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Aura shakes her head. “So what do you expect us to do now?“
My gaze flits between her and Trine, my heart dropping in my chest.“Honestly, if I were you, I’d run.“
TRINE
“Run where?“ my mom says. “Aren’t demons just going to be able to infiltrate our sleep, get to us before there’s anything either one of us can do?“
“Maybe, yes,“ Malon replies. “But it might take them a little bit of time to find you, especially if you go into hiding.“
“We’re not going into hiding,“ I say. “That’s insane.“
“Is it?“ Misha says. I didn’t expect Misha to agree with Malon, so I’m a little concerned when I pick up my head to see the worry written all over his face. Misha is always pretty even keeled, so seeing him like this isn’t putting me at ease.
I don’t want to believe what Malon is saying is true. There are still plenty of things I don’t understand about this; how he can exist out here and also in my brain, how he’s been following me everywhere, why he’s warning me in the first place.
I’m pretty sure that, if it wasn’t for my mom, I wouldn’t be targeted by the demons at all. I know it’s not her fault, I just wish she had warned me about this earlier.
“I don’t like agreeing with him, but I think he might be right,“ Misha continues. “I think it might be best if we keep our heads down and try to run.“
“Run where, Misha?“ Rei asks. “They’re right. That’s only going to stop things for a bit, and as soon as Trine goes to sleep they’re going to find out where we are. What do you think this is going to help?“
“I think it’s going to buy us time,“ Misha replies.
Luke sighs. “Not long,“ he says. “I hate to agree with them, but I think he’s right. I think it’s pointless to run. We’re clearly running out of time.“
“What do you mean ‘clearly?’“ Misha says.
“I mean, it just rainedfish,“ Luke replies. “Things are going to get worse before they get better…“
“Wait,“ I say. “Mal, what can we do? How can we stop this?“
“You can’t stop it. This is bigger than you.“
“But if you’re right, then that means people will die, right?“ I ask.
“Yes,“ Malon says. He starts to get up, but Misha pushes him down, his hand on Malon’s shoulder. “There’s nothing you can do about that. You just need to protect yourself.“
“I can’t protect myself if it’s at the expense of all of these other people,“ I say. “What about Tom Souter?“
“It’s going to get worse,“ Malon replies. “They’re not going to let up; they’re going to try to get as many people as they can, and the best way to do it is with creative conduits.“
“So we’ll need to exorcise them all,“ I say.
Luke’s gaze darts between Malon and me. “How?“ he asks. “There’s no way we can exorcise everyone. We have a very specialized team here. There aren’t trios of exorcists going around to every city.“
“Right, I know that,“ I say. This is the first time Luke has ever spoken down to me. I want to call him out on it, but it doesn’t seem like the time. “But shouldn’t we help the people we can?“
“We can help you,“ Misha says.
“Not if your idea of help is running,“ I reply, suddenly getting to my feet so I can square up to him. “I don’t run, and I don’t lose.“
“She’s right,“ my mom says. “If what Malon says is true, then the best thing for us to do is stay in this house for as long as we can.“
“No, it isn’t,“ Malon says. “They’re just going to keep coming for you.“
“Regardless of where we are,“ I say. “So we can just hole up here until the worst passes, and then…I don’t know, then we can decide what to do. We can’t just leave everyone else unprotected.“
“It’ll just get worse from here,“ Malon says.
