The Demon's Game (5 page)

“You know what’s wrong with her?” the father asked.

I nodded. “I do. It’s incurable, but it’s not
permanent.” His mother was on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry to say this, but
you have a teenage daughter.” They both looked confused. “It’s puberty. Your
daughter is going to be a miserable little psychopath for the next few years. I
suggest keeping her away from boys, getting earmuffs, and possibly locking her
in a cage at night.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“I don’t know that much about adolescence from Skrev,
but if she’s anything like humans, then yes, yes it is. Just be glad you have a
daughter. As far as her shifting goes, I’m afraid it may take her a few years
before she can control it. When does a child normally shift for the first time
on Skrev?”

“For my kind, it’s about three or four years old.
Many of Hon’s kind are born in their beast form and have to learn to shift,
which takes around a year.”

“Well, this is about the worst time in a girl’s life
to suddenly be able to shift. The next few years are going to be very
confusing. She’s going to get upset or angry at the drop of a hat and she may
find joy in the weirdest, most inappropriate things. You’ll just have to deal
with it and make sure she knows that you love and support her. That’s the most
important thing you can do. Also, talk to her about sex and protecting
herself.”

Her father swallowed. “She’s a little young for
mating.”

“You’re on Earth, not Skrev. Don’t pretend it doesn’t
exist and whatever you do, don’t shame her if she’s interested in it. Preach
the dangers if you want, warn her of all the risks, but make sure she knows she
can talk to you if she needs to.”

“Normally, the pack shares the responsibility of
raising the children.”

“It’s up to you two now, but you can do it. Buy some
books and get really familiar with Google.” I pulled out my notepad and wrote
my home phone number. “If any of you need someone to talk to, call me, but keep
in mind that I only have sons.” The happy little Skrev family left and I
returned to the nurse station.

“What happened with the doors before?” Ms. Manning
asked.

“I don’t know. If the Cofers ever come back,
especially Alyssa Cofer, please send them straight to me. Even if I’m off, call
me.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Confidential. If it’s quiet now, I’m going to head
over to the general station,” I said.

She nodded. The hospital was calm as I went to the
main nurse station. Of all the stations, the main station was the busiest, so
the fact that it was empty immediately put me on high alert. I stuck my head
into the waiting room and it was just as empty. Even if there were no patients,
there was always supposed to be someone there.

The phone at the station rang and I stared at it for
a few seconds before walking over to the counter. I reached for the phone just
as the ringing stopped. Something behind me moved, but when I turned to look,
nothing was there.

There were three hallways and two doors out of the
room with no hiding places. I could feel something watching me, but whatever it
was wasn’t visible. This was a well-lit hospital, not haunted catacombs. I
reached my energy out to search my surroundings and a small popping sound made
me wince. I had forgotten about the computer. In my peripheral vision, a shadow
moved.

There was something seriously weird about this town.

My phone startled me and I groaned after I saw who
the caller was.

Ron

My earliest memories were playing as a child with
Hail. I thought it was normal that we could hear each other in our heads
because we knew Dad and Mordon could do it. My brother was no more mortal than
I was, it just took us a little while to figure it out. Hail could see things
that hadn’t happened yet, but I could understand his visions better than he
could. We were happy with our system; he would see the problem and I would come
up with a solution.

When we were little, we were constantly staging and
plotting. The world was full of problems to fix and people who we could
manipulate. We thought we knew best because I could solve any puzzle and my
brother could see what I didn’t. We made some mistakes along the way.

Vretial helped us and we learned from our parents as
best as we could. Eventually, Hail and I learned that some things were meant to
be and some weren’t, but we sometimes crossed that line. We were powerful,
naïve, and spontaneous. Then when Hail saw what our father was to endure, we
decided that we would make the rules after all.

I took the balance into myself after Hail and I
determined he could help me control it. We had assumed it to be some inanimate
force. At first, it was sort of dormant. I could feel it, feel what acted
against the balance and how strongly, but it seemed content to stay quiet. We
were fooled.

About two years later, I started having dreams of
times when the balance was denied, as well as the consequences of those events.
I thought they were the darkness warning me not to reject it. Unfortunately, I
was six years old, the son of a god, and right.

I ignored it.

We were on a trip to Anoshii so Dad could get some
paperwork done and Mom could get some unique potion ingredients. One minute, we
were boarding the ship… and the next, I was on my bed in my room. In my
confusion, I tried to find clues. I may have only been six, but I realized that
my clothes had changed. I checked my nails for any sign of a struggle and my
arms for needle marks. Nothing. My next move was to tentatively search my
surroundings with magic. The world around me was real, I was home, and my magic
responded normally. Mom and Dad were outside the house and Hail was in the
kitchen. He could feel my stress and burst into our room.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“We were going to Anoshii.”

He frowned and hesitated. “We went to Anoshii. We
came back.” Seeing my confusion grow, he tried to conceal his concern and sat
down next to me. “Let me see.”

“There isn’t anything to see. We were going to
Anoshii, and now we’re home.”

“That was three days ago. We went to Anoshii and came
home.”

