Milayna (21 page)

Three weeks, six days until my birthday.

I bolted upright in bed, covered in a cold, clammy sweat that made my pajamas stick to my skin. When I started to climb out of bed, my cell phone vibrated, skidding across the nightstand. I caught it just as it fell from the table.

I looked at the screen and smiled, pushing the button to read his text.

Chay: Are you okay?

“Yes,” I said as I punched in the letters and hit send.

Chay: Then why are you awake?

Me: Why are you?

Chay: Nightmare, huh?

Me: Yes.

Chay: You wanna talk?

I surprised myself when I answered yes, almost dropping my phone when it rang seconds later. I answered before it woke my parents.

“It’s three o’clock in the morning, Chay. I thought you meant text, not actually talk on the phone,” I whispered.

“But then I wouldn’t hear your voice,” he said simply. My insides melted into goo.

“Um.” I had no idea what to say to that. “Why do you want to hear my voice?”

“I like it.” His voice melted over me, relaxing muscles I hadn’t realized were tensed.

I sighed and looked at the ceiling. “That’s not an answer.”

“Yes it is.”

“Okay. Fine.” There was no use in prodding for more information. He probably wouldn’t give it, and I’d probably end up saying something embarrassing.

“Can I pick you up tomorrow?”

“Yes.” I picked at the edge of my blanket. “I was hoping you would.”

“Hmm, that makes two of us. Goodnight, Milayna.”

Oh, wow. Really? I like that. A lot.

“Goodnight.”

I clicked off the phone. “Yeah. Like I’m going to sleep now,” I grumbled and got out of bed, wandering downstairs to the kitchen. I looked out of the window over the kitchen sink. Every few minutes, I was certain I saw a little red menace running through the moonlight.

Grabbing the ice cream and a word search, I sat down at the kitchen table. I was half done with the word search and completely full of ice cream when my cell rang. Jumping, I snatched it up. “Chay, stop calling. You’re gonna wake my parents.”

“Sorry. How long have they been out there?”

I didn’t bother asking who he was talking about. “I’ve been watching them for about an hour.”

“Why didn’t you call?”

“Because they aren’t doing anything except pulling up my mom’s plants and running through the yard. Besides, they can be entertaining… until I think of what they are.”

His low laughter made me smile. “Yeah. Too bad all demons aren’t like them.”

We fell into an easy silence. I couldn’t hear him on the other end of the phone. I’d just decided he’d fallen asleep when he spoke.

“I really am sorry, Milayna.”

“I know.”

“I shouldn’t have… it wasn’t your fault.”

“You don’t have to keep apologizing. You were upset. It’s okay, really.”

He let out an unsteady breath. “I’m… what are you doing for your birthday?”

What was supposed to come after the ‘I’m?’

“Apparently, I’m going to be fed to the hounds of Hell on my birthday,” I said, only half joking.

“That’s not going to happen,” he murmured. “So, after the official time of your birth and all this is behind you, what do you have planned?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think I have any real plans.” I pushed the word search away.

“What about your parents?” I could hear Chay moving in bed, the blankets shuffling, and butterflies started darting through my chest. I tried hard, really hard not to think of him in bed. I really did. It didn’t work. “Milayna?”

Crap… What? Oh, right. Birthday. Focus.

“We’ll probably have dinner with family, but that’s it. Unless you know something I don’t.”

Please, not a surprise party. I just want to forget about this birthday.

“No, I don’t know anything.” He didn’t sound like he was hiding anything.

“Really? Because even though I don’t think they would, I can’t put it past my parents not to throw a surprise party. And I’m just not up for it. I just want this birthday over so I can forget about it. So if you know something, tell me so I can prepare myself.” I stood and wandered through the house.

“Geez, you’re a real party animal.” He laughed. “I don’t know anything. I swear. I have a feeling your parents want your eighteenth birthday to be over and done with as much as you do. So if this whole
hounds of Hell
thing doesn’t work out, you want to go out to dinner with me?”

Right then, my toes curled and my heart did a cartwheel. “Yes. I think I do.”

A date. He asked me on a date! Not… I think I do. I do. I really do.
“Good, it’s a date.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

I looked out of the window overlooking the front lawn. I could see Muriel’s house across the street. “Muriel’s car is gone. I know it was there when I went to bed.”

“Any visions today?”

I thought back over my day. I didn’t have any major visions; those were hard to forget. But I hadn’t had any minor flashes either. “No.”

“Not even now? With the hobgoblins running around?”

“Ugh, those pipsqueaks. But no.” I wrapped my shirtsleeve around my fingers and stared at the empty space where Muriel’s car should’ve been.

“Then it’s probably fine. Doesn’t your uncle go into work early? Maybe he took her car,” Chay said.

I sighed. “Probably.” Then my heart sank. “Their kitchen light just came on. He hasn’t left yet.”

Chay was silent. It stretched between us. I knew what he was thinking. I was thinking it, too. Lily had switched sides. It wasn’t beyond any of us to get sucked in by Azazel’s lies.

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” His tone was flat, expressionless.

