I shook my head. I remembered going over there though and being surprised by how unhinged she’d gotten over the weekend.Emma was one of the tidiest people I’d ever known. How she lived with a slob like me for four years took a lot of patience on her part, and I did my best to listen and not drop clothes just anywhere or let dishes pile up.
When I went over,her room looked like it’d been hit by a tornado. She was tearing her hair out trying to settle on a way to organizeher mountains of books. By color, or author, or genre.
“You took her by the shoulders and said,” Gregory said, “Emma calm down, it’s okay if things are a mess. Everything gets messy eventually, and that’s how you know things are coming together. It just takes some time to see it.”
Woof. My life felt like a disaster now.Having him remindme of my own words was a real trip. I didn’t see how things would come together. As of tomorrow, someone was going to show up and try to kick my pregnant ass out of the house.
Mr. Smithsnorted,and his voice was gruff when hereferenced my earlier comment. “You were no one’s sidekick. She needed you as much as you needed her. When you ran around the backyard, she would play She-Ra the Warrior Princessand you would be Wonder Woman.You were different kinds of heroes, no better or worse than the other. UnlikeEmma, you were never afraid of things getting messy or scary. You knew things would work out because you had already been through the worst.”
“Things can always get worse,” I said.
“Which means they can always get better.”
I shot him a glare. Maybe I didn’t envy Emma the lectures that came with a dad.
Would Travis lecture our kid?
I stopped that thought in its tracks.
As if sensing I couldn’t stand to be herewith Emma’s ghostone second longer, Mr. Smith thanked me for bringing himhere,but it was time we return.
Opening the door to the van, I couldn’t muse that it was true. I wasn’t afraid of things getting messy, I was afraid they would never come together because I wouldn’t know how tocope.
21
WhenKrystangot back, I was already at the door waiting.
“We’vegot a job,” I said.
Coming into the house, Gregory behind her, she said, “Do you think Susan would watch the kidsagain?”
“I would be happy to stay with thechildren,” Mr. Smith said. “Is Sophie awake? I would like to discuss her burgeoning powers with her.”
I nodded. “After some cookies, she was feeling better but still tired. I sent her up to the guest room with Noah and pulled Mrs.Ritslittle television in there so they could watch cartoons.”
Gregory nodded as he took off his coat, hung it over the railing, then went up the stairs.
Before I could tellKrystanany of the details, she grabbedBatman, which was leaning in the corner of the foyer and was headed back toward the van.
Locking the door behind me I said in a low voice to myself, “This is going to be fun.”
This was a ton of fucking fun.
My blade sliced through theugly gnarled baby body connected to a terrifying set of bat wings. The abandoned building was chock full ofthe crib.One of thecribburst from a cluster of boxes where it had been hiding, streaking up into the air.
“Boost,”Krystancalled.I dropped to one knee. She ran the few steps before stepping on the middle of my thigh,effectively launching herself up a few extra feet to smack down the cribbefore he could getawaywith a satisfying thwack. He smashed back down into the boxes.
I spotted another cribbehindKrystan, headed straight for her head withitsjagged, dirty nailspoised to rip her to shreds. “Roll,” I yelled.
Without pause,Krystandropped into a somersaultdownonto her left shoulder asmy swordmetwiththe crib on the now clear path, slicing it in two.On contact, itshriekedin pain and rage. It’s dying call was answered by a cacophony of answering shrieks within the warehouse.The demonic swarm had set up a nest here, sleeping during the day, upside down like bats. At night they would come out and raise hell.
Krystanand I had fought the crib back when we first learned the supernatural beings were real. Those ones had been big enough to grab a full-sized adult and fly away. These cribwere considerablysmaller and had been mostly making off with small dogs. Thankfully with the curfew, most people knew to stay inside with their animals and kids, but one of thecribhad snuckinto a nursery last night. Thankfully the father was returning from the kitchen with a fresh bottle for his crying baby when he discovered the ugly demon wobbling up to his child. He had a hell of a time beating the winged demon back out the window with an oversized stuffedgiraffe andhad some nasty gouges on his arm from it. He told the police, but they said they would check it out as soon as they could. That meant sometime in the next month or two, which wasn’t good enough for the two scared dads. They vowed to pay us a boatload of money to find the nest and kill the suckers.
“I think we pissed them off,” I said, grinning atKrystan, readjusting my grip on the handle of my sword. The hilt was hot from mysweatygrip, but I easily held it. Rolling my wrist a few times, my sword swooped back and forth as ifexcited for the fight too. Adrenaline rolled through me,sharpening all my senses. Nothing like a smackdown with the crib to remind me I was alive.
Krystantook a moment to pull off her jacket and shuck it in the corner.It was another sunny day in Denver, and the warehouse trapped heat like a glass box. Krystanwas left in a red, sleeveless,crop top that clung to her breasts.Baggy, grey pants hung low on her hips over combat boots that were dripping with black blood from kicking the shit out of a crib, literally, after smackingoneto the ground withBatman.Her hair was pulled back in aponytailand every inch of flesh was glistening with sweat from the hollow of her neck to the contoured lines down her long abdomen. Her dark eyes glowed with excitement that matched my own.
“Oh no, you think?” she said, fiercely grinning as if she were having the time of her life. “Do you think we should go apologize?”
