Milayna (11 page)

The parking garage is dark. I see our car. I smell damp cement and exhaust fumes.

“I’m here, Milayna,” I heard Muriel tell me.

My breathing grew faster. My heart beat so hard it hurt, and I rubbed my chest with my hand.

“Your mom is on the phone, Milayna,” Chay said quietly. I could barely hear him over the blood rushing behind my ears. “She wants to know what’s going on.”

“Has she left work?”

“No.”

“Tell her to call a cab. Don’t go into the parking garage. It’s dangerous.”

Sulfur. Coughing. Hobgoblins.

“Wait! It’s not her. The vision hasn’t changed.”

The smell of sulfur is stronger. Red high heels.

“Red high heels. Tell her to look for someone wearing red high heels… and… and… red nail polish. I see her fingers. She’s holding a black notebook. “

A force jerked me forward, and I screamed. Tears pushed behind my eyes. I tried to pull away, but it squeezed my wrist so hard it was painful. I tried to jerk away. But I couldn’t. I tried, I really tried, but it was too strong. Much stronger than me. So big, too. How could we do it? How could we win against something like that? I jerked again and again, but it held me easily.

A manhole cover moved to the side. The hole is open. A gray face… horns.

“Oh, shit, it’s disgusting,” I choked.

The wood-like horns curled back from its face and were so long they almost made a perfect circle on each side of the gray demon’s head. The smell of burning flesh wafted off its skin. Smoke and ash billowed around it. Its large, jutting bottom jaw didn’t align with the top and it couldn’t get its mouth to close all the way, so saliva and remnants of its last meal dripped from its mouth. Its large, gray forehead was bare but for three circles in the center. The circles were in a line. Their sides touched but did not overlap. A line with a slight curve extended from the center of the middle circle. It almost looked like the picture of a cherry on a Vegas slot machine.

Its unblinking, black eyes stared at me. A reflection bounced back to me. But it wasn’t me I saw reflected in its eyes. It was the woman in the parking garage. Her face was twisted in pain and horror. Her mouth was open as if she were trying to scream, but no sound came out.

A gray hand grabbed my other wrist and jerked me forward. I fell out of the chair, hitting the kitchen floor on all fours.

Dragging her toward the hole. The smell is unbearable—sulfur and burning flesh. Screaming. The hem of a black dress scraped across the asphalt, her knees bleeding.

“A black dress. Red high heels and red fingernails. Tell her to find that woman now!” I panted. I couldn’t catch my breath.

“She says it’s the secretary. She’s talking with her now. Has it changed?”

I couldn’t answer. A gray hand wrapped around the woman’s throat. I felt everything. Its hands burned into her skin, squeezing so hard that she couldn’t take a breath. It pulled her toward the hole.

I shook my head no.

“Take the secretary somewhere. Out for coffee or something, but take a cab,” Chay told my mother.

I couldn’t breathe. I clawed at the invisible hands clutching my throat.

“Chay, they’re here.” It was Muriel’s voice.

“Damn it!” He dropped the phone and ran out of the house.

I struggled to stay conscious. Stars floated in front of my eyes. The thing in my vision still held the woman by the neck. Her head and shoulders were in the hole.

It’s hot. The hole glows at the bottom. It squeezes harder and pulls her by the neck… down… down… down. The heat is unbearable.

And then my arms buckled, and I fell face-first on the tiled floor, gulping in air. My lungs burned. My throat felt like sandpaper, and the smell of sulfur still stung my nose.

“It’s over,” I whispered.

“Aunt Rachael, Milayna says it’s over. Okay, okay… Bye.” Muriel ended the call. She knelt down and looked at me. “Are you okay?”

I pulled myself up to a sitting position and nodded, but tears stung my eyes. “I could feel it, Muriel. It was choking her, and I could feel it. The smell of sulfur burned my nose, and I could see the, oh good Lord, I could see its face.”

“Hobgoblins?” Chay asked.

I shook my head. I hadn’t heard him come back into the house. He knelt next to me.

“Muriel, get her something to drink.” He looked at me. “Then who?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” I whispered. The tears filling my eyes fell to my cheeks. I didn’t know what the monster was I’d seen. I just knew I didn’t want to see it again. Ever. Because as sure as I knew my own name, I knew that the creature was evil. It brought death.

