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“But she can’t,” Malon says.
“Thank you for the contribution,” Misha says. “What can we do to stop her?”
“She doesn’t want the exorcism,” Luke says. “And she’s right. It doesn’t matter where we go, demons are always going to be able to find her.”
“So she’s going to kill herself?” Malon asks. He sounds so upset. I thought he knew everything about her, so it surprises me that he doesn’t seem to know anything about this.
“Not if there’s anything we can do about it,” Misha says.
“But there’s nothing we can do,” Luke says. “Do you think we didn’t try to talk her out of it?”
“We have to figure out how to solve the actual problem before we solve anything else,” Misha says. “She’s not going to feel like we’re going to be able to help her unless we, you know, help her.”
“Okay. How do we make demons stop chasing her?” I ask. “I’m not being rhetorical, that’s a serious question.”
“You’re serious,” Malon says.
“He’s right. We can’t address how she feels without addressing what’s happening to her first,” I say. “We need to solve the problem before we can even tackle how she feels about it.”
“But what are our options?” Luke asks. “She doesn’t want to be exorcised. Malon is the only one protecting her. And this is, like, in her blood. So…”
“Exorcise her,” Malon says.
“What?” Luke asks. “I thought you didn’t want that to happen.”
“If it’s what’s going to keep her alive, then it’s what needs to happen,” he says softly.
Luke stares at him. “What’s going to happen to you?”
Malon blanches, his gaze flitting away from Luke’s. “Doesn’t matter,” he says. “This matters more.”
“She’s not going to want you to suffer,” I tell him. “She feels guilty enough as it is.”
“I know, but…” Malon replies. “She doesn’t need to know.”
“You’re going to lie to her,” Misha says flatly. It’s not a question. He’s saying it.
“I’m a demon,” Malon says. “Lying is my bread and butter.”
“What will happen?” I ask him. I don’t really know Malon that well, I don’t know what it means to be a demon, I have no convictions about this. Not the way Luke does. I have no idea how Misha feels about him and it’s hard for me to figure out how I feel about Malon without taking both Misha and Luke into account.
Right now, this seems more important. And I think Malon is doing that from a place of concern, which surprises me. It feels like genuine empathy. Maybe we’ve always been wrong about him, and he genuinely cares about her.
The thing is, I don’t know.
I don’t know anything.
If I wasn’t so worried about Trine, I would be trying to process what that means. As it stands, I don’t have the space in my own brain to think about this. I can only focus on Trine.
“What do you think will happen to you?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” he says. “Genuinely.”
“What about the body?” Luke asks. “If you’re sent back to hell, will the person whose body you’re inhabiting go back to who they were before?”
“Probably not,” Malon says, shrugging. “I have no idea what would happen to the body. As for me, my best guess is that I would probably go back to hell.”
“I’m guessing you wouldn’t be welcomed back with open arms,” I say. “Since you sort of switched sides, right?”
