The Next Chance

by Shannon Reber

  He stood straight, dwarfing both of us. “Your fridge is pathetic. Come on. You can buy me dinner,” he said cheerfully, turning toward the back door.

  It was such a funny, comfortable scene. I had only found out that Quinn was my biological sister a couple of months before. We had become family in that time. Her brothers had become mine. We had even become roommates. Everything felt good and right. Everything WAS good and right.

  “Madison? You going to sit there all day or are you coming?” Daw asked, offering his hand to help me down.

  I smacked his hand and jumped down myself, trying to figure out why I felt so out of sorts. I loved those two. They had given me a place, a purpose, a home. Why did I feel as though I was out of place?

  The kitchen was suddenly full of my favorite people. Ian. Quinn. Daw. Dawson. Imogen. Spencer. Serena. Emma. Everyone.

  There was no question or comment inside me. My family. They were right there. The weight that had begun to press on my chest eased back. I was surrounded by love.

  I didn’t care about the chunks of missing time or the feeling that there was some serious error in my personal coding. I was at peace with my life. Nothing else mattered.

  Imogen smirked as she walked over to sit next to me. “Do you want to know who didn’t even notice my new hair?” she asked, flicking a finger over her messy pixie cut that made her look like a Goth version of Audrey Hepburn.

  I coughed out a snide laugh. “If you say it’s Spence, I’m going to lose all my faith in that boy’s investigative abilities,” I teased, amused when Spencer shot me one of his usual, laid-back grins.

  “I noticed. I just didn’t comment,” he said, holding up his hands. “That was a stupid, insensitive thing for me to do and I deeply apologize for not telling my girlfriend how beautiful she looked with her new haircut.”

  “Suck up,” Imogen accused, her cheeks flushed in pleasure.

  Things like that had become a lot more obvious since she’d gone back to her natural, black hair. A lot of things about her had become more obvious, including the fact my friend was a knockout. Guys seemed even more captivated by her than they were by Emma . . . and that was saying something.

  I laughed, motioning to Ian. “My boyfriend noticed my new haircut and commented,” I said with a shrug. “He doesn’t like it.”

  Ian walked over and ran his fingers through my layered bob. “I never said I didn’t like it. It just took me a little bit to get used to it.”

  I tipped my head back to look up at him, shaking my head a little bit. “Change is good. Or it’s supposed to be,” I told him, giving him my most winsome look.

  He pulled me out of my chair and sat where I’d been, easing me onto his lap. “Change is good,” he agreed, running his fingers over the spot on my side where I was ticklish.

  Emma made a scoffing noise. “The guy who hasn’t changed since he was six claims change is good? Bullcrap,” she sang, turning to look at Serena. “That salon you work at, do they do pedicures?”

  “We do, sweetie. You want me to schedule you in for one?”

  Emma nodded. “Let’s do a girl’s day tomorrow. We can get pedicures and facials.”

  Imogen cleared her throat and shook her head. “No thanks. Not my thing,” she said in a blasé tone.

  Emma didn’t even acknowledge the fact Imogen had spoken. Instead, she turned to look at me. “Come on, Maddie. You and I will go,” she said, turning her blue eyes on me in the same way she did to get people to do what she wanted.

  I shook my head. “I’ve got to work,” I lied.

  Pedicures. Facials. They weren’t my thing. Emma should know that. We’d been friends since pre-school.

  The truth for Imogen, though, was most likely she didn’t have any money to spare. Emma had a habit of forgetting or ignoring anyone else’s financial circumstances. She assumed everyone could have what she wanted and disliked them, thinking they were boring if they didn’t fall in line.

  Imogen leaned her elbows on the table and looked over at Daw. “What are you guys working on now?” she asked, her eyes alight with interest.

  Daw leaned back against the counter and folded his arms. “It’s a demon deal,” he said, the usual rasp of his voice a little more noticeable. “A woman is dying and her boyfriend is offered a deal by a demon who’s been trapped. The demon says it’ll heal the woman but that the guy will owe him a favor.”

  “He can’t do that,” I said, feeling panicky at the thought.

