Milayna (9 page)

“
I
didn’t do anything.
I
didn’t know what to do, because
you
didn’t mention anything about the fat, roly-poly demons or what
I
should do about them.” I over-enunciated each word to show my irritation, but my dad seemed oblivious. I turned in a circle and watched as he jumped from window to window.

“Are they still here?”

I wrapped the hem of my sweatshirt around my finger. “No, Chay came over. Said he smelled sulfur and knew something was wrong.”

“Yeah, I know Chay. Good kid. Quiet. He’s acquired a sort of sixth sense through this mess. It’s kind of like your ability, but his is a little different. It only works with you, not with other people.”

“Me?”

“Well, not just you. The entire group. He can usually tell when a member of the group is in danger.” My dad waved his hand in the air when he talked as if it wasn’t a big deal. I rubbed my temples, trying to push in all the information I’d gotten the last few days.

Well, that explains why he was standing outside when I left swim practice today.

“And just how often is one of the group members in danger?”

“Until your eighteenth birthday, a lot. Especially since the hobgoblins are already showing up and making mischief. They’re usually the first visitors that come around. Kind of like scouts checking things out and reporting back.” He looked out of the window and tsked. “Your mother is gonna be pissed when she sees her flower beds.”

“Flower beds? Flower beds. That’s what you think about?” I held my arms out to my sides and let them fall, slapping against my legs. “I just told you little red demons were running around the backyard while you were at work, and you’re worried about Mom’s damned flower beds?”

Flowers. Thanks, Dad. I’m okay, really. You don’t need to worry about me. Go take care of Mom’s flowers.

“Yeah, they tore down all her clematis. She loves that stuff.” He looked at me, his stance tense. “Listen, Milayna, the hobgoblins aren’t very dangerous, although if they catch you alone, they can be. From now on, you aren’t allowed to be alone. You need to be with another demi-angel or angel. Give notice at the bakery—”

My eyes widened. “What? Why? I like working at the bakery!”

My dad rubbed his forehead. “There’s no way to protect you there. You’d be alone. That’s unacceptable.”

I stared at him for a second with my mouth open. Finally, planting one fist on my hip, I glared at him. “I’ve worked there for a year, Dad. I like it. I’m good at it, and they’re really nice to me! It’s not fair to make me quit because of this.” My voice rose with each word.

“And what if you had a vision while you were working? The bottom line is, you can’t be alone until your birth time.” He took off his glasses, tossed them on the kitchen counter, and pinched the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb.

“My birthday.”

He puffed out his cheeks and blew out a breath. “No, your birth time. The exact moment you took your first breath. Until then, none of you are safe. Especially you.”

Five weeks, four days until my birthday

“I heard you had visitors last night.” Muriel glanced at me and tapped her fingernail on the table.

“Yeah, thanks a whole bunch for warning me about the red pipsqueaks.”

Muriel cringed. “Um, yeah, sorry about that. I was on my way over when I smelled the slight scent of sulfur, but Chay got there first. I knew he could handle it better than I could. It must have been pretty scary, huh?”

“Yeah.” I looked down and picked at my fingernail polish. “It was scary.”

“I’m sorry. But it all turned out okay, right?” She pulled me into a quick hug.

“Right as rain, like Grams says. So, Chay actually spoke to you?” I whispered with a teasing grin. We were in calculus class waiting for our teacher to pass out our torture—the weekly exam.

When I said Chay’s name, he turned and glanced over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised. His lips pursed into a straight line. He stared at me, and I looked back at him.

“No. Why?” Muriel’s chair squeaked across the tile when she shifted it.

“Why what?” I asked, distracted by Chay’s stare.

“Why’d you think Chay and I talked?”

“You knew what happened when he came over last night.”

“Well, I know about the hobgoblins. But that’s all. So start talking about what happened after that.” She leaned toward me and smacked her palm in front of me on the table. “Hey!” I jumped and looked at her. “Do you think you can tear your eyes off him long enough to talk to me?”

I turned in my seat so I was facing her. “He said he smelled sulfur and came over to check things out. After the goblins were gone,” I whispered, “he sat on the deck until my dad got home, and then he jumped the back fence and went to his house. I bet he didn’t say more than a handful of words the entire time he was there.”

“Oh.”

“Gee,” I gave a quick laugh, “I’m sorry my gossip isn’t raunchy enough for you.”

“I should have known it’d be all business with him. He doesn’t talk much, other than when it’s necessary, and it’s very seldom necessary unless something,” she lowered her voice so much that I almost had to read her lips, “otherworldly is happening.”

