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He let out a snort, shifting behind me to face the other way, and tugged the sheet up over his shoulder. His last words were muffled as he buried his face in the pillow.
"I can't believe I got turned on by that."
29
For the first time in a week, my subconscious just shut the hell up. I slept dreamlessly, waking only when I heard the loud clatter of something hitting the tile floor in the bathroom.
"Ow! Shit."
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. "S'going on?"
"Teddy dropped the hair dryer," Luca said, not looking up from his phone.
I pulled my legs out from under his and glared at him. "You can't call him that," I said, at the same moment Theo stuck his head out of the bathroom and said, "You can't call me that."
Luca glanced at me. "Scusami."
I rolled my eyes. "You're not sorry at all," I said.
"No," he replied. "Are you getting up? It's very late."
I reached for my phone. It was almost two in the afternoon. "I wasn't aware that demons had deadlines," I said, pushing aside the blankets and standing up.
Luca raised an eyebrow. "I assumed you would want this resolved as expediently as possible."
"I do," I said, pulling a sweatshirt over my head, "but I can't be exorcised on an empty stomach." I yanked the shirt into place and rummaged in my bag for my hairbrush. Finding it, I headed into the tiny bathroom.
"She has a point," Theo said, around a mouthful of toothpaste. He bent to spit. "You think possession is bad. You haven't seen her hangry."
I jabbed him in the ribs with the hairbrush. "Too soon."
"You didn't sleepwalk last night," Theo pointed out.
"Doesn't mean she's gone," I said, indicating my eyes.
He sighed and zipped up his bag. "I know," he said, the humor draining from his voice. "I'll get your stuff. Let's go."
The drive back to Julian's was silent, the atmosphere in the car heavy and grim. Even the bright afternoon sun couldn't illuminate the darkness that hung over me. As we drew closer to the cabin, my mood grew increasingly bleak.
"Maybe she'll just leave," Theo said, out of nowhere.
I glanced over at him, startled. "What?"
Theo shrugged. "I mean, I don't know," he said. "She clearly doesn't want to be in you, otherwise why would she keep trying to—" He stopped and swallowed hard. "Well, you know."
"She can't," Luca said flatly.
I leaned forward between the front seats. "What do you mean, she can't?" I said sharply. "You said yourself that you invited Abigor in. That means he could leave if he wanted to, doesn't it?"
"You forget," Luca said. "Olryg."
Theo scowled. "So a big demon murders a little demon. That shouldn't have anything to do with us."
Luca's laugh was cold, derisive. "You think the wrath of an archdemon is irrelevant? Do you have any idea what happened the last time he was summoned?"
I thought of Vanessa, her eyes wide, her freckles standing out against her pale skin. Noladets. Cursed. He'd burned the entire village to the ground.
"But then how do we get her out?" I asked, feeling slightly desperate. "Can we—I don't know. Can we put her back in the book?"
