Friday morning, Eden tugged her dress from her closet. She wanted to look at it one more time before tonight. After Andrew had asked her to go, her mom had taken her shopping. They’d hit several stores before walking into a boutique full of prom dresses in the mall. Eden had immediately fallen in love with her dress. It was sleeveless with a V-neck, and had a crisscross open back. The worker at the store called it a Grecian silhouette, with a high waist hitting directly under her chest, covered in a glittering band. The dress hugged her hips and then flowed out to the floor.
Her mom had gasped when she came out of the dressing room. “It looks like it was made for you.”
“Really? You like it? I don’t usually get things in red, but I love this,” she admitted, doing a pirouette in the mirror.
“You look gorgeous, so grown up,” her mom had confirmed.
Now she held the hanger up, the red material silky in her hands.
“I am excited to go,” she said out loud, maybe to reassure herself. It didn’t help knowing Micah was flying back any day now. Her parents weren’t sure what day, and she was too embarrassed to call the Hawkins to find out.
At school, there was a definite buzz among the students. Eden felt bad Kevin hadn’t mustered enough courage to ask Jessie to go too. By their lockers, she asked Jessie how the play was going in drama, since she had the supporting lead. That got Jessie talking all the way to trig.
Andrew grinned at Eden, not saying a word about their plans. It would only make Jessie feel left out, since she was the only one in their group not going. Willow and Chase, Caitlyn and Dave, and even Jake and Megan were joining them.
Ironically, after her party, Megan was a lot nicer to Eden. Since Eden lingered in the hall a little too long with Andrew after class, she had to hustle into Biology. She wasn’t surprised to see Damon already sitting in his chair. He always beat her now.
She hurried to her seat and then, seeing she was still on time, twisted around.
“Are you going to prom?”
He made eye contact “No,” and then looked away.
She had decided to continue to be friendly, even if his expression read, Leave me alone.
“That’s too bad. Are you feeling any better yet?” she probed.
“I’m fine; I’m not sick.” He stared back at her.
She sighed inwardly, and flipped around.
He sure isn’t making it easy.
Everyone was eating and having a good time at the steak house, until Chase said, “Hey, did you guys hear Micah’s back?”
Megan sputtered, covering her mouth with a napkin. Jake patted her back, saying, “Awesome! It’s about time he got home.”
Eden was glad all eyes were on Megan, not her. Her cheeks felt warm.
Chase agreed. “He texted me about an hour ago, wants to know if we wanted to hang out tonight. He didn’t know its prom. I tried to get him to stag it with us, but he didn’t want to. He’s cool with us coming over later for the after the party-party.” Chase grinned. “What do you think?”
Everyone looked around at each other, nodding and saying, “Yeah.”
“Is that ok with you?” Andrew asked her.
She swallowed. “Sure.”
She caught Caitlyn’s hazel eyes gazing at her, an unspoken question in her expression. Eden pretended she didn’t notice.
Once dinner had ended, they filed into their cars, heading for the park. The dance was held outdoors this year, in a large park the school had reserved. There was a white canopy set up with white lights lining the entire ceiling and sides. The DJ was on a stage at the front of the tent, and there was some kind of hard flooring down on the ground. It was too packed to even see what it was made of. Eden noticed there was another, smaller tent set up around the dance floor. Peering in, there was one long refreshment table and many small, round tables, where kids were sitting and eating.
After several fast and slow songs, Eden made her excuse. She needed a minute. It felt like her heart was in overdrive and her mind sluggish.
“Mind if I run to the restroom real quick? I need to freshen up. It’s sort of hot in here.” She felt lame saying it.
“Not at all, I think the bathroom’s back there.” Andrew pointed at the small building nestled in the trees. She nodded as he said, “Meet you back by the refreshments.”
She followed the path to the restrooms, taking long, deep breaths. It’ll be fun seeing Micah again.
