Page 7 of Secrets in Salem: Part One

Only then does my younger brother remove his hand. I clear my throat, keeping my eyes low enough not to disrespect him while I talk. "Sir, you only want us to stay until she wakes up?"

He watches the girl with a longing I never thought I'd see from the Devil himself, but he looks at the girl like… like a father would look at his daughter. Without looking up, his echoing voice says, "You'll watch after her until she's ready. Until she understands who and what she is. Until she's able to control it, you'll stay with her."

"Sir?" my brother asks, confusion lacing that single word. I shoot him a look that urges him to shut the fuck up, but the jackass pretends he can't see it. Instead, he trains his eyes on the creature before us.

The Devil looks up, pinning his terrifying eyes on us. "Did I stutter? You heard every word I said. Until she's ready, you'll look after her, watch her, and protect her. Nothing less. Am I understood?"

"Perfectly, sir. We'll stay until she's... ready.” I cut my brother off before he decides to open his trap again. Then I pause. Until she’s ready? What is she supposed to be ready for? “Sir, as a way to prepare for a stay here that’ll last an undetermined amount of time, might I be so bold as to ask what it is she needs or how long until she’ll be ready? Perhaps what it is she needs to be prepared for? Just so we know what to look for to determine if she’s ready or not.”

I’m pushing my luck, but the more answers I get, the better equipped we are to look out for the girl. And it would sate my curiosity.

The Devil rises, taller than the three of us despite my brothers and me being over six foot. He practically looms over my six foot four body, his presence domineering and intense. His eyes grow darker, the black overtaking the light gray of his irises. When he breathes out, steam wafts from his nose and the ground beneath him begins to scorch despite being made of stone. “She’ll be ready when she’s ready. I won’t have the process rushed. As for what it is she’ll be ready for, you’ll find out soon enough. After all, sheisthe daughter of a being condemned to hell, so that should give you a few ideas. I’ll be taking my leave now, but I will return. Protect her by any means necessary until then.”

My mouth falls open just as he backs away, leaving trails of smoke as he goes. He confirmed my suspicions with nothing but a passing comment, but it’s enough to know that this isn’t some mere babysitting job he has us on. If she’s the daughter of the creature who controls all of Hell, then things just got a whole lot more interesting and, dare I say, terrifying.

Just as the beginnings of fire start from his hoofed feet, his eyes morph from gray to black, becoming a deep void where things go to die. His voice turns hoarse and raspy as he leaves us with one parting sentence.

“I’ll be back for my daughter.”

The fire overtakes him completely, and he disappears from sight, leaving the girl lying in a puddle of her own blood. The Devil disappears, my stomach bracing itself against the urge to heave out all of its contents when the smell of charred flesh won’t leave.

“So, we’re here to look after a little girl who’s preparing for something she doesn’t even know about. A girl who needs to be ready for the Devil’s return, and we have no fucking clue what we’re supposed to be looking out for. Not to mention she’s his fuckingdaughter.Great. Fucking great,” my brother gripes, running his hand through his dirty blond hair as he turns to walk away.

My younger brother claps me on the shoulder when I make no move to walk away from the broken girl, a dark expression on his face. Are we supposed to just leave her there covered in blood, her clothes ruined and her body burned? My beast revolts against the idea, pacing harder inside me, teeth snapping and claws scraping against my nerves. “We can’t just leave her there like that.”

I receive another clap on the back, a gentler one this time. When I look over, he’s wearing a guilty frown that tells me that’s exactly what we have to do even though neither of us seems to care much for the idea. I cast the girl another look before sighing and turning to walk in the same direction our brother went. The youngest of the three of us follows, and all three of us fade into the shadows to wait for the girl to wake up, reborn.

Guess this means we’re officially the protectors of the Devil’s daughter.

Chapter 5

Willow

I makeit home in record time, soaked to the bone and shivering from the cold. The streets are empty, children already tucked away at home, no doubt sleeping after a night collecting candy.

The door slams as soon as I'm inside, and I shuck my jacket off quickly. Raindrops drip freely from it as I hang it to dry, and, when I turn, I find my mother standing with her hands on her hips and fury coating her features. "Where the hell have you been, Willow? You told me you wouldn't be long. You've been gone for six hours.Six, Willow! It's one in the damn morning!"

I blink at her, stunned that I've been in the woods for that long. It only felt like an hour or two. Thinking that, I remember I did somehow manage to fall a-fucking-sleep, so maybe I really was there longer than I thought.

Cringing, I hook my bag back over my shoulder and mutter, "Sorry, Mom."

"Sorry?Sorry?That's all I'm going to get after being worried to death about you? Where have you been this entire time?" she asks, her jaw stubbornly set and her eyes boring into me with so much intensity that I start to fidget. Twenty-five years old and my mother still manages to make me feel like a sixteen-year-old who snuck out at night. I’m too tired for this shit.

"I was at Hollow Grove, just like I told you I’d be before leaving the house. It didn't work, so I sat there feeling sorry for myself. I must have lost track of time. I'm sorry," I tell her, omitting the small detail of me passing out. She doesn't need to hear that. All she needs to know is that my lame plan didn't work, leaving me still clueless as to who my parents were and where I came from.

Defeat sits heavily on my chest with the reminder. I sigh, my shoulders sagging as I move past Mom so I can head toward my room. I need to be alone and sulk without an audience

"It didn't?" she asks wearily, though the hope in her eyes kind of guts me like a fish. She couldn’t hide that a little better?

"No, Mom. I wasted all that time for nothing. Look, can we talk about it in the morning? I'd rather not discuss my failures at one in the morning when I'm tired and feeling like shit," I bluntly admit, turning just in time to catch the expression on her face. Relief changes her features before she wipes it away, replacing it with one of pity that I'm pretty sure is supposed to be sympathy. I don't want either. I want to go to sleep, because despite my impromptu nap, my body aches and I feel utterly drained. I just want to crash onto my bed and sleep until tomorrow afternoon.

"Sure, honey. We'll talk tomorrow. I'm sorry things didn't work out," she tells me, sounding sincere enough that I feel guilty for brushing her off.

I nod and walk over, dropping a kiss on her cheek before turning to head to my room. "Me too, Mom. See you in the morning."

"Night, honey."

I walk into my room and shut the door with a soft click. Leaning against it, I drop my head back with a thud, releasing a long, exhausted breath that's tinged with disappointment and sadness. I really was an idiot for thinking anything would come of using a ouija board to talk to the dead.

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