Chapter 23 Allie
ALLIE
The house felt wrong without Stuart in it. He was my father as much as Daddy was. More in some ways. While Daddy was off being dead, Stuart had been the one who’d shown up for school plays and argued with me about curfews and suffered through my most obnoxious teenage years.
And now he was on a plane to Rome, and the house felt emptier. Quieter. Like someone had turned down the volume on everything.
I found Jared in the common room, sprawled on one of the old leather couches with a book he wasn’t reading. Zane sat in the window seat on the far side of the room, as far from everyone else as he could get without actually leaving. He had a book too. Neither of them was turning pages.
“Hey,” Jared said, looking up as I dropped onto the couch beside him. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine.” He just looked at me. “Okay, I’m not fine. Stuart just left for Rome, Trevor is dead, there’s a literal doorway to hell in our basement, and—” I stopped. Swallowed. “And I threw a stuffed penguin at my best friend’s head and told her to get out of my room.”
“The penguin thing does seem like a low point.”
“It was Mr. Penguin. She gave him to me.” I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Outside, the sky was the color of old dishwater. It had been gray for days now, like even the weather knew something terrible was coming.
Zane hadn’t moved from the window seat. He was watching us, I realized. Not in a creepy way—more like a kid at a new school, trying to figure out where he fit. Or if he fit at all.
The door creaked open, and Mindy stood in the doorway, her eyes red-rimmed, her shoulders hunched like she was bracing for a blow. She looked like she’d been crying for hours. She looked the way I felt. “Can I come in?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Part of me wanted to say no. Part of me was still angry—at the things she’d said, at the way she’d looked at me like I was something to be afraid of.
But a bigger part of me was just tired. Tired of fighting.
Tired of being scared. Tired of everything.
“Yeah,” I said. “Come in.” She crossed the room slowly, like she was approaching a wild animal, then stopped a few feet away from the couch, her hands twisting together.
“I’m sorry,” she said, apparently not caring that Jared and Zane were there, both with their heads down as if they were trying to be invisible.
“About what I said,” Mindy added. “I didn’t mean it. Not really. I was scared, and I let the fear make me stupid, and I’m sorry.”
I didn’t say anything.
“I’ve known Jared for years,” Mindy continued, glancing at him. “I never once thought of him—you—as a monster. And your dad is literally one of the best people I’ve ever met, even with everything he’s been through. I know that. I know the demon stuff doesn’t make you evil. I just—”
She hiccupped, tears spilling over. “I read about Samarek. About what he’s done. The experiments, the manipulations, the way he twists people. And I got so scared that I forgot who my friends actually are.”
“It hurt,” I said quietly. “What you said. It really hurt.”
“I know. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not a monster, Mindy.”
“I know you’re not. I’ve always known that.
” We stood there, looking at each other across a distance that felt much wider than the few feet of carpet between us.
I thought about all the years of friendship.
All the secrets we’d shared. All the times she’d had my back, and I’d had hers.
One fight didn’t erase all of that. Even a bad one.
“I shouldn’t have thrown Mr. Penguin at you,” I said finally.
She laughed—a wet, choked sound. “I deserved it.”
“Maybe. But he didn’t.”
That got a real laugh out of her, wobbly but genuine.
I felt something loosen in my chest. Not forgiveness, exactly.
But the beginning of it. The possibility.
“Come here,” I said, and opened my arms. She practically fell into the hug, holding on tight, and I held on too.
My best friend. My sister in everything but blood.
When we finally pulled apart, both of us were crying. The good kind of crying, though.
Jared was watching us with a soft expression. “Better?” he whispered.
“Getting there,” Mindy said, making me laugh.
Zane hadn’t moved from the window seat. He was looking out at the gray sky now, giving us privacy, or maybe just uncomfortable with the emotional display.
I couldn’t blame him. He’d confessed to being Samarek’s son. To marking Trevor. The fact that he was still in this house at all was a testament to my mom’s willingness to take risks. Or her desperation. Hard to tell which.
“Zane,” I said.
He turned, wary. “Yeah?”
“You don’t have to sit over there like you’re in quarantine.”
He didn’t move. “I kind of feel like I should be.”
“My mom said you’re part of the team now.”
“Provisionally,” he said.
I shrugged. “That’s more than a lot of people get.”
He was quiet for a long moment. “I keep thinking about Trevor.” He stopped. Swallowed hard. “He trusted me. I was the closest thing he had to a friend here, and I used that. I used him.”
“Did you know?” Mindy asked. Her voice was careful, neutral. “Did you know what would happen?”
“No.” The word came out fierce, almost angry. “I swear I didn’t. I thought it was just...tracking. Or protection. Something harmless. I didn’t know it was a death sentence.”
“But you did it without asking questions.”
Zane flinched. “Yeah. I did. He was my dad. I trusted him. But I shouldn’t have.” The room went quiet. I could hear the old house creaking around us, settling into its bones. Somewhere downstairs, the portal was pulsing, hungry, waiting to be fed.
“I’ve done things without asking questions, too,” Jared said quietly. “When I was younger. When I was still figuring out what I was.” He looked at Zane steadily. “It doesn’t make it okay. But it makes it understandable.”
“Understandable isn’t the same as forgivable,” Zane said.
“No. It’s not.” Jared shifted on the couch. “But forgivable isn’t the same as impossible, either.”
Zane looked at him for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “Yeah. I get that. And I want to help. I know you don’t trust me. I know I haven’t earned it. But I want to help close that portal. I want to stop him.”
“Then help.” I pulled out my phone, checking the time. “Mom said we’re meeting in the library in an hour to go over what we know.”
Mindy stood. “I need to go do some more research,” she said, then looked at me. “We’re good?”
I nodded. “We’re good,” I said. We both grinned, and then she hurried from the room.
The door closed behind her. Jared stretched. “I should go check in with your mom. She’s been staring at one of Timmy’s drawings all morning. The one with the shadow behind the door.”
My stomach tightened. “The Knocking Man.”
Jared nodded, his face grim. “She’s trying to figure out what Timmy’s seeing. Whether it’s prophecy or just kid stuff.”
“It’s not kid stuff.”
“No. It’s not.” He stood, then bent to press a kiss to my forehead. “Back in a bit,” he said, then headed out, leaving me alone with Zane, a boy I wanted to trust, but wasn’t quite there.
I hoped I was wrong. I hoped when it came down to it, he’d be on our side and not his father’s.
I hoped for the sake of his soul. And also because despite everything, he was a friend. And I really didn’t want to have to take him down.