“I fell in love with you the very first night we met,” Kevin says from the doorway. He puts his hands in his pockets. “We spent the last twenty years as husband and wife and I still don’t know you.” He enters the room. Heads straight to Keely. He places his hands on each side of her face and kisses her forehead. “You’re eighteen. You can date whomever you choose kiddo.”
“No, she can’t,” Kimberly says sternly. “You don’t understand how these things work, Kevin-”
“No, you’re right. I don’t. Nobody ever explained these things to me! I couldn’t possibly understand. I’m only human.”
Keely has never seen her mom and dad fight before. Little arguments over who used the last ice cube and didn’t refill the tray. Whose turn it is to load the dishwasher. Which movie to watch. That’s it. Their perfect marriage wasn’t really perfect. It was a lie. Her dad didn’t even know who he married.
“I’m trying to now.” Kimberly stares at Keely. “Nick has taken an Oath. You are his responsibility. Dating your charge is seriously frowned upon. That’s not to mention that he has kept a very important secret from the Hierarchy. Beside the one that he’s making out with you, I mean.”
“We don’t make out. We kiss. And he didn’t tell the Hierarchy about the Demon King wanting me alive because he was protecting me,” she says, careful not to refer to him as her father in front of her dad. “How can you throw that up in my face?”
“I’m not throwing it up in your face, Keely. Your secret is out. Half of those people saw him kiss you last night and all of them know he agreed to work with Asmoday who was following orders directly from the Demon King. Do you know how this will look to the Hierarchy? Nick is going to face some kind of penalty. The last thing he needs right now is…” Kimberly shakes her head. Tries to find the right word. But it’s too late.
“Me.”
“That’s not what I said. I just don’t think a relationship with his charge is a good idea when he is already in trouble. And I’m not going to lie to you. I would be happier if you dated a human and tried to obtain a normal life.”
“As long as you’re happy. I mean, living a normal life worked out so well for you.”
“I made mistakes, but you can learn from them. You’ll know to be honest about who you are.”
“I don’t even know who I am!” Keely tugs her hair. She didn’t think her world could crumble anymore. Weren’t the pieces that were her life already small and scattered enough? How could her mom take Nick from her? And worse than that, how could it make sense? How could Keely know her mom was right?
“You are you, Keels. You’re the same girl you’ve always been,” Kevin insists.
“But I’m not. I’m different, Daddy. Everything’s changed.”
Kevin nods. He understands. Things will never go back to how they once were. He doesn’t want them to. That was a sham of a life before. Just a fantasy his wife had created.
“Keely, things have changed, yes. But you will always be you.”
“And who is that,” Keely challenges.
“My beautiful, innocent, smart, sweet daughter.” Her mom reaches for her. Keely moves out of her reach before traitor fingers can touch her.
“Yours and everybody else’s.”
“Stop that. You are not his,” Kimberly snaps. “You are nothing like him. You have his blood, but you also have mine. And you were raised human. You are better than all of us.”
“What does that make me?”
“It makes you Keely. It gives you a choice. The Demon King, he was a Watcher. I am a Guardian. You could choose to honor either of the blood lines. You are also a Princess, and there is that choice, but that would mean turning your back on everything and everyone you love. You would be an enemy of the Hierarchy, of Nick. Or you could choose your human roots. I am still partially human. I passed that on to you. You have many more choices than most.”
“But I don’t. You want me to live as if I were human and nothing else. What if I can’t do that?”
Kimberly gazes at Keely. Almost looks through her. “I will love you no matter what choice you make.”
“No matter which one? Nick said that I was special because a child born to an Angel has never been a girl. That a girl has never joined the line until at least the next generation. He said I’m needed for something. What if I do it? Would you still love me then?”
After a tremendously long pause, Kimberly meets her daughter’s eyes. “Yes, I would.”
“If you could accept that, than you can accept me honoring my Angel bloodline. I want to go to school where the others go. I want to train to be a Guardian.”
“There’s a school?” Kevin asks surprised.
