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“I forgive you. I’m not mad.” I leaned forward and hugged her. As we held each other, all of her actions during my entire life came into perspective: the extreme protectiveness to sustain my innocence and keep me hidden, the nurturing without question. I squeezed her tighter, realizing how much she’d given up to raise me. She pulled back now.
“This is why I always encouraged you to call me Patti instead of Mom. I know it sounds silly, but I didn’t want to take that title away from your real mom when I knew she’d be looking down on you. For all intents and purposes, Anna, you are a daughter to me, and I couldn’t love you more.”
I wiped a falling tear from under my eye, and whispered, “I know.”
“So, I have a plan.” She smoothed a hand over my flyaway hair, becoming practical once more. “I don’t have any money saved right now after helping out Nana with her doctor bills, but if I start saving now, we should have enough to make a trip to California by the end of the summer. How does that sound?”
“Great. But I want to get a job, too.”
“Deal. It’s a date, then.” I felt a wave of eagerness as we shook hands. “Now that I’ve told you everything I know, why don’t you tell me all about these superpowers of yours.” We both smiled, excited to finally be able to talk about it.
“Oh, wait. One thing, before you start. I need you to make me a promise.” Her face went hard. A smoky light gray nervousness blended with the pastel green of hope in her aura.
“Okay.”
“Promise me you’ll stay far away from the boy you met.”
I opened my mouth and hesitated. Her guardian angel, as cloudy as it appeared, seemed to stare down at me, waiting.
“Please, Anna,” Patti said. “It’s not safe. There are things I can’t protect you from, so you’ve got to make smart decisions to protect yourself.”
“But—”
“No.” She swiftly cut me off. “I’m not sure what’s up with your father, but you can be darn sure the other demons are evil. Pure, real evil. And this boy was raised by one of them. Understand? I need your promise.”
I swallowed hard. “I promise.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
CONSEQUENCES
I could not stop thinking about Kaidan Rowe.
I wondered exactly what it entailed to be the child of a demon. One without the balance of an angel side. He had been helpful and kind to me the night of the party, in his own brutish way.
Knowledge of what I was only fueled the fiery need within me to know more. I had so many questions. Patience was a virtue I’d never had a problem with until now. I needed to stay busy. Getting a job was first on my priority list.
I went to Paula’s Dairy Bar just outside of our neighborhood, within walking distance, and was hired on the spot. The owner’s only rules: Smile. And don’t give away my ice cream for free! Yes, ma’am. I could manage both of those.
I worked and tried to keep my mind occupied. I jogged every day, sometimes twice, read a lot of books, and spent time researching on the internet about angels and demons. I had no idea whether anything I read was true or if it was all just folklore.
A month passed, and I now had a couple hundred dollars saved. We were getting closer. But no amount of keeping busy could make me stop thinking about him. He was so near. I was sure he had at least some of the answers to my questions. But I had made a promise.
Patti was being her usual cautious self, but if Kaidan intended to hurt me, he would have done it, right? She was imagining him as something terrible, but if she met him, she’d see he was just a kid, only special, like me. I sat tapping the phone with my finger, debating, then picked it up and dialed.
“Hello?” he said.
“Hi, Jay.”
“Hey, princess of Popsicles! Queen of curlicue cones.”
“Nice alliterations.”
“Thank you very much. I try. So, what’s up with you?”
“Actually, I was wondering if, um...”
“Yeeees?” he said. I bit the inside of my lip.
“Is Lascivious playing anytime soon?” I blurted.
Complete silence.
“Jay? Hello?”`
“Sorry, I just passed out for a sec.”
“Very funny.”
“You wanna see Kaidan,” he teased.
I exhaled into the receiver. “Yes. I do. I want to talk to him. This is going to sound really random, but I think our dads might know each other.”
“Really? That is random. How do you figure?”
“Just some things he said when I talked to him, and some things I’ve found out from other people since then. Anyway, are they playing soon?”
“They’ve been playing venues around the state and in Alabama some. Let me hit up a few people and I’ll call you back.”
“Thank you.”
I hung up and walked around the apartment, straightening things here and there, trying to pass the time. I didn’t have any set chores. Patti and I always did whatever needed to be done at the time. I took out a duster and made my way around the house, barely noticing what I touched with it. When the phone rang, I dropped the duster on a shelf and ran.
“Hello?”
“Hey. They’re not playing around here for another two weeks, but I know their practice schedule.” Jay’s band-stalking tendencies were coming in handy. “They practice at Kaidan’s place. Greg says there’s this whole sweet setup in his basement for the band. According to Greg, Kaidan always has the house to himself.”