“Well … that was curt and not at all awkward,” Grams mused as she waved the hem of her bedazzled tank top to air out her visibly sweaty torso.
“Just shop talk.” Clouds of dust puffed from the bag with each jab I delivered.
“I can’t speak for everyone else, but when I found out all three of you were going to be under the same roof I was kind of expecting angst-filled Telenovella drama.” Keni flicked stylish violet bangs from her eyes and pursed her freshly glossed lips. “Instead we have, like, smelly strangers forced next to each other on a bus.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” I responded in between upper cuts. “The three of us understand the magnitude of what’s happening and have chosen to handle this as mature adults.”
Grams and Kendall exchanged cynical smirks.
“You have no idea what’s happening, do you?” Keni ventured.
The chain rattled its protest as I spun around and hammered the side of my fist into the bag. “I kissed them both within twenty-four hours. Maybe that did it.”
“Yeah, but you told me that story,” Keni argued. “They should understand that you thought one of them was dying and … well, the other was Caleb.”
Grams flopped down on the floor and fanned herself with an old issue of People she’d snagged from the recycling bin. “Still, kissing two guys in one day? Gotta watch that kind of stuff. That’s how girls get their numbers written on bathroom walls. The Senior Center still hasn’t found a cleaner strong enough to get that pesky three and five off the stall door …”
Confusion dug deep lines across Terin’s forehead as she lowered herself to the ground beside Grams. “I’m amiss on this subject. Their behavior seemed perfectly adequate to me.”
“Adequate is more a trait for the Spirit Plane,” Grams explained with a comforting pat on the Phoenix’s knee. “Here we find it alarming and cause for concern.”
Mostly to myself, I muttered, “Maybe they can’t look past my lapse in judgment. Or maybe they both know nothing but death and destruction is headed my way. Whatever the cause, they’ve made the decision to keep their distance. I have no choice but to honor that.”
The thump of my fists connecting with the bag punctuated the end of the conversation. If any of them attempted to sway my thinking with even one word, I didn’t hear it. Instead I lost myself in each swing. I let the world fall away as I pounded out my fury until sweat streaked down my back and soaked through my tattered T-shirt.
The whir of Gram’s newly installed garage door firing to life and disappearing into the rafters snapped me out of my trance. I caught the bag to halt it before wiping the sweat from my brow as the hulking silhouette of my brother filled the frame of the one-car door.
He rolled one bulging shoulder to adjust a tote weighed down with sporting equipment. “Time to go, Keni.”
“Go?” I asked, my face a question mark.
“It’s the first day of school!” Alaina breathlessly declared as she beebopped into the garage clad in a Gainesboro High T-shirt and white tennis skirt. “And the first day of football practice! We’re going to pull all the equipment out of storage and get it ready for the team now that Gabe officially made me his assistant coach!”
Thin walls allowed me to be privy to the entire emotional purging that had taken place between Gabe and Alaina. It was ugly—and insanely awkward to be one room away from—but now the two were closer than ever. Now that their relationship was rekindled it seemed they could make anything into a couple bonding activity, even pushing an idea I was adamantly opposed to.
I locked stares with Gabe and folded my arms over my chest. “No. No way.”
Alaina’s angelic face fell slack of emotion. “He really did. See? I even have a whistle.” Sliding the white plastic between her lips, she tooted her proof.
“Not that,” I clarified, “school. Gabe, we talked about this.””
“I know we did. Yet you still can’t seem to see reason.” Gabe eased a netted sack full of football pads to the ground as he spoke. “No one is trying to take anything away from what you went through, Cee. But we can’t stay locked up here forever. This newly formed human and demon commune demands crazy things like food. We need money for the essentials, which means I have to go to work. Plus, Keni needs some semblance of normalcy while she can get it. Like it or not, she’s still a kid.”
Grams tentatively raised her hand. “Truth be told, I’d love to sneak out and see Dr. Allyn. Just … in case I don’t get the chance again.”