“He’s mysterious,” I said with a wicked grin and arched brow, twiddling my fingers in front of Muriel’s eyes. She knocked my hand away, and I laughed. “Do you have a thing for the new hottie DA?”

“Nope. Dark and brooding isn’t for me.”

I wasn’t sure why I was relieved to hear that. I certainly didn’t have a thing for Chay. What did I care who he did or didn’t date? Jake was my passionate love affair. Of course, he didn’t know it. Neither did the head cheerleader, Heidi, who was
Jake’s
passionate love affair. I was in a love triangle with two other people who had no idea I even existed. Well, I guess Jake knew me, but that was only because we were both DAs. Otherwise, I was off his radar.

“Give it up,” Muriel said, patting my shoulder. “You’re too good for him anyway.”

“Who? Chay?”

“Now why would your mind automatically go to him? I was talking about Jake. That’s who you were thinking about right? Or… is someone else giving Jake some competition? Maybe, I mean, have you ever thought that dark and brooding might be your thing?” She arched a brow and tapped her pencil against her lips.

“Pssh, no.” I waved off her words. He was maddening. He didn’t talk, he was a complete loner, and I couldn’t deal with that. It wasn’t like I wanted to be the center of attention—no thank you—but I liked to hang out with my friends. No, definitely not Chay. He was hella smexy, but the last thing I needed was a boyfriend to deal with. I had demons, that was plenty, thank you very much.

“Hmm, too bad.” Muriel inspected her perfectly painted nails and shrugged a shoulder.

“Why?”

“Because he hasn’t stopped looking over here since you walked into class this morning,” Muriel answered with a grin.

“Oh, please. He probably just has the feeling we’re talking about him. Which we are, so let’s change the subject,” I whispered.

“Let’s not just change the subject, ladies. Let’s stop talking altogether.” Our calculus teacher flung two exams toward us.

I tried to read the instructor’s mind just in case I was telepathic, since I couldn’t seem to make telekinesis work. No luck..

***

I didn’t get a chance to talk to Muriel again until lunch. I had another vision. The poor freshman girl I’d saved from certain embarrassment last week was back on the bullies’ to-embarrass-and-harass list. They just wouldn’t leave her alone.

This time, I just stood in front of their table with my hands planted on my hips until she passed by.

As the vision receded, I saw Chay walk toward me. I shot him a glare. I didn’t need his help. Nothing the oafs said about me, or to me, mattered. I was focused on the poor target of their amusement. She didn’t deserve it. I remembered how hard it was being a freshman. She didn’t need any additional heartache.

When the girl—I’d learned her name was Susie—walked safely by and sat with her friends at the other end of the cafeteria, I gripped the edge of the bullies’ table and leaned forward, showing them just enough cleavage to grab their attention.

“Listen up. Find someone your own size and low IQ to pick on, but leave that freshman alone,” I said quietly.

“Or what?” the biggest idiot asked.

“I’ll hurt you.”

The hulking teenager stood to his full height. He was a good head taller than I was and twice as wide. My first instinct was to apologize, beg forgiveness, and run away. But I stood my ground.

“Oh, sit down before you embarrass yourself,” I snapped, thankful my voice didn’t quiver. “I’ve got a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, and I’ve studied Krav Maga. Your dumb ass doesn’t scare me.” Smirking, I walked away. I had to remind myself to walk, not run, to where Muriel sat.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Oh, they have this thing for little Susie Freshman over there. I keep having visions of them doing embarrassing things to her, and I’m sick of them. The visions make me feel weird and tire me out, and the boys make my skin crawl. So I just told them to back off.” I shrugged a shoulder, unwrapped my chicken salad sandwich, and pulled the sides of the bread apart to inspect it before taking a bite.

“That wasn’t very smart.” I knew the voice instantly. I didn’t have to look up to know I’d see the oddest eyes looking at me. Not quite blue and not quite green. Chay.

“I had to do something—”

“You only have to do what needs to be done to right the wrong and make the vision go away.”

“I’ve had the same vision about them hurting that girl before. I’m tired of spending my lunch finding new ways to step in without being obvious.”

“Oh, and threatening them wasn’t obvious?” He flung his arm toward their table.

“You threatened them?” Muriel’s eyes grew wide. “They’re huge!”

“I didn’t threaten them. I just warned them away. Maybe now the girl will have some peace.”