Chay helped me up from the floor. He glided the pads of his thumbs over my cheeks and wiped away my tears. His touch was soft, and my heart stuttered. “They’re getting bad fast.”

It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t answer. I didn’t trust my voice. Chay’s hands still cupped my cheeks. I shivered.

“Let’s get you into the living room,” he murmured. He guided me to a big, overstuffed chair. I fell onto it and gripped the fluffy throw pillows. I pulled them over me like a shield. Chay knelt on the floor in front of me. With his hands resting on my knees, he studied my face. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

I looked over Chay’s shoulder and realized we weren’t alone. In fact, there were five others in the room. Muriel was there, handing me a cold Coke. Jake and Drew were walking through the back door. Jen and Shayla stood behind Chay, their faces worried.

“How’d you guys get here so fast?”

“Muriel started the call chain,” Jen answered. “We all live in the same subdivision. Demis tend to gravitate to one another, so it doesn’t take long to get to each other’s houses.”

“What happened?” someone asked. I couldn’t tell who.

“Oh. Uh, I had a vision.” I hated that my voice quivered, though I wasn’t sure if it had to do with the vision or the fact that Chay was still touching me.

“A bad one,” Muriel added.

“Well, at least they’re gone. It wasn’t too difficult tonight.” Drew stood next to Muriel.

“Who?” No one answered me. “Who?”

“Demi-demons,” Jake answered, sitting on the beige-tiled floor next to the patio door.

“Demi-demons. In my backyard?” He nodded. “Oh.” I wasn’t sure how to respond. I wasn’t even sure why I was surprised. They’d told me what to expect.

“What’d you see in your vision?” Chay’s gaze held mine.

I shrugged a shoulder. “Probably some kind of hobgoblin like you said. I don’t know.”

Yeah, keep dreaming. There’s no way that thing was related to one of those crazy, red gnomes.

“What’d it look like?”

“Gray face, wrinkled skin. Two curling horns on its head. They looked like ram’s horns. Um, long, black fingernails.” I rubbed my neck. I could still feel it clutching me, its fingernails poking my flesh. “Black eyes.”

“It wasn’t a type of hobgoblin, Milayna. It was a demon.”

Four weeks, six days until my birthday.

The nightmares were getting worse. They kept me up most nights. I’d pace my room, waiting for something to happen. The closer my birthday drew, the more anxious everyone became. It scared me.

At six o’clock, I heard my mother moving around in the kitchen. I wandered downstairs and sat at the table, watching her make coffee.

“You look like you didn’t sleep at all last night,” she said.

“I don’t think I did.” I rubbed my hands up and down my face, inhaling the smell of the freshly brewed coffee. I’d always loved the smell. It reminded me of Saturday mornings, eating breakfast with my parents and little brother Ben. It was one of my favorite family traditions.

“You should let Doctor Preston give you something to help you sleep, Milayna.” My mom cupped my face and ran a finger over the dark purple smudge under my eye.

Doctor Preston was Jen’s father. He knew of our situation, since Jen’s mother was an angel. He’d offered to give me something to help with the nightmares. I didn’t want it.

“I can’t, Mom. What if something happened?”

“We’d be here. Muriel and Chay are close. The others don’t live that far away. You’d be protected.” My mom kissed my cheek and squeezed my face to hers before turning to the coffee maker to pour herself a cup.

“I’m not worried about me. Well, I am, but I’m worried about everyone else. Dad said that until I turn eighteen, everyone is in danger.”

“They’ve been dealing with this a lot longer than you. They’ll be fine. Besides, you can’t help if you’re so tired that you can’t think straight. You can’t keep this up. The visions drain your strength. You need sleep to recharge.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged a shoulder and grabbed the apple-cinnamon oatmeal out of the cupboard.

“I’ll have Doctor Preston drop something by just in case you change your mind.” She looked at me over her coffee mug.

“Okay, but no slipping it in my food.” I narrowed my eyes at her and smiled.

“Me? I’d never do such a thing.” She winked at me.

“Yeah, right.” I smiled at her and stood next to the microwave waiting for it to nuke my instant bowl of oatmeal goodness.

A good night’s sleep would feel so good. Maybe I’ll try the pill. Just for one night.

***

“You look like dog shit baked in the sun,” Muriel said on the drive to school.