No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t keep them all prisoner here. And I couldn’t make them understand my hesitation. Ghosts of those they failed to protect didn’t whisper to them in the night, warning that the grisly end was coming unless they could find a way to stop it. No. That summit was for me alone. Fearing what I did, how could I deny them a few fleeting moments of happiness before fate’s guillotine released its lethal blade?
I closed the distance between Gabe and I, and stabbed one finger into his meaty chest. “Be the creepy older brother that doesn’t respect boundaries. You get me?”
“Can I draw the line at following her into the girl’s room?” he teased, one corner of his mouth tugging back in a half-grin.
“That’s when you send your new assistant coach in,” I answered with a second poke to his ribs that made him snicker like a wee little dough boy.
As my family escaped down the driveway, I turned to my fellow Conduit. “Can you take bird form without igniting?”
Her head jerked in a bird-like nod. “I’ve been practicing. I’ve got it down to the occasional fiery burst. Would you like me to take to the sky and keep an eye on them?”
I stared after the four people that meant the world to me as they climbed into Gram’s Buick. “Pull Big Mike off his patrol of the city. One of you watch the school, the other stick with Grams.”
Terin’s hand clamped down on my shoulder, causing it to sizzle like a fresh sunburn. “We’ll keep them safe,” she promised and took to the sky.
I inhaled a deep, cleansing breath and let it out slow as the hollowness of those words echoed through my mind.
Chapter 16
Distraction was key. Otherwise I was going to use a burst of super speed to catch up to the Buick and try out my first ever Hulk-smash to prevent them from leaving. Fear of Gram’s reaction to such a display drove me to pursue other options; namely seeking out the chorus of voices emanating from the backyard. As soon as I rounded the side of the garage, I spotted Caleb and Rowan huddled by the treehouse, pointing at a clipboard and discussing training techniques. The Glee Clubbers were spread across the quaint, but lovingly landscaped yard, humming the Rocky theme and throwing air punches.
“Ahem.” An awkward silence fell as seven sets of eyes stared with the same widened shock I’d expect if I pranced into the backyard in a banana suit. I curbed the impulse to double-check for potassium-packed attire and squared my shoulders instead. “I burned through my first set of recruits already this morning. You guys want some help with these yahoos?”
Both men, who had recently vied for my attention, stared at me like they were choosing teams for kickball and I was the last player standing.
“Actually Mo Ch … Celeste.” Rowan’s cool façade faltered momentarily as his tongue betrayed him. “Caleb and I have wanted to stock pile some weapons and get our troops armed. This could be the perfect opportunity.”
“Aye, maybe you lads could work with her so we can sneak off fer a bit?” Caleb posed the question to the band of misfit demons, not to me.
Poor, hapless beings saddled with the burden of the Chosen One.
Eddie peered at me out of the corner of his eye. Anxiety tensed his narrow shoulders. “We … we don’t mind as long as she’s okay with it,” under his breath he tagged on, “and doesn’t take this out on us.”
“No, it’s fine. We’re good.” Even I heard the brash, sharp clip of my words and forced a tight smile to counter their sting. “You guys go get we
apons, that’ll be good. We’ll train here and it’ll be … good.”
Stop saying good!
For a moment, Caleb’s gaze caught mine. Despair lurked in those emerald pools, threatening to swallow him whole. “We’ll be back soon. Promise.”
I barely had time to nod before Rowan clapped a hand on Caleb’s shoulder and the two vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
Red sucked air through his teeth and cringed. “Wanna talk about it?”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” I bristled as the Glee Clubbers swarmed around me.
“Just sayin’.” Eddie’s expression dripped with pity as he walked a slow circle around me. His gaze searched me up and down. “If both the guys I was interested in suddenly treated me like something they needed to wipe off the bottom of their boot, I know I’d need a group hug.”
“If you hug me, I will end you,” I stated in no uncertain terms.
Eddie jerked to a stop. Whatever idea suddenly brightened his face filled me with nothing but dread. “You know what you need?”