“No, you’re not.”

“You’re right. I’m not. Remember, Milayna, we don’t know who we can trust.”

“What do you mean ‘
we’
? Before, you told me I didn’t know who
I
could trust.”

“You can trust me,” he said quietly.

Isn’t that something a person I couldn’t trust would say?

***

“Where were you last night?” I asked Muriel in calculus. “I looked out of the window at four this morning and your car was gone.” I pulled my calculus book from my messenger bag.

“Spying on me?”

“No, I couldn’t sleep and was walking through the house. I happened to look out of the window and noticed it missing.”

“I had to babysit for the Jenkins’ kids. The mom works nights, gets home around five.” It made sense. Muriel babysat the Jenkins’ kids a lot. But I couldn’t shake the feeling she was lying. “I didn’t know I needed to punch a time clock. You can check with my parents if you want.” She tapped her pencil on her book.

I glanced up from my homework and turned to her. “Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know, Milayna. Why would you?” She arched a brow.

“I wasn’t trying to be nosy, Muriel. I was worried.”

She sighed and tossed her pencil on her book. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get bitchy. I’m just keyed up with everything going on.”

“I know. Everyone is.”

Class started, and Muriel and I fell silent. The teacher was babbling when I texted Muriel.

Me: Who follows me after calculus?

Muriel: What do you mean?

Me: Chay told me someone from the group is always around between classes. You and I have different classes next period, so do Chay and I. So who follows me to history? I don’t see Jen until I get to class, so it isn’t her.

Muriel: Chay.

I read her text and leaned back in my chair. Doubt bombarded me like a Kamikaze pilot. Why hadn’t he told me he followed me after calculus? Why didn’t he just walk with me to class?

When the torture of calculus was over, I gathered my things and told Muriel I’d see her at lunch. I was halfway to my next class when I turned and leaned against a locker. I saw him instantly, trailing six or seven people behind me.

“Don’t you want to carry my books?” I called. When he was closer, I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me it was you?”

“I was going to—”

“Really?” I crossed my arms.

“After Saturday, I wanted to tell you. I mean, I wanted to walk with you, not seven people behind. But then Saturday night happened and you were so angry with me, I decided it wasn’t the best time to bring it up.”

“Hmm.” I tapped my finger on my lower lip. “What about yesterday when you drove me to school? What about this morning when we were on the phone?”

“Okay, I know this is going to sound bad, but it’s the truth. I was going to tell you today. I follow you to all your classes. I always have. Even when you’re walking with Jen or Shayla. And I planned to tell you today because I don’t want to follow you. I want to walk next to you and hold your hand like Saturday at the movie and, yes, carry your books for you.” He leaned his shoulder against the locker next to me. We were so close that we brushed against each other.

“And I should believe you?”

“Well… yeah.” He looked shocked that I wouldn’t.

“Okay, fine.”

“You believe me? That easily after all the warnings I’ve given you?”

“Yes.” I pushed off the locker.

“Why?”

“Because my books are heavy. It will be nice not having to lug them from class to class.”

Chay laughed and took my bag from me. “So do I get to hold your hand?”

“Let’s see how the book thing works out first. Then I’ll let you know.”

He chuckled, a low rumbling deep in his chest that warmed me to the core, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Oh, I’m such a goner. He is so gonna break my heart.

After history was over, I walked into the hallway and turned left toward my next class. I jumped when I came face-to-face with Chay, who leaned against the wall next to the door.

“Hi. Give them to me.”

“Hi back.” I handed him my books, and we walked to my next class. When I sat down in my seat, he hooked the bag over the back. His hand grazed my back and arm as he walked away, leaving goose bumps on my skin and a fluttering deep in my belly.

“See you after class,” he murmured.

I smiled as he walked away.

“What’s going on?” Shayla asked with a crooked grin.

“Oh, he’s just walking me to and from classes. You know, I’m not supposed to be alone and all that crap.”

“Mm-hmm.” She winked at me.

And I’m pretty sure it has something to do with me falling hard for Chay.

***

The first one came at lunch. It started the same as always, but it wasn’t a bad one. Only Chay knew I was having it. I looked down at my plate so no one else could see my face. Chay reached for my hand, giving it a small squeeze.

Gray hands. Person in a black hoodie.

Just as quick as it came, it left, leaving me with an uncomfortable feeling that someone was making deals with the other side.

I concentrated on the image, trying to see who was in the black hoodie. Whoever it was, they’d just shaken hands with a demon. The last time I had a similar vision was when Lily jumped sides. I looked around the table. No one was wearing a black hoodie. Then it hit me.

Muriel is wearing black. Was it a hoodie?

“Where’s Muriel?”

It was unlike her not to tell me when she wasn’t going to be at lunch, when she was going to babysit, or when we weren’t going to drive to school together. And not only was she not telling me things, we didn’t talk as often. We always talked every day, usually more than once, and we always texted each other. But I couldn’t remember the last time we talked on the phone, and she rarely texted me.

Stop it! She would not turn.

“I don’t know,” Drew answered. “She didn’t mention missing lunch.”