He turned to me, his smile fading. “Uh, yeah.”
“You’re the reason my bed got peed in!”
He blinked and jumped up from El’s bed as if pee had spilled over on hers too. “What?”
“It’s true.” El came around to sit on her bed. “It was Agatha. She’s still crushing.”
“Oh, fuck.” Mikey buried his face in his hands, smearing flecks of orange above his eyebrows. “She’s such a nightmare.”
El crossed her short legs and nodded up at him. “And…you use too much tongue.”
Mikey’s head popped back up, his mouth and eyes shaped into the same horrified O. “Who told you that?”
“Doesn’t matter. Leave,” El ordered.
He scowled at her. “Kiss my ass, Elia.”
“Hey!” I snapped. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
I didn’t know either of them, but given the choice between backing a guy or backing a girl, my sense of girl power would always win out.
He snorted then marched toward the double doors. “There are plenty of girls that like a lot of tongue.”
“Just keep telling yourself that,” Elia called after him, then gazed at me. “He’s an idiot. This proves it. His burning down his neighbor’s house in broad daylight proves it, too.”
My eyes widened. “Really? Why did he do that?”
She gave me a funny look, which reminded me I was actually supposed to know these people.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, nodding. “I remember.”
“Who knows exactly why he did it. Arson is a power-assertive crime, and I’ve read that guys with small penises usually feel pretty powerless.”
“Oh. Right.” This discussion was getting a little bit beyond me. My knowledge of penises ended soon after it began.
“Speaking of small ones—” Elia stood and pointed to a backpack that was sitting under my nightstand. “We should get to class. I covered for you. Teach thinks you’re cramping.”
“Cramping,” I said slowly. “Right.”
She frowned. “You coming?”
“Right,” I said for the third time because apparently it was my very favorite word when I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I grabbed my backpack and followed her to the door.
With her fingers on the handle, she gave me serious side-eye that made me feel microscopic. “You’ve been acting weird lately. You okay?”
I tried to laugh it off, but it kind of sounded like I was having a stroke. “Yeah, I’m just goofing.” I mentally crossed any kind of undercover work off my list of career aspirations if the whole Hell princess thing didn’t work out.
“Okay…” She pushed her way outside, and I followed her out into the hallway. “I’m surprised you let Aggie get away with that crap. It’s not like you.” She beat a fist into her palm. “I was waiting for an ass-beating.”
“Well, you know me.” Better than I did. “I’m just waiting for the right moment.”
She smiled before leading me around a corner into another hallway. “I can’t wait to see what you come up with. And I want in.” Outside of a classroom, she hunched herself over, and her whole demeanor changed into a soft wallflower rather than a violence enthusiast before she opened the door. “Found her, Teach.”
“Thank you, Elia.” A tall, hook-nosed woman with graying hair and a long bohemian skirt nodded toward me. She looked like a hippie type who grew her own vegetables and herbs. I liked her already. “Come on in, Kasey. Have a seat.”
I swept my gaze across the room and took in a cast of characters almost certainly destined for the villain role in movies. Maybe even Hell eventually. I’d never seen so many heated glares or grimaces on teens in my life, and not all of them were directed at me. Rows of tables lined the room, and there was literally only one empty seat left. When I took in who was seated next to the unoccupied chair, my whole body perked to attention.
His dark hair was slicked back with a few strands hanging loose across his forehead. He had a pair of adorably thick black frames perched on his nose. His name might as well have been Clark Kent. He even wore a bright blue T-shirt that matched Superman’s sexy spandex top—without the S, or anything for that matter. His shirt was inside out. Interesting…
He flicked his deep blue, almost purple eyes toward mem, which tumbled my pulse faster. But he scowled and gazed back at the table.
Did everyone here hate me? Or did I have a piece of spinach stuck to my face?
“Kasey?”
I jumped and glanced over at the teacher. She was holding up a banana wrapped in a condom. There was something not right about that picture. The poor fruit. Why did it seem as if it were being violated in this scenario?