“To make today’s lesson Face Punching 101?”
“A makeover!”
“I like my idea better.”
“Yes!” The twins chorused and clapped their enthusiastic response. “We’ll take a page from the book of Timberlake and bring her sexy back!”
My arms folded over my chest. “A world of no.”
“Seriously, think about it.” I flinched away as Eddie clasped a lock of my hair and turned it over to inspect my split ends. “Right now, they see you as the chick that single-handedly launched the war of good versus evil. Maybe it’s time you reminded them that under your hard warrior exterior is a moderately attractive girl that happens to suffer from violent tendencies.”
“I’d like to revisit the face punching option.” I scowled and slapped his hand away.
Red stepped in front of me and blatantly stared at my chest. “I know an incantation that can give her curves like Monroe. There’s not even a hint of boob here.”
I dropped my hands to my sides and glared daggers at the fire demon.
“Not that your boobie nubbins aren’t lovely.” He gulped.
“Okay, we’re done here!” I shouted, pushing my way out of their smothering huddle.
“Wait! Give us a chance!” one twin begged.
“We really are good! That’s how we mask ourselves to blend in to society so well,” his brother finished.
“And Boil Face over there is supposed to be a shining example of that?” I scoffed and jabbed a thumb in his direction.
“You call me Boil Face?” His expression registered his aghast reaction to this revelation. “That’s just plain rude. My name is Sherman.”
“What do you call the rest of us?” Red inquired.
I squeezed the bridge of my nose between my thumb and fore finger, mentally counting to ten to thwart off an impending headache. Slowly, I brought my head up. “We don’t have time for this. You boys wanna be part of the team? Now’s your chance to prove it. We’re heading out into the field. It’s time for a little recon work.”
“Stop squirming! You’re invading my personal space!” Each word was emphasized by a shove or slap.
“You’re a Siamese twin! Someone is always invading your space!”
“Him I’m used to. You’re bony and all elbows!”
The sounds of scuffling between the twins and Red intensified. “Stop hitting me! I can’t help it, okay? I have to pee.”
“So go!” the twins chorused.
Red’s voice dropped to a whisper. Of course I could still hear him since I was only about three feet away. “I’m afraid to ask. Sherman sang one line of a Carly Rae Jensen song and she knocked him out. Took him forty-three minutes to wake up. I timed it.”
I pulled the binoculars away from my eyes and rested my forehead against them. A bout of insanity was the only plausible explanation for why I would think bringing them was a good idea.
Before the threat to see if we could break Sherman’s record could leave my lips, Eddie intervened, “Guys! I have a pocketful of sleep sand. The Conduit won’t have to lift a finger. I will knock you out! Now zip it.”
My arms fell to rest on my legs with the binoculars dangling beside my knee. I cast a sideways look of appreciation at Eddie.
“What? We have a lot of making up to do and if inflicting a little pain on these goons proves we’re serious than that’s just a bonus,” he declared with a lopsided grin.
Harsh reality sloshed over me, dousing me with its chilling truth. The end was rushing toward all of us with the lethal force of a tidal wave. Self-preservation had become the biggest motivator to make allies out of the most unlikely of sources.
Despite fears tightening grip on my throat, I managed a forced, “Thank you” to Eddie before refocusing my binoculars on the school. “This isn’t grade school, Red. If you have to go, go.”
“Oh! Thank you!” he gasped and leapt out of the truck bed.
He’d only been gone a second when the twins popped up. Their bespectacled eyes scanned the school grounds. “What’s that sound?”
“Don’t listen! I have a nervous bladder!” Red squawked.
“Not that!” one twin snapped.
Both their necks lengthened with a reptilian roll. “It sounds like screaming, lots of screaming.”
I strained my ears, but heard nothing. Thankfully, I had a method even more effective. I drew my energy in, centered it, then cast an empathic net out toward the school. A crushing boulder of terror and panic immediately slammed into me. I caught myself on the edge of the truck bed before the force of it sent me tumbling.
