“Think that if it makes you feel better,” said Nick. “The real thing to worry about now is how many demons are going around that I haven’t bumped into and how many of them are making bargains with children right now whom I didn’t see them with.”
He was right. That was the real thing to worry about. I felt hollow, as if my stomach had walked out and left my body behind.
We moved closer to the house. Nick went into a side door in the garage and from there, it was easy to get inside. Soon I could hear a child’s voice inside, and then a deeper voice. I had a feeling it wasn’t the child’s father.
“Follow me in a minute. I’ll try to distract the demon enough that it doesn’t feel you behind me, doesn’t expect you,” whispered Nick, pointing to what appeared to be the child’s bedroom, next to the bathroom on this side of the house.
Nick shook his head. Right. If that was the case, there was really nothing else we could do. Except try to reverse the bargain, and put ourselves in danger.
He nodded. “You ready?”
I patted the knife I’d put into my jeans pocket as I climbed out the window. I nodded.
Nick stared at me a long moment, then leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead.
It felt—soft and warm, and it was exactly the right thing to remind me of why I was fighting this demon, why I was moving toward the cold.
Then Nick was gone inside. It wasn’t loud at first, which should have been a good thing. I sat there, shivering, wishing I’d brought a watch to check how long a minute was. I felt like I was letting decades pass her. I counted to ten, then counted to ten again.
Good enough, right?
I moved toward the room and pushed the door open again.
There was a little girl, red-haired, the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. She had on Wonder Woman pajamas and a pair of tiny glasses. The demon beside her didn’t look like a demon at all. I guess that’s part of the trick. In this case, the demon looked like Santa Claus, which I think is pretty cheap. He had the little girl on his lap and was holding her tightly, almost as a shield between him and Nick.
I rushed forward, knife at the ready.
“You see the bad people that want to hurt Santa Claus? And all because they don’t want you to get what you want for Christmas,” the demon was saying. It was three months too late for Christmas, but what kid doesn’t want Christmas to come twice a year?
The demon didn’t move like a human, or even speak like one, but a part of me wondered how many department store Santa Clauses had been demons and I had never noticed. It was the perfect place to get kids to tell you what they really wanted, and to make bargains. Or if necessary, you could go back later to their homes and finish the deal. Christmas morning or the day after, when they had what they’d asked for. Or when they didn’t, and you offered it to them.
“Fallin, go!” shouted Nick. He was already holding the little girl safely away, so I lunged forward and stabbed Santa Claus in the neck. He started deflating and a weird, blackish ooze poured out of him and onto the little girl.
“Santa?” she said, her eyes wide.
The demon turned to me and said to the girl, “Just say what you will give Santa,” he said. “And remember, it has to be very, very important to you. The elves need to be paid for their hard work or they won’t be able to give presents to other boys and girls.”
“My rocking horse?” said the little girl.
“More than that,” said Santa Claus.
I stabbed at him again, this time in the shoulder.
“How about my bed? And all my clothes?” said the little girl frantically, her high-pitched voice nearly a cry.
“No, more,” said Santa Claus urgently. He was definitely one focused demon, more interested in closing the bargain than in me attacking him.
“My mommy and daddy?” said the little girl.
“No!” shouted Nick. “Don’t offer that.”
“Oh, yes,” said the demon. “That’s perfect. Now say what you want and what you’ll give me. All together.”
The little girl would have said them, but Nick put his hand to her mouth and held it there.
I stabbed a third time and guess what? Third time was indeed the charm. He deflated completely, into a messy gu with bits of dried skin like balloon on the floor of the girl’s bedroom.
Nick let go of the little girl and sagged backward. “Good work, Fallin,” he said.
The little girl flew herself at Nick and started hitting him. “I want my new Barbie,” she said. “I want my Barbie.”
He looked up at me with a weary expression.
And that was his reward for following the girl, staying up all night, and protecting her from a fate worse than death.
“Come on, let’s go,” said Nick.
I didn’t argue with him. We hurried out the same door in the garage. We could hear the little girl screaming. No doubt her parents would have an interesting time figuring out what had happened according to her.
I laughed and put my arms around Nick after we got to the top of the hill and looked back down. “Her mom and dad for a new Barbie?” I said. “What would have happened to them if she’d finished making the bargain?”
“I don’t know. Depends on the demon. Some demons would kill them outright. Heart attacks or car accidents. Something that looked natural. But the little girl would have to live with her guilt all her life, and with therapists telling her it wasn’t her fault, that her wish was just a coincidence.”
“And if they didn’t kill them?”
Nick shivered. “They would replace them with demons. That would be worse. Imagine what living with demons would do to a kid like that.”
I held tight to Nick and thought about what he’d just done. What he’d let me help him do. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m glad you came to get me. I’m glad I was there with you.”
We walked home more slowly, and somehow I managed to get back inside without making too much noise. I couldn’t see any sign that my parents had woken and caught me gone. I’d only been gone about forty-five minutes.
“Will she be safe now?” I asked.