“Did I act weird?” I asked. I knew nothing could possess
me except for the darkness that I had let into myself, but I also knew the
darkness was powerful enough to make me do something I didn’t want to. As long
as I was with Hail, I could never do anything wrong.

“When I saw you, no.”

“What do you mean? Were we separated?”

“You wanted to go with Mom and I needed to go with
Dad to get my school forms.”

“I wanted to go with Mom? Why in the world would I
want to leave you? And how could you let me? Didn’t you realize something was
wrong?”

“You seemed perfectly sane at the time. I just
figured you wanted a few minutes on your own,” he said. I stared at him until
he frowned. “That was weird…” He looked down. “I didn’t really think much about
it, I just let you go.”

“It’s messing with me, Hail,” I said. He put his arms
around me and held me against him. “We’re not going to make it.”

“We will. We’ll be fine,” he said. “Let’s talk to
Dad.”

I was shaking my head before he could finish talking.
Hail always wanted to go to Dad. “No. He’ll be worried and try to get rid of
the balance. Not Mom, either. We all know the dark was always after Dad. If Mom
thinks I’m a threat to Dad, she’ll send me away.”

“You are so sure our parents are going to abandon
you. You have to get passed that. They both love you.”

He didn’t understand. He never understood.

We ended up going to Vretial, who was completely
unhelpful and told us he had no idea what happened. He tried to look through my
mind, but Hail didn’t have enough control to let him in. Although we considered
letting Hail’s magic go for a while, we decided it wasn’t worth it. The power
of the balance was too strong to risk someone influencing my mind.

Over the next three years, I got used to the balance.
It was always there, always compelling me to act. I never remembered what
happened or what I did those three days.

*          *          *

“I don’t want eggs for breakfast! I want pancakes!”

My brother’s cries woke me early. I couldn’t hear
Mom’s quieter response, but I got out of bed with a sigh. He would only get
louder until he got Dad’s attention. Yawning, I entered the kitchen to find Mom
and Hail sitting at the table, each with a plate of eggs. Hail stopped whining
and gave me his weepy face.

“Ron, make pancakes.”

Without a doubt, as far as mothers went, ours was
fantastic, but she couldn’t cook. Mom’s culinary abilities consisted of…
apparently scrambled eggs. I picked up Hail’s plate, wondering how they
achieved that particular shade of neon yellow… and turned the plate upside
down. The eggs stuck to the plate.

“Mom… doesn’t the school provide breakfast?” I asked.

“Oh, does it? That is the best news I heard all
month.” She looked so relieved it was difficult not to laugh.

Dad walked in wearing a dress suit and pants and gave
Mom a kiss on the way to the coffee pot. Poor dad was so tired at his new job,
which was odd because he got to wear pajamas all day. Dad had worked as an
emergency doctor for a month as he and Mom tried to get things prepared for all
of us to move to Earth. He had to flash back and forth every day and was very
careful not to wear his work pajamas to Duran because he didn’t want to
introduce dangerous Earth germs to Duran.

We all waited quietly as he sipped his coffee. I had
sampled the dark liquid once before and found it disgusting. I was still
waiting for the perfect time to trick Hail into drinking it, because he never
tried it.

“Your class schedules arrived yesterday,” Dad said.
“I got you both in advanced classes, but they wouldn’t put Ron in sixth grade
because he’s too young.” His tone was resigned, as if he knew an argument was
coming.

“So we’re in fifth grade?” Hail asked, predictably.

“Sorry, honey, but the best I could do was get you in
the same school. You’re in sixth grade and Ron is in fifth grade. Seventh
graders are in a different building. This year, you’re going to have to be bear
with it. Next year, you’ll go to seventh grade and Ron will skip sixth grade so
the two of you can be in the same class. So, Ron…”

“Show them all up so I can skip sixth grade? No
problem. Thank you for getting us in the same school. I know it wasn’t easy.”

“No! We have to be in the same class!” Hail cried.
“Ron needs me! What if something happens?”

Mom sighed and Dad looked apologetic. I knew Dad
spent every single spare minute with us, trying to give us the love and
attention he never had growing up. I took Hail’s hand and sent a gentle burst
of energy through him. He took the hint and shut up.

“We haven’t got the bus schedule yet, so somebody has
to drop you off at school.”

“Not it!” Mom declared.

Dad laughed, kissed her, and told us we would be
going to school with a neighbor. He was getting more coffee as Mordon walked in
wearing jeans and no shirt. Dad’s very slight shifting from one foot to the
other was the only acknowledgement he gave his brother until he turned around.

“There’s plenty more coffee.” Their usual banter
followed.

Dad left after hugging Hail and me, and Mordon turned
to Mom. “So what are you really doing?”

“There’s a demon stalking a woman in Cardiff. I’m
going to speak with Janus about why his demons are getting out. What about
you?”

“I’m going to figure out how to use a computer. Dylan
showed me to the library yesterday and I’m going to get online to find an open
field or something.”

“You can’t read English. I think the best you’re
going to find is a forest.”

“I can’t shift in a forest. And actually, I’ve
learned to use Dylan’s magic to translate, even literature. We are so used to
combining and swapping energy that it has become instinctive any time we touch.
I touched his arm on his way out, so we are able to use each other’s magic for
a few hours. That should give me a little time to do research.”

