AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lyra, it’s me. Open up!” I knew that voice.
Theia was here.
“Shit,” I whispered. I opened the small closet door in my kitchen and pulled Alek’s arm. “Shit, shit, shit. Get inside.”
“What?” he whispered back.
“She can’t see you here. Hide! Right now!”
The bewilderment on his face didn’t leave as he squeezed himself into the small closet. “Stay quiet,” I reminded him, and I shut the door.
“Lyra, are you in there?” my mother asked again with a knock. “Come on, open up!”
I quickly scanned the kitchen and living room, making sure Alek had left no signs of his visit behind.
She wouldn’t know. She wouldn’t know a thing. She had no reason to believe anyone had been here, and she definitely had no reason to believe that person was a demon.
I walked to the front door and grabbed the knob, taking a deep breath before swinging it open.
“Hi, Mom,” I said. I had to remind myself to smile. I was supposed to be happy to see her.
I definitely didn’t need to give her any more reason to hate me.
She ignored me completely as she stepped inside and immediately began surveying my apartment. “I’m in town for the night and thought I’d come check up on my lovely daughter. How are you, darling?”
I rolled my shoulders back and lifted my chin. “I’m good,” I responded. “I’m done with school now. I’ve been doing a lot of reading.”
She nodded, looking over the small stack of books on my coffee table. “Good,” she said. “Reading will keep you busy.”
I shrugged. “How are you? How’s work?”
Her heels clicked the tile floor as she walked into the kitchen. I silently prayed that she couldn’t hear how loud my heart beat in my chest.
But she didn’t pay any attention to the closet. She set her designer bag on the kitchen counter and finally turned her attention to me. “Same as usual,” she said. She always answered those questions the same way—same as usual, nothing new, boring as ever. But we both knew none of those answers were truthful. We also knew ‘work’ was a loose term for what my mother did.
Being the Goddess of Light in the realm didn’t exactly constitute a normal job.
But she didn’t talk about it. I didn’t ask.
“That’s good,” I eventually replied.
My mother stayed that way, staring at me without saying anything, for at least a minute. Her attention made me squeamish to say the least. I didn’t want her looking at me. Hell, I didn’t even want her talking to me. Her presence made me uncomfortable, even if it was in my own apartment.
My apartment that she paid for. My apartment that she controlled. Stalked with video cameras.
“You’ve been good lately,” she said. “It seems from the video feed that you hardly even leave.”
I swallowed. These conversations had a habit of going one of two ways.
“Like I said,” I started, “I’ve been doing a lot of reading.”
Her eyes blazed into mine, like a laser through dust. She had no reason not to believe me, I reminded myself. She didn’t suspect anything. “That’s good,” she said. “I knew you would finally grow out of that rebellious phase. Doctors say it’s an area of your brain.”
“What?”
She nodded and pushed herself back up from the kitchen counter. “Your brain is fully developed now,” she explained. “You won’t go making silly decisions again. You won’t go running off from me now.”
I forced myself to smile at her joking tone, but we both knew how painful those memories were. “No,” I explained. “I guess I’ve grown out of that.”