Kimberly ignores him for the moment. “I don’t know if that would work. I don’t know if you would be welcomed, Keely. You are a Demon Princess, whether you embrace it or not. Whether I know you’re a good person or not. The Hierarchy may not allow it.”
“Then I’ll find out. I want this. I don’t want to be normal. I don’t want to deny who I am. That’s you. It’s not me. That life got me nowhere. It nearly got me killed.”
“No, I nearly got you killed. You’re prepared now.” She puts her hand up. “We can talk about this more when you’ve had time to think. And I do want you to think about it. Everything.”
Keely nods tightly. “It’s not going to change.”
“And about Nick. I think you need to end it. If not for your sake, then at least for his.”
“Keely, I don’t know about this stuff,” her dad says. “I wish I did, but I don’t. Talk to Nick and make this decision together.”
Kimberly gapes at Kevin. She opens her mouth to say something, but realizes that’s exactly what she should have done years ago. Instead, she did what she’s doing now. Making all the decisions for everybody else all on her own. She pushes her hair off her face and leaves Keely’s room a little shaken.
***
Keely isn’t sure exactly when she became such a cry baby. Hot tears stream silently down her cheeks. She sniffs. Wipes the sign of weakness from her face. The Demon Grimoire stares at her from the nightstand. Taunts her. Calls to her.
The phone rings endlessly. She ignores it. Instead, answers the call of the Grimoire. It dries the tears immediately. Soothes her like a baby with a blanket. Distracts her from all that’s wrong in her life.
Keely opens the book and runs her fingers over the bumpy pages. Loves the feel of the old paper. She leans in to inhale the scent. Stops short as she remembers what the cover is made from. What the ink truly is. She heard once that half of a person’s recollection is based on smell. This isn’t a smell she wants stored in her memory.
Keely decides to start at the beginning. Read it in order, although she doesn’t think the book has an order. It’ll make it easier to keep track of what she has and hasn’t read. The image of dark chestnut hair floats behind her vision. Just a bubble of a thought before it pops. Another image, this one of long silver scissors clipping a chunk of the dark hair. The words blur in front of her. A flash of a deep iron pot. The word caldron comes to mind. The last image she envisions is the hair shrinking and sizzling in a bright white flame of fire. She can smell the singed hair. Goose bumps raise across her arms and she shivers. It’s a love spell. To make someone fall in love with the caster. Ugh. She hates Demons. All they want is control.
She glances over the many names. Understands the names to be those of past users. There are eighteen. Eighteen Demons have used this spell to force someone into false feelings of love for them. Her finger skims the names, grateful she doesn’t recognize any of them. She moves on to the next. It isn’t a spell, but a prophecy. She hears thunder, but the sky is sunny outside. Knows only she can hear it. Wind blows warm, wet air across her face. Picks up her hair. Keely’s mouth goes very dry, but she keeps reading. Papers lift with the wind and circle her room.
In her mind’s eye, she envisions a girl with long, pale blonde hair. She walks slowly up a set of steps, c
areful not to look back. And Keely knows the girl is not allowed to look back. Knows that if she does, something very bad will happen.
With a gasp, Keely holds tight to the book. Rain drops splat heavily onto the page. The words smear red. She continues to read, faster now. The girl keeps climbing. She trips. Her long white gown catches on the jagged corner of the stone step. The staircase appears endless, winding around itself over and over. Forever going higher and higher. Still the girl ascends. The hot gusts of air push on her, try to stop her. Try to shove her back. The rain pelts her skin. The stairs begin to crumble. All elements work against her, but still she continues upward.
Keely wipes at her face. Knocks a rain drop from her nose. She feels as if she’s on those steps with this girl. Feels her struggle. Feels her anguish. Knows she cannot look back to see how far she’s come. She must only look forward at the endless myriad of stairs. The girl falls again. Keely cries out as the girl slides down several steps and scrapes her legs. Keely’s legs burn. The girl turns her head as if she is looking at Keely. As the stairs disintegrate into pebbles, the girl falling with them, Keely gets a startling look at her face.
