The Demon's Game (21 page)

He pulled me into his arms for a hug and kissed my
forehead. “I couldn’t be mad at you for that. You don’t have to make me sweets
every day for lunch.” He let me go. “You can make me dessert at home instead.”
He walked off towards the cafeteria. I sighed, happy that I hadn’t ruined his
morning.

*          *          *

After school, Hail and I chose to walk home instead
of taking the bus. We probably should have waited for Xul, but I didn’t want
the demon to go with us. Hail was extremely excited about going swimming,
though we decided we were going to check on Drake first. The only thing that
possibly could have distracted me from going straight to Drake’s house was a
crime scene, and since there would never be a crime scene in such a small town…

I was shocked to come across yellow police tape
sectioning off the yard of a small house. Hail shrugged when I looked at him.
“Let’s see what the problem is,” I said.

Hail opened the door and a police officer was
instantly there. “You can’t come in here, boys.”

“I am Holmes, Detective Sherlock Holmes, and this is
my assistant, Watson.” I flashed my badge, which Dad gave me for my birthday,
and he sputtered. “Junior division, thank you very much. Now, what can you tell
me about the situation?” I pushed past him to survey the room.

“I don’t---”

“Watson, get this down; the suspect is a woman,” I
interrupted. Hail instantly had a little notepad and pen out and started
writing.

“Hang on, Sherlock---” the officer started.

“Watson, get this down; Sherlock Holmes disguise only
works on worlds other than Earth.”

“You’re going too fast,” Hail said, scribbling on his
pad.

“Shorthand, Watson, shorthand! This is a crime scene,
not a tea party.” I turned to the officer. “I have all the information I need.
I will call you in the morning with my full report. Thank you for your
cooperation.” He was sputtering as I left.

“So what happened?” Hail asked.

“A little girl was kidnapped by a demon.”

“How do we save her?” he asked.

My brother would never question me or my methods. “A
demon kidnapped the girl, so let’s find the only demon we know.”

“Did Zeb do this?”

“Of course not. He’s
Dad’s
demon. He wouldn’t
do anything wrong like that,” I opened the door to the apartment to find Xul on
the couch and Dylan yelling at him. “Um… bad time, Daddy?” I asked.

He glared at me and thunder cracked outside. Hail
pushed me behind him. “It was my fault! Whatever it was, Ron didn’t do it!”

“You were out there alone without telling anyone
where you were.” Dad’s quiet voice caused Hail to back up until he was pushing
me back out the door. Lightning crackled in the sky.

“But Xul could have---”

“You were out there alone without telling anyone
where you were! Go to your room!” Hail grabbed my hand and took off, keeping us
as far out of Dad’s reach as possible. Our mom was a god. Our dad was scary as
hell.

We sat in our room and did homework. When we were
done with that, we turned the page and did more work. The house was absolutely
silent until Mom got home, and apparently she picked up on the mood pretty
quickly.

At about six, Mordon walked in with two bowls of
cereal. “We seem to be missing a lot to food, so this is the best I could
manage.”

“Is Daddy gonna be mad at us forever?” I asked.
Mordon sat on my bed between my brother and me.

“No, buddy. He’s not really mad at you; he just
doesn’t know how to deal with what he feels. The principal called him at work
to tell him you two didn’t get on the bus. He came home and found Xul, and Xul
didn’t know where you were, either. You two were kidnapped
yesterday
. He
was so scared that the only way he could express it was with anger.”

“Dad is never afraid. Even the gods listen to him,”
Hail argued.

“If either of you ever got hurt, your dad’s heart
would die. He wouldn’t be able to stand the pain. Your father is the strongest
man I know, never forget that, but he is strongest in his love for his family.
The fear of losing you two could kill him.”

“We didn’t know we weren’t supposed to be out alone!”
Hail cried.

“I know. Earth isn’t like Duran, and especially Shomodii.
On Duran, you have magic, Hobble, and Shinobu. If you go anywhere here, you
have to let someone know. If not for your own safety then for Xul’s.”

“Xul?” I asked.