“You want to take a seat?” she asked.
I trudged to the back of the room and sat down next to the scowling Clark Kent.
He tapped his pencil eraser on the notebook in front of him, his narrowed gaze stuck to the front of the room.
I did my best to ignore him as the teacher started talking.
“So remember, kids. When you’re thinking condoms, think spermicidal lube.” She put the banana on the desk behind her and started talking about how birth control was a man’s responsibility, too. “Does anyone know how you can take the protection of your partner into your own hands? Zane?”
“Well…” Clark Kent—or Zane—ripped a sheet of paper from his notebook and began scribbling on it. “I think protection is about more than condoms and birth control. It’s also about making sure your partner is emotionally ready.”
Almost everyone in the room groaned. While the teacher attempted to shush them, he slid the piece of paper across the table to me. It was a middle finger, and a pretty elaborate one given it was something he sketched up in under ten seconds.
The teacher nodded. “Excellent point, Zane. Excellent point.”
He shot me another look even though his message had been clearly received. I slumped down in my seat through the rest of the lecture, doodling a few choice demons—Abaddon, Amon, and my personal favorite, Dagon—Hell’s pastry chef. I missed his gluten-free cupcakes. The demons and a Hellish landscape took over the crumpled depiction of Zane’s middle finger.
When a bell buzzed, I jumped, sending my pencil flying across the table. Zane caught it and held it just out of my grasp.
“I’m going to need that back now,” I said.
“Say please.”
I gave him my practiced creepy half smile with dead eyes. “Please.”
To my surprise, he laughed, a pleasant, musical tenor to it that instantly turned my scary smile into a real one.
“Okay, people.” Teach clapped, drawing my attention back to the front. “Twenty-minute break and then group time!”
Another set of groans filled the room, along with shuffling footsteps as everyone cleared out. Everyone except Zane and me. I had nowhere else to go anyway, and yes, I knew how lame of an excuse that sounded.
He whistled and tapped my rendering of Dagon. Just thinking about his cupcakes made my stomach growl.
“I knew it,” he said.
“You knew what?”
“That you had some dark stuff going on inside that head.”
I stared down at my doodles and frowned. “What? It’s just a picture of home.”
He laughed again and pointed at me. “Don’t think you can joke your way out of this.”
“Joke my way out of your finger?”
His eyes narrowed behind his glasses, but a spark of curiosity burned in their iced-over depths. His face housed the most interesting expressions.
“You ditched me, but you were the one that talked me into going to the bus stop. What the hell?” He sounded hurt.
I sat up straighter, wishing I could somehow erase everyone’s false memories of me.
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.” I didn’t know why I expected him to believe me, but it would be kind of nice if that would actually happen someday. Judging from the skeptical twist to his mouth, he didn’t. “Loo
k, I get the feeling that we’re friends. Is that true?”
He glanced away and drummed his eraser on his notebook. “We were getting there.”
Getting there. That sounded like it could be a good thing. Maybe even a great thing.
“Can you keep a secret?” I asked.
The corner of his mouth kicked up.
“I’m not Kasey Morrison.”
He leaned away and stared down his nose at me. “What?”
“What I’m trying to say is, I don’t know you—any of you. I just got here. I came from Hell. This is some kind of punishment—or something—orchestrated by my mother. The Devil.”
He blinked, his face blank. “The Devil. As in demons.”
“No, not demons. Common misconception.”
He nodded as he stood. Did that mean he believed me?
“Why even bother?” he asked, snatching up his notebook. His eyes flashed in an angry strobe. “You encouraged me to go see my dad at the bus stop after a year and a half of not seeing him. And when I ask you to come with me…you bail?”
That didn’t sound like me at all. The real me, anyway. Why would the other, false me do that?
