“Of course, it is,” Laura said with the kind of smile I’d seen her use more than once when she was frustrated by a PTA meeting. “You guys go on ahead.”
They did, and Laura and I lingered behind as they hurried toward her house.
“Do you need help with this guy? Or the one in your backyard?”
I shook my head. “No. Just tell me where he is.”
“Under your garden bench, covered in weed barrier. It was the best I could do.”
“It’ll be fine. There’s nobody who goes in my back yard who doesn’t know the score these days.”
That was true.
Once upon a time I’d jumped through hoops to hide bodies in the storage shed without Stuart finding out. Now, I could actually enlist his aid to help me move the body if need be. Hopefully I wouldn’t need to do that. Although I did need to give Eric another call and let him know that I needed him to take care of two bodies, not one.
I needed to tell him the rest of it too. That there was a new enemy in town with a new agenda I didn’t understand, or maybe I just didn’t want to understand it. Because the demon who had attacked me said that I wasn’ther,and the demon who had attacked Eliza had said that she wasn’thereither.
I had a feeling I knew who they were looking for. Allie wasnew, after all. Newly aware. Newly annointed by battle. New to the world of demon hunting.
She’d returned from Rome with more strength than just training could account for, although I’d kept that assessment to myself. And there was still the question of what—if anything—that golden glow in the chamber beneath Rome had done to her.
Bottom line, my mommy instincts were on overdrive, and I was concerned about my baby girl.
I caught Laura’s worried expression, and pulled myself back to the moment. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing—just about Eliza…”
“Do you not want Eliza to stay with them?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just... Okay, maybe it is that...”
“What?”
She drew in a breath. “You’re sure about Eliza?”
I didn’t have to ask what she meant. “I am. Why do you ask?”
“That demon. The one on top of you. He said you weren’t new. He was looking for someone who was new. And she’s the new one, right?”
“Oh.” I nodded slowly, happy that she hadn’t made the same leap toward Allie as I had. “You might be right. But if so, it’s not because she’s bad.”
“I get that. But it might make her a target. And is that who we want around our girls?”
“Are you going to stop hanging out with me?” I asked. “Are you going to ask Mindy to stop hanging around Allie?”
I saw her shoulders slump in defeat. ”No. Of course not.”
“Good,” I said. And then, because I couldn’t hold it in any longer, I added, “Because it’s Allie, Laura. My baby’s the one that’s new.”
CHAPTER 6
“Allie?” Laura gaped at me. “What are you talking about?”
“She’s the one the demons are all twitchy about,” I said. “The one that’s new. Or, at least, I think she is. I don’t know,” I admitted, sagging down to the ground and pulling my knees up to my chest.
After a moment, Laura settled onto the damp grass, too. “I think I need a little more context. How the heck is Allienew? And what does that mean, anyway?”
“What it means? Not really sure,” I admitted, then gave her the quick and dirty rundown of everything I knew.
