Darker Days

I managed to stumble upright and stuffed the key ring into my back pocket. “I couldn’t sleep. Lukas was awake. I guess we fell asleep talking.”

Without taking her eyes from me, she said, “Lukas, do you mind giving us a moment?”

Ah, craps. I knew that tone. The demon crap was about to hit the fan.

With a quick nod, Lukas scurried from the room. He got to the doorway and looked back once with a frown before disappearing around the corner.

Mom stepped around the couch and came to stand in front of me. “Would it be redundant for me to ask what the hell you’re thinking?”

I forced a smile. “That’s a dumb question. I don’t think, remember?”

“Jessie—”

“Seriously. This wasn’t anything. I couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t sleep.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You looked pretty sleepy to me.”

“It really wasn’t what it looked like, you know. I felt bad for the guy. Trust me, it was painful. He’s seriously annoying. Likes to insult me every chance he gets.”

“So annoying that you curled up on the couch with him?”

I rolled my eyes. “I was on the other end of the couch. It was probably the teddy bear syndrome.”

Eyes wide, she asked, “The what?” I’d stumped her with that one.

“Don’t give me that look! You know exactly what I mean. You fall asleep on a plane or in a car or something, and end up with your head on some stranger’s shoulder. Just habit.”

She opened her mouth, probably to tell me I looked as full of crap as I felt, but the phone rang.

Saved! I hitched a thumb toward the stairs and shuffled to the right. “I’m just gonna go get ready for school.”

“That sounds like a great plan,” she said, reaching for the phone. I left her scribbling notes and went to get ready.

It took me thirty minutes to shower, dress, and gather my stuff for school. As I was getting ready to head downstairs, my phone beeped to remind me there was an English paper due sixth period. Perfect. That would give me something to do to keep from falling asleep in science. Mom had been trying to get Dubois to transfer me to honors classes, but he insisted I wasn’t bored—just lazy. When Mom pointed out my grades, he insinuated I was a cheat. The guy really hated me.

When I got back to the office, Mom was at her desk sifting through papers. I decided not to push my luck and went to find Lukas. One more late entrance and Dubois would have me scrubbing toilets. He was famous for slave labor punishments.

Halfway down the hall, my phone chirped. I pulled it from my pocket, expecting to see an I’m Sorry text from Kendra for trying to kick my ass at Flankman’s yesterday, but it was from Garrett.

Meet b4 class?

Not sure I’ll have time, I replied, and pocketed the phone.

It dinged in response almost immediately. Make time. Important.

Important? The only thing I could think of was something related to the job we’d just done for his family— Garrett and I weren’t friends. Not really. We didn’t hang in the same social circles.

I couldn’t worry about it now, though. We had sixth period math together. I could hook up with him then. I stuffed the phone back and got about three steps.

“You wanted to help, right?” Mom came up behind me waving a small pink slip of paper. Garrett and the text were forgotten. “Can you make a stop on the way to school? With everything going on with Lukas and your father, I’m starting to get backlogged—and the calls keep coming. There just isn’t enough time, and we still have bills to pay.”

“Sure,” I said, hoping for something good. I wasn’t picky. A nasty possession. Gruesome haunting. Even a rogue witch would have made me happy.

She handed me the paper. A name with an address on the edge of The Pit. “Time to make good on that promise.”

Alarm bells. Flashing neon lights and foghorns. I wanted to hand back the paper without even looking at it, but I couldn’t.

“It’ll be fast—I swear. You won’t even be late for school.”

I sighed. “What is it?”

“It’s a pet possession.”

“I kind of got that… I meant, what kind of pet?”

She flashed a smile, but said nothing. She didn’t have to. Her silence said it all.

A dog. I had a thing about dogs…

…

“So demons can possess animals?”

Lukas was fascinated when I’d told him about our little side trip. Either he was over the whole demons are the tools of Satan shtick, or he really liked dogs. Either way, his enthusiasm was funny—and a little creepy, too.

“Demons can possess anything. It makes for interesting work. Remind me to tell you about the demonic toy box! You haven’t seen freaktastic ’til you’ve seen Thomas the Train try to gnaw your leg off.”

“So I’ll get to see one? A demon?”

“You have seen one. You met my dad.”

“Like a real one. Evil.”

I rolled my eyes. Like a dog with a bone, he was. There was a better than average chance Dad would be insulted if he found out Lukas didn’t consider him a real demon. We hopped off the bus by the mall and walked the rest of the way. The house was a small blue Cape Cod with a narrow stone walkway. The lawn was a bit overgrown, and the hedges were in desperate need of a trim, but it was cute. I loved our apartment, but I’d always fantasized about the whole white picket fence thing. I’d always wanted a tire swing.

I flipped my phone to vibrate—Mom had a thing about the cell ringing in the middle of a job—and hammered on the door. A moment later, an elderly woman appeared.

“Are you from the pound?”

“The pound?”

Lukas stood tall and squared his shoulders. “We’re here to slay your dem—”

I slapped my hand over his mouth.

A man stepped up behind her. “Yeah, Mom. These are the animal control people. I called them, remember? About Mr. Winkie? He’s very sick…”

Mr. Winkie? Mom had assigned me to exorcize a demon named Mr. Winkie? That was just insulting…

The old woman frowned, then nodded and smoothed a hand over her snow-white hair. She held the door open, expression sad, and said, “Oh, yes. Please see that he doesn’t suffer? He was my husband’s dog…”

The man gently nudged the old woman aside and waved us in. “Thank you for coming so quickly. My father’s dog is—we think it has—rabies.” The man gave me several awkward winks that I guessed were code for My mother doesn’t know the doggie is possessed, can we keep it that way?

I took the hint and glanced over at the woman. “I’m so sorry about your dog. We’ll make sure he doesn’t feel a thing.”

She nodded and hobbled from the hall into the kitchen.

“My cousin suggested I call you. She said you helped her once with—” he swallowed and leaned forward, peanut butter laced breath puffing out across my face, “—a ghost.”

Since we obviously didn’t advertise our supernatural cases, most of our Otherworlder clients came to us through referral. Luckily, my family had been doing this a long time so there was no shortage of them—which was a good thing.

“Where is—” I took a deep breath and forced the words out, “Mr. Winkie?”