The Heavens fall.
Hell rises.
The realms break apart like shattered glass.
Earth is stuck somewhere in the chaos.
No sky above. No ground below. One boundless abyss. The stars are no more. Beneath, there is only a rolling pool of gray.
The Demon King rises from the murky bottom of the nothingness. Demons slither out behind him, already seeking their pray. People scream endlessly. They try to run, but fall into the nothing. Get ripped apart by Demons. In his arms, the Demon King carries the girl. He stands tall. Proud. He hugs the girl to him as he gazes around at what she has done. She has joined Heaven and Hell with the Earth. Opened everything in between. His child. His beautiful.
Keely cannot look at the innocent people’s panicked and terror-stricken faces any longer. She tears her eyes away from the words. Away from what she has done.
Twenty-Four:
“Just say it already, man,” Bryon says. “It can’t possibly be that bad. Besides, I think I have a pretty good idea of what you want to tell me.” He absorbs Nick’s tight movements. Observes his discomfort.
Nick searches Bryon’s face. He’s pretty sure he doesn’t have a clue as to what this is about. Of course, now Nick wonders what Bryon thought he was going to say. He holds out his hand, gesturing for Bryon to go on.
“I already know about you and Keely. Who doesn’t at this point?”
Nick tries to keep his expression neutral. He’s pretty sure it slips. “That’s not… Why would you think I’d come here to tell you about Keely? That’s private between me and her.”
Bryon laughs. It’s thick with sarcasm. “Yeah, not private when you kiss her in front of everyone.” He crosses his arms over his chest and scrutinizes Nick. “What’s going on?”
“Uh.” Nick rubs his eyes. “I knew there was someone leaking information about Keely to Apophis.” He sits down on the edge of the couch cushion. “I knew it wasn’t Lila. And then you went missing.” He meets Bryon’s gaze evenly. Watches it turn into a grimace, followed by a scowl.
“So you assumed it was me?” No longer able to look at his supposed friend, Bryon turns and paces the room.
“Not at first, but when we couldn’t get a hold of you, it just made sense.”
Bryon stops pacing. Turns slowly to face Nick again. “Only thing wrong with that is I am your friend. I have always had your back. Always! Even when you were wrong, I still stood by you, man. You should have known I would never do that. And to Keely? How could you believe for a second I would ever do anything to hurt that girl? That’s seriously messed up, Nick.”
“I didn’t want to believe it. So much was going on. I screwed up. I’m sorry.”
Bryon squeezes his hand into a fist. “I want to hit you right now. Did you even try to look for me?”
Ashamed, Nick stands and looks at his feet. “Keely tried.”
“Did you?”
“No. I didn’t,” he admits.
That’s what their years of friendship are worth. Bryon nods his head. “I would have looked for you. I never would have believed you were a filthy traitor,” he says calmly.
“I know. I can’t take it back. I can just tell you how sorry I am. I will never doubt you again.”
“And I am supposed to take that and get over it? That’s bull shit. You let me rot in that cell. In the dark. While you made your move on Keely.”
“I didn’t know you were locked in a cell. And I didn’t make a move on Keely, it just happened. Why is that even an issue? Why do you care who she’s with?”
Without warning, Bryon’s fist connects with Nick’s jaw. Well, he actually did warn him, didn’t he? Stunned, Nick rubs his chin. Works his jaw back and forth.
“Come on,” Bryon goads.
“I deserve that. I’m not going to hit you back,” Nick says slowly.
Bryon strikes out and hits him again. This time on the other side.
“I probably deserve that too, but if you hit me again, I will hit you back.”
With a shrug, Bryon hits Nick in the eye. Nick tackles him to the floor. Bryon kicks up his leg and flips Nick over him. He lands on his back, knocking the wind out of him. Taking advantage, Bryon presses his knee into Nick’s chest.
“I loved her long before you did.”
