I stomp the snow off my boots and take them off, leaving them by the back door. Our laundry room is in the basement since we didn’t want to take any space away from the first level, but we did carve out a little mudroom so I have a place to unload groceries, leave my shoes, and keep the giant bags of dog food I’ve been ordering online for Scarlet.
“Good,” I say with a forced smile Lucas can see right through.
“Where are your friends?” He dog-ears the page in his book, and I give him a death stare. What kind of monster dog-ears pages in books?
“They walked around so they wouldn’t have to come in and take their shoes off. It’s getting slushy out there.”
“The snow will be gone tomorrow. It’s supposed to rain.”
“Lovely.” I unzip my coat and shiver. As soon as I get my coat hung up on the hall tree by the backdoor, my phone rings. I get it out of my coat pocket and see Abby’s name.
“Hello?” I answer but get nothing. “Hello? Abby?” It sounds like the phone clatters to the ground, and then I hear Penny babbling. “Did you call me, Penny?” I laugh. “Get Mommy. Give Mommy the phone.” Another few seconds pass and some sort of electronic toy asks me to find the circle. I’m just about to hang up when Abby says something to Penny.
“…it’s almost time for a—who did you call?” Rustling comes through the phone line. “Cal? You there?”
“I’m here.”
“I’m so sorry. I gave her my phone because I desperately needed to clean the kitchen.”
“You don’t have cleaning ladies for that?”
“Hah. I actually do have cleaning ladies, but they come once a week and don’t wash dishes. Are you busy? Do you need me to let you go?”
“No, I’m not. I just got home from lunch at the Covenstead.”
“Covenstead,” she echoes. “That’s the hidden place, right? Where your school was?”
“Yes. I’m freezing now. It’s a longer walk from the door to this new house.”
“Someday you’re going to have to explain this to me when I’m sitting down so I can take notes.”
I laugh, not telling Abby I wouldn’t be allowed to do that, since nonmagical people aren’t supposed to know the location to our door. Only members of the coven or witches or warlocks coming to visit are allowed to be made privy, and Lucas finding out there the entrance to our Covenstead was one just one of the charges Ruth brought against me.
“How was your weekend?”
“Oh, you know, the usual,” I start as I walk into the living room. “Killed a high-ranking demon, went to Australia, and accidentally named myself the Queen of Hell.”
“Normally, I’d wonder if you’re joking, but I know you enough to take this seriously,” Abby says, voice unwavering. “I bought a vacuum for half off and thought I had a pretty exciting weekend.”
“That is exciting.”
“Thanks, it’s cordless.”
“Oh, I kind of want one of those.”
“Queen of Hell,” Abby repeats. “What does that even mean?”
“It means I kind of accidentally threw my hat in the ring to be the next ruler of Hell since Lucifer…” I blink and get a flash of him standing over Abby. The smell of her blood permeated the air so strongly I still remember it. “…Lucifer is my uncle. I didn’t mean it, though, and I only said it so I could kill that high-ranking demon, but other demons saw me with a crown of hellfire around my head, and now they’re gonna go run their mouths and tell everyone in the underworld I’m trying to take over.”
“Huh,” Abby says, no doubt at a loss for words. “How did you make it to Australia and back already?”
“Michael took me.”
“Oh. Makes sense in a crazy, I can’t quite process this way. I also feel silly asking if you’re okay.”
“Yeah, things are fine. Not much different than they were before. Michael is gonna sort it all out for me and I’ll be good. Oh, and he said I’m having a girl.”
“Really?”
“That’s what he said, and I’m taking it as the truth.”
“Oh my god, Callie, that’s so exciting! Little girls are the best, though I might be very biased in that. Have you guys picked out names yet?”
“Lucas suggested Elena, and I think that’s what we’re going with. I just, um…” I’m aware Lucas can hear every damn word I’m saying, and not that I want to hide anything from him, sometimes I’d like to have a conversation without him listening, though it’s not like he purposely eavesdrops. “I have time to decide,” I say instead of telling Abby the truth that I’m scared I won’t be able to carry this baby long enough for her to be born.
“Yeah, you do. Are you coming to Chicago anytime soon?”
“I’m not sure. I like seeing the trees at the Museum of Science and Industry. I haven’t done that in years.”