I looked at him, confused. “You want that?”

Kellan shrugged. “We’re demons. If they’re not coming after us, I’m going after them.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“Does it matter?” Gus laughed shrewdly. “The minute they open a channel and summon something, we’ll feel it and be all over them.” Her eyes twinkled in anticipation.

I felt a shiver down my back, but suppressed it. This was my blood.

“Why do you always talk as if Mom is dead?” Vespar folded his arms over his chest.

Why? I opened my mouth to explain and stopped. I had no idea. “I…I never see Mom or Dad. They’re never here. It’s only us all the time.” It had never been them. It had always been the four of us.

Giuseppa frowned. “They’re here all the time. What are you talking about?”

Kellan stepped in between us and folded his arms over his chest. His eyes sparked. “I think that’s enough. Vespar, don’t ever challenge another Braden in public.” Vespar opened his mouth, but Kellan finished, “Or be prepared for me to challenge you.”

He shut his mouth with a snap. He raked his eyes over me and then Kellan. With a disgusted sound, he grabbed Giuseppa’s arm and yanked her with him when he stalked to his car. Ignoring her protest, he shoved her in the car and took off, spitting gravel from the tires. When they were gone from eyesight, Kellan sighed. “Vespar will leave you alone from now on.”

I didn’t say anything at first. I spoke the truth, and Vespar couldn’t handle it. But then I felt their darkness inside of me. I felt it twist around my soul and squeeze, if I had one. This was the family that I came from? I felt like I’d just gotten a bucket of boiling water thrown in my face.

“Shay.”

I whipped my eyes to his and saw concern. “What?”

“What were you just thinking?”

“Why?” For some reason, I didn’t want to tell him. For some reason, I didn’t trust Kellan anymore and that shook me more than anything else. “Nothing. Why?”

“Because the garage just lifted off the ground.”

I twisted around just as it landed with a crash. The cement was cracked as well as the bottom portion of the garage. “I didn’t even…I don’t know how to fix that.”

Kellan stepped forward and waved a hand in the air. The garage was lifted again, and every crack was fixed. He set the building back down as if nothing had happened and then studied me again. I felt his gaze on me. It was heavy, as if wet cement covered me head to toe, and it was drying rapidly. A lot of different emotions were swirling inside of me, but I focused on one thing. I needed Kellan away from me. My head couldn’t get clear if he was around. He always got in there and muddled everything up. I spoke hastily, “Leah came to my locker today.”

He frowned more fiercely, but I felt a shift in his concentration. “What about?”

I wet my lips. “Her father hurt her. She asked us to tell you because…”

“I know why.” He sighed. “I have to take care of that as soon as possible.”

“You can go now. I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think I should leave you alone.”

“No.” I shook my head and hugged myself to ward off a chill in the air. It felt like it was trying to slip inside of me, winding around my legs, arms, neck. “You can go. I’m going swimming. That’ll help me relax. I’ll be fine.”

Kellan stared at me, and I knew he was trying to read my thoughts. I didn’t think he could, but I clamped down on everything in my body. A wall slammed in place, and I figuratively shoved him out. “Okay,” he murmured slowly. “I’ll go.”

I held my breath when he turned and walked away. It wasn’t until after his car had driven off and was gone from sight did I let it out raggedly. When I jerked forward a step, I wasn’t surprised at how my legs shook. Then I reached for the door handle on my own car, and I saw that my hands trembled even more so. As I cursed, I attempted twice to open my door until I finally managed it. When I crawled in and shut my door, I slumped forward and rested my forehead against the steering wheel. It felt cool to my skin, and I pressed my cheek against it to calm down. Then I turned, and my eyes opened slightly to look at the house.

My house looked like it always did: tall, three stories high, with a deck that wrapped around it. What was different was the front window. Two people stood there, watching me. They hadn’t been there two seconds ago, but they were now. Their eyes were large black holes, and the woman had white hair that wrapped around her waist. Her mouth opened, and her hand stretched to me as if she had a warning for me.

It wasn’t the sight of them that jolted me. It was their pure darkness that rushed at me. It was as if they’d come from hell and wanted to take me with them. I screamed and jerked upright. When I reversed the car, I slammed down on the accelerator and shot out of the driveway. It wasn’t until I was miles away before I slowed down to a normal speed, but my heart kept racing. I knew demons existed. I knew ghosts existed, but those two weren’t either of them. Whatever they were, they were worse. And I knew instantly they were more powerful than I was.

“You don’t have to be like them,” a voice whispered from behind me.

I whirled around, but there was nothing there. Then I sensed all around me, in the car, out of the car, above, underneath since magic could come from anywhere. I couldn’t detect anything. Magical spells always left a trail. Then I heard the voice again. “You’ve been given a reminder. You keep ignoring it.”