“I was waiting for you, and because you didn’t show, I missed him. He was gone before I got there. Then you didn’t even say a word about it yesterday when you saw me in the nurse’s office.” His eyes bored into mine, searching for answers I didn’t have. “And now this…story that you’re from Hell and your mom is the devil. Bullshit, Kasey. Is this your way of making sure all the attention is back on you or something?”
My mouth gaped open, every single word he’d just said scraping my insides with demonic claws. It hadn’t even been me who hurt him, yet it felt like I had. If I could’ve healed him like I had the little girl, I would have, both his feelings toward me and whatever landed him in the nurse’s office.
“Satan’s spawn or not.” He barged toward the door, shaking his head. “Stay away from me.”
I slumped back into my chair, his last words echoing around inside my skull. How could I make up for something I didn’t even do? I felt like I owed it to him to at least try. He’d been hurt and thought I’d been the one to hurt him. I didn’t think I could live with myself if I hurt anyone, unintentionally or not. This horrible, gutted feeling weighed heavier on my shoulders than the time I threw up Exorcist-style all over Mauve.
I didn’t even notice Teach walk into the classroom again until she cleared her throat. I jumped out of my reverie. Despite her hooked nose, she had lovely laugh lines and kind, smiling eyes.
“Are you ready for group, Kasey?”
I frowned. “No.”
She took a stack of papers from her desk and jerked her head toward the door for me to follow. “You’re always so quiet in group.”
I stood and reluctantly joined her. “I guess I don’t have much to say.”
“You know what they say about those who have little to say…” She shut the classroom door behind us and led me down the hallway.
I shrugged.
“That their thoughts are storming inside.”
I stifled a sigh. “You’re so wise.”
She laughed and came to a stop outside the doors with Learning Annex stamped over them. “I appreciate good sarcasm. Shall we?”
“We shall.” I held the door for her, because despite what Zane thought, I wasn’t a total asshat.
In the middle of the large room, everyone perched on colorful beanbag chairs arranged in a semi-circle. Everyone expect Zane, that is. I noticed his absence like I would a new hole in my head.
Teach dimmed the lights and sparked scented candles. That, coupled with the thick incense burning on a nearby table, made my head swimmy. She sat at the head of the semi-circle with thumb cymbals that she clanged together three times every few seconds.
Surprisingly, no one laughed or acted as if this was out of the ordinary. It was way out there for me, but I faked it until I made it.
Finally, Teach drew in a deep breath, threw her shoulders back, and asked, “Who wants to go first?”
No one volunteered.
She smiled, not at all discouraged. “Come on, people. I sense a lot of feelings nipping at you.”
I glanced around. Everyone either appeared mesmerized with their fingers, stared at the ceiling, or whispered out of the side of their mouths to the person next to them. Everything but volunteering.
“Hmm.” Teach gazed at each of us. “Do we need an incentive?” She clanged her thumb cymbals. “How about no more classes for the rest of the day?”
Nothing, though I was all for it. I didn’t want to draw any more attention to myself, though, so I kept quiet.
“Tough room.” She chuckled. “How about I tell Miss Molly you’ve earned cell phone access?”
All hands flew into the air.
Teach laughed. “That’s better. Let’s see…” She pointed. “Michael. You first.”
He was seated between Elia, who was sunk so low into her chair that she was barely visible underneath her tan knit hat, and Agatha in her tank top that revealed enormous muscles, who glared at me for glancing in Mikey’s general direction.
He cleared his throat. “I never know how to start.”
Teach smiled. “Start with how you’re feeling.”
He nodded. “I guess I’m feeling…frustrated.”
“A common emotion with the human species.” Teach waved her hands through the air and ignored the few people who sniggered. “Express.”
“I guess I’m frustrated because things are confusing.” His gaze darted to me. “People are confusing.”
“Good!” Teach leaned toward him on her beanbag. “Keep going. Get it out.”
He flexed his fingers and stared down at his knuckles. “See, there’s this…person I liked.”
