Chapter Two

Meena

“What the hell?” Jake sputtered, wiping water from his face.

“Are you insane?” Wait, I already knew the answer to that question. “Why did you do that?”

Carol tossed me a towel and then handed one to Jake. “Since you’re not smoking, we can assume you’re not demons.”

“Why would you think we were demons?” I asked.

“The séance didn’t go well at the Dixons’ house,” Zelda said. “Apparently their oldest son made a deal and then decided he wanted to change his mind.”

“Made a deal?” I said. “What are you talking about?” The towel Carol gave me didn’t do much to dry my dress.

“I’ll explain everything,” Carol assured us. “Give me a minute and I’ll grab you some dry clothes.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her to forget this whole summer job. She must have sensed what I was about to say because she said, “I swear, we were making sure you were safe. We needed to know you weren’t possessed.”

Jake touched my shoulder. “Does any of this make sense to you?”

“No.”

“So it’s not some small-town joke you play on the outsider?”

I shook my head.

“I’ll make us all a nice cup of tea and we’ll explain.” Zelda headed toward the kitchen.

“Tea isn’t going to dry my dress.” I swiped at the soaked fabric and then tossed the towel on the coffee table. “This has been nice. I’m going.”

“You can’t go.” Carol came closer. “I know you think I’ve lost my marbles, but there’s a lot you don’t know about Crossroads. Stay for tea, I’ll pay you for your time, and then you can do whatever you want.”

There was a new hardback book I wanted to order so… “Fine. I’ll stay.”

“Thank you. I’ll be back in a minute.”

If she was really worried, what did that mean? Wait a minute… “You could’ve asked me to drink more holy water instead of giving me a shower,” I called out after her retreating form. She didn’t respond.

Jake looked at me sideways. “You drank holy water?”

“Yes, and I’m sure the tea will be made with it, too. Your aunt might be New Agey, but Carol believes in all sorts of supernatural things.”

“Like?”

I pointed at the jars full of silvery liquid. “Apparently those swirly things are the souls of her enemies.”

“Seriously?”

I nodded.

“And you agreed to work for her?”

“It was either this or fast food,” I snapped. “And I’m allergic to hair nets.”

Carol came back carrying two black robes. “Change into these and we’ll put your clothes in the dryer.”

I held the garment at arm’s length. “These aren’t some sort of sacrificial robes, are they?”

“They’re terry cloth,” Carol said. “Sacrificial robes are never made of terry cloth.”

I did not find her response comforting.

“The laundry room is off the kitchen.” She headed in that direction and Jake followed.

Should I stay and ride out this wave of weirdness, or bail? I shivered as the air-conditioning kicked on. First I’d get dry, and then I’d figure out what the heck was going on.

When I entered the kitchen, Carol said, “Jake went in the laundry room, so you can change in the bathroom.”

Once I had the too-big robe on and my dress was spinning around in the dryer, I joined the two ladies and Jake at the kitchen table.

“Do not drink the tea,” Jake warned as I reached for my cup.

“Why not?” I peered into the brown liquid.

“There is nothing wrong with the tea,” his aunt chided.

“Trust me. It tastes bad.” Jake seemed serious. “Sniff it first if you don’t believe me.”

I picked up the warm cup and inhaled some of the steam. It smelled like a dusty old spice cabinet. “What’s in here?”

“It’s chamomile clove tea,” Zelda said.

Yuck. I hated cloves. “No thanks.”

“Take one sip,” Carol said. “It helps ward off demons.”

And I’m done. “You know, this job may not be for me.”

“Not so fast, I saw you checking out my library,” Carol said. “Take a sip and I’ll give you access to my books.”

Dang. She’d discovered my kryptonite. Maybe I could adjust to her level of wackiness if it meant access to her library. I eyed the brown beverage in my cup. “There’re no souls in here, right?”

“Nope. Just holy water, chamomile, and cloves.”

I put the cup to my lips and sipped, grimacing at the bitter taste.

“Told you,” Jake said.

He wasn’t wrong. I wanted off this ride. “You’ve got ten minutes to convince me that you aren’t batshit crazy.” I set the timer on my cell. “And go.”

“A few years ago,” Zelda said, “Brant Dixon made a deal with a demon and—”

“Wait a minute,” Jake said. “The town is named Crossroads and it has demons? Are you saying this is literally a crossroads where you can find wish-granting demons?”

His aunt and Carol both nodded.

I laughed. No one else joined in.

“Oh, come on.” I pushed to my feet.

Carol pointed at my cell. “Time’s not up yet.”

“Fine.” I sat back down.

“Do you know who Brant is?” Carol asked.

