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“No.” My response was quick.
“I don’t like you out there all by yourself. If anything happened, it would take us at least forty-five minutes to get to you.” Alicia’s eyes widened and fear bloomed in them.
Suddenly, owning a place just west of Schomberg didn’t seem like a good idea. It was out of the way, which was initially what I wanted, but now left me feeling vulnerable. Growing up in the heart of Toronto made me long for space and the housing prices north of the city were worth the move.
Well, fuck.
“Come on! It’ll be great, and the kids always love seeing you.” With Vi close to tears, her persuasion was almost working.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Vi, but there is no way in hell I’m going to be spending any time at your place.” I was quick to continue when I saw her face drop. “For the same reason why I wouldn’t stay with Imani. You two have kids. Staying at your place with all this weirdness happening would be irresponsible. You know I would never do that to your babies.”
Her eyes widened, and then she nodded. “Right. Yeah. That makes sense.”
“You should stay with someone, Ede,” Alicia added. “Want to go back to roommate days?”
I smirked remembering all the nonsense Alicia and I used to get up to. “Back to chore charts and pranks?”
Alicia huffed. “Ain’t no way I’m going back to pranks, Ede. My knees can’t take all that anymore.”
A snort left me at the memories. Ice buckets in the shower. Shaving cream on hands and sleepy noses tickled. Jump scares. We were young and foolish… now we were mostly just foolish. The thought of me falling down her stairs made my back ache.
“I’m too grown for pranks now,” I assured her.
The look on her face told me she didn’t believe me. Hell, I didn’t believe me either.
“I am!”
“Right,” Alicia dragged out the word. “Didn’t you jump out of the closet and scare the life out of Imani just last weekend?”
Everything about last weekend that didn’t include Asmodeus was white noise. I tilted my head, trying to flip through my memories.
“Oh yeah… that was the first wine stain. Imani really needs to switch to white wine.”
Vi nodded. “It was a lot worse when she used to do those creamsicle drinks. I can’t tell you how many of my clothes have random orange stains on them… none of which are from my kids.”
I had forgotten about Imani’s vodka creamsicle phase.
The thought of moving back in with Alicia after all these years played around in my mind, but I felt the same way about it as I felt about staying with Imani or Vi. I couldn’t put them at risk without knowing just what that risk was.
Up until the weekend, my knowledge of demons was restricted to the tales Gran and Abuela told me to behave. Stories they told in vain because I often did what I pleased as long as they didn’t find out.
If any of those twisted tales turned out to ring true, there was no way I was putting my girls in the middle of a mess that was mine. Nope.
“Eden, you know you can lean on us, right?” Alicia’s knowing eyes bore down into my soul in a way that both soothed and annoyed me. I hated that she could read me so well while being impossible to read. Hell, I had lived with her and she was still a mystery to me.
“I know.”
“But you’re not gonna,” Alicia stated.
My nose wrinkled in a way that hinted at my hidden immaturity. “No. I‘m not gonna.”
“Ede,” Vi whined. “Why not?”
Because right now I had no idea what I was truly dealing with. “Let me get back to you on that.”
We sat in silence for a while, sipping at our coffees while immersed in a world that felt so foreign now. Like we were part of a set we suddenly realized wasn’t the real deal. All the while, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end as phantom eyes threatened to stare through me until they knew me better than Alicia ever could.
13
