He was silent, tal and watching, almost with disapproval, like he was suddenly on my parents’ side, as if this whole ritual hadn’t been his idea.
Final y, when I was done saying everything I could say and Ada had quietly started cleaning things up, my parents fixed their disbelieving eyes on Maximus.
“And what is your version of events?” my father asked him coldly.
Without looking at me, he gave them a smile and said, “It’s pretty much the same as Perry’s.”
I relaxed.
“She believes this is what’s happening to her,” he continued. My heart paused. “And I know better than to argue with someone with that conviction. I reckoned the ritual would get it out of her system.”
“You sneak!” Ada growled at him as she shoved the spices, bowls, bel and vials into a garbage bag with a noisy clatter. “You told us this would work! You believed it!”
“Ada, hush,” my mother told her, then looked back at Maximus. “Wel , you’ve made a fine mess of our house in doing so.”
“I was only trying to help your daughter, Mrs. Palomino.”
She crossed her arms and eyed me. “Yes. I see that.
Wel if this continues any further, the only help that Perry wil be getting wil be from poor Dr. Freedman. I swore we’d never been setting foot in his office again…”
The dead butterflies were stirring in my insides again, awakened by the bone-chil ing threat of seeing my old psychologist. I could have kil ed Maximus right there and then for insinuating that he was humoring me this whole time, and I shot the deadliest of death glares at him in case he was oblivious too.
He wasn’t. He shifted uncomfortably, avoiding my stare, and said to dad, “I’l make sure this place is cleaned up ful y before I leave. Real y, it’s just salt and spices. I’l bring the vacuum around and it’l be sucked up faster than you can say Atchafalaya.”