  Daw nodded. “I agree but he thinks it’s his only hope of saving her.”

  I looked around at my group, feeling Ian playing with my hair. If one of them was dying and a demon offered me a deal . . . I can’t say that I wouldn’t agree. I was all too aware of what a bad idea it would be. For the ones I love, though? I can’t say I would refuse.

  I burrowed in a bit closer to Ian, a cold feeling moving its way up my spine. Demons did have power on earth. They weren’t warm fuzzy creatures, though. Making deals with them was dangerous.

  The PI that Daw worked for was a good man. I knew that. If he was investigating the case, he would find a way to make things right.

  FOUR

  I wasn’t sure why I was there. Then again, it was probably simple curiosity that drove me. I needed answers. That was all there was to it.

  The old apartment building was clean but shabby. Its faded brown all-weather carpeting and copper striped light fixtures were in desperate need of updating. All that was true, although the place made me feel even more at home than I had felt with my family.

  I stopped in front of the sign that read ‘PI Erkens’, my heart starting to pound. I had been there before. I couldn’t remember the details, though.

  I felt that it had something to do with Emma. That couldn’t be right. It had to be in my imagination.

  Images floated their way through my mind. They were all horrifying, some of them with Emma in them. Nightmare had followed me into the waking world.

  I could see Ian and I walking through the woods. It had been my birthday and we had gone for a walk to get away from the crowd. It had been a pretty great night . . . or maybe that wasn’t true.

  More images passed through my mind. A guy hanging from a tree. Ian unconscious on the ground. A ghostly figure of Emma holding out her little finger to me. Someone behind me with a rope.

  My body shuddered. What was wrong with me? Why were those kinds of images in my head?

  I closed my eyes and counted to three. I needed to calm down and clear my mind. There were questions that needed answers. A lot of them.

  “Are you going to stand there all day or do you think you might go in?” a grumpy voice asked from behind me.

  I turned, finding TC Erkens giving me one of his usual bulldog looks. I cleared my throat and reached out to open the door. “Sorry. I got a little lost in my head,” I told him, holding my breath as I opened the door.

  I had only been inside the place a few times, yet the sight of the office always disconcerted me. It was a disaster. Piles of files were strewn all over the floor in a way that looked random, although there was an order to the chaos.

  I didn’t know what that order was, though. I was sure that if anything was moved, Erkens would know about it.

  I breathed slowly through my nose, doing my best to prepare myself for the onslaught of dust. The amount of it that had gathered on every surface was dumbfounding. It was clear the place hadn’t been dusted in ten years or more.

  Erkens walked over to his desk and sat down, his hands folded over his slight paunch. He didn’t speak. He just waited for me to start.

  I cleared my throat and sat on the edge of the file-filled chair across from him. “The case you’re working on with Daw, about the demon deal, I was wondering if I could help,” I blurted out, feeling an odd sense of deja vu.

  Erkens made a growly noise. “And why does this particular case make you want to be a paranormal investigator?” he asked, his brows furrowed which made him resemble a bulldog ev
en more.

  “I don’t know,” I said truthfully, continuing on before he could grump me out. “I need to work on this. I can’t explain why.”

  He let out a weary sigh and nodded. “Okay, what do you think you can add to our investigation?” he queried, very obviously not loving the idea of working with me.

  “I’m a hacker, Erkens. I can get into places most people can’t.”

  “You’re very young, Madison,” he informed me and I felt that same familiarity. We’d had a conversation very similar to that before. I was sure.

  “My age doesn’t make me incapable. It means I’m more open-minded and more willing to learn.”

  His lips quivered like he tried to suppress a smile. “So you’re saying old dogs and new tricks don’t mix?” he teased, reaching into the bottom drawer of his desk to pull out a file. “Daw and I are having trouble with this one, anyway.”

  I picked up the file and opened it, everything inside me feeling jittery. Again, my mind told me I should know something. It was blocked off from my memory, though. Whatever was going on, it was starting to annoy me.

