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I made them bring Malon in here so I suppose I should let her talk, but I don’t understand this.
This is the man–the demon–who ruined our lives. He’s the reason my mom didn’t sleep, why she was committed, why she left us. And now she’s married to him?
“I can see that you’re angry,“ my mom says. I look over my shoulder, at the walls lined with guns and rifles and swords. I wonder if I should just run. I can open the garage door from here, but then the guys would be left behind, and I still don’t have a phone.
I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here. I think I need to just stand and listen. My hands are still fists at my sides as my mom sighs, her hands on my shoulders. “I wanted to explain, but you didn’t talk to me for years,” she says. “I know you’re upset. You have every right to be upset. I wish I could’ve told you, but…I didn’t think you were going to believe me, and when I called the exorcists, I wanted them to free you of this. I didn’t think you were going to be as embedded in this as you are. When I called them, I thought there was still a chance I was going to be able to save you.”
I shake my head. “What about him?” I ask. “What does he have to do with me?”
“He doesn’t,” she replies. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. He has nothing to do with you; he just came back into my life after your dad died and he’s been trying to help me since then.”
“Okay, putting aside the fact that you hired the exorcists and you didn’t tell me–”
“You didn’t want to talk to me–”
“You’re married to a fucking demon?”
“Recovering demon,” he says. “I’m not like, a practicing demon.”
My gaze darts between them. “What the fuck doesthatmean?”
My mom clasps her hand on his shoulder. “Look, I know this might be hard for you to understand, but Ash only wants to help me,” she says. “He’s probably the reason I’m alive right now. Like you, I haven’t managed to shake off this condition. It’s manageable right now, but only because Ash is with me. He’s the one who helps me. The same way your friend helps you.”
My jaw drops open. “I’m not married to my friend,” I say. “And if I was going to get married, I would at least send you a text.”
“You blocked me…you know what, it doesn’t matter,” she says. “You’re right. I should’ve told you from the beginning, but I had no idea how I was supposed to tell you and protect you at the same time. I owe you an apology for a lot of things. I could’ve been a better mother. I do not owe you an apology for moving on with my life or finding someone I love.”
“But you knew he was a demon and you didn’t say anything,” I reply. Ash opens his mouth to talk.
“Actually, I’m a recovering…”
I glare at him. I’ve never really looked at him before. When I first arrived, it didn’t even ping my radar that my mom was married to this guy. I never questioned the fact that my mom was allowed to be happy. Ash is tall, broad-shouldered, with dark eyes and crow’s feet. Now that I’m really staring, I realize it’s hard for me to tell how old he is. I think he’s my mom’s age, but I’m not sure. “Don’t fucking say it.”
He holds his hands up by his side. “Okay,” he says. “Just thought it might be something to keep in mind.”
I still don’t know what he means and I don’t want to ask.
“Look,” he says. “Your mom has practice identifying who is a demon and who is a human. She can make her own decisions. Clearly, so can you. You wouldn’t have brought Malon into this house if you didn’t think he wanted to help.”
“I haven’t married him,” I say. “I don’t know whether I’m supposed to trust him and he hasn’t ruined my family. He hasn’t ruined anything. He’s a…he helped me.”
“Ash didn’t ruin anything,” my mom says. “Like I said, he’s the reason I’m still alive.”
“My dad isn’t,” I say.
“I had nothing to do with your dad being sick.”
“You knew he was sick, and you knew that being stressed affected his health,” I say. “And you chose this.”
“Your dad had moved on with his life, Trine,” she says. “Maybe it’s time you did the same thing.”
REI
We’re all standing around this redheaded guy who Trine says she sees in her dreams. There’s an uncomfortable silence settling between all of us, the threat of what could happen to this demon hanging over our heads.
I think Luke wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. That scares the shit out of me. I’ve never seen him be violent before, but I don’t think he would hesitate if he thought that Malon was genuinely going to hurt Trine.
I lean against the wall, next to a bookshelf that’s full of vertical and horizontal books, marble book stops flanking them to keep them together. The bookshelf is dusty, my fingertip collecting a layer of grime when I run my finger down the spine. I don’t need to read the titles on the jackets to know that these are all Aura’s books.