“Wait, you two have to touch to---?”

I slapped my hand over my brother’s mouth to stop
him.
“You have to let them discover their abilities on their own.”

“But they didn’t grow up together like we did. We
should help them.”

“Not with this. Especially if there is something
we can do that they can’t. We’re both part god, but they’re not. Mordon is part
dragon and we don’t know what Dad is. Maybe their bond is different.”

“That’s so sad,”
he said.

I nodded and retracted my hand. “We have to get ready
for school,” I said. He scrunched up his face and pointed to his Batman t-shirt
and Scooby-Doo shorts. “You’re not wearing that to school.”

“Dad didn’t say I had to change. Mom, can I wear
this?”

She considered his clothes and shrugged. “I don’t see
anything wrong with that.”

He grinned brightly. I glared. “No way. If you wear
that, I’m avoiding you. I will not be seen with you wearing that!”

His grin dropped like a rock in the water. In fact,
he looked devastated. “You can’t do that. Do I embarrass you?”

I sighed and considered my next words carefully. Mom
could make Dad do anything she wanted without upsetting him. Why couldn’t Hail
just be reasonable? I took his hand in both of mine and looked him in the eyes.
“You could never embarrass me, but you need to trust me that I know what I’m
talking about.”
There. I think that’s how Mom would handle it.

Hail stared at me until I was sure it didn’t work,
before finally nodding. “Okay.” He got up and left the kitchen.

“You shouldn’t manipulate your brother,” Mordon
advised.

“I just did what Mom would have done with Dad. I
couldn’t let him go to school like that. Oh, no, I’ve got to go pick out his
clothes before he finds something equally ridiculous.” I ran to our bedroom.
Hail was holding up a bright red t-shirt and dark green cargo shorts. “Oh, god,
no.” I picked out a dark green button-up shirt and blue jeans. “Wear these.”

He didn’t argue with me, so I picked out a dark blue
t-shirt and jeans for myself.

“These jeans don’t fit,” Hail complained.

My brother was big for his age and grew quickly,
probably because he was half dile. I, on the other hand, was very small and
couldn’t seem to grow no matter what I ate. “Do they button?” I asked.

“Yeah… barely.”

“Then they’re fine. Ask Dad for new clothes when he
gets home tonight.”

We got dressed and grabbed our bags and schedules on
the way out. Mordon, after putting on a very thick black sweater, took us to
the apartment one door over and knocked on the door. A pretty woman with
shoulder-length, light blond hair and celadon green eyes opened the door
wearing a tight black skirt, bright blue blouse, and black heels. She glanced
between us and Mordon before smiling. “Are you Dylan?”

“No, Dylan has already left for work. I’m his
brother, Mordon.” He held out his hand, which she shook.

“I’m Stacy. Drake is getting ready, so he’ll be just
a minute. Come on in, boys,” she said to Hail and me.

“I’m Hail,” my brother said. “This is Ron. Your shirt
is pretty.”

“Hail,” Mordon growled in warning.

“What?” Hail asked, confused. I was confused, too,
but I was also irritated that Hail hadn’t said he liked
my
shirt. They
were the same color, so it wasn’t fair that he liked hers more. He looked at
me, sensing my emotions.
“I like brighter blue more than darker blue,”
Hail explained.

I sighed, knowing I would ask Dad for new clothes. I
pushed Hail until he passed the woman and went inside. The house was a mirror
image of ours as far as the brown carpet, tan walls, and layout went. Instead
of the rented furniture we had, this apartment had black leather furniture.
Whereas our place had toys, potions, and medical books strewn about, Stacy’s
was immaculate. Personally, I thought it was boring as hell.

A boy about my age entered the living room wearing a
Superman t-shirt, blue jeans, and a backpack that looked way too big for him.
He was small, like me, but too skinny, as if he never ate anything. He also
wore a bright-red wool hat on his head. I thought that was odd, because it was
not nearly cold enough to require a hat, but Dad had said he was sick. Maybe it
made him cold?

“He looks so scared,”
Hail said.

I nodded. We would both be watching out for this guy.
Nobody would mess with our new friend or they would find out what being on the
wrong side of two demigods was all about.

“Hey, Superman!” Hail said excitedly, as if he just
realized it. “Superman is awesome.”

Drake smiled. “I have a Superman lunchbox, too.” He
set the backpack down, which matched his shirt, and started pulling out a ton
of Superman stuff, from notebooks to his lunchbox.

A few minutes later, we were all heading out to the
parking lot and piling into Stacy’s light blue Prius. Drake sat up front with
his mother for the ten minute ride to school. When we parked in front of the
building, Hail leaned over me to peer at the huge school. Everything was
concrete, brick, and glass.

I pushed Hail off me before getting out of the car
and handing him his schedule. When Drake refused to leave the car, Hail and I
turned away to give them privacy and checked our schedules for the first time.
We both had advanced core subjects, but I had P.E. first period, family and
consumer science right before lunch, and archery last period. Hail had wresting
first period, economics right before lunch, and archery last period. At least
we had a class together.