put my hand on his shoulders.
“That is not my brother.” His voice cracked.
I wrapped my arms around his waist, rested my cheek just above his shoulder blades and hugged him. “No, it’s not. But we’ll get him back.” Even if I had to die trying. We were not going to lose Isaac.
He held my arms to him and squeezed me back. We stood that way for several long minutes while he got himself under control. When he patted my arms, I let go. We walked back to the others and waited in silence.
It was a few more minutes of waiting before the door opened and Asher came out. This time I made it to the door before anyone else.
Francis and Craig were at the two-way mirror. I stopped with my hand on the handle to Isaac’s room. “Anything it says does not get repeated or leave this room,” I told them. They turned to me, each wearing looks of surprise. “Right?”
“Of course,” Francis said. I met Craig’s eyes.
“Naturally,” Craig offered. He handed me a small mic and a battery pack. Right, they needed to listen. I took a deep breath and walked into the room with the demon.
It smiled at me. I walked to the end of the bed, crossed my arms over my chest and waited.
“Ah, Red… so much to talk about,” he said, his voice low. Fine, it was going to talk to me.
“Oh, really?” I said with sarcasm.
He giggled. “I see the way you feel for your friends,” he taunted, his smiling growing bigger. “Naughty, naughty, naughty.”
I said nothing.
“You’re a bad girl for feeling this way for all of them,” he continued.
I tilted my head to the side and smiled my not so pleasant smile. “Well, then I’m a bad girl.” There was no way I was going to let this shit from hell try and make me feel bad for loving my guys. I knew who I was, and I sure as hell could own my shit.
“You agree?” he asked, perplexed, his smile disappearing.
“Yeah, sure.” I shrugged. “It is what it is.”
His smile came back. “Oh, we’re going to have a good time.”
I rolled my eyes and walked back out of the room. Craig and Francis looked at me with questions in their eyes.
“So, I take it that’s what you’re looking for?” I asked without emotion as I handed back the microphone.
“Yes, it is,” Craig admitted. his eyes running over me.
“Good, I’ll send in the next one.” I turned and left the room and their judging eyes. The guys turned around. “Next.”
I stepped out and moved to lean against the wall of the hallway next to Asher. “It talked.”
"It didn't say a word to me," Asher muttered.
"Lucky." I looked up from the floor to meet Ethan's gaze. We shared a look full of secrets.
Zeke started for the door.
“Wait, let’s go together,” Miles suggested as he moved to the door. Zeke didn’t say a word as they went in.
“What did it say?” Asher asked softly.
“Personal stuff,” I hedged. He didn’t ask again. We waited in silence.
It was eight minutes later when Miles and Zeke came out. Zeke’s jaw was clenched, his eyes burning.