Page 66 of Death is My BFF

I could try being nice to her.

Pass. I would rather gouge my own eyes out than resort to pleasantries.

Standing on the curb, I sorted through my limited options, when the perfect idea suddenly hit me. A slow, wicked grin framed my mouth. “Bingo.”

I signaled to the Fallen on the roof of Faith’s house. They bowed their heads in unison. She was safe, for now, so it was time to sate my never-ending craving.

As I stepped into the road, I flexed my arms outward and enormous wings unfurled from my back. I cast one last look at her bedroom window before launching into the night.

XII

FAITH

A nudge to my arm woke me. I was nestled on the living room couch, wrapped in a plush blanket. The heaviness of a deep sleep fluttered away from my vision, revealing a face I’d missed far too much.

“Mom?”

“Hey, sleepyhead.” She knelt at my side with a tan glow from the island sun. Mom had thick straight blond hair, layered just above her shoulders, and cerulean blue eyes. The comforting, familiar scent of her favorite lavender lotion enveloped me.

“You looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to wake you. Dad and I brought you—”

I pulled her into a constricted hug.

“Aw, my baby. Is everything okay?”

Not even a little bit. “I missed you.” I hid the unease in my voice as I pulled away from her. “You look great, Mom. I must look like a bottle of Wite-Out compared to you.” I did a quick visual sweep of the room. “Where’s Dad?”

“Oh, you know your father. He insisted on unpacking the whole car in one trip.” She scanned my features. “We missed you, baby.

I tried to call you when we arrived at the airport, but your phone kept going straight to voicemail.” She beamed. “Which reminds me!

Don’t you have a secret to tell me?”

My heartbeat picked up. “A secret?”

“As we were waiting for our flight, I saw this magazine,” she started chirpily, until her eyes widened and clung to a spot on my arm. “What happened here?”

A fading pink line ran down my forearm. It wasn’t raised enough to be a scar and appeared to be more like a graze. My thoughts circled back to the demon that attacked me in the alleyway, the memory of its scalpel-like talon slicing through my flesh. “Oh, that,” I said with a hard swallow. “I, um, went for a hike.”

Mom looked at me as if I had three heads. “Since when do you like nature?”

“I was in a car accident last week,” I blurted.Idiot,idiot,idiot!

“I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. Before she exploded, I rambled on, “But it wasn’t my fault, and the other driver offered to fix it. It’s all being taken care of.”

“Did you exchange insurance information? Why on earth didn’t you call us?”

On cue, a lobster version of my dad entered the house. He wore a bright-green Hawaiian shirt and held a cluster of bags. Dad was a few inches taller than Mom and me, with dark-auburn hair and a lean build from cycling. He flipped up his square sunglasses onto his head without using his hands, revealing an awful tan line around his eyes. “Aloha, sweetheart! TGIF!”

“Aloha, Dad. Are you good? You look a little . . . ”

“Sun poisoned? Probably. Sunscreen is for sissies.” He raised the huge load of bags on his arms. “Look, one trip! I still got it!” He caught Mom’s expression and lowered the luggage, wincing as the straps rolled down his pink arms. “What’s the matter, honey?”

“Our daughter was in a car accident.”

Dad tucked his sunglasses into his shirt pocket with a frown.

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