Page 9 of My Blind Date is a Demon

“We need to just try to do better, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Tell you what,” I say. “If you get your grades back up—at least three As on your next report card—and I don’t get any more warnings about you fighting with your classmates, I’ll buy you your own phone for Christmas.”

“Really?” she practically screams.

“Yes, really. I think you’re old enough. At least, I think you are. Maybe I should check the parenting websites to see what they say.”

“No! Don’t check them!” She jumps up and runs over, giving me a hug, bouncing up and down on the soles of her feet. “You’re the best mom ever!”

I laugh and pet her hair, giving her a kiss on the top of the head. It’s been a while since she’s said that. If all it took was a phone, I’d have gotten her one when she was born.

“Why don’t you go clean up and then you can help me make dinner?”

“Woohoo!” she calls out as she zooms off.

I shake my head as I go collect the cookie jar. It’s a funny little thing. It’s actually a jar that says deadly nightshade across it, like the one Sally uses to poison her maker in The Nightmare Before Christmas. I thought it was funny to put cookies in such a macabre vessel. I bought it… We, Mark and I, bought it when we took a family trip to Disney World when Bella was only two. It was an exhausting trip, lugging around a two-year-old and everything that goes with one, and she doesn’t even remember it, but I do. And it truly was a magical trip. And we at least have pictures for Bella to look at. There is a framed picture of all of us in front of Cinderella’s castle in Bella’s room.

I put the cookie jar on the counter and feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. My whole body ripples in gooseflesh. I turn around and see… I don’t know what I see. A shadow. A fog. Something dark is looming before me. It’s something supernatural, for sure. And there is no way I can fight it. No way I can defend myself—or Bella.

I reach into my pocket and pull out my cell phone. I have to call Beverly. I look down to find her number, but the…the thing swipes at me. I jump back. I need to get out of here. But I can’t leave Bella. It’s clear the creature is here for me.

“Bella!” I scream. The shape seems to turn toward the hallway. “Hey!” I say to it. “What do you want?”

“Tamzin…Jones…” it hisses.

“Yeah…that’s what I was afraid of,” I croak.

“Mo-Mommy?” I hear Bella say from behind the creature.

“Bella! Run! Find Beverly!” I tell her. I take a step back and clap my hands to keep the creature’s attention. It floats toward me. It’s so close. It has, like, lightning for eyes. I wonder if this was the thing I saw at Beverly’s shop. Did it follow me home? What is it? In all my life living in Mystic Cove, I’ve never seen anything like it.

The shape dives toward me. I turn and run toward the back door. I grip the handle and pull the door open, but the thing slams the door shut.

“Get away from me!” I yell. One thing I have learned living in Mystic Cove is to stand your ground. Many supernatural creatures are actually not very dangerous, but they are intimidating. If you stand your ground, they often cannot actually harm you.

I see that Bella is still here, standing by the kitchen doorway. “Bella! Get out of here! Get Beverly!” I know I’m asking a lot of a scared child. She might be frozen to the spot. I need to get this thing away from my child.

I back down the other hall, into the living room, keeping my eyes on the creature. It follows me. I run across the room and grab a bowl of crystals. I pull out the black obsidian. I hold it up. “Stay away!”

The creature… Well, I can only describe it as the creature laughing. It’s a low, husky sound, and the shape ripples.

The shadow then zooms forward and wraps around me. I’m engulfed in shadow. I feel it flying around me, as if I’m inside a tornado. I feel my feet lift from the ground.

“Stop!”

That wasn’t my voice. Bella! Why is she in here? What is she doing? It’s hard for me to see through the fog.

“Bella! Run!” I try to say, but my voice is drowned out by the sound of the wind all around me.

Bella says something, but I can’t understand her words, either because of the fog or because she’s not speaking English. Is she trying to work a spell? Oh, Bella. You aren’t strong enough for this, whatever this is.

Suddenly, the thing drops me. It’s not a long drop, but it was so unexpected, I end up falling on my chest. I see the fog hovering over Bella. She’s still chanting something, and she’s holding the cookie jar in one hand and the lid in the other.

“Bella!” I scramble to my feet and wrap my arms around her. “Go away!” I scream. “Leave us alone!”

But the thing doesn’t leave. Instead, it wraps around both of us, creating the tornado once again. But Bella keeps chanting. I hold her tight, tears filling my eyes. I can’t let it end like this! I can’t lose her too! But what can I do? I’m helpless. Worthless.

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