“I should’ve known,” I cursed under my breath. “The Countess wanted a big enough audience.”
“What do we do?” My tiny truck shook as Sherman jumped to his feet, awaiting orders.
My still clasped hand allowed me to propel over the side of the S-10. “Gabe and Keni will already be in the thick of it, guaranteed. You guys split up. Terin’s circling overhead. Someone flag her down. One of you go find Cal and Row. Get them here now, if not sooner. Whoever’s left, give Big Mike back up guarding Grams. I don’t want her vulnerable if something big is going down.”
I didn’t look back to confirm my orders were being followed, but plowed toward the school with resolute strides. My gait only faltered when I noticed I had a tag-along. I spun on Eddie so abruptly he stumbled back to avoid slamming into me. “What are you doing?”
“You doled out three jobs. That’s enough for them, which means I’m with you?” It would’ve been a bold statement if fear and uncertainty hadn’t raised the octave of his voice enough to morph it into a question.
My inner warrior mentally snarled at his offer to extend a helping hand. I didn’t know what I was about to storm into, but could I really accept the help of a demon that had tried to kill me on numerous occasions?
“I know we’ve had our differences,” Eddie shifted from one foot to the other and ruffled a hand across his mohawk; the gelled spikes sprung out in a chaotic mess of directions, “and you have about a million reasons not to trust me. But, right now, I’m pretty much all you’ve got.”
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. “Don’t make me regret this.”
Chapter 17
No hordes of teens flooded the school halls. The chatter and shouts of lively youths buzzing with the day’s gossip was noticeably—and frighteningly—absent. Instead, Eddie and I found ourselves creeping through a tomb that smothered with its heavy silence. The air around us buzzed with palpable tension. In the distance, sirens wailed. Their urgent call growing louder by the second.
“Maybe we should let the mortal law enforcement handle this?” Eddie gulped. His clammy arm brushed mine as he tucked himself tight beside me.
“And let them have all the fun?” My tennis shoe squeaked against the linoleum floor. I paused. My head snapping in one direction, then the other. When no motion was detected, I pushed on.
W
e made it halfway down the corridor when I caught a flutter of movement in a classroom. I held up a hand to halt Eddie. My chest rose and fell with quaking breath as I inched my way to the door and peered in the tiny window. High school students, not much younger than me, huddled under tables. Some held their fear in check. Others openly wept. All wore masks of abject terror.
Suddenly, a face popped up on the other side of the glass. A very un-hero like squeak eeked past my lips. The round-faced woman, that bore a striking resemblance to Mrs. Clause, jerked her surprise and slapped a hand over her heart. Mrs. Cartwell. I’d met her a couple of times when I picked Grams up from Bingo. The two often sat together and made the younger bingo-ers uncomfortable with their bawdy humor and antics. Recognition widened her eyes. Emphatically she waved me inside.
I shook my head with one finger pressed to my lips. With the other hand I pointed toward the floor, signaling her to stay hidden. Reluctant concern cut deep creases between her brows as she hesitantly sank from sight.
My pulse drummed a foreboding chorus in my ears as Eddie and I ventured further down the hall. “Can you teleport faster than a bullet?” I asked.
“Never tried. Why?”
“There’s a chance we’ve assumed demon where there may be a twisted human.” Up ahead the hallway split. An icy chill skittered down my spine at the thought of what horrors could lurk around that bend.
“Isn’t that out of your jurisdiction?”
I pressed my back against the wall and motioned for Eddie to do the same. “Doesn’t matter. If someone or something is hurting people, I’m putting a stop to it.”
A soft smile curled the edges of Eddie’s thin lips. “It’s kind of a nice change to be on the good side. Inflicting mayhem gives me reflux.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but was cut off by a high-pitched scream that shattered the thick silence. A succession of bangs followed that shook the wall we leaned against.
“That concludes cautious time.” My hand grasped Eddie’s wrist hard enough to make him yelp. In a burst of speed, I bolted around the corner, dragging a frazzled Eddie along for the ride.
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