He’d gone to school with my oldest sister. “Sure. Everyone knows who he is.”

“Did you ever wonder how a tall skinny kid became the quarterback and married the head cheerleader?”

I didn’t know much about sports, but most of the football players looked like they could bench-press a car. Brant might be the same height but he probably weighed a third of what most of those guys did. Something didn’t add up. “Are you freaking serious? The idiot sold his soul so he could play sports and date a cheerleader?”

“Loser,” Jake muttered. “If you’re going to sell your soul it should be for something big, like a million dollars or the cure for cancer.”

“Don’t even joke about selling your soul.” Zelda pointed at him. “Demons are always listening and waiting to prey on the weak.”

I took a deep breath and blew it out. “For the sake of argument, let’s say I believe about the demons. Why are you so freaked out?”

“Brant’s mom claimed she wanted a séance so she could ask her great-aunt Betty for a pumpkin pecan pie recipe. Once I summoned Betty, Brant called to his demon. Things went downhill after that. Brant argued that he didn’t owe the demon his soul on account of his wife leaving him. He claimed that voided their deal.”

“And the demon didn’t agree?” Jake said.

“No. He did not, and he expressed his discontent by making Brant slam his head on the dining room table until he cracked his skull open.”

“Oh…well that’s a disturbing visual.”

“And now the demon is mad at me,” Zelda said, “because he thinks I was involved in the deceit.”

“Can’t you tell him you weren’t in on it?” Jake asked.

“Demons aren’t known for being reasonable,” Carol said.

“That still doesn’t explain why you thought Jake and I needed to be blasted with holy water.”

“Demons can hitch a ride with unsuspecting victims,” Carol said. “Bane, the crossroads demon in question, would find the people closest to Zelda and try to use them. So we couldn’t take any chances.”

…

Jake

Aunt Zelda had always been eccentric, but this was overboard, even for her. I’d play along and figure a way out of this mess. “Now that Meena and I have been declared demon-free, what’s next?”

“I’m going to call a lesser demon and hope he’ll help us broker a conversation with Bane.”

Yeah, that sounded like a solid plan. “While you’re doing that, Meena and I will go someplace else.”

“Good idea,” Meena said. “We’ll hang out at the diner. The totally normal, not-possibly-infested-with-demons diner.”

Carol snorted. “Nice try. You’re both staying put until we know it’s safe to leave.”

No, we weren’t. “How long is that going to take?” We needed a reason to leave. “I haven’t eaten lunch yet.”

“Help yourself to anything in the refrigerator,” Carol said. “Don’t open the freezer.”

“Speaking of opening things, you never said if we brought the right packages,” Meena said.

“One problem at a time,” Carol said.

“What did you order?” Meena asked. “I’m asking because I need to know if I should spray my car with holy water.”

“Books and crystals, so your car should be fine.”

“Good to know.”

Zelda stood and went into the dining room. Carol followed. She crossed the threshold and looked back at us. “Remember, don’t open the freezer.”

“Got it.” I waited for them to close the door before turning to Meena.

“We’re not staying here,” she said. “Right?”

“No. Any chance our clothes are dry?”

“Nope,” she said. “But I’ll take wet clothes over demon-summoning old ladies.”

I followed her to the laundry room. She opened the dryer and pulled out her blue dress and something made of pink lace. That was interesting.

She held the dress up. “This isn’t nearly dry enough.”

I grabbed my things. My jeans were damp, but not too bad. My shirt was still soaked.

“I’m going to change in the bathroom,” Meena said, and then took off.

I changed in the laundry room. Something that sounded like chanting in another language filtered through the wall. Aunt Zelda was nuts, which was too bad, because I liked her.

I could worry about her mental state later. Right now we needed a way out of here. There was a door on the back wall of the laundry room which was probably a closet, but it wouldn’t hurt to check. I grabbed the handle. Son of a— I yanked my hand back and stared at my red palm. The doorknob was so cold it burned.

“Jake, you should come out here,” Meena said.

I joined her in the kitchen. She wasn’t alone. A dark-haired man sat at the table eating cat treats out of a bag.

“Dude, that’s cat food,” I said.

“I realize that.” He tilted his head and stared at Meena. “Do you know who I am?”

“No.”

“You told me I was a handsome guy.” And then he meowed.

Meena took a step backward. “You’re Goblin?”

“Whoa!” I looked around for a weapon. “He’s a goblin?”

“No,” Meena said. “He’s Carol’s cat. His name is Goblin.”

“This guy’s a cat?” Just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder.

“I’m a familiar,” Goblin said.

“Wait a minute,” Meena said. “Does that mean Carol is a witch?”

