When Xavier pulled away from the curb, I snapped back to reality, like someone waking from a deep sleep.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning,” he called out with a dreamy smile. “Usual time.”
I stood in our tangled front yard watching until the Chevy finally turned off at the end of the street.
Byron was still my haven and I loved retreating there. Everything was soothingly familiar, from the creaking steps on the front porch to the large and airy rooms inside. It felt like a safe cocoon away from the turbulence of the world. It was true to say that while I loved human life, it scared me sometimes. The earth had problems — problems almost too large and too complex to fully comprehend. Thinking about them made my head spin. It also made me feel ineffectual. But Ivy and Gabriel had told me to stop wasting my energy and focus on our mission. There were plans for us to visit other cities and towns in the vicinity of Venus Cove to expel any dark forces residing there. Little did we know they would find us before we had a chance to find them.
Dinner was already underway when I got home. My brother and sister were out on the deck. They were each engaged in solitary activities; Ivy had her nose in a book and Gabriel was deep in concentration, composing on his guitar. His expert fingers massaged the chords gently and they seemed to answer his silent command. I joined them and knelt down to pat my dog, Phantom, who was sleeping soundly with his head resting on his giant, silky paws. He stirred at my touch, his silvery body as sleek as ever. He looked up at me with his sad, moonlight eyes, and I imagined his expression to say: Where have you been all day?
Ivy lay semi-recumbent in the hammock, her golden hair flowing down to her waist. It looked resplendent in the light of the setting sun. My sister didn’t quite know how to relax in a hammock; she looked too poised and reminded me of a mythical creature who had somehow found herself unceremoniously plonked in a world that made no sense to her. She was wearing a pastel blue muslin dress and had even set up a frilly parasol, to protect her from the fading sunlight. No doubt she’d found it in some vintage shop and couldn’t resist buying it.
“Where did you get that?” I laughed. “I think they went out of fashion a while ago.”
“Well, I think it’s charming,” said Ivy, laying down the novel she’d been reading. I took a peek at the cover.
“Jane Eyre?” I asked dubiously. “You do know it’s a love story, right?”
“I’m aware,” said my sister huffily.
“You’re turning into me!” I teased.
“I highly doubt I could ever be as swooning and silly as you are,” Ivy replied in a matter-of-fact tone but her eyes were playful.
Gabriel stopped strumming his guitar to look over at us.
“I don’t think anybody could outdo Bethany in that department,” he said with a smile. He put down his guitar carefully and went to lean against the railing, staring out to sea. As usual Gabe stood arrow straight, his white-blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. His steel gray eyes and his sculpted features made him look like the celestial warrior he was — but he was dressed like a human in faded jeans and a loose shirt. His face was open and friendly. I was pleased to see that Gabriel was more relaxed these days. I felt as if both my siblings were less critical of me, more accepting of the choices I’d made.
“How is it you always get home before me?” I complained. “When I take a car and you walk!”
“I have my ways,” my brother replied with a secretive smile. “Besides, I don’t have to pull over every two minutes to express my affection.”
“We do not pull over to express affection!” I objected.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “So that wasn’t Xavier’s car parked two blocks from school?”
“Maybe it was.” I tossed my head nonchalantly, hating how he was always right. “But every two minutes is a slight exaggeration!”
Ivy’s heart-shaped face glowed as she broke into a laugh. “Oh, Bethany, relax. We’re used to the PDAs by now.”
“Where did you learn that?” I asked curiously. I’d never heard Ivy use abbreviated colloquialisms. Her formal speech usually sounded so out of place in the modern world.
“I do spend time with young people, you know,” she said. “I’m trying to be hip.”
Gabriel and I burst out laughing.
“In that case, don’t say hip for starters,” I advised.
Ivy leaned down to ruffle my hair affectionately and changed the subject. “I hope you don’t have plans for this weekend.”
“Can Xavier come?” I asked eagerly before she’d even had a chance to explain what she and Gabe had in mind. Xavier had long become a fixture in my life. Even when we were apart, it seemed there was no activity or distraction that could keep my thoughts from straying back to him.
Gabriel pointedly rolled his eyes. “If he must.”
“Of course he must,” I said, grinning. “So what’s the plan?”
“There’s a town called Black Ridge twenty miles from here,” my brother said. “We’ve been told they’re experiencing some … disturbances.”
“You mean demonic disturbances?”
“Well, three girls have gone missing in the last month and a perfectly sound bridge collapsed onto passing traffic.”
I winced. “Sounds like our kind of problem. When do we leave?”
“Saturday,” Ivy said. “So you better rest up.”
2
Co-Dependent
THE next day Molly and I sat with the girls in the west courtyard, which had become our new favorite hangout. Molly had changed since the loss of her best friend the year before. Taylah’s death at the hands of Jake Thorn had been a wake-up call for my family. We had not foreseen the extent of Jake’s powers until the day he’d slit her throat to send us a message.
Since then Molly had drifted away from her old circle of friends and out of a sense of loyalty, I’d gone along with her. I didn’t mind the switch. I knew Bryce Hamilton must now be full of painful memories for Molly and I wanted to support her in every way I could. Besides, our new group was more or less the same as the old one. These were girls we’d hung out with on occasion but never become close with. They knew all the same people and gossiped about the same things, so becoming integrated into their group was easy as pie.
Things were strained in the group that had once included Taylah, and I knew Molly couldn’t really relax with them. Occasionally, out of the blue, conversations would come to an awkward halt. The kind of pause where you knew everyone was thinking the same thing: What would Taylah say right now? But no one had the courage to speak her name out loud. I had a feeling things would never be quite the same for these girls. They’d tried to make things go back to normal, but most of the time it felt as if they were trying too hard. They laughed too loudly and their jokes sounded rehearsed. It seemed that whatever they said or did, they were constantly reminded of Taylah’s absence. Taylah and Molly had been at the very core of the group, self-appointed authorities on so many things. Now Taylah was gone and Molly was completely withdrawn. The other girls had lost both their mentors and were completely adrift without them.
It was hard watching them struggle collectively with their grief; a grief they couldn’t articulate for fear of unleashing emotion they couldn’t control. I so badly wanted to tell them not to see death as an end but as a new beginning and explain to them that Taylah had simply crossed to a new plane of existence, one that was unencumbered by physicality. I wanted them to know that Taylah was out there still, only now she was free. I wanted to tell them about Heaven and the peace she would find there. But, of course, sharing any of that knowledge was impossible. Not only would I be breaking our most sacred code and exposing our presence on earth, but I’d also be instantly kicked out of the group for being a lunatic.