“How are you holding up?” Tabatha asks me.
“Exhausted,” I admit, not seeing the point in saying anything otherwise. “You guys have to be as well.”
“Yes, and I think it would be wise for some of us to return home and rest,” she says. “Evander will be here soon, so I will stay. Everyone else, go home and we will regroup in the morning. I fear this may be the calm before the storm, and we all need to be prepared.” She gets a pained look on her face. “Paimon may be trapped in Hell, but I don’t think it was detrimental to his plans.”
“Why?” I ask.
“I’m not sure, but it was the way the demon spoke.” She shakes her head. “Demons lie, I know. Your gran.” She directs her attention to the twins. “I know she’s retired and doesn’t like to get mixed up with anything dark, but whatever Paimon is planning is going to affect us all.”
“She’s visiting at the house this weekend,” Nicole says. “We’ll tell her.”
“Ruby,” Tabatha starts. “Go back to the Academy and see what you can find on transferring a demon out of a living body. There are several volumes on Alchemy as well. If you’d like to assign extra credit to our senior honors students, they can verify what’s in the book Melinda found against what we have on file.”
“On it,” Ruby replies. “I can think of three students who would jump at that opportunity.”
“Are you returning to Chicago?” Tabatha asks Melinda.
“Yeah. I’ll still send the photos right away, but if you want us to, Easton and I can come back.”
“That may not be a bad idea.” Tabatha raises her eyebrows.
“I’ll stay for the first shift with you,” Kristy says, eyeing Brock.
“You guys can all go,” I tell everyone. “Lucas and I can handle it from here. I’m sure we can even get Eliza in on demon-sitting duty.” I look through the house, seeing her zooming around as she takes down the shower decorations.
“You need to go upstairs and take a nap,” Tabatha says sternly.
“I’m okay.”
“You’re six months pregnant.” She gives me her best I’m your mother, don’t question me look. “You’ve been to Hell and back today, and we all know I’m not saying that figuratively.”
“Okay,” I relent, too tired to put up a fight. I walk the others out and feel a little bit of relief to have the house almost to myself again.
“I’m going to talk to Noah,” I tell Tabatha, Kristy, and Lucas. “If he can give me any clue to who this demon is, we’ll have a better chance of pulling him out without hurting the kid.”
“Hey, Noah,” I call, going into the library. He's finished his food and is sitting next to the salt line. His mom is on the floor next to him. Alex is perched on the edge of the couch, and Brock is looking at the various books I have shelved in the library. “Feeling any better?”
“Now that I’ve eaten, yeah. Thank you again. I mean…you don’t even know us.”
“It’s what I do.” I telekinetically scoot a chair over and take a seat. “I want to keep helping you, and knowing who this demon is that we’re dealing with will make it easier. Did you hear a name or anything that could give us any sort of clue?”
Noah shakes his head. “No. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Think back to when it first possessed you. Sometimes they say their names before they force themselves into you, which sounds so rapey.” I shudder. “Or maybe you got a vision of some sort of sigil?”
Noah closes his eyes. “No. It’s like…it’s like my memory is blank. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I lean back, and Binx jumps up in my lap, rubbing his head against mine. Silence falls over the room, and my eyes start to feel heavy. Binx lets me know Evander is here and shadows away to open the door for him, with Tabatha following.
“Where is the bathroom?” Alex asks.
“I’ll show you,” Kristy tells him. “It’s a big house.”
“Yeah, no joke.”
“Do you want anything, my love?” Lucas rests his hands on my shoulders, massaging my stiff muscles.
“Your daughter really wants me to eat more pasta.”
Bending over, Lucas puts his lips to my neck. “If that’s what she wants, then that’s what she’ll get. Do you want anything else?”
“Cranberry juice, and thanks.” Resting both hands on my stomach, I lean back and close my eyes while I wait for my food.
“Noah,” Alyssa says, sounding alarmed. “Noah!”
“What’s wrong?” Brock rushes to his brother.
“Wait!” I say, but it’s too late. His steps on the salt line, breaking the circle.
Chapter 8
The demon surfaces, eyes blackening once again. It shoves Alyssa to the side, and she falls hard, whacking her head on the leg of one of the armchairs.
“Mom!” Brock yells, and the demon grabs him, biting his bicep and tearing off a chunk of skin. I throw my hand out and shove the demon back, giving Brock enough time to scramble away.