“Something like that,” Goblin said.

Meena reached up to rub her temples. “I’ve about reached my quota for weird crap today, Goblin. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Well, it would appear that Carol has summoned a demon. I’m not sure it’s going well.”

“We need a plan,” Meena said. “We’ll start with the simplest approach first.” She grabbed her phone and tried to make a call. “I don’t have any service.”

I pulled out my cell. “Me either. Does Carol have a landline?”

Goblin shook his head.

“Back to the original plan.” Hopefully the cat-guy could help. “We need a way out of this house.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Goblin said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Carol warded the entire house. It’s on lockdown right now.”

“Is that why the door in the laundry room gave me frostbite?” I held out my palm to show the red mark where I’d touched the doorknob.

“That door leads to the basement,” Goblin said.

“We’re not supposed to go in the basement,” Meena said. And then she pointed at Goblin. “Why can’t we go in the basement?”

“There are things locked in the basement you don’t want to deal with.” Goblin held the treat bag upside down over the table and shook it vigorously. Nothing came out.

“There are things up here we don’t want to deal with.” Meena snatched the bag of cat treats from Goblin. “Stop it. The bag is empty.”

“The bag is never empty.” Goblin sounded more upset over this than he did about our situation. “Carol makes the bag full again.”

“I’ll check the cabinets for more treats,” I said

…

Meena

I was beginning to think Goblin’s mind was more cat than human. When Jake brought a new bag of treats over to the table Goblin reached for it but I was faster. “Let me help you.” Maybe I could bribe him into being helpful. I ripped the top open and put three treats on the table.

He ate the first two and then batted the third one back and forth between his hands.

“Goblin.” I kept my tone even. “Where is the back door?” All houses had to have back doors.

“There is no back door. Carol sealed it off years ago.” Goblin stopped playing with the treat as a ripple of something flowed through the house.

“What was that?” Jake asked.

“It felt like invisible ice water,” I said.

“That was power from the rift that Carol and Zelda made,” said Goblin.

Ten minutes ago I wouldn’t have believed that statement, but I was talking to a guy who was a cat, so anything seemed possible. “You know the layout of the house. There has to be another way out.”

“If Carol doesn’t come back, promise you’ll take me home with you. I don’t like being alone.”

“I promise I’ll take care of you.” Not sure how I’d explain the man-cat to my dad, but I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.

Jake came and sat at the table with us. “Let’s focus. How do we get out?”

“The front door opens to Crossroads,” Goblin said. “The upstairs bedroom window leads to Crossroads, too.”

“So you’re saying there are other doors that lead to places besides Crossroads?” Talking to Goblin was like trying to assemble a puzzle.

“The new portal in the living room floor leads to the demon realm,” he said. “And the basement and the freezer are where Carol dries out the demons.”

“Enough riddles.” Jake stood and walked over to the door which led to the dining room. He turned the handle back and forth. “It’s locked, but the hinges are on this side. All I need is a flat head screwdriver and a hammer. We can take the pins out of the hinges and open the door.”

Sounded better than any plan I had. “Okay.” I helped him rummage through the kitchen drawers. A butter knife and a meat tenderizer would have to do.

Jake placed the blade of the knife against the lip of the pin and tapped it up until the pin was almost out. He did the same thing to the other hinges. “Hold the door, Meena.”

I placed my palms flat on the door so it wouldn’t fall on us once it was free. Jake pulled the pins out and the door wobbled and then came loose from the frame.

“I’ve got it.” Jake grabbed the handle. I ducked under his arm and backed up. With one tug, the door came free from the frame.

“You’re handy to have around,” I said.

He leaned the door against the wall. “You can be in charge of the book smarts and I’ll take care of the real-world problems.”

The dining room turned office looked the same as it had the last time I’d seen it. “Nothing seems different in here.”

Another wave of invisible power rolled over me, making me a little woozy. “I don’t like that.”

“You shouldn’t have destroyed the door.” Goblin’s voice came right next to my ear. I jumped.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that. And we didn’t destroy it, we opened it.”

“The doors of this house keep things out,” Goblin said.

“Well, right now they’re keeping us in and we need out,” Jake said.

“You shouldn’t open that door.” Goblin pointed to the door which led to the living room and the front door beyond.

“Do you have a better idea?” I asked Goblin. “Because I don’t want to live in this house forever.”

“We should go upstairs,” Goblin said.

And that’s when I realized something. “Where are the stairs?” I hadn’t seen any steps leading up to the second story.

“Behind that bookcase.” Goblin pointed to a tall bookshelf overflowing with leather-bound books and folders.

“We don’t want to go up, we want to go out,” Jake said.

