Reign Check

Had I been wrong to break up with Michael? Should I have been braver and continued my — up until now — silent revolution against stupid and ridiculous rules?

I sighed. If I was only risking myself, then maybe. But my decision affected Michael as well. I’d already seen firsthand what the punishment for a Shadow could be. When my aunt Elizabeth took away Michael’s amulet, he’d nearly died, nearly faded away to nothing. I knew it hurt him badly, too. I didn’t want to cause him any pain, now or in the future. Not because of me.

This still hurt. Just in a different way.

Stupid rules.

And I was at the mercy of some demon council I’d never met before. I didn’t ever want to meet them. They sounded horrible.

But they hadn’t met me, either. So how were they supposed to know what to make of this prophecy? They didn’t know I was the kind of girl who read the directions when I microwaved popcorn. I followed the recipe exactly to make chocolate-chip cookies. I didn’t do anything at school to get sent to the principal’s office — not counting the classes I’d skipped today. At my last school I was so well behaved that other students called me a goody- goody.

Now this goody-goody was prophesied to destroy … destroy what, exactly? The prophecy sounded pretty vague to me. Destroy everything? Everyone? And how exactly was I supposed to do that?

I mean, the dark worlds were the Shadowlands, the Underworld, and, hello? Hell itself. I’d seen lots of movies about Hell, and it was full of brimstone and fire andI shuddered.

Destroy that. Me.

The whole thing, including what had happened with Michael, made me feel sick to my stomach.

I needed to buy something, maybe. Possibly something made of chocolate. It might help me feel better. More normal. More human.

From the gateway, by the Starbucks where it had been earlier, I walked fifteen minutes to get to the Erin Heights Town Center, a big shopping mall. By a glance at the big clock tower in the middle of it, I knew school was officially out for the day. I didn’t have much money — only about five dollars — so I window-shopped to try to take my mind off things for a while, although it didn’t really work. I used my money at the convenience store to buy a Diet Coke and a Snickers bar, which sat heavily in my stomach after I ate it.

Then I walked home. It was past seven o’clock by then, and I didn’t feel any better than I had when I’d left the Shadowlands. It wasn’t until I saw my house, though, that I remembered with a sinking feeling that Mom had wanted to celebrate finishing her book. The smell of Chinese food hit me the moment I stepped through the front door.

Several open containers of the delivery food were in the kitchen.

“Mom?” I called.

“In here,” she replied from the family room.

I padded through the kitchen and along the hallway. Mom was curled up on the sofa with a half-eaten plate of fried rice and stir-fried veggies on her lap.

“I started the movie already.” She nodded at the television. “Sleepless in Seattle.”

“One of my favorites.”

“That’s why I rented it,” she said pointedly.

I cringed. “I’m sorry I’m later than I thought I’d be.”

There was silence for a moment. “Is there anything you want to tell me, Nikki?”

There was tons, actually. I wanted to tell her that I’d seen my father and he still loved her but couldn’t say anything or he’d be putting her life at risk because of stupid demon-world rules. That I had just had to break up with my boyfriend for pretty much the same reason. Oh, and that, by the way, I was half demon and sometimes sported horns and wings, and had destructive prophecies about me delivered by soothsaying dragons.

“Congrats on finishing the book,” I said instead.

“Thanks.”

“This is the vampire one?”

“Most of my books are about vampires lately. Love and fangs just seem to go together these days.”

“Oh, right.”

Maybe it would be easier if I were a vampire.

She leaned against the sofa cushions. “So how’s Melinda?”

I dug my toe into the carpet. Right, my lie about who I was with after school. Had to keep things like that straight in my head. “She’s … she’s great. Yeah, we went to the mall and looked around for a bit. She needed a new leotard for her dance lessons.”

“Did she find one?”

I continued to force the lie out even though it made me feel increasingly horrible. “She did. Hooray. Mission accomplished.”

Mom nodded. “You know, it’s really funny you say that.”

“What’s funny?”

“About you and Melinda going to the mall after school.”

“Oh?” I tensed.

She placed her plate of food in front of her on the coffee table. “Because Melinda called here two hours ago looking for you. She was concerned because you left school early and she couldn’t reach you on your cell phone. She had to wait until her ballet lesson was over, but she wanted to check on you as soon as she could.”

I gulped. Uh-oh.

“So I’m not exactly sure who you were with at the mall looking for a new dance leotard, but it wasn’t Melinda. She wasn’t even aware of these plans to go out after school with you.” She crossed her arms and looked up at me sternly. “Now do you want to tell me the truth about where you really were, or what?”

“I … I …” I searched for something to say. Why hadn’t I thought of this possibility? Well, the truth was I hadn’t been thinking too clearly earlier. If I had been, I would have remembered that Melinda always called me. And of course she would have wondered where I’d taken off to at lunch and gotten worried.

I was such a lousy friend.

“I … I was at the mall.” This was true, at least. Partially, anyway.

“With whom?”

“Myself.”

Her forehead creased, and she pulled her long dark hair around so it draped over her left shoulder. “Why did you tell me you were going out with Melinda if you weren’t?”

“I don’t know.” It sounded so weak, but I was too tired to come up with a better excuse. My brain wasn’t working, and I just didn’t want to heap on any more lies at the moment.

“You don’t know,” she repeated. “Okay. Well, I have to say I’m disappointed that you felt you needed to lie to me, Nikki. Of course you have a right to go to the mall by yourself or with a friend. But I really wanted to celebrate tonight. I was in such a great mood when I finished my book. The fact that you’d rather go to the mall by yourself than come home and spend time with me makes me feel pretty lousy.”

All of a sudden, the emotions I’d been feeling for the past several hours bubbled over and I started to cry.

“I’m sorry,” I blubbered, wiping my face. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you, really. It’s me. I’m going through some stuff right now and I can’t … I had to deal with it by myself. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you, with the food and the movie and all.”

I wished I could tell her everything, but I knew I couldn’t tell her or anyone else here what I was going through. The thought made me feel very alone.

She stood up and came over to stand in front of me, looking shocked at my impromptu sob fest. “Honey, what is going on with you?”

“Nothing.”

“This isn’t nothing.” She stroked the hair back from my face and then hugged me. “I think I know what’s really happening here.”