“Or on YouTube,” says her dad, sounding none too pleased.
Karen stops halfway up the stairs. Leans down and looks at me. “May I ask what you think it is you can do to help?”
“My family specializes in the occult, the weird.”
“Monsters,” Paxton chimes in.
“Those, too,” I say. “We’re pretty good at cleaning up the garbage out there.”
“Something like this nightmare shadow thing doesn’t scare you?” asks Jim, sipping loudly from his tea. He winces when he burns himself.
“We’ve tackled a lot worse, though, admittedly, nothing quite like this.”
“May I ask what could be worse than this?”
“Demons,” says Paxton, jumping in. “And the devil, too. Our mom is a badass. And Tammy isn’t so bad either.”
“Thanks, kiddo,” I say, winking at my adopted sister.
“Well, I’m convinced... of something,” says Karen, shaking her head and giving us a smile.
“When you say the devil...” begins Jim, looking at me from over his mug.
“The devil incarnate, protected by a horde of demons.”
“How on earth did your mother kill the devil?” he asks. “I thought he was going to be thrown into the lake of fire at the end of time.”
“He is,” I say. “Or, at least, a version of him. Another devil quickly replaced the devil Mom killed.”
“Weird.”
“Tell me about it.”
He sets his teacup down and joins his wife who is walking up the stairs.
While we wait, Paxton leans toward me and whispers in my ear: “You’re doing pretty good.”
“Thanks, kiddo. But I think we need to keep some family secrets to ourselves.”
“Well, he asked.”
“I know. But we both kind of said too much.”
“Maybe Mom can come back tomorrow and wipe their memories?”
“Maybe,” I say. “For now, let’s not spill all the beans on our first case.”
“Ourfirst case,” says Paxton, clapping. “There’s gonna be more?”
“I don’t know. Now, shh, they’re coming back.”
Indeed, I hear footsteps descending the stairs. Emma appears from the shadows. She’s small and serious in herFrozenpajamas, despite her bouncing pigtails. She’s clutching a stuffed koala so tightly I’m amazed it hasn’t burst. Her eyes are round and wary.
“Hi, Emma,” I say gently, crouching to her level when she reaches the first floor. “I’m Tammy. Your mom said it would be okay for us to talk a little about your bad dreams.”
She nods solemnly.
“I heard it started after your lost a tooth?”
