She nodded. “I know. Weird, right? Like just because I’m new at this, he thinks I’m naive and will trust him and let him get close.As if.Then he started to reach for my arm. We were in the middle of everything with all these people around. I mean, I had my stiletto, but I knew I couldn’t just poke him in the eye. Not on the boardwalk.”
“Right. Go on.” I felt ridiculously tense, and swore to myself that I would never let her leave the house again. At the moment, that seemed entirely reasonable.
“Well, he said it again. That he wasn’t a threat, I mean. And as he was talking, this other guy rushed up. Really cute. I’ve seen him around the high school. And he put his hand on my shoulder and stared down the demon. And he said,not a threat? I bet her mom would disagree. And then he pulled out a knife and told the scruffy guy to get away from me.”
“And the demon left?”
“Yeah, but he kicked the knife out of Jared’s hand—he told us his name later—and Jared stumbled backwards, and the demon ran off.”
I didn’t even know where to begin breaking down this story—or interpreting all of the ramifications. So I focused on potential clues. “What did the demon mean bynew?”
Allie shook her head. “No idea. But Jared dusted himself off, then said he was sorry that the guy bothered me, and that he hoped to see me around. I wanted him to wait, but he took off.”
“New,” Laura said. “Maybe a new demon hunter? Allie is pretty new to it all. Or maybe he was looking for Eliza and got them confused.”
“But then why not just ask?” Eliza pointed out. “Unless he was afraid he had the wrong group of girls? But it’s not like anyone but us would take him seriously. Ask someone other than us if they’re the new demon hunter, and they’d just think they were getting punked, right?”
“But Jared mentioned me,” I pointed out, my focus on my baby girl. “He knew who you were, and he knows what your mother is, and presumably the demon knew, too.”
“I’m not so sure Jared knew,” Eliza said. “I think he just meant that any mother wouldn’t like her daughter talking to some creepy guy on the street. Honestly, I’m not even sure Jared knew the grungy guy was a demon. He might have just thought we were being harassed and pulled a knife to scare him away.”
“Well, I thought he was talking about Aunt Kate,” Mindy said. “I mean, we were threatened by a demon, so I just figured he was talking about the local demon hunter.”
“Well, we’re not figuring it out right now,” Allie said. “So can wepleaseget back to the point?”
“The point?” Laura asked, clearly as confused as I was.
“Duh. Can we sleep over at Mindy’s?”
I swallowed a burst of laughter as I shot a sideways glance to Laura. I could tell from her expression that she was thinking exactly the same thing as me—at least some things never change.
“Yes,” I said, glancing at Laura for confirmation. “But you stay inside, and you stay careful. I don’t care if you see your dad out the window, you do not come outside again until morning. Understand me young lady?”
“Totally.”
“And tomorrow we’re all going to Mass in the morning—so be home by nine—then we’re going to go by Cutter’s studio.”
“Cutter’s still in LA, Kate,” Laura said.
“We’re all going to go to Cutter’s studio, and Laura is going to let us in with her key, and we’re going to practice training, and then next week starting when Cutter gets back, the three of you are having regular training every day after school.” That, at least, was the plan. We’d see if it actually came to fruition.
“I’m not in school anymore,” Eliza said.
I tilted my head, and she held up her hands. “But happy to train whenever you want.”
“Okay girls, go on.”
Mindy and Allie fell in step beside each other, but Eliza stayed by me.
Before I could say anything, Allie turned, her head cocked. “Aren’t you coming?”
“Oh. Well, I, sure if you?—”
“Well, duh,” Mindy said.
Eliza grinned. “Yeah. Great. I’d love to.”
“Mom, that’s okay right?”