She entered the ladies room with a throng of girls. Impressed, it was much larger than it’d appeared on the outside, Eden searched for an empty sink or mirror. It was packed with girls, reapplying makeup, fixing hair, and pushing up chests in bras. A few girls finished their touch-ups and stepped away, leaving Eden free to stare at herself in the mirror. Though Jessie’s makeup abilities were good, she saw the panic in her own eyes.
Why does he do this to me?
Wringing her hands together, she left, and instead of heading back towards the dance, she wandered towards the trees. Just need a minute to clear my head.
Hiking her dress up to her shins, she stepped off the path, and further into the dark trees. She was so engrossed in giving herself a lecture on how she needed to let Micah go, she missed the slight push against her chest. Wandering deeper into the forest, she shivered. Her naked skin was exposed to the gusts that were now making the trees sway and bend.
Oblivious to her surroundings, the smell of rotten eggs assaulted her.
She gasped. Oh my gosh, what have I done?
Throwing her dress up higher, she spun around, sprinting back. The wind was strong now; her hair lifted off her shoulders, blowing into her face. She compelled her legs to go faster, as she reprimanded herself for being so stupid.
A man’s voice commanded, “Eden, run faster!”
Although she had only heard him once before, she knew his voice, and whirled around.
Fire lit up the night as it whipped through the air. Heaping piles of ash surrounded him on the ground. He backed closer to her, his blade between her and the figures approaching. As he continued to lunge forward and slice them down, her eyes began to make out the vastness of their numbers.
Terror shook her; there were hundreds of them, jumping down from trees and climbing out from behind rocks. Feeling too stunned to move, she stared as her guardian sliced through ten more demons within seconds. But more were coming, lots more. Finally registering what she must do, she clutched her dress and bolted. Dashing through the trees, she didn’t slow even when she snagged on branches. Her dress was ruined, her bare skin scraped, but none of that mattered now.
She could hear the battle behind her, the shrieks and cries, smelling of rotten flesh and sulfur. Her path was lit by her guardian’s sword. He was behind her, holding them back, but not all were destroyed. They were on either side of her now, faster than she was. One to the right reached out just as fire sliced through its arms. Being close, the black forms actually looked semi-human, with long, skinny arms and massive, powerful legs. Just like Micah said.
One to her left lunged, and this time there was no fire stopping it. It grabbed her at the waist, knocking her to the ground. But this one didn’t gloat over her, as the one in her bedroom had, but instead, it sunk its nasty, long nails deep into her back as it pulled her off the ground, and threw her over its shoulder.
She screeched, not only for the searing pain in her back, but at the insane speed at which it dashed deeper into the trees. Frantically searching for her guardian, she was thrown to the ground. Stumbling back, she saw the demon she’d ridden on lose its legs to the flaming sword. Once she was out of the way, her guardian sliced through its skull.
Her guardian moved to stand over her. She was amazed and horrified at the fluidity and accuracy of his movements; she’d never seen someone so outnumbered fight off so many. She knew it was vital to escape, but was too afraid to leave his side.
The ground shook beneath her.
She scrambled to her feet.
A massive man appeared and unlike the other demons’ tight skin stretched over bones, this one had a face with flesh. His hoodless, black robe revealed his bald head and forearms, both blood red with swirling, black patterns on it.
His mouth opened, unnaturally elongated, as he uttered moans and chants.
It had rhythm; every time a deep, drum-like noise sounded in his throat, the demons bowed their heads. In horror, Eden realized, the scurrying black bodies were moving as one and they were all advancing towards her.
Her guardian raised both of his arms above his head, and then lowered them.
A blast of warm air hit her as men appeared, lining both sides of them. She gasped as they drew their swords—every single blade was on fire. She counted twelve standing to her guardian’s left and twelve on his right. Their swords were shorter than her guardian’s, and didn’t burn as brightly, but they were impressive. They’re all Cherubim!
For a moment, everyone held their ground.
The chanting demon scowled at her guardian and then cackled. It echoed off the trees, surrounding her.
“Is that all?” his gravelly voice asked.
“Oeillet, Prince of Dominions, I would ask you the same thing.”
Oeillet growled, spewing black smoke from its mouth. In unison, the demons roared back and charged forward.