  There was no name listed on the file. At the top was written ‘demon deal’ but that was all. The lack of details felt as though it was a very unusual thing for Erkens.

  I looked up, my head tipped to the side. “How do you know there was a deal?”

  Erkens stood up and walked to the coffee pot, pouring both of us a cup. “All we know is in the file,” he said, setting the mug down in front of me.

  I picked up the cup, flipping through the few papers with my other hand. “But you have no info in here at all,” I said, my confusion compounding.

  “You’re dying, Madison,” a voice said from nowhere.

  I looked around, trying to find wherever it had come from. The only people in that office were me and Erkens. So who had spoken to me?

  “It is time to let go of the human world and move on. You must make the choice or the power of the Nephilim will hold your soul here for the rest of eternity.”

  Nephilim? And Luken’s face floated through my mind. Memories. How had I forgotten them? Could I really be dying?

  I looked around the office and something inside me knew it was true. This wasn’t my life. But it was. It was a good life, one I loved.

  Whatever was wrong, I didn’t care. Or I didn’t want to. I had no idea what to do.

  FIVE

  Noah’s eyes went wide as Ian set a plate down in front of him. It held a mound of noodles and what looked like cheese sauce mixed through them. He’d never seen the food before, his stomach letting out a roar at the sight of it.

  Ian sat down next to him with his own plate and simply took a bite. Noah followed his lead, scooping some of the food into his mouth. The first bite was the best thing he’d ever tasted. Quinn had warned him not to eat too fast or too much because it would make him sick. He almost didn’t care right then.

  He tried to keep himself from devouring it. Or he tried for one more bite. It was too good to eat slowly. He shoveled in as much as he could, ignoring the queasy feeling in his stomach.

  Ian sat back when he’d finished, motioning to the laser light on the table. “That’s not actually mine. Can it be put back to the way it originally was or do I need to buy a new one?” he asked in a dull voice, not quite looking at Noah.

  He shrugged, swallowing his bite before he spoke. “I can make it boring again. All I did was amplify the intensity of the laser.”

  Ian looked over his shoulder at the wall behind the sink, a slow smirk coming to his lips. “You know you actually lasered holes in the wall?” he asked, not sounding angry in the least.

  Noah glanced at the wall, his cheeks a little flushed. “Sorry, Dad. I’ll fix it.” His body tensed as he eyed the exits, his hand clenched around the fork’s handle.

  Ian ran his hands over his face, blowing out a slow breath. “Noah, I’m not mad at you. I’m having a really bad day because the woman I love is in a hospital room and I don’t even know if I can trust the guy who’s keeping her alive. It IS a lot to take in, the idea that you’re my kid from the future, and that I’m possessed by a demon in your future. Right now, though, I’m not a danger to you.”

  Noah relaxed his grip on the fork, flicking an anxious glance at Ian. “Luken is good. He helps us a lot. He’s the reason me and Quinn got away during the last attack. Him and Dawson are super cool.” He forked up another bite, smiling as he shoved it into his mouth. “Whatever this stuff is, it’s super good.”

  Ian rose, walking to the fridge and taking out a jug of milk. “You’ve never had macaroni and cheese?” he asked, pouring him a glass.

  Noah shook his head. “There’s not much to eat anymore. We found some noodles once but I’ve never had cheese on them,” he said, taking a drink of the milk. “Quinn always tries to tell me she’s not hungry when we find some food, that way I can have more. I know she’s lying, so we share. I wish I could share this stuff with her.”

  Ian leaned back against the counter, his arms folded as he looked out the kitchen window. “So why did Quinn send you? Why didn’t she come with you?”

  Noah turned his eyes slowly to meet Ian’s. “She can’t walk since demon-you smashed her legs. I think she’s dying and she didn’t want me to see it,” he said matter-of-factly, too used to death for it to affect him any longer.

  Ian faltered, his eyes turning back to look at Noah. “I don’t understand how that’s even possible. I’m a medium. My spirit group would never allow a demon to possess me,” he said in a weak voice.

  Noah shrugged. “I’d say you’re big, not medium,” he said with a snide little smirk.

