“That sounds like a lot of work,” I said, glancing at Nick.
“It does sound like a lot, but I think you’re right,” Nick told Helen. “Who showed you this vision?”
“I think it was my father.” She sighed. “I can’t be sure since I don’t know who my father is.”
“When?” I asked. The sooner we got Krista back in solid form the sooner I would feel more at ease.
“That I don’t know,” Helen responded. “I would hate to get out there and find out that it can only be done at a specific time or on a specific day.” She looked at Nick.
“Don’t look at me. I haven’t had any visions on how we are supposed to get her back. Dawn, when’s your dance?”
“What?”
“Your mom said that you have a prom. When is it?” He smiled at me.
“Oh, a prom!” Helen cooed. “I wish I had gone to mine.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course, she did. And she would probably have taken Adam as her date. The heat boiled in me and I clenched my fists, pushing my urges to the back of my mind. I had to remain calm.
“I have no qualms with canceling the event,” I said, with a touch of hope in my voice.
“No, you only get to be a senior once. I don’t think Miranda has anything planned for a while,” Nick decided.
“Krista said that Miranda has Wes and John down on the border of Mexico,” I told him. “She said that Miranda was doing quite a bit of recruiting.”
A shadow passed over Nick’s face. “When did you find this out?”
“She told me last night in a dream.” I looked at them both. “Today in class our teacher told us that a girl called Noreen McDonald was found dead in the woods.”
Why had I not thought about bringing this up before?
“When were you going to tell us there was a dead student?” Nick inquired, rubbing his forehead.
“I didn’t think of it till now. Noreen and I weren’t the greatest of friends.”
“Did anything else happen today we should know about?” he demanded.
“Yeah… I was sitting in class after our teacher told us, and the room started to spin. She asked me to stay behind and started talking about how the students were going to be looking for someone to blame. Then she told me that the queen was going to get my core.” I sighed. “I became dizzy again and wound up falling to the floor. The teacher helped me up, and it was like nothing had happened.”
Nick looked at Helen, who was chewing on her bottom lip.
“It looks like we have a possession on our hands.” Nick pursed his lips and looked at me. “Demons.”
Chapter 9
The Possessed
“What do you mean, demons?” I asked, feeling like I had just been slapped in the face. I already understood that I was more demon than Helen. Still, she had the same blood in her veins that I had in mine. So why did his tone put me on edge? There was no reason for me to become offended by his expression.
“Just that. Demons. These aren’t like the Earth-walker demons, nothing like your father. These are creatures that are not allowed solid forms. They have to possess the bodies of the living to do the bidding of the summoning being. Come on,” Nick requested, walking to the back door, and going outside. Helen and I followed, both unsure of what he was planning.
“My dad said that the only way a demon can possess a body is by developing a claim on the human soul. Like what I have with Aaron,” I said, hurrying to keep up with Nick.
He stopped suddenly and turned to me. “What you have with Aaron is nothing like the claim this demon has on your teacher. You do not thirst for Aaron’s soul. In fact, you are waiting for him to break your claim so that you can set his soul free. This demon hijacked your teacher’s body. I have a feeling no claim was necessary.”
“So, what you’re saying is that her body was taken over. But she didn’t seem to remember anything after I collapsed.” I had assumed this. Of course, for all I knew she had been perfectly lucid during the whole thing. Maybe she was only pretending not to remember once the demon backed off.
“She wouldn’t,” Nick explained. “The demon takes over for the time it needs. Once it’s done, it lets go, and she’s unaware of anything having happened.” He grabbed my shoulders. “What is your teacher’s name?”
“Miss Masters,” I replied, looking at him with fear in my eyes. “What are you going to do?”
“I am going to find Miss Masters, and we are going to get that demon out of her before it drains her life source completely.”
“That’s all fine and dandy,” Helen chimed in, her hands on her hips. “However, we have to face a simple fact we have no idea who this queen is that Dawn mentioned.”
“What queen?”
“The Hybrid Queen,” I reminded him, looking at Helen. “I’ve been told now by two beings that the queen will have my core.”
“I had a run-in with a creature at my apartment,” Helen confided quietly. “It told me that the Hybrid Queen would have mine as well.”
“And neither of you thought this was something I needed to know?” Nick boomed.
“You just got here yesterday, and with all that
