He was gone.
Erin stared where Andy had just been standing, then looked at Raya. “What did you do to him?”
Raya, her chest heaving as if she had just run a marathon, pivoted to all four corners of the library with her hair stick—or, really, what could only be called her wand—fully extended before her. “Hold on. I have to make sure there aren’t any more.”
“Any more what? There’s no one here but us!”
She faced Erin. “I think we’re okay.” Raya held the stick in her teeth as she wound up her hair into a bun again, then jammed the wand through the bun. “Erin, I think you need to sit down.”
“I don’t want to sit down! What did you do to Andy?”
“You didn’t bother to tell me Mr. New Hot Friend—”
“Andy! His name is Andy!” Erin felt close to tears.
“Fine, whatever! You didn’t bother to tell me Mr. New Hot Friend Andy was a demon!”
The room tilted around Erin. She reached out to a nearby chair to steady herself. “I didn’t think it was important! And how did you know, anyway?”
Raya put her hands on her hips. “How long have you been hanging out with supernatural creatures?”
“Supernatural? He’s just Andy. And answer the question—how did you even know he was anything out of the ordinary?”
“Sit down.” Raya steered Erin into one of the library chairs and sat across from her. “What I’m about to tell you does not leave this room. Capisce?”
“What? Okay, fine, just tell me.”
Raya gave her a long look before continuing. “Erin, I’m a witch.”
“You’re a witch?” Erin’s voice rose in volume and pitch as she spoke.
“Keep your voice down. And, yes, I am,” said Raya. “This isn’t something I want shared on the six o’clock news, all right?”
“How can you be a witch? You’re a librarian.”
Raya rolled her eyes. “You think witches go around wearing pointy hats? Can you imagine what would happen if I went public with my unusual religious beliefs? I’d be fired so fast my head would spin.”
Erin’s newest friend was a demon. Her oldest work friend was a secret witch.
Erin’s grip on reality was threatening to slip.
“But why did you zap Andy?”
“I didn’t ‘zap’ him—I banished him. And it was for your own safety!”
“He was perfectly safe!” said Erin.
“You knew he was a demon?”
“Yes, I knew!”
“You knew he was a demon and you were hanging around with him?”
“He was helping me.”
Raya scoffed and made a dismissive gesture. “Since when do demons help people?”
“This one did. He made me dinner, he helped me move my classroom, he stayed with me during my bad dreams—”
