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Trine
When I go back inside the apartment, the other exorcists are in the living room. Bryony is in the kitchen, getting herself water. I don’t think she needs water, I think she’s just snooping. But I can’t blame her. I would be curious about this if I was her, too.
And this is her apartment, so I can’t say shit.
Misha sits on the leg of the sofa. Rei is in the middle, his legs spread, his eyes narrow behind his dark-rimmed glasses. How many pairs of glasses can one man have? Probably not the time to ask, but he always seems to be wearing a different pair, and I wonder how he picks them up every day, considering he wears the same jacket.
I’m focusing on his clothes because I don’t want to think about how they’re perceiving me. Can they tell that I’ve just come? Can they tell that I just touched myself because I wanted to see Father Luke Salinas see me come?
Rei pushes his glasses up his nose. “Trine, we need to talk to you,” he says. “It’s important.”
Misha nods. Luke walks into the apartment behind me, leaning against the wall.
“Sit down,” Misha says.
I look at Luke, and he nods. “Do what he says,” he says. “Like Rei said, this is important.”
I do what he tells me, suddenly feeling a little exposed. I cross my arms over my chest as I sit down on the beanbag in front of the sofa, which is the least dignified spot in the entire living room.
“We were going through your stuff and we just wanted to confirm—is your mom Aura Dawes?”
My gaze darts between them. I’m more than a little worried. I really don’t want them to talk about my mom. “Yes,” I say. “That was what she wrote as.”
“I hate to say this,” Rei says. “But I think we might need to go talk to her.”
“Wait,” I say. “I thought you guys were going to do an exorcism, not talk about my mother.”
“We think it’s all connected,” Luke says from behind me. When I turn to look at him, I can see that his lips are glistening. I can feel butterflies in my stomach, but I tell myself not to worry about that. As he talks, I grow more worried, and I’m immediately distracted. “We think that…your mom seems to be involved in all this. We won’t be able to have access to information we need to have, and we can do an exorcism, but we don’t know how long it’s going to be useful for.”
“So you need to talk to my mom?”
“We think she’ll have more information,” Misha says. “Important information.”
I shake my head, closing my eyes tightly as I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I can’t just show up at my mom’s house,” I say. “It would be really fucking complicated. In case you guys missed the memo, I haven’t spoken to her in years.”
“I know, but she’s your only chance of making it out of this,” Rei says. “I need you to understand that we wouldn’t ask you to do this if we didn’t think you needed to.”
I close my eyes. I can’t think of anything I want less than to talk to my mother, but maybe they’re right. Maybe she didn’t abandon us, maybe she was possessed all along. I don’t know what that means for me—I don’t know how they think it’s going to help me. But I know I trust them, and I need to get rid of this. I need to be able to sleep through the night.
I don’t want to be possessed.
And what was it that the man in the dream said? The only way out is through. So I guess that’s what I’m doing. Even though I’m super fucking scared.
I guess it’s better to be scared with people than it is to do it all by yourself.
“What about Tom?” I ask.
Misha nods. “I’m not sure, but your mother is a foremost expert in this field,” he says. “Once we help you, there’s every chance we’re going to be able to help Tom. We might think of something or have more tools than we did before.”
“And we’ll be able to help you, Trine,” Rei says. “We can make your life go back to normal. It’s going to suck, but…”
“They’re right,” Luke says. “It’s going to suck. And then it will be much better.”
I blink, my gaze flitting between them. “I…can I have a little time to think about it?”
“We can leave for tonight, and come back in the morning,” Misha says, slapping his knees and getting to his feet. “If that’s what you need. We can…”
I stand up too and shake my head. “No,” I say. “Stay put. I just need to make a quick phone call. But if we go up to Jonesville, we should do it tonight. I…I think I’m going to lose my nerve if we don’t.”