“And maybe you just angered a demon,” Chay said through clenched teeth. “They’re hard enough to deal with. We don’t need you going around making more trouble for us. We don’t know who works for Azazel. Do you understand that? It could be anyone in this school—from the principal to the janitor, even your pet freshman over there. So do me a favor and don’t antagonize anyone else. Your job is to step in and protect humans. My job is to protect you until your birthday, and I don’t need you making my job any harder than it already is.” He pushed away from the table and stalked out of the cafeteria.

Geez, even angry, he’s a hella-hottie. Wait. No, that’s Jake.
“Well.” I cleared my throat. “That got him talking.”

Muriel laughed, but her eyes looked worried. “He’s right, Milayna. We don’t know who we can trust.”

“Okay. I’ll keep a leash on my temper from now on. I promise.” I looked down at the fake wooden tabletop. I ran my finger along the words “
Charlie loves Anna”
written in black marker. I didn’t really see the words. I saw the faces of people I knew with horns and fangs. I saw Jonathan, my supervisor at the bakery, turning into a demon, and the little old lady who lived two doors down in the cute, yellow house growing fangs. My parents always warned me not to talk to strangers when I was little, but now I couldn’t trust anyone. A shiver ran up my spine. “I promise. I’ll be more careful.” I glanced up at Muriel. She gave me a quick smile. “What do you know about him?”

“Who? Mr. Dark and Brooding?” I nodded, not looking at her. “Uh, nothing you don’t already know. He’s smart, at least judging by his AP classes. His dad’s the “
A
”. He’s eighteen, and he has an unusual gift none of us have, but no one knows why.”

“Yeah, the ability to see when one of the group is in danger. Why do you say it’s unusual? Don’t we all have powers?” I whispered, leaning my head close to Muriel’s.

“We all have the same visions you do, only you have them a lot more often and they are a lot stronger because your dad was a stronger, higher-ranking Iri. But beyond that ability, most of us don’t have other gifts.”

“My dad said that we are sometimes telekinetic, and we can feel what humans are feeling or thinking—whatever that means.”

“Yeah, everyone in our group is telekinetic, but not every demi is. A DA friend of mine in Indiana isn’t. And from what she says, no one in her group is. And none of us have been able to figure out how to use our telekinesis,” she whispered. Our heads were so close that they nearly touched. “So far, beyond the visions and the telekinesis, no one in our group has additional powers, so Chay’s ability is unusual. But it sure comes in handy, like last night.”

“Yeah. Back to this subject, I wish you guys would tell me about these things instead of just letting me come face-to-face with them,” I snapped.

“You mean the hobgoblins? I told you, we didn’t think they’d be around so soon. We’re trying to ease you into things so you don’t go all kung-fu on us like you did with the table of gigantic baboons over there.” She giggled.

“My dad was surprised they were around, too.”

“It’s usually closer to their birthday when DAs start seeing them, but I guess Azazel wants you pretty bad.” Muriel took a bite of her lunch and made a face. “Good Lord, what
is
this?”

“I think it’s time you guys tell me everything there is to know before I come up against something deadlier than a couple of red rugrats in my backyard.”

“We should talk to our dads, maybe go see Grandma again. There are definitely some things you should know now that the hobgoblins have made an appearance. Which ones came?” She picked up her Coke and took a drink, swishing it around in her mouth.

“I don’t know. They didn’t give me names. They both looked pretty much the same. Short, fat, and red, but one had a scar running down the length of its face.” I ran my finger down the side of my face where the scar was.

“Oh. I know those two. They aren’t too bad. They mostly just deliver messages from Azazel. Usually, the same message over and over and over again.” She waved her hand in the air in a
blah, blah, blah
motion. “Change sides. It’ll be wonderful. Azazel is a great guy. Blah, blah. You’re gonna get really sick of seeing them by the time this is over.”

“Great. Sounds like I just made some new friends.” I rolled my eyes. “So there are worse things than the hobgoblins?”

“Oh, hell yeah. You’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.” She pushed her tray away and scrunched her nose up. “It should be illegal for them to serve this.”

“Great.” I threw down my half-eaten sandwich. My appetite had disappeared.

“Are you going to eat that?” Muriel pointed at my sandwich. I shook my head. “Good.” She snatched it up and took a big bite.

I chuckled at her, but it was just a façade. I didn’t feel like laughing or smiling, not even crying. I just wanted to sit in a quiet corner somewhere to figure things out. Maybe if I could make sense of it all, I wouldn’t be so scared.

***

After school Friday, the group met at my house for dinner. Muriel and I were going to talk with our dads about what I should expect, but my dad thought it would be better if I heard it from the people going through it with me.