This isn’t necessarily true. Nick can’t pin-point the exact moment he fell in love with Keely, but he knows it was before this week. He just hadn’t realized it. Finding his bearings quickly, Nick knocks Bryon back and crushes his forearm into his windpipe. He lifts his hand to punch him, but can’t bring himself to do it. Their eyes lock, and in them, they both see the other’s turmoil.
“I didn’t know,” Nick says and pushes himself off of Bryon.
They lie beside each other, their breathing heavy as they stare at the ceiling. After a moment, Bryon sits up and hits Nick in the stomach. Nick grunts and rubs his hand over his abdomen. And that’s it. The altercation is over. All is forgiven. What just happened, never happened.
***
Her room is unbearable. Keely slams the Demon Grimoire shut. Shoves it away from her. Wet hair sticks to her face, clothes cling to her body adding to the claustrophobia she is currently experiencing. She needs out of this room. Away from this book. There is no way her mom is about to let her out of the house.
Keely turns on the radio and adjusts the volume. Loud enough so her parents will assume she’s still here, but not so loud they come to complain about it. She flips on the light in her bathroom and shuts the door. It may offer her a little extra time if they come in and think she’s bathing.
Automatically reaching for her cell phone that isn’t there, Keely swears under her breath. Instead, she slips her shoes on and goes to the window. Pulls back the curtain and tries to measure the distance. If she lets herself hang before she drops, it will be less of a distance. Why couldn’t she have a tree or a trellis outside her window like girls always do in the movies?
With a self pitying sigh, Keely opens the window and begins lowering herself out. As she perches on the sill, she realizes all her preparation to hide that she is gone doesn’t matter if the window is left open. Oh, well, too late now. She flips to her belly, grips the frame and let’s her legs dangle before she drops. Lands it like a pro.
Keely stares up at her window wondrously. It was so easy. She looks around her, making sure she hasn’t been caught. Satisfied, she walks away from the house, heading for the field at the end of the street. It will take less time to get anywhere she wants to go if she cuts through the old corn field. Of course, now she needs to decide where exactly it is she wants to go. Her first instinct is Nick’s. But she isn’t ready to discuss their relationship yet. Or possibly ending it. And she isn’t in the mood for him to yell at her for sneaking out either. Lila was most likely at the hospital with Dustin and she doesn’t real
ly feel like dealing with him either. That leaves Bryon. He never judges her. Never yells at her. Never pushes her. She’s pretty sure she can show up at his door with wet hair and clothes and he won’t say a word about it.
The field. It’s been awhile since she’s been out here. It once was her sanctuary. She would come here and draw. The way the sun looked over the dried, yellowed stalks as they lay flat across the dirt would captivate Keely’s attention for hours. It’s how she learned to draw shadow.
She stops walking and looks up at the sky. Let’s the sun touch her face. She looks back out across the field and sadness fills her. This could all be gone. At her own hands.
“Would you like some company?”
Keely barley jumps at the sound of Asmoday’s voice because though she was distracted by her feelings of hopelessness and dread, she also felt a tug on the invisible cord that binds them. She doesn’t turn to face him. Doesn’t want him to see the tears. Doesn’t want him to witness the shame.
“Why are you so sad?”
Her body, so desperate to feel something else, she turns to anger. “Why do you know what I feel?” As her angers shifts, morphs into hurt confusion, Keely understands these are not her feelings. She twists now so she can see his face. “How do I know what you feel?”
His coffee brown eyes meet hers steadily. He shakes his head slowly. “I truly do not know.” He closes the distance between them, his stride slower than usual. In the seconds it takes him to stand before her, Keely flies through more confusion, happiness, sadness, anger. Lands on contentment just as he settles his feet at hers. “It is very strange. To feel so strongly. To feel certain emotions. Why are you sad?”
“I read the Prophecy, Asmoday. I know what I’m going to do. Why did you give Nick the Grimoire? You had to know I would find it.”
“I had hoped you would, yes.”
Keely tries to find deception in his face. Tries to feel it in his emotions. Tries so desperately because she doesn’t want to like him. “Why?” Her voice is shaky and barely above a whisper, but he understands her perfectly.