Except that it really felt like it was all on me.
“That’s it?” Eddie pressed. “Just boo-hoo, I’m a nervous Nelly and he squeezed your hand?”
“No,” I snapped. “I was rallying. I said that—”
“She said that she’d be fine,” Allie interrupted. “And that the students would be fine. And that I’d—” Her voice broke, and she looked down at her shoes, her voice dropping to such a whisper that I had to strain to hear. “That’s when he did it. He squeezed her hand, and he said my name. And he saidbe careful.He saidAllie isn’t.”
“Isn’t what?” Mindy asked at the same time Eliza posed that exact question.
“Safe,” Allie snapped, the fear in her voice breaking my heart. “Good. Right.”
“He said all that?” Eliza asked.
“No, but that’s what he must have meant. That somehow it worked and Lilith got inside me, just like she’d been trying to do all along. And she’s hiding now, and I’m not really me. Or I never was—not after what happened when Daddy was little. And then with me in Rome. I’m dangerous because they made me that way.”
The words poured out of her, breaking my heart. “Maybe that’s not what they were trying to do, but they did, and now Stuart knows, and he’s trying to warn—”
“Allie, baby—”
“No.He said be careful, and he was talking about me, and—”
“Stop it.” With preternatural speed, Jared crossed the room to where Allie sat beside Mindy. “Just take a breath, okay? You’re confused and you’re scared, and who could blame you? But you arenotevil. So, yeah, you got a shit deal with Father Donnelly’s wacko plan to create some super-strong Demon Hunter—you and your dad,” he added, glancing over at Eric. “But itworked. You’re special Allie. Not bad. At least not unlessyouare bad. You’ve got serious strength and power and who knows what else. So use it, right? Use it for good.Begood. Because there’s nothing evil inside you. Trust me. I know evil.”
I watched him, this ancient boy, as he knelt in front of my daughter and took her hands. “Do you think I would have helped save you if you were bad? Do you think I would have sacrificed my chance to find Celia?” His voice broke, and I knew he was thinking about the fact that after the battle he no longer had the occasional telepathic contact with his little sister, who was imprisoned at some unknown location.
He shook it off, straightening his shoulders as he continued. “You’ve got this, Allie. You do. And Stuart loves you. He knows what you’re going to be up against. He wantsyouto be careful. And so do I.”
“He’s right,” Mindy said, putting her arm around her bestie. “Even when you’re being a bitch, you’re not actually evil.”
“Mindy!” Laura chided, but it worked, and Allie smiled and shoulder-bumped her friend.
“Thanks. I guess I believe you guys. Or I’m trying to. I mean, I did feel her leave that night once it was all over. Or, I thought I did. But sometimes I just…”
“Freak out,” Jared said. “Yeah. Who wouldn’t? You’re one of a kind, Alison Crowe. And you’ve got this.”
He waited for her small smile, then returned to where he’d been sitting by Cutter, who in his typical style, was silently absorbing everything. Now, the former SEAL turned to me. “But the doctor doesn’t think this is a sign he’s waking up?”
I shook my head. “He said there was nothing on monitors to indicate that.”
“So how did he speak?”
“Mom said it was a demon thing,” Allie told Cutter. “Not a coma thing.” Her brow furrowed as her attention returned to me. “What does that mean, anyway?”
“Oh! Oh, I know!” Mindy bounced in her seat, her hand thrust high as if trying to grab the teacher’s attention. I had a strange premonition of what it was going to be like once we got the school open and actually had classes.
“You don’t have to be called on,” I told her. “Just tell us.”
“You’re thinking that being saved from death in the middle of some dark mystical ceremony gave him some sort of awareness. I read about that in one of the books that Father Corletti sent from theForzalibrary at the Vatican. There’s not a lot of case studies—and they’re all like super-old—but there was this saint, and he—” She broke off, waving her words away.
“Anyway, that’s what happened, right? Stuart touched the stone table when it was imbued with Lilith’s power, but then his blood stopped the ritual so that she couldn’t jump into Allie. And Jared pulled him out before it killed him.”
“That’s right,” I tell her as Timmy slid off my lap and headed toward the kitchen. I consider following, but this was Important Stuff. I could clean up kitchen destruction later.
“Question,” Cutter said. “Is there a chance Lilith is in Stuart?”
I glanced toward Eric, disturbed by the question. I’d told myself it wasn’t possible, but now that Cutter had raised it…
“No,” Eric said firmly. “Lilith’s a High Demon. Her power is too great to allow her to become corporeal within a living human host without a lot of other stuff happening first. Besides, over the last few months we’ve practically drowned Stuart in holy water.”
