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The clock on the dash read 3:33. My stomach bottomed out.
“It came from downstairs. I think it’s here,” Axel said. “We moved the bed. What now?”
“Use the salt to draw a circle around it. Do not leave any gaps. Make one full circle and then go around again to make the line thicker. Mom and Dad, you get on the bed.”
“How far away are you?” Axel asked.
“Five minutes,” Dastien said. “Maybe less. She’s driving as fast as she can.”
My hands sweat as I gripped the steering wheel. I was already doing 80 in a 35 and I’d go faster if I thought I could handle the turns without killing us all.
“What’s that smell?” Mom’s voice confirmed my fears. “Oh my God. What’s that smell?”
Shit. I was too late. “Axel. Are you done?”
“Not yet.”
“Finish it. Now. Then get on the bed.”
“Okay. Okay. Just need one more second. I’ve got one circle, but it’s super thin. Going around—”
“There’s no time. That smell is the demon. You better be drawing that circle from inside!”
Mom’s whining scream sent chills down my spine.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. No more.”
The line went dead.
“Whose voice was that?” My voice sounded too airy, even to my ears.
“Stay calm. I’ll call again,” Dastien said.
This time, the call went straight to voicemail.
We hit a straightaway and I gave the car more gas. Whatever the speed limit was supposed to be now, I didn’t care. My family was on the line. They didn’t have magic. They had no weapons. And they couldn’t heal like I could.
If something happened to them…
Dastien called Axel over and over again, and the sound of his voicemail message echoed in my ears.
It took forever to get there.
I screeched into the driveway, threw the car in park, and jumped out. Donovan and his group weren’t far behind us.
Dastien moved fast, tossing me my bag of vials as we ran into my house. The door hung off the top hinge and the screen was shredded.
Mom’s prayers carried down the stairs and I took my first breath in what felt like hours…
Then I heard the hissing.
I climbed the stairs three at a time, only slowing before hitting my parents’ room. Clutching a vial, I was ready to throw as I stepped to the doorframe.
And froze.
Mom, Dad, and Axel huddled in the center of the bed, watching a figure slam itself into the salt circle. Mom was clutching an icon and rosary in one hand and throwing holy water from a small container at it with the other.
The demon ran at them again, and then bounced back, like it was hitting a wall.
