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"O, ye of little faith," Theo said, digging in his pocket and coming up with a familiar set of keys. "Vanessa agreed to carpool with Raheem for a couple days."
I raised my eyebrows as I rose to my feet. "I'm surprised he agreed to it."
"I made her promise to minimize her trash radius," Theo said, putting an arm around my shoulders. "Think Julian likes pastries?"
I wrinkled my nose. "He seems more like a beef jerky kind of guy."
"Good," Theo said. "I got both."
When we got to the car—which Theo had, thankfully, cleared of Vanessa's usual abundance of soda cans and candy wrappers, not to mention all the debris from our cross-country drive the day before—I saw that he had gotten way, way more than both. "This is all for Julian?" I asked, surveying the bags of food in the backseat.
Theo shrugged. "I figured he hasn't grocery shopped in a few decades," he said. "Thought I'd be helpful."
A burst of affection, warm and bright, brought sudden tears to my eyes. I knotted my arms around Theo's waist and squeezed. "You're so nice," I mumbled into his chest.
"It's purely selfish," he assured me, planting a kiss on the top of my head. "I'm very hungry."
We drove to Luca's, the normalcy of the busy streets creating a chasm of dissonance in my head that was enough to make me feel slightly ill. "You just went to the grocery store on the way to going demon hunting," I said. "What has our life turned into?"
Theo shook his head. "You got me, unicorn."
When Julian answered the door, I almost didn't recognize him. "Good morning," he said. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes," I said. "For at least fifteen hours. It was great." Through the open door, I could smell something cooking, rich and savory. Though I had eaten plenty of pastry, my mouth watered.
"Nice shirt," Theo said, as we stepped inside.
Julian glanced down. Luca's navy cashmere sweater was stretched tight against his broad chest, and although the sleeves were strained against his biceps, they were an inch too long. "Thank you," he said, looking slightly bemused.
I held up the grocery bags. "We brought you food," I said. "Or Theo did, actually."
A smile curved Julian's lips. "Oh, wonderful," he said. "I just ran out of potatoes, so I was starting to wonder what I might do about shopping."
Something in his tone told me he was humoring Theo a little, but Theo, brightening, didn't seem to notice. "No problem," he said. He set the bags on the table. "What are you making?"
Julian nodded at the counter, and to my astonishment, I saw the cookbook in which Lilin had been trapped. "Soup," he said.
I tried not to flinch at the sight of the five-hundred-year-old artifact propped against Luca's cutting board, but Lilin didn't react. She didn't seem to be paying attention.
"How are the chickens?" Theo added.
"Asleep," Julian said, pointing toward the bedroom.
I pictured the chickens, nestled on Luca's eight-hundred-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets, and laughed. "Luca will love that."
"More importantly," Julian said, nodding at me as he pulled a pastry out of a paper bag, "how are you?"
I shrugged. "Rested, at least.”
He raised his eyebrows. "And Lilin?"
I felt for her. She was still small, curled in a corner of my brain. "She’s…quiet."
I'm thinking, Lilin said irritably. I can hear you.
"She's thinking," I amended.
"What do demons think about?" Theo mused.
