The shop was dark in the fading daylight.
As a cab pulled away, I stood on the sidewalk looking up at my home, a sobering reminder of what had happened earlier this morning.
The last time I was here, Darius, Destiny, and I were together. We were in trouble, but we were together. We were a team. Until Falconer ruined it.
Now, the lights of the shop were off and the blinds drawn over all the windows. The building looked how I felt—dark and somber.
I climbed the steps to the front door slowly and I put the key in the lock.
I stopped and rested my head on the door.
I was failing and I was failing fast.
Had to snap out of it.
I entered, passed through the lobby and downstairs into the kitchen. I could smell the dirty dishes in the sink from when Destiny made breakfast.
The evening light formed a gradient of shadow across the kitchen, creating half shadow, half light.
I opened the pantry door, stepped delicately over dust, pickle juice, and oats.
Last time I was in here, I was narrowly avoiding gunshots.
I parted a row of mason jars with almonds and candy, and stuck my hand into a shadowed nook, seizing a cold metal key.
It was gold, with serrated teeth.
I held it solemnly in front of my face, realizing what it meant.
I didn't like using this key.
At all.
Then I jogged out of the pantry and to a small hallway between the kitchen and living room.
I opened a closet and pulled out several towels.
Behind them was a black safe. Darius had bought it from a downtown hotel that was going out of business.
I didn't like the idea of having a safe in the house, but with several burglaries…and the fact that I was the only one in the house who couldn't turn into an animal or cast a spell to protect myself…
A large lock was fastened around the handle of the safe. An extra precaution. Ensured that I'd never open it.
I slid the key in and the lock clicked open and fell away.
I keyed the passcode to the safe and the mechanical lock slid aside, popping the door open.
Staring at me was a jet black Glock 22. Unloaded, magazine and box of rounds to the side.
I grabbed the magazine and loaded it methodically, counting until it was full.
Then I took the gun, slid the magazine in, and loaded it.
This thing was heavy.
Look, I don't like guns. Never have, never will. They kill too many of my people.
But when a girl’s gotta defend herself and her family, she's gotta do what she's gotta do.
Still, the gun felt as if it were fifty pounds. Its ridges matched the contours of my palm, as if it had been designed to fit me.
Despite all the target practice, I didn't know if I'd be able to aim for shit. Especially when things got heated.
I tucked the gun inside my pants and took in a deep breath.
Outside, the light had diminished to an orange glow, the kind of evening where the sun creates coronas on the rooftops and makes the ice on the roads look like lakes of sunshine.
Soon, that sunshine would be gone.
And I still hadn't exactly figured out how I was going to save my cousins, let alone save the city from an influx of Somnients.
I climbed the stairs, trying to think of a strategy.
And then someone said my name.
A shadow, by the lobby window.
Darius.
He stepped forward into the light.
“Cuz, it's cool,” he said.
My hand went for my gun, wrapped around the handle.
“I know you got the gun,” Darius said. “It's cool. You don't have to use it.”
“Falconer’s here with you, isn't she?” I asked.
Darius shook his head. “She sent us to get you. We need you, cuz.”
Destiny walked down the stairs, stopping at the bottom and sitting.
“There's no point fighting this,” she said.
“That's Falconer speaking, not you,” I said. “If you two could only hear yourselves.”
“Fighting demons is pretty noble,” Darius said. “Besides, if we succeed, we’ll be heroes.”
I looked around feverishly, expecting armed goons to jump out of the shadows.
But as far as I could tell, there was no one.
“How did you know I was here?” I asked.
“How else?” Darius asked. “We know you. We knew you'd come back for the gun.”
“Obvious,” Destiny said.
Maybe it was.
But what about Uncle Leroy? Had they predicted that too?
“We have orders to take you back,” Darius said. “Falconer and Stefan agreed not to hurt you. Apparently, they found a need for a dream mage.”
“Need?” I asked.
Darius shrugged.
Destiny stood and approached me slowly.
“Cuz, put that gun away. Let it go. We’ll all be safe.”
I stepped back.
The look in her brown eyes just wasn't the same.
It was like talking to someone with amnesia. It was them, but it really wasn't.
“The gun goes,” I said.
“They'll just confiscate it,” Destiny said.
“Let ‘em try,” I said.
“And shoot Falconer?” Darius asked. “That'll kill us, too. And what's a gun gonna do against Stefan? Ain't no wooden stakes in those rounds.”
My hand loosened on the gun.
“The gun goes,” I said again. “And if you don't like it, you can both end my life now. God knows I'll give it up to defend you.”
Darius and Destiny looked at each other.
“A’ight,” Darius said. “But you’re gonna piss Falconer off.”
“I'm pissed off,” I said.
We walked outside.
A black Mercedes was parked outside. Crispin was in the driver’s seat. He saluted me.
“Sorry it had to happen like this, Aisha,” he said. “But there's good news in all of this, you'll see.”
I sat in the back. Darius and Destiny flanked me.
“I don't see how there's good news in any of this,” I said as Crispin eased the car into the street.
“Promise there is,” Crispin said.
And I knew he was lying.
As the city passed by slowly, it began to snow again, and the last remnants of the sun disappeared behind translucent clouds that glowed orange from the streetlights.
As we neared the warehouse that I had fought so hard to escape, I prayed that my Uncle Leroy wouldn't break his promise.