Mordon nodded. “Your dad was about to kill him very
painfully.” He stood. “I now know why he keeps corncob holders in the house.
Rojan and I learned a few things today.” Mordon left and we went to bed soon
after.

*          *          *

Once again, I saw my uncle covered in blood with his
claws and teeth shifted. This time was different though, because he had a sword
and because he was facing me instead of my father. It was cold, but I looked
down when heat spread across my chest. My heartbeat pounded faster and faster
as blood pooled at my feet.

I tried to reach for my uncle, to cry for his help.

*          *          *

I woke to Hail screaming something unintelligible.
Something about a staff. I ran to his bed and hugged him. “It’s okay.
Everything is okay.”

“I saw Dad die. I saw him die. That is not okay!” He
tried to scramble out of bed, but got tangled in sheets.

I untwisted the sheets until he could spring from the
bed and out the door before I could even figure out what he was talking about.
I followed him and reached the hallway just as he nearly busted our parents’
door open. Drawn by the commotion, Mordon opened his door and stared down the
hallway in confusion, still half asleep. By the time I made it to our parents’
room with Mordon right behind me, Hail was under the covers between Mom and Dad
and both of them were hugging him.

“What happened?” Dad asked.

“I had a bad dream,” Hail whispered instead of the
truth. I joined him on the bed.

“Got this handled?” Mordon asked. Dad nodded and
Mordon walked back to his room.

*          *          *

There was a terribly annoying chirping sound. I
reached towards the sound in order to hit it and felt something soft.

“Ow!” Dad yelped. “Watch it, sweetheart. I got it.”
The dreadful chirping stopped.

Mom laughed. “He’s so your son. How many times have I
been abused for that damn alarm clock?”

“Sorry, love.” He leaned over me to kiss Mom and I
gagged.

“That’s my cue to leave.” I grabbed Hail by the foot
and pulled, but he was too heavy and too deeply asleep. I rolled my eyes and
went into the kitchen. Xul was reading a book at the table, the coffee was
brewing, and all the ingredients were laid out for me to make breakfast.
“Whatcha reading?” I asked.

He gave me a suspicious look and lowered the book so
I couldn’t see the cover. “A slasher/gore story.”

“Oh. Dad said we should never watch the news. I
didn’t know they made a book about it.” He laughed and I was clueless as to
why. “Why are you staying with us instead of just jumping in to save us when
you need to?”

“I don’t know. I just like this town for some reason;
it seems like as good a place as any for me to settle down in. Besides, your
dad put me on babysitting duty.”

“So, there’s a crime scene on Fourth Street that---”

“Nope. You are grounded. I’m not taking another
lashing from your father. You will not leave my sight for a hot second if I
have to take over each and every damn one of your classes. Don’t try to barter
sympathy either. That man is a lunatic when it comes to protecting you and I’m
not getting yelled at for you again. You’re to go from school to home with me
breathing down your neck the entire way.”

“What about Hail?”

“Hail won’t do anything unless he’s following your
lead.
You
are grounded. He can go to his classes without me.”

“You can’t ground me!”

“I damn well can, kid. I don’t care if you call me
your baby-sitter, your warden, or the wart on your butt; I’m not letting you
out of spitting distance. I’ll bust your butt if I have to.”

“You can’t!” I screeched.

“Ronez Yatunus, you will lower your voice.” My
father’s growl consumed the room and made me feel even smaller than I was.

“Sorry, Daddy.”

He approached me slowly. “I don’t want ‘sorry,’ I
want a ‘yes, sir.’ You will not leave Xul’s sight without permission, you will
mind him, and you will be home right after school or so help me, you’ll wish
you were being kidnapped again. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” I whispered.

“How long are we grounded?” Hail asked quietly from
the doorway.

“Until I say so. I’m thinking mid-forties right now,
so you really don’t want to push it.”

Mordon walked in and squeezed my dad’s shoulder.
Instead of getting my dad a coffee, he pulled a soda out from a hiding spot in
the fridge. “Something happened to the bread, so I’ll pick some up today.” He
searched the cabinets until he found a bagel for Dad.

