“Hi, Mr. Zrazduel, Ms. Armstrong,” the lanky teen grimaced, hugging herself. Her face was covered in blood and her clothes were barely held together around her body. “Uh…can I stay with you? I…I kinda ate my friends.”
Zavros stared at Knox incredulously, as if begging him not to agree.
“Of course. Zavros, get her in the car. We’ll call Hellen on the way there.” Knox shot his security an apologetic look. Zavros took a deep breath, clearly accepting his fate, before motioning for Gael to follow him to the town car. Knox and Amelia spared a look before the fiend turned off the lights in the woods. Best to let the dark devour the dead things left behind. Besides, they had much bigger things to worry about…the first being how he was going to kill Declan, second being how does one keep an eldritch tome that eats people in one’s house, and then third was how to keep Gael fed.
Chapter Twenty-nine:
Amelia
Amelia and Penny combedout opposite sides of Gael’s hair while Brayden continued his monologue about a video game to keep Gael’s mind off the fact that Amelia and Penny had to pick teeth and bone shards out of her hair. When Gael said she ate her friends, Amelia found it comical at first…like a toddler stumbling into mom and dad’s room after throwing up. Then they found Maevin waiting at the town car with photos and a grim look on his face. Gael didn’t just feed from her friends, shedestroyedthem. It stopped being funny after Amelia saw Gael cry. Despite the fact they were the friends who ditched her, thus allowing her to get caught by Declan, they were still her friends. Gael went to them in hopes they would help her.
They didn’t.
Penny hummed softly, “All clean.”
“Thank you,” Gael murmured, fidgeting in her clean pajamas.
“Why don’t you and Brayden go to the theater, huh? I’ll ask Denver for some snacks and you two can just decompress, huh?” Penny smiled at the teen sweetly.
“Yeah! I can show you. The graphics are far superior to what I’m even describing, you gotta see it,” Brayden made an explosion motion with his hands.
“Yeah, alright,” Gael wheezed, letting the teen boy rip her from the dining room chair she was in and out of the room with glee.
“He’s such a good kid,” Amelia murmured, collecting the combs and other products they’d used to detangle Gael’s hair. After a long, overdue bath and soaking her hair in detangler, they’d been able to pick out the mats. Immediately, upon Brayden seeing Gael, silently sobbing to herself while the two women worked to return her pretty hair back to life, broke out into a song and dance about his latest game obsession.The perfect distraction.
“I honestly don’t know how I got so lucky, really.” Penny shook her head in disbelief. “He’s nothing like Rick ever was or ever pretended to be. He’s just a genuinely good human and I…I’m just so glad he turned out that way.”
Amelia spared her sister a warm smile. Penny helped pick up all their hair magic tools and walked with her twin toward the guest bathroom from where they’d stolen them.
“You two are gonna be okay.” Amelia nudged her sister with her elbow tenderly.
“Are you saying that because you’re not? Or because you’re worried about me?” Penny chuckled, eyeing her sister suspiciously.
“You know me, sturdy, durable Amelia. Nothing can knock me down. I’m just worried about you and how all of this is affecting you. I know it’s been affecting me but I’m…I don’t know, is it weird I like it?” Amelia shrugged.
“Yes,” Penny barked with a laugh. “It is weird. I get it, but it’s weird.”
“Hey!” Amelia swatted at her sister who giggled as she flounced away from her. Penny disappeared into the house,clearly on a mission to feed and help the teen vampire just like Brayden. Amelia sat on her heels, wanting very much to follow her sister. To sit down on a couch and play card games and eat popcorn and throw things at her nephew.
“Pet?” Knox’s voice ripped her from her thoughts.
But the book…Amelia had never run into a cursed book. A haunted book. A monstrous book of eldritch horror…and now it called to her. “When can we give it back to the Witch of the Woods?”
“Who?” Knox breathed, eyeing her with confusion.
“The one who speaks to you through the mirrors, the crone in the portal window?” She twisted more to face him. She couldn’t very well relax as long as that thing was radiating malicious evil in the house. Oh no, she needed it gone.Tonight.
“Persephone, right…how did you know that title?”
Amelia groaned, “The book told me.”
Knox grimaced, sharing the same pained expression as Amelia. “I’m going to be delighted the second it returns to its home…but it is the key to destroying Declan for good.”
“You don’t think he’ll take an invitation for coffee and cake and murder? Do you?” Amelia squinted at him teasingly. Knox snorted, shaking his head. She sighed, “Worth a shot.”
Knox wheeled her away from the bathroom and toward the upstairs office. Their footsteps echoed against walls and hardwood floors. They discussed on the way home how they needed to work on the book. When Amelia held it, she wasn’t herself. She wasn’t in control. As the doors opened to the office, a low hissing sound returned. The same from the forest. Amelia stood, frozen in the doorway, staring at the writhing briefcase across from her. Perched on a couch, strapped down with magical restraints, the book thrashed from within its tomb. If Amelia had her way, it’d stay that way.
Her skin itched. Her blood ran cold. Her heart skipped a few beats as she stared at the thing of her nightmares.