With Cross & Charm

by D.L. Miles

  Chapter 5

  Delilah blindsides me after school with a surprise group date. I’m certain this is why she skipped her second class, and I don’t have time to get out of it. I end up going with her, Beth, Joseph, Albert, and Cain to the frozen yogurt shop downtown. Thankfully I wasn’t alone in the car with Cain, but it was nerve-racking to sit in the backseat of Beth’s convertible with him.

  I order a smoothie rather than yogurt, and we all sit in a booth by the window. It’s tight but we manage to fit, and I’m squished between Delilah and Cain, directly across from Joseph. I’m nervous of Cain’s ring as it’s dangerously close to my leg but I notice he keeps a one inch distance between us. Maybe my earlier lie is actually working.

  “So how is it switching from being an Eagle to a Tiger?” Beth asks Cain.

  He shrugs, the movement making his shirt sleeve brush against me. I’m wearing a long sleeve shirt, but it still tickles. He says, “I was never really an Eagle; I was there for about a week before transferring.”

  “Why’s that?” Joseph asks. He tries to be casual as he stretches an arm behind Beth. There isn’t enough room and he ends up putting his hand on Albert’s shoulder. They both flinch away from each other, surprised. Delilah, Ithinara and I snicker.

  “I lived here when I was a kid,” Cain says, “but moved away when my mom’s father died. We were only supposed to be gone a couple weeks, but we ended up staying out in Alberta until now. We just moved back over the summer and the school records got messed up. I ended up at Highland when I was supposed to be going to Wayward.”

  “So you didn’t transfer with Nico?” I ask. It only occurs to me now how strange it was that they came into Wayward at the same time. Ithinara says it’s suspicious since it wasn’t long after my volleyball game at Highland, and paranoia creeps up through my spine.

  Cain swirls his yogurt. “Just a coincidence. I’m like sixty per cent sure she didn’t transfer because I did.” He laughs, it’s a joke. I force a laugh but it comes out strangled. Delilah elbows me in the ribs.

  “I need to use the washroom,” I announce, “do you mind?”

  Cain nods and stands to let me out. I slide out of the seat with Delilah joining me; she sends a look to Beth and Beth says, “I think I’ll go too.”

  The bathroom is brightly lit and empty. I lean against the sink while Beth uses a stall, and Delilah pouts at me. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing, he just…makes me nervous.” It’s the truth but Delilah misinterprets it as romantic feelings. It’s more feelings of gee-I-hope-he-isn’t-a-demon-hunter.

  If he is, he isn’t very good, Ithinara tells me.

  Delilah lights up. “So you like him? Good! I think he likes you too; Albert said he was staring at you all through Calculus.”

  “Albert’s in my Calculus class?”

  “Oh my God, that’s what you focus on?” Delilah sighs. “I think he likes you, too.”

  “There is no ‘too’ here,” I say. “And I doubt it would ever work between us.”

  “Why not?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because I happen to have a demon possessing me and he wears a cross ring and is related to a possible demon hunter?” I can’t stop myself from changing my mind every five seconds. One moment I believe Nico is just a regular religious woman and the next I see her as a badass demon killer. And there’s no way I want her in my life.

  Delilah looks confused. “Demon hunter?”

  “Ithinara says that Nico is a demon hunter,” I explain, silently adding sort of.

  “That’s stupid,” Delilah declares as Beth comes out of the stall and washes her hand. “Nico is totally not a demon hunter; otherwise she’s the worst hunter ever. There’s been a demon living in you for fourteen years and she hasn’t noticed it?”

  One of the very points I made comes back to me. “He wears a cross.”

  “And it can come off; just tell him you don’t like religion or something.” Delilah waves my worries away but they still stay within me, much like Ithinara. Beth is quiet the entire time, obviously not wanting to get in the middle of our argument. I think she agrees with Delilah.