“As safe as any of us ever are, yes,” said Nick. “Some people make the same mistake twice. But most people learn. Even kids.” He closed the window for me, softly, and I watched him walk away. He moved as if he were happy and young for just a few minutes, and I saw him do one of those kicks to the side. He blew me a kiss, and then turned away again, and his gait changed to what it usually was, pained and difficult.
I wondered what it would have been like to have known Nick when he was younger, before all this. Now that would be something almost worth making a demon bargain for.
Chapter 20
It was quiet, in terms of demons and bargains, the next few days. We had a new permanent substitute for German, a guy who was no more than a babysitter. He didn’t speak a word of German and didn’t bother to try to teach us. He said his job was to “supervise.” Our job was to prepare ourselves for the tests, which he would hand out at the last day of each term. They weren’t the kinds of tests Mr. Barry would have given us, either, with bonus questions from stories, and inside jokes. These were nationally standardized tests, and they felt like they were making German into math. One word in, one word out. It stripped all my love of language away, studying for them. Or maybe I should blame that partly on worrying about the demons.
Jayden said yes when I asked him to go with me to the dance.
Georgia decided to ask a guy she knew from her drama class named Rory. Rory was also a “younger man,” as Georgia put it and she thought he and Jayden would be comfortable together.
“Not that they’re going to talk to each other. Guys never talk to each other,” said Georgia.
“Nick talks,” I said.
“Yeah, which is proof that he isn’t a teenager, in case you needed it. He’s evolved past the grunt and point stage.”
“Maybe he’s just different,” I said. “And maybe he always was.” My
dad talked plenty. That was one of the reasons he was such a good politician.
“Try not to say stuff like that on the date. It will make Nick’s date uncomfortable, and yours, too.”
Georgia and I went shopping. Believe me, if you have to go shopping, you want to go with Georgia. She knows how to do it to make it fun (with time built in for stops in the food court, both for lunch and dessert). She also knows how to do it fast. She has a good eye for what looks good on anyone and so when I was leaning toward a gown with a fluffy green skirt that I thought was really bright and attention-grabbing, she steered toward the sleeker gowns. She insisted that I wear something off the shoulder.
“You have muscles and you might as well show them off. Covering them up just makes it look like you’re trying to hide fat in there. Let the guys see that you could beat them up if they take a wrong step.” She grinned.
“Yeah, that will strike a romantic note,” I said.
“I thought you said you didn’t want to strike a romantic note with Jayden. Am I wrong?” She started looking around the room again and showed me a really slinky number that came up to my butt. “This is for romantic.”
I shook my head. “Classy,” I said. “Let’s go with classy.”
“Not classy. That is not the look you are going for. Classy is for women in their thirties and forties who are trying to show they still look good and they’re not stupid anymore. What you’re going for here is hot, sexy, and stylish. With a bit of verve.”
“Verve?” I said.
“Verve,” said Georgia, slinging a hip out. “That is what you are, Fallin. Full of verve. No one who looks at you will ever mistake you for someone else.”
“What are you going to wear?” I asked, after we bought my dress, using Dad’s credit card. He’d given me a generous limit I thought I would never get close to, but once we had shoes and a purse, I was closer than I wished I was.
“Oh, now you care about what I wear?” said Georgia.
“Of course I care about what you wear,” I said.
“What about that fluffy green number?” said Georgia.
“You could definitely pull it off if anyone could,” I said.
Georgia shook her head. “And that is why I am not taking advice from you on what to buy for the dance.” She dragged me with her and we went to one of the smaller boutiques in the mall. They had dresses, but none of them were fancy. At least, that was what I thought until Georgia put one on. With her hair slicked back and some heels on, she really rocked it. “And the cool thing is,” she added. “No one else will be wearing the same dress. I checked. This is the last one and they only sold ten in the store here.”
That was the kind of thing that Georgia thought about.
“So, are we really going with Nick and a date?” I asked. I hadn’t talked to Nick since we saved the little girl from the Santa demon.
“Of course,” said Georgia.
“Do you have his telephone number?” I hadn’t thought to ask him for it. He always just seemed to show up at just the right time.
“Duh,” said Georgia. “Don’t you?”
I had to admit that I didn’t, and she wrote it down and handed it to me. “He doesn’t have a mobile, though. So you have to leave a message, then be patient and let him get back to you.”
I knew how patient Georgia was. Which meant she had to really want to do this. “Who is he bringing?” I asked. “Did he tell you?”
“He said she was someone his own age. That was all he would say.”
“No name?” I asked. What was it with Nick and names? Was this woman also a demon fighter? Had she lost her name the way he had lost his, by making her own bargain with a demon?
Georgia shrugged. “She can tell us when he brings her to pick us up.”
“He’s driving?” I asked.
“He’s the oldest. I’m sure he’s safer than any of us would be.”
As soon as we got home that night, I called Nick up on the phone. From my bedroom. “I just wanted to check and see if you really are OK with driving us all to the dance.” That wasn’t the real reason I’d called, but it was a good excuse anyway.