I turned and looked at her. “You’re so lucky you’re driving. I might have hit you for that comment. Besides, you sound like my mother. You two are so great for my self-esteem. If I didn’t have any issues with my physical appearance—and who doesn’t, by the way?—I sure do now.”

Muriel smiled at me. “You’re beautiful. You just refuse to see it because you’re incredibly humble.” I snorted at that. “Okay, make that half humble and half stubborn. So, you’re having nightmares, huh?”

I nodded. “Occupational hazard,” I mumbled.

“I know, right? So, do you want to go to the mall after school for some retail therapy? We could ask Jen and Shayla to come with.” Muriel stopped at a red light and looked at me. “You can buy the place out.”

“I won’t be buying it out too much since I’m officially unemployed. Except for the wicked deal I struck with my dad. He felt guilty about making me quit the bakery, so he’s paying me to do stuff around the house.” I grinned at Muriel.

“Geez, Milayna. You could sell a dentist a lifetime’s supply of candy if you tried. How do you do it?”

“I say please?” I shrugged. “Anyway, what about Lily?”

Muriel made a face. “She has to work.” I waited for the rest of the story, but she didn’t give it up.

I poked her thigh with a pencil. “What’s with the look?”

“What look?” Muriel didn’t look at me.

“When I asked about Lily, you made a face. What’s going on?” I braced my ring finger against my thumb and put it near the side of her ear. “I’ll flick your ear if you don’t tell me, woman!”

Muriel raised her shoulder to protect her ear. “Okay, okay. She’s just been weird lately.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know—she’s just been weird.” Muriel shrugged. “Kind of standoffish.”

“Well, we should ask her anyway so she doesn’t feel left out. Even if she has been weird, the group needs to work together and we can’t do that if we aren’t getting along. So let’s be the bigger people and invite her.” I sat back in my seat.

Muriel made another face and glanced at me, “We all know she’s the bigger person.” She cupped her hand under her chest and raised an eyebrow.

I looked at her for a few beats before I burst out laughing. Muriel and I laughed for half of the short drive to school.

Muriel pulled into a parking space and threw the car into park. “Ugh. I really wanna go home and go back to bed.”

“Pssh, I hear that.” I pushed my door open, forcing myself out of the car and into the school building.

We got to our lockers. Pulling out my two-ton chemistry book, I shoved it into my messenger bag. I started to turn to go to class but stopped, picking at the chipping blue paint on Muriel’s locker door. The skin between her eyebrows was furrowed, and her face strained.

“Muriel?” She glanced at me and smiled. “If there was something wrong, you’d tell me, right? Because not telling me everything didn’t work out so great last time, remember?”

“Yeah, I’d tell you,” she said quietly. And for the first time since we were kids, I knew she was lying to me. I wondered if that was what my dad meant when he said I’d be able to feel the thoughts of other people. But that was humans. Did it work on DAs, too?

“Okay. See you in calc.” I hoofed it toward chemistry. I felt a little flutter in my stomach. Chay would be there. I wasn’t sure if the flutter was because I was looking forward to seeing him or because I dreaded it.

I walked into the room. His chair was empty. I felt a twinge of disappointment.

“Geez, you’re slower than an old woman. Move already,” he said so close to my ear that my hair fluttered from his breath.

I looked over my shoulder. “Were you following me?”

“Yes. You can’t be alone. That means walking to and from classes.” We walked to our table and sat down.

“Do you follow me to every class?” I asked, perturbed. I didn’t like him stalking around in the shadows, following me all day.

“Not every class. Sometimes Jake watches you, sometimes Jen or Muriel. It depends on whose class is closest to yours.” He shrugged and threw his bag on the table.

“I don’t like being followed,” I grumbled.

“Well, get used to it, princess,” he said. “You have your very own version of the DA Secret Service.” I glanced at him. He winked, and my heart did a somersault.

I decided that the flutter in my stomach at the thought of seeing him was most definitely dread. He was so infuriating. How could it be anything else?

“You really need to get some sleep. You look like—”

“Don’t say it.” I glared at him. He smiled, and my damn stomach did the little fluttering thing again.

***

Muriel and I were sitting in our usual spot at lunch. We were laughing at something that happened in calculus when a tray slammed on the table next to me. I jumped and looked up.