  Ian didn’t laugh.

  Noah shoveled another bite into his mouth, pushing his plate back. “I don’t know. All I know is it wasn’t you who tried to kill us a bunch of times. It was the demon inside you. I kind of remember you telling me something when I was super little but it doesn’t make sense.”

  “What did I tell you?”

  “You said your spirit group left you when you made the deal. I don’t know what deal. I just know I barely remember you before you were possessed.”

  Ian stared at him for a few seconds, rubbing his hand over his heart. “A deal with a demon,” he whispered as though to himself.

  Noah nodded. “Uh huh.” He picked up the laser light and began fiddling with it, his eyes fixed on his hands. “Um . . . can I meet my mom? Quinn talks about her a lot and I’ve seen her picture and stuff. I just . . . want to see her.”

  Ian walked over and sat in the chair he’d vacated a moment before. “I’ll make you a deal, okay?” he asked, waiting until Noah had looked at him before going on. “You and I will go and see Maddie but we need to talk about some stuff first.”

  “Like what?” Noah asked warily, still fiddling with the laser light.

  “Like you call me Ian. I’m twenty. If an eight-year-old is walking around, calling me Dad, that’s going to make people pretty suspicious.”

  Noah chuckled and nodded. “Okay,” he said, waiting for Ian to go on.

  He folded his hands on the table. “I need to think. There’s been a lot going on around me and I need to process some of this. How about if you go get a shower and while you’re doing that, I’ll wash the dishes and do my thinking. Then, we’ll see what we can do about saving the world. I’m not a bad sidekick, so I bet we can do it.”

  Noah arched his brows. “You have to take a shower when I’m done. You’re kind of greasy.”

  Ian let out an amused huff. “Deal,” he leaned forward a little. “Noah, I promise you, I will not hurt you. You are safe with me.”

  He leaned forward as well. “That’s what a demon would say,” he informed, sitting back again with his arms folded. “The scanner says you’re human now, so I’m cool.”

  Another smile came to his face as he looked at the boy. “How am I supposed to know YOU’RE not a demon pretending to be my kid from the future?”

  Noah threw back his h
ead and laughed. “Me and Quinn throw salt at each other all the time to make sure.” He picked up a salt shaker and shook some into his palm, licking it off as he turned it to show to Ian. “I’m cool.”

  Ian raised his brows. “What if I told you I might know what the demon deal was about?” he asked, shaking some of the salt into his own palm.

  Noah sat still for a moment, his hand moving toward the laser light he had set down. “What do you mean?” he asked warily, keeping his eyes fixed on Ian’s.

  He rubbed his thumb over the salt, watching the grains as they moved over his skin. “Madison is in bad shape. She was shot last week and the bullet that was used on her had some kind of poison on it. It’s slowing her heart bit by bit and they can’t find an antidote. The doctors are talking about preparing ourselves for the worse.”

  Noah didn’t answer, his fingers wrapped around the laser light in preparation.

  Ian continued on. “A demon was captured when Maddie took down the PSA, a very powerful demon. He’s powerful enough that, even though he’s bound inside a box that should have taken his power away completely . . . he’s able to talk to me. I think it’s only me he can talk to because I’m able to talk to spirits.” He fixed his eyes on the salt shaker before going on. “He offered me a deal. He said he’d heal Maddie but that I’d owe him a favor.”

  “You can’t do it,” Noah uttered, his eyes wide. “You can’t trust a demon. He might heal her but it’ll be bad. They lie. They always lie.”

  “What if that’s the only way to save her?”

  “You know she lives because I’m here. I’m her son.”

  Ian met Noah’s eyes. “You are her son. That’s as easy to see as the fact you’re planning to shoot a hole through me with your laser,” he said quietly, holding up a finger. “What if the only reason she survives and becomes your mom in a few years is because that demon heals her?”

  Noah paused, fear pulsing inside him. “What if the favor the demon asks you is that he possesses you?” He shook his head. “You can’t trust demons. They don’t do good things to be nice. They’re demons,” he finished in a tone that said clearly he thought Ian should already know that.