I was torn. “What are the odds that the thing on the other side of the door sending out those pulses of power is friendly?”

“I don’t know, but if it’s that powerful, it probably knows we’re here,” Jake said.

Good point. “If we’re not trying to surprise it, we might as well make a detour upstairs. Maybe we’ll find something useful.”

Jake went over to the bookcase Goblin had pointed at. With a skeptical look on his face, he grabbed the side panel and pulled. The entire bookcase swung open like a door. Pretty cool. If we made it out of here alive, someday I’d put one of those in my own house.

The staircase was walled in on both sides, which made it feel like we were climbing up a tunnel. When we reached the landing at the top of the stairs we encountered another curiosity. There was only one door and it was a little small for Jake or me to squeeze through.

“That’s my door,” Goblin stated with pride, pointing at the cat door which was about eight inches tall and five inches wide.

“Congratulations,” Jake said. “What’s on the other side?”

“Carol’s bedroom and her library,” Goblin said.

My ears perked up at the word library. “Can you go through and open the door for us?” Otherwise we were right back where we started.

Goblin’s image grew hazy and then he contracted like a tape measure. His arms and legs were pulled back into his body, and his torso shrunk. His human face was the last thing to change, which was oddly disturbing.

“Meow,” he said, and then he dashed through the cat door.

There was the sound of something jumping and hitting the door and claws scratching and scrabbling on wood.

“Please tell me he was smart enough to change back into a human to open the door,” Jake said.

“I think his brain is predominantly cat, but I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

“Really?” Jake said.

“I hope so. Cats are smart but I’m not sure they see the world the same way we do.”

More scratching sounds came from the other side of the door, and then something clicked. The door swung open to reveal Goblin, in cat form, eating a bowl of food.

“Thanks,” I said.

We entered a small sitting room that led into Carol’s bedroom. Floor to ceiling bookcases were overflowing with books. Some of them had cracked leather bindings like they’d been around for ages, others looked like the latest best sellers. Carol might be off-kilter, but she had one heck of a library.

“We’re up here. Now what?” Jake asked.

I walked over to the window on the sidewall. The view of a cornfield actually comforted me. The lack of a balcony or an emergency escape ladder made that feeling short-lived.

Jake joined me by the window. He flipped the latch and pushed it up. Humid air and a hint of sulfur wafted into the house.

“Goblin, does Carol keep a ladder hidden up here?” I asked.

“Meow.”

I glanced at the cat who was curled up on the bed. “Can you change back, please?”

He stretched his front paws toward me and kneaded the comforter. I was pretty sure that meant “pet me.” Now that I knew he was a guy, petting him seemed awkward. But, if I wanted him to be helpful, I needed to keep him happy. So I walked over and scratched his ears until he purred.

Then I stood up and backed away. “Change back so you can talk to us.”

Goblin opened his mouth. “I can talk to you like this. I just wanted some attention.”

Jake laughed.

Patience. I need to be patient. “Goblin, is there a ladder or something we can use to climb down from the window without breaking our necks?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Why didn’t you tell us that before we came up here?” Jake asked.

“You didn’t ask if there was a ladder,” Goblin said. “You asked if there was a way out.”

“Stupid cat,” Jake muttered and then walked over to stare out the window. “I could hold on to you and lower you out the window. That would put you about twenty feet from the ground.”

“I don’t love that plan. Maybe we could tie sheets together like they do in the movies.”

“Bad children,” an eerie voice echoed through the house. And then the window slammed shut.

“What the hell?” Jake grabbed the window frame, cursed, and pulled his hands away like he’d been burned.

“Are you all right?”

“More frostbite.” He held up his hands, showing me the red marks.

“Come downstairs,” the voice commanded.

“No way,” I said. “It’s never a good idea to follow commands from disembodied voices.”

The voice laughed. “My body is downstairs. Come see for yourself.”

Jake headed for the door.

“What are you doing?”

“We can’t get out the window,” he said. “The only exit is downstairs.”

“Dang it.” I do not like this.

Jake opened the door, which appeared normal from this side. Something black streaked past, startling the crap out of me. “Goblin, knock it off.”

I followed Jake downstairs. “Do you have anything resembling a plan?”

“We need to see what we’re up against,” Jake said. “And if Aunt Zelda is okay.”

“And Carol,” I reminded him.

Back in the office, the door to the front room pulsed with a strange blue light. “What’s with the light?” I called out.

“Open the door and see,” the voice said like this was some big game.

“No thanks.”

Laughter came from the other side of the door. The kind of laughter that made it feel like you’d accidentally bitten down on a piece of aluminum foil. Slowly, the door swung open. “Enter of your own free will,” a deep voice called out.