“I’m fine with it. I’ve arranged for us to be chaperones at the dance. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be allowed in.”
“Oh. So, with the school?”
“Yeah. Actually, she made the arrangements. Claudia, that is. She’s the one with the connections at the school.”
Claudia? That sounded like an older woman’s name. “Is she a demon fighter, like you?” I asked.
“She’s a former teacher,” said Nick. “From last year. You might remember her. She was in the Home Ec department.”
“Mrs. Feinstein?” I said suddenly. I did remember her. I’d taken sewing from her my freshman year. She was like, a hundred years old.
“Yeah. That’s her. She has a great sense of humor, I think.”
“How did you meet her? I mean, she’s retired, isn’t she?”
“Sure, but she isn’t dead. We met around town. She has a life, you know. We both have lives even if we seem so ancient to you we must spend all our time thinking about casket colors and funeral arrangements.”
I guess that put me in my place. “I don’t think that, Nick,” I said. “But I hope you have fun with her.” I was a little relieved to discover it wasn’t his old flame, his one true love from high school. Which was stupid.
“And who are you going out with?” said Nick.
“Just a freshman from school. Jayden is his name.”
“Jayden?” said Nick.
“Yeah. You know him?”
There was a long silence. Then Nick said, “No, no, of course not. I’ve seen him at the school, I think. Kind of skinny and with a big nose?”
That wasn’t how I thought of him, but I guess. “You sound like you don’t like him.”
“No, it’s not that. Not at all.”
“So, did you hear something about him you think I don’t want to know?”
“Not at all.”
“Come on. If you know something I should know, you’d tell me, wouldn’t you?” Was there something wrong with Jayden? Did he have a reputation for being a creep on dates or something? I would think Nick would be too much of a gentleman not to tell me that.
“You probably me him at the gym,” said Nick.
“That’s right,” I said. I guess that was where I met most of the guys I knew. “We’re just friends,” I added. I don’t know why I thought Nick cared about that.
“He’s nice. A little goofy, but nice,” said Nick finally. It was like it was torn out of him, like teeth ripped from the gums with roots still dripping blood. I had no idea why he said it when it sounded like it hurt him so much.
“Well, I hope you get along OK.”
“I’m sure we will,” said Nick. “Well, I’ll see you Saturday. Unless something happens before then.”
“Sure,” I said. I was actually hoping something would happen. Not that I was wishing demons and the end of the world stuff on anyone, but it would have made life more interesting. And I would have seen more of Nick.
But nothing happened before then, apparently, because the next time I saw Nick was when he rang the doorbell to pick me up the night of the dance.
Of course, Nick hadn’t thought to warn me that he was picking me up and that we were going to get Jayden afterward. So Dad answered the door, thinking he was going to meet my date. He was not happy to see Nick.
“I thought I made my feelings about you seeing each other clear,” said Dad, no attempt to not talk about this in front of Nick.
“Dad, he’s not my date. He’s the chaperone for the dance. He’s just driving with us because it’s safer that way.”
“What about your date?” asked Dad.
“Jayden is only fifteen and he doesn’t have a license anyway,” I said. “Would you want him to drive illegally?”
“No, but—” said Dad.
“I promise you, you can see the pictures on-line tomo
rrow morning. Jayden is a real teenager. You have entirely different problems to worry about with him as my date,” I said.
“Not as different as I wish,” Dad muttered. Then he stood there, watching as Nick and I got into the boat car he’d brought, as old as he was probably.
“You look nice,” he said as we drove away. The car was one of those boats with a three person front seat and a three person back seat, lots of room. I didn’t think about where Jayden was going to sit until later.
“How are things?” asked Nick.
“Fine. How about you?” I asked. It’s weird that we had nothing to say to each other now. When we were out fighting demons, there was never any problem talking.
Nick started up the car.
“Hey, do you know where you’re going?” I asked. I hadn’t thought to check Jayden’s address, which was stupid.
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s right at the top of the street and then the second left.”
I guess he had looked it up on-line. The guy with a plan.
We drove there in silence. I got out and Nick got out at the same time. I turned and looked at him. “Um,” I said.
“Right. I’ll wait in the car,” he said.
I walked up to Jayden’s house and rang. He came out. “Wow, you look great!” he said, as if he’d never seen me before. “Really, really great!” Jayden went on. “I can’t believe you good you look. Just incredible.”
It wasn’t helping for him to be so enthusiastic, I thought.
Then he put an arm around me, which annoyed me. And he sat up in the front seat with me and Nick.
“Hello,” said Nick.
“Hi,” said Jayden, and promptly ignored Nick, continuing to go on and on about how great I looked. I wished he didn’t stare so much at my chest.
We went to pick up Mrs. Feinstein next. Nick got out and walked to her condo door.
“You should get in the back,” I whispered to Jayden.
“What? Why?”
“She should sit up here with Nick,” I said. “Not in the back.”
“But what about you?”
“We won’t fit unless one of us separates,” I said. And I was voting for it to be me and Jayden.
The Gift of the Demons Page 16