Beside him, Agatha snorted. Mikey gave her the stink-eye, and she quickly rubbed her nose.
“And I thought they—she liked me, but she keeps blowing me off…”
I stifled a sigh. He droned on and on about his girl problems, and as riveting as it was, it was hard to care. Humans were much more fascinating when viewed from a television, likely because I could fast forward to the more entertaining parts and because the monotonous stuff was edited out.
Movement leaped across the right side of my vision. I turned and my heart stuttered to a stop.
A demon slinked toward our circle from the far corner of the room. What the Hell was she doing here? Other than General Blade as my escort, demons weren’t allowed out. Ever.
I sat up straighter, every muscle in my body tensed, and stared.
She was dressed from head to toe in shimmering pink leather. Pink glitter highlighted her hair, and her eyes shone red as she came closer. The smell of brimstone saturated the room, mixing a weird combination of fear and homesickness in my gut.
No one else reacted to her. Pretty sure if they did, they’d be screaming and trampling over each other to get away. But they would notice if she possessed a human, especially if it was them. Was that why she was here?
The demon crept up behind Agatha with a gleeful smile and sniffed the air around her. Agatha, sensing nothing wrong, flicked her gaze to mine under the force of my stare. I looked away and pushed my lips together.
What the Hell was I supposed to do about this with no magic? Tell it to go away or else? And how was I seeing it without my magic? Unless it wanted me to see for some reason… Maybe to get a reaction out of me?
A breeze rushed the room, snuffing out the candles. Darkness choked my lungs.
“Oh my. Hang on for a second, Michael.” Teach thumbed a lighter and relit the candles.
The demon placed a hand on top of Agatha’s shaggy brown hair, her pink-painted lips curved in a wicked smile, and bent as if to whisper in her ear. Agatha tensed. I heaved out a garbled warning, drawing weird looks from my neighbors.
Mikey continued talking, and everyone listened, or pretended to, totally oblivious.
Agatha relaxed s
lightly as the demon moved on to the person beside her, a redhead whose name I didn’t know. The demon placed her face near the red-haired girl’s ear, sniffed, and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Then she sauntered the rest of the way around the circle, tracing her sparkling, pink fingernails through the hair of everyone she passed. They shivered or winced, as if touched by the Devil herself.
When she stood behind me, I froze, the hairs on the back of my neck prickling. If Mom had put me here to keep me safe, then I couldn’t let on that I was any different than everyone in this room. For a long moment, nothing happened except the growing, itchy feeling that my brain was being psychically probed. For information? For my level of darkness? She leaned in from behind me and planted a kiss on my cheek.
I went rigid, trying to keep the shocked irritation boiling in my blood from surfacing. It took everything I had not to pull all that pink out of her scalp. Had I just been marked or something?
The demon scurried around the rest of the circle, sometimes pausing to sniff a human or grin maniacally at the top of someone’s head.
Across the circle, Teach cleared her throat. “Kasey?”
I tore my gaze away from the demon and forced a swallow. “Huh?”
“Would you like to share today?” Her smile was so kind I could almost forget there was a demon in the room. Almost.
“I-I don’t know.”
Her thumb cymbals chimed. “Come on. This is a safe place.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. The demon swept her red gaze around the circle then slowly backed away toward a shadowy corner.
“Well, I guess I feel…alone.” I glanced at Teach and rubbed my sweaty palms down my cargo pants, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice. “Like I don’t know this place. Or myself.”
Truer words had never been said.
Teach nodded. “We all feel that way sometimes. Care to elaborate?”
The demon vanished into a rush of smoke, a blur of pink and black, leaving behind a trace of brimstone. I stared at the spot she had dissolved into, lost in thoughts of home, of Mom and Mauve, of why that demon had been here when it really shouldn’t have been.
I shook my head, a sense of relief flooding my chest that the demon was gone. “Not today.”
Daring the Devil (Reigning Hell Book 1) Page 5
