Darker Days

think, only reacted.

My mind sent the necessary impulses to my brain, commanding my legs to move forward, but there was no motion. Instead, something buzzed inside my head. A persistent knocking against my skull. There was a strong feeling of vertigo, then darkness. Something heavy and black, and somehow comforting, enfolded me in its embrace. The scenery dimmed and faded. The next thing I knew, I was standing on the edge of the rock wall behind Ava, heels of my sneakers teetering over the rim and head swimming like an Olympic champion. I reached for her without thought, hand covering her small mouth and fingers clamping down over her nose.

She struggled and fought to throw me off, but Sin or no Sin, she was physically just a child. As soon as her body went limp in my arms, I released her nose and let her slide carefully to the ground below.

When I glanced over at Mom, her face was pale and the look in her eyes scared me more than anything I could ever remember.

…

Like me, Mom never went anywhere without the essentials. Quartz powder, duct tape,…handcuffs.

She pulled the shiny metal cuffs from the small box under the backseat of the Mustang. “Carefully,” she said, handing them to me.

The metal was cool in my hands—a serious contrast to the warmth of Ava’s small arms. I snapped the first brace into place, and then the other, then took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching us. Thankfully the coast was clear. Even I wouldn’t be able to come up with an excuse as to why we were handcuffing a small child and stuffing her into the backseat of our car. “Good thing she stole a kid’s body, eh? Carrying her through the park would have been a bitch otherwise. Help me get her in the car?”

Once we got Ava buckled in and situated, I climbed into the passenger seat. Mom started the engine and pulled away. It only took five minutes. We were both thinking about it—the thing that had happened not once—but twice in less than an hour. Mom was just the one with the guts to say it.

“That wasn’t normal.”

“Normal.” I shuddered. “You have kind of an obsession with that word, ya know?”

She rolled her eyes.

“I thought I’d started sleepwalking again. Now, I’m not so sure. I think I’ve been—I’ve been shadowing.”

Mom didn’t even flinch. “That’s impossible.”

I tilted my head back and gnawed my bottom lip. “Were you there when the guy tried to shoot us? And then with Ava in the park? Apparently, it’s not.”

“There has to be another explanation.”

“Maybe I’m just some uber-special, super powerful hybrid kid destined to save humanity from the forces of evil. A long lost member of the Justice League!”

“I’ll go out and buy you a cape,” she said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Please try to be serious.”

I wanted to tell her my brain had overdosed on serious lately, but decided to keep it to myself. “Oh! And a mask. That’s important, too. Secret identity and all.”

“Or maybe you were just sleepwalking.”

“Then how do you explain what just happened?”

“Stress? Neither one of us saw you move.” I could tell from her voice that she didn’t believe that. How could she? Mom was nothing if not logical.

“I’ve been waking up in strange places lately. And the other night—the one you found Lukas and I on the couch? That night, I was sitting in bed, then poof. I was downstairs in the kitchen.”

She pulled up to the red light on the corner of Conclave and Main and turned to stare.

Eyes wide, Mom smacked me across the back of the head. “And you thought that was normal?”

“I’m seventeen. Teenagers do weird crap all the time. We don’t analyze. I was tired. I just figured I didn’t remember coming down the stairs.”

A few seconds of silence ticked by. The light turned green and Mom tapped the gas.

“I have something else to tell you, too.”

She gripped the wheel and sighed. “Why does that sound ominous?”

“Don’t be mad at him, but I went to see Paulson.”

“Paulson? Why on earth would you—” Lips pressed in a thin line, she growled, “Jessie, I told you to keep out of it!”

I threw up my hands in surrender. “I know! But it was the only way. I needed to find out why Meredith seems to have a bug up her ass when it comes to us. Plus, I thought he might have some ideas about the location of the box.”

“Meredith—what are you talking about?”

“Our relative Simon Darker figured out who Meredith really was when he tried to help Lukas the first time the box was opened. Only he found out too late. He and some witch—a Belfair witch— trapped her, but not before flinging the whammy that killed him. Somehow she got free, and now she’s got a serious grudge against the Darkers.” I took a deep breath.

Mom knew me too well. “And?”

“And what?”

“Did he have any ideas about the box?”

“He says it’s at the church.” I swallowed. “Which is another confession…”

“You already went to the church,” she sighed again and flicked the blinker. The car veered to the right as we turned down Gingham Avenue.

“Yeah—but we didn’t find anything. Simon says the box is safe, though. The Sins can’t touch it unless a human hands it to them willingly.”

“You’re forgetting something.”

“No, I’m not.” I protested. I’d been over the whole thing a million times in my head. There was nothing I’d missed.

“They have a human.”

I blinked. “They do?”

Mom sighed. “Meredith may be a witch, but she’s still human.”

I didn’t answer. There was nothing I could say that would gloss over that little oversight.

“Anything else—that Simon said? I’ve had enough confessions for one weekend. I’d like to get them out of the way now.”

“The only other thing he said was that we could get help.”

“Help? Dealing with Meredith or help for Lukas?”

“Both, I think?”

“I don’t suppose you know who we’re supposed to get help from?”

“Wouldn’t that just make things too easy? No challenge.”

“I’ve had enough challenge with this to last me a lifetime.”

“I second that.”

We were quiet for a few moments.

“What about the shadowing?”

Mom glanced into her rearview mirror at Ava. The kid was sitting in the back seat sulking like a pro. “I still don’t truly believe that’s what it is. Let’s forget that you’re seventeen. If you were going to start shadowing—why now? But it’s moot. Half-demon children do not inherit demonic traits. My human genetics overwrite them. For now, you tell no one. Not until we have everything figured out.”

“Not even Dad? He might be able to—”

“Especially not your father.”

I wanted to argue, but the fact that we’d just missed our turn caught my attention. “Um, did you forget how to get home?”

She glared at me from the corner of her eye. “We’re making a little pit stop.”

“Oh! Ice cream?” I hitched a thumb toward the back. “What about the Sour Puss? I don’t think she deserves any…”