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The first thing I notice when I walk into Rei’s hotel room is the aroma of sex clinging to the air. The second thing is Trine herself, sitting at the foot of the bed, wearing ill-fitting clothes that obviously don’t belong to her.
I don’t ask questions. It doesn’t matter how much I want to know, it’s none of my business. I can hear Misha in the bathroom as Rei closes the door softly behind himself. I sit next to Trine. She flashes me a tight smile, her eyes watery.
“Hi,“ I say. “Are you okay?“
She shrugs. “Yes. It’s just been an intense few days.“
“Are you hurt?“
She sighs. “No,“ she says. “I mean, the accident didn’t really hurt me. All it did was scare me.“
“But you got yourself committed.“
She leans her head on my shoulder, her eyelids shutting tightly, and my heart melts. I drape my arm around her shoulders and pull her close to me, resisting the urge to rest my head on hers.
“I didn’t want to hurt you three,“ she says. “I understand that me being around you is only going to hurt you. I now get what my mom was trying to do…“
“You don’t have to protect us,“ I tell her. “Your mom did what she thought was best, but your mom didn’t have us. You don’t have to push us away, Trine.“
She shakes her head, her face in her hands. I watch her, long hair falling down her shoulders. “But what if I hurt you?“ she says, her voice muffled.
“You’re not going to hurt us,“ I say. “We’re the most qualified people you know and we’re here to help you. You don’t have to do any of this by yourself.“
She moves away from me, brown eyes shining. “But what can you possibly do?“
“We weren’t successful last time, but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t stave it off for a bit. Look, I’m not saying that we’re going to be able to exorcise you completely, but we won’t let it hurt you for a bit.“
“And you’re sure it won’t hurt you?“
“If it does,“ Rei says from behind me. “We know how to handle it.“
“They’re right. Let us do our jobs,“ Misha says. He kneels down in front of her, his hand on her knees as he hands her a glass of water. “Drink. I want you to stay hydrated for this.“
“What isthis?“ she asks.
“Okay, you’re going to want to stay calm for this,“ Rei says. “We’re going to have to take some precautions that could seem excessive to you, but we don’t want you to hurt yourself. Are you okay with that?“
Her eyes widen. “Am I okay with what, exactly?“
“Your exorcism,“ I tell her. “You want to be free of this, right?“
She swallows. “Wait. Are you going to do that now?“
I nod. “Look, we need to do this anyway,“ I say, my hand on her back. She’s really warm, her hair still wet from the shower. “We might as well get it out of the way. Think of it like ripping off a bandaid.“
“Except it’s the devil?“ she asks, a smile tugging at the corner of her lip as she looks up at me.
I laugh. “I know it sounds absurd.“
“It is absurd,“ she replies, her gaze meeting mine, her brown eyes watery. “What do I have to do?“
“Just follow our instructions, and stay calm,“ I say. “I know it can be a lot, but just try to relax, okay?“
Rei walks around us, sitting on the other side of her. “There’s a pretty good chance you’re going to remember some things about your exorcism you don’t remember. Things you might not want to remember. That could make the process a little more difficult for you. If you want to stop at any point, all you have to do is let us know, but I recommend you see it through. I’ll ask Luke to bring you out of it if it seems like it’s affecting you too much.“
I expect her to ask a lot of questions. If I were her, I’d want to know everything, and I know she’s inquisitive. But I think she might be too tired to ask any questions, because she just leans on my shoulder again and sighs deeply. “Just do whatever you need to do. I trust you.“
“Okay,“ I say. “Are your clothes comfortable? Loose?“