I remembered Mom once saying to Mordon that Mountain
Dew and bread was the only thing that settled Dad’s stomach when he was upset.

I realized as my dad discreetly shuddered that he
really was afraid. I had hurt my dad just because I wanted to have some fun. I
wasn’t considering the people I cared about and I hurt them. Not just Dad, but
Xul was punished because of me. Hail wouldn’t get to go swimming for a long
time, and it wasn’t his fault.

“I’m sorry. I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too. Go to school.” Hail, Xul, and I
took off for the door.

“He means for you to change first!” Mordon yelled
after us.

The three of us walked to school in silence and when
we arrived at the cafeteria, Hail ate without complaining. I started crying
over my eggs and Hail just rubbed my back.

“What’s wrong? You won’t be grounded forever,” Xul
said.

He didn’t understand. “They’re going to leave us,” I
cried.

“Where the hell did you get that idea from?”

“Mom never wanted us. Dad loves us but I’m just going
to get in trouble again. He’ll get tired of dealing with us.”

“Oh, God, I hope you grow out of this. Your parents
love you both, even when you make them angry. Samhail, do you remember when you
were two? Your father nearly lost his life in order to save you after knowing
you for less than a week. Ron, your mother wouldn’t put her feet on the ground
for the last month of her pregnancy for fear of losing you.”

The bell rang and it was time for gym. Xul made me
participate in basketball, saying it would help me to get my mind off things.
Other students never asked me what was wrong, they just patted me on the back
because they could sense my grief. Xul waited outside my locker room and then
walked me to my math class, where he was the substitute for Mr. Cardigan. I
felt like I was a prisoner… but I was at fault.

I daydreamed for most of the class and then did my
practice problems half-heartedly. This was too easy for me.

“How is math going?”

“Boring. How is science?”

“We’re in the gym again. A fight just broke out
among the basketball players. It’s funny.”
Everything was quiet for a few
minutes until…
“Oh, no.”

“What?”
I sat up.

“My head hurts.”

My hand shot up. “Mr. Carter, I have to go to the
bathroom!” I shouted, cutting him off mid-sentence.

“You can wait.”

“I can’t. I really, really can’t.” Sometimes I could
distance myself from Hail’s visions, but when they were very strong, he needed
me. Only he could tell how bad it would be beforehand.

Xul must have realized the seriousness of it. “Go,”
he said.

I ran the entire way to the bathroom, locked myself
in, and leaned against the wall. I barely had enough time to sit before my
vision blurred.

When shapes sharpened into focus, I was in my English
room. According to the sunlight streaming through the windows, it was sometime
shortly after school. My English teacher and my History teacher were both
there. Mrs. Sharp looked tired and her clothes were torn. Ms. Sterling looked a
fair bit better, but she panted heavily.

They taunted and attacked each other with magic, but
the sound was blurred and the vision rushed through the scene until Ms.
Sterling lay bleeding out on the ground. When everything went black, I wanted
to growl. I learned nothing of value, other than that way too many teachers
here were demons.

I sat up, shivering from the cold floor, and took my
time climbing to my feet.
“Are you okay?”
I asked my brother.

“Yeah. I made it to the locker room and locked the
door. You?”

“I went to the bathroom. Xul is probably going to
yell at me.”

“He won’t yell at you for something you couldn’t
control. So what did you learn? What do we know and what do we do?”

“I don’t know. Give me a few minutes to do this
one.”
I unlocked the door and made my way back to class. Xul was helping a
student when I sat in my seat, so I just did my math. I tried to remember the
details I got from the scene, but it was almost like I wasn’t supposed to see
any of it. Everything they said was blurred over.

Xul set a notebook on my desk as he walked by. It was
a beautiful, hardback journal with a deep, rich purple cover that felt like
suede when I ran my fingers over it. It was about six by eight inches and half
an inch thick. On the front cover was a pink sticky note with a small script.

Your dad always has a notebook with him to write
his ideas down in.

I took off the sticky note to find an inscription on
the cover:
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,
however
improbable
, must be the truth.
I couldn’t get the smile off my face as
the bell rang.