  We make our way back to the boys and take our seats. The afternoon goes well, though I’m careful to watch Cain’s ring. I think I’m in the clear when he says, “I have to get going; do any of you need a ride towards Hatt street?”

  “Willa does,” declares Delilah. I grind my teeth and send her a look that she ignores. “Willa lives on Hatt street, don’t you Willa?”

  “Technically,” I reply.

  “Do you want a lift?” Cain asks me. Delilah is already pushing me out of the booth and trying to appear casual. I agree to let him drive me home. Maybe I would get lucky and Dad would be there to scare him off.

  I can scare him off, Ithinara says, if you’d let me out.

  “Are you sure it’s not out of your way?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “I live on the corner of Hatt and Westward.”

  Oh, great, he lives on my street. How had I not noticed that? Delilah is already in action, apparently taking Operation King to the next level. “Maybe you could drive her to school on Monday; Beth won’t be able to.”

  I stand and send her a glare but she just keeps smiling as if she’s doing nothing wrong. Beth perks up and asks, “What will I be—ow!” A thump under the table tells me Delilah gave her a kick. “I mean, okay then.” She pouts and pretends to look out the window at something.

  “That’s fine,” Cain says, “I really do need to leave now though; family things to get to.”

  “Sure,” I stammer, “great.”

  He holds an arm out to let me lead the way, and as we step outside the sun is still hanging in the sky. I’m not sure which car is his, and he points to a two door Jeep. Cain actually opens the passenger door for me.

  As I sit in the front seat I see that he has an air freshener in the shape of a pine tree hanging on the rear view mirror. He seems very casual about me being there, and driving someone he just met home. I try not to stare at him and look to Delilah who is grinning and giving me the thumbs up. I can’t figure out why she thinks I like Cain so much.

  The door slams hard and I jump. Cain says, “Sorry, did I scare you?”

  Not as much as Nico, I think. “No, it’s fine.”

  His jeep sputters to life, barely, and we drive out of the parking lot. The drive is only a few minutes long but there’s no conversation between us and it feels like ten years have passed by the time he stops in front of my house. I thank him quickly and hurry out of the car, feeling like he was just as uncomfortable as I was.

  He waits for me to go inside and I hear him drive away as I shut the door. A realization hits me, giving me that same fear Nico always did.

  I never told him which house was mine.

  He knows your address, Ithinara says, I wonder why.

  I tell her he probably saw me leave one day over the summer, that it’s just coincidence. Delilah could have said something to him, and they could have planned on him driving me home.

  Why was he so quiet then? she asks me. If he liked you he would have said something.

  I stare at my reflection in the bathroom mirror while Dad waits a few minutes to ask me who it was that dropped me off. He’s pacing in the hallway and I just roll my eyes. “Delilah planned it,” I tell him through the door. “His name is Cain Steele and he’s new in school; I have him in Creative Writing and Calculus.”

  “I never asked,” Dad says, feigning innocence.

  “You didn’t have to.” I open the door to find him staring at a photo on the wall, scratching at the stubble on his chin. “You don’t have to pretend.”

  He faces me. “Do you like him? Should I be worried?”

  Dad never did know how to talk to me about boys, but I don’t think he has anything to worry about when it comes to Cain.

  Unless he’s worried Cain will throw holy wa
ter on you, Ithinara laughs. Part of me agrees with her. After all, that’s what I’ve been worried about, right? I can’t seem to decide if the Steele’s are a family of demon hunters or not. My gut says yes, but my head says no.

  “You should not be,” I tell Dad. “Delilah was just getting ahead of herself.”

  He grimaces and ruffles my hair, something he usually does when he doesn’t know what to do.

  Might? Ithinara mocks. You like him; I can feel your heartbeat remember.

  My chest flutters and face flushes lightly. I quickly fuss with my hair and tell Dad I need to go to the library and do a little research for a history project. Thankfully he offers to pick me up later, and not drive me there as well. I make a quick escape.