Page 47 of Coerced

“But the real demon is still in Hell?” Tara asked, and I felt better that I wasn’t the only one ignorant on this subject. “Only an image of it is on this plane?”

“Okay, look. A demon can take a tiny bit of its essence, shape it like a human, and send it to Earth,” Kerry explained. “The more powerful the demon, the better the avatar, but they never quite look human. So that night, I bumped into a shadow, an avatar, that a demon had made and sent to the Real World. My demon said it was a prince, and I don’t think it would bother to lie about something like that.”

“There are so many pieces in the puzzle.” Maddy turned to Clem. “Was Amanda petrified two hundred years ago? Could she be the one Kerry’s shadow prince meant?”

“Yes. Two hundred years ago. It’s possible. I don’t know.”

“I think we should go see her,” John said. “Even petrified, she may be able to tell us something.”

“Where do you store her? I mean, keep her?” Tara made a face. “Sorry, Clem. I don’t know how to word it.”

“She’s in Augusta, which isn’t too far from here.”

“Is it big enough for an outpost?” Kerry asked.

“It’s the capital of the state, boy. Yeah, there’s an outpost there.”

“We’ll take Jax and Gigi with us. Maybe their outpost has some ideas about what to do or can point us in the right direction,” Kerry decreed.

Although I was still worried about Jax, knowing we had a plan made me feel better. I snuggled against my boy, closed my eyes, and drifted off.

#

Kerry

John banked the fire for the night, and I put Gemma back to bed in her tent. I ran an idea past the old man and he nodded. Soon a strong blue line ran over the snow and rocks in a circle around our campsite. It was the least I could do to ensure we all got some rest.

Nothing Diabolical’s gonna be slipping through that.

I had another idea, but that one I didn’t mention to Clem. All that talk about miracle workers earlier got my brain working. I walked around our campsite until I got a signal, then made a call.

“Kerry?” As soon as I heard Hank’s voice, I realized I woke him up. “All good, kiddo?”

“No.”

I told him in quick, quiet sentences what had happened and asked him if he could bring me Ms. Chapman’s Balm of Gilead.

“That’ll fix him up, right? You said it was a miracle in a jar.”

“Yeah, it’ll work, but I’m looking at your location right now and you’re in the middle of nowhere.” His voice was muffled for a second, like he’d covered the phone with his hand, then he was back on the line. “Gina says she’s been to the Augusta outpost before and knows the medical chief there.”

“Good. At first light, John and Gigi are ’porting us back to the SUVs. I figure we’ll get to Augusta at about eleven.”

“We’ll go now and leave it with the medical chief.”

“Sounds good. Thanks. Wait a second. Miss Weatherbee’s therenow? This late?” My sluggish brain woke up for a second. “Oh. She finally took mercy on you?”

“She did. We were married this morning at the courthouse.”

“You’re one lucky son of a gun, Hank.” I smirked and shook my head.

“Don’t I know it.”

12. First and Only Choice

Kerry

My eyes snapped open. Lying still, I listened hard until I heard a whimpering noise, like someone trying to cry as quietly as possible. Gemma’s tent was next to mine, but why would she be crying in the middle of the night? She wore one of Chessie’s wards to protect her from bad dreams, and there was no way it could have worn out so soon.

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