“Oh, it’s you.” I continued spreading peanut butter on my apple slice. “Don’t you have someone else to bug?”

“Nope. I cleared my calendar just for you,” Chay murmured.

“Gee, I feel so flattered. Wait, flattered isn’t the word… um… irritated. Yeah. That’s the word. Go away, Chay. We can’t make fun of you if you’re sitting next to us.” I narrowed my eyes at him. Muriel laughed.

“Nope. The others will be here soon, too. So plaster on your pretty smile and try to act friendly for a change.”

“Act friendly? I am friendly. You’re the one who walks around with a scowl on his face, grumbling all day.”

He smiled at me. “Better?” he asked. I couldn’t answer. The fluttering in my stomach was moving up my throat.

Geez, he has a great smile. Plump lips, but not so much that they’re feminine, over straight, white teeth. Why does he have to open his mouth and ruin it?

“I guess it’ll have to do,” I said and turned my back to him. Maybe if I didn’t look at him, I could forget he was sitting right next to me. But he was so close I could feel his body heat, and every time he moved, I got a whiff of his cologne. There was no ignoring Chay. He had a presence about him. When he was near me, every nerve tingled, and I hated every single second of it. Right? “So,” he said, “I hear we’re all going to the mall after school.”

I swung my gaze between him and Muriel. Chay grinned, and Muriel gave me her
I’m-so-sorry-please-don’t-hate-me
look. “He invited himself. What could I do?”

“Of course he did.” I gave Muriel my best
I’m-gonna-kill-you-later
glare.

***

I watched the black hands on the clock hanging over the classroom door. It was the last class of the day. As the minute hand moved closer to three o’clock, another butterfly threatened mutiny in my stomach.

The mall. Why does he have to go to the mall? Guys don’t even like the mall—do they?

I dreaded it, and I hated that I cared he was going at all. I didn’t like Chay. At least, that was what I kept telling myself. He was irritating and commanding, and I wasn’t into guys like him.

So why is he all I can think about? Jake hasn’t even crossed my mind all day, but he’s the kind of guy I’m into. Right? I think.

The final bell rang. I grabbed my stuff and cursed.

How can I have retail therapy with Chay there? This was supposed to be Muriel and me. Girls’ day. Trying on ridiculously expensive clothes and every pair of shoes in the store. Stuff no guy, especially Chay, wants to do. I want to stomp my feet and scream. No wonder little kids have tantrums. I think one would actually feel good right now. Huh.

I walked slowly to my locker, wondering who was following me. The second I turned, I spotted his eyes and watched as a slow grin slid across his face. I sighed.

I got to my locker and threw my crap inside, slamming the door. He stood on the other side, his hip leaning against the lockers. He looked completely relaxed, while I had butterflies the size of softballs bouncing around in the pit of my belly.

“Let’s go.” He pushed off the lockers.

“Wait. Where’s Muriel?”

“Outside.”

I followed Chay to the parking lot and stared in disgust at what I found. Muriel’s car was full. Drew was sitting in the front seat next to her. Jen and Shayla were crunched in the backseat with Jeff. Steven and Jake were at football practice and Lily was working, so I couldn’t hitch a ride with any of them.

I looked slowly to my left. Chay held his car door open for me with a raised eyebrow. “Are you going to stand there all day or are we gonna get the torture over with?”

“Which particular torture are you referring to?” I walked slowly to his car.

“The mall. What else?”

Uh, how ‘bout having to ride with you?

I slipped in the passenger’s seat. He shut the car door and walked around the front end toward the driver’s side, twirling his keys around his finger. I looked for an escape route, but Muriel had already pulled out of the parking lot. I was stuck with Chay.

You are so gonna pay for this, Muriel
.

He was quiet on the way to the mall. The only sound was the hum of his car’s engine and the frantic beating of my heart. We’d just pulled into the parking lot when he looked at me.

“Your name’s really pretty.”

“Oh… um, thanks.” I looked at him for the first time since leaving the school and gave him a small smile. He had an odd look on his face. “Your name is… different.”

“Yeah.”

“I mean it’s unique,” I said quickly.

“I know what you meant, Milayna.” One side of his mouth lifted in an amused grin. He reached out and gently tugged on a piece of my hair before sliding it behind my ear. It sent shivers down to my toes.