“You make it sound like we’re walking into a trap,” I said. “Us walking into Carol’s living room doesn’t constitute any type of agreement between us and a demon, right?”

“Of course not.” The door swung open, letting out a creak worthy of a haunted house. An imposing figure filled the doorway…like totally filled the doorway. His shoulders spanned the distance and his head almost brushed the top of the frame. His size wasn’t the most off-putting thing about him. He was pale…so pale that he looked like he was carved from bone and his eyes… I’ve heard the phrase ice blue and I thought it meant light blue, but the ice came more from the coldness that radiated from his gaze…coldness and something else that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck—something like predatory amusement. “But I’m always looking for new customers.”

“We’re not customers,” Jake bit out. “And we’re leaving.”

The demon tilted his head at Jake like a disappointed parent. “You’re not concerned about your aunt? Tsk tsk.”

“What did you do to her?” Jake asked.

“Nothing, yet.” The demon backed up a step, leaving enough room for Jake to squeeze by him. “See for yourself.” It sounded like a dare.

Walking through that doorway seemed like a bad idea but Jake moved around me and stepped through.

The demon smiled. What would have been reassuring on any other person made my stomach clench. Crap. Unless I wanted to live in Carol’s kitchen I had to move forward. It’s not like I had another option.

Against my gut, I slid through the opening, careful not to brush against him. While I didn’t see him move, I swore he inched closer. Rather than meeting his gaze, I averted my eyes and searched the room for Zelda. She sat on the couch, staring off into space.

“Aunt Zelda, are you okay?” Jake asked.

She didn’t respond. Jake sat beside her and touched her arm “She’s ice cold. What did you do to her?”

“Zelda is in time-out,” the demon drawled, “until I figure out if she’s guilty.”

I’d dealt with jerks in this town all my life. None of them had been demonic, but appearing weak in front of any kind of bully is a bad idea. “She didn’t know anything about that jerk who wanted to go back on his deal,” I stated, like I was a lawyer defending Zelda. “She went there to do a séance to get some stupid pie recipe. You can’t blame her for something someone else did.”

The demon turned slowly, just a fraction of an inch, but now all of his attention was laser focused on me. And that was not a good thing. I dug my fingernails into my palms and fought the urge to back up a step.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked, moving so he was standing toe to toe with me. Cold radiated off his body.

“I know what you are.”

“And what is that?”

“You’re a demon,” I said.

“No.” He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “I’m the demon.”

His frigid breath feathered across my skin. Terror and a strange thrill of excitement shot through my veins. Being this close to such a vast amount of power was doing strange things to my nerve endings. I caved and backed up a step. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Bane.” He smiled a friendly smile, which was almost more disturbing. He exuded some type of demonic charm. “Anything else you’d like to ask me?”

Maybe if I kept him talking we could come to some sort of agreement. “Why are you cold? I thought demons were all about hellfire and glowing red eyes.”

“Those stories are about distant relations,” he said. “Lesser beings who don’t know how to keep their existence a secret.”

My body relaxed. This guy wasn’t so bad.

“Meena,” Jake yelled.

I snapped out of whatever spell I’d been under and shook my head. “Where’s Carol?”

“She and those like her have been a thorn in my side for ages.” He frowned. “Convincing people they shouldn’t make deals. Finding loopholes for souls who clearly belong to me. Not to mention”—he pointed at the jars full of swirling liquid—“what she’s done to my brethren.”

“Those are demon souls?” I asked. “Seriously?”

He nodded and reached out to touch the messy bun on top of my head. “This amuses me.”

And a demon was touching me. A shiver ran down my spine. I had to steel myself to keep my voice from shaking. I cleared my throat. “Can we focus on Carol?”

“No. Not unless you want to trade your soul for hers.” He plucked the bobby pins from my hair before I even saw his hands move. My hair fell down around my face.

“Hey.” I backed up a step and smacked his hand away. “No touching.”

His eyes narrowed and I thought, this is how I’m going to die. And then he laughed. “You’re not afraid of me.”

Is he kidding? I’m terrified but he doesn’t need to know that. “This has been interesting, but it’s time for us to go. We aren’t playing your game. You have no right to hold us.”

“I do what I want,” he said. “I prey on the weak and collect souls.” He invaded my personal space, pressing his nose to my temple, inhaling loudly and then exhaling like he was sighing in satisfaction. “I bet you taste like cotton candy.”

There were so many things wrong with that statement. I tried to talk but nothing came out. I cleared my throat and tried again. “That is the creepiest thing anyone has ever said to me.”