“Want to pick the music?” Evander asks, pulling onto the country road.
“You’re letting me pick the music?” I arch my eyebrows. “You never let me pick the music.”
“That’s because you have horrible taste.”
“No, you have horrible taste in music. I have great taste. You listen to the same playlist you did when we were teenagers.”
“Yeah,” he replies seriously. “I had good taste then and still do now.”
“Then I’m picking Spice Girls.” I plug in my phone and open up what used to be my workout playlist. I haven’t listened to this in a long time.
“If you weren’t super pregnant, I’d refuse.” Evander lets out a dramatic sigh and shakes his head. “This reminds me of the first time Mom let us go into town while she was at the Covenstead.”
“Oh yeah. You’d just gotten your license.”
“And you threw a fit because I wasn’t allowed to drive Kristy, and I put on this damn song to try and cheer you up.”
“Oh, right. You could only drive family then. I was already pretending be your sister. I thought we could pretend Kristy was family too.”
Evander turns, lips pulling into a half-smile. “There was nothing pretend about you being my sister back then. I was hoping for a brother, and then my mom shows up with a crying little girl.” He laughs. “As soon as I heard your story, I promised to protect you.”
“You’re going to make me cry.” My eyes are already getting watery.
“Well, it didn’t take long for me to realize you could magically kick anyone’s ass.”
“You never resented me for it?” I ask. “You were the headmaster’s kid, and I was this noob who came in and performed spells witches years older than me couldn’t.”
“No,” he says, and I believe him. “Anyone else, yeah. I probably would have. But not you. Not my sister.”
“Fuck,” I mumble, wiping my eyes.
“When did you become such a sap?” He playfully nudges me.
“It’s your goddaughter’s fault,” I chide and want to bring up what I’d talked to Kristy about before. My death seems all the more possible now that Julian died before my eyes. The words burn on my tongue, but I can’t bring myself to say them.
“It’s Juliet now?”
“Yeah.” I put my hands on my stomach, mentally promising her I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.
“He’s looking down at you smiling, you know.”
“Yeah,” I say again, looking out the window to hide my tears. If Julian was right, he’s not looking down on me at all. He’s just gone.
“It’s so weird to see people carrying on like normal.” I pull my sunglasses from my purse and put them on. We just left Maria’s, and there are lots of people out and about in downtown Thorne Hill. It’s a nice day, with a cloudless sky letting the sun warm everything up.
“They have no idea what happened several days ago.”
“But people are missing. Mrs. Bishop in particular.”
“Not all the people who died were from Thorne Hill. We didn’t go into detail before, but we did check IDs and try to get the names of the missing.”
“Oh, well, that’s not good in any way.” I sigh. “It explains why people aren’t freaked out.”
“These nons would find some rational explanation for it all anyway.”
“True.” We cross the street, and I slow, looking at a church on the next block over.
“What is it?” Evander follows my line of sight.
“Nothing.” I shake my head. “It’s stupid.”
“Tell me.”
“I thought maybe it would give me a better chance of getting ahold of my dad or finding out if Julian is…is…” I shake my head again. “See? Stupid.”
“It’s not stupid, and that’s Michael the Archangel on the stained-glass window.”
“Really?” I look at him, surprised he even knows that.
“Really. Come on, let’s go to church.”
Evander hooks his arm through mine, and we cross the street together. It’s not Sunday, but a few people are inside, sitting in the pews praying. It’s cold and quiet in here and smells like frankincense.
“Want me to come with you?” Evander asks softly.
“If you want.”
We walk toward the altar, and Evander hangs back two pews behind me, giving me space. I sit on the edge of the wooden bench, leaning forward with my hands folded.
Dad?
I wait and get nothing.
Dad, if you can hear me, give me a sign. Sorry, I sound like I’m summoning a spirit.
Again, nothing.
Lucifer? I might be the only one praying to you in a church, but I need you too.
I open my eyes, hoping so badly I’ll see both my dad and my uncle sitting in the church with me.
I’m sorry, Julian. I wish you were still here with us. But you’re not, and I need to know you’re okay…that you’re at peace.
Letting out a breath, I get up, shaking my head at Evander, and we start to walk back out together. A lady in a pink pantsuit speed-walks out of a little office.