Banishing the Dark

8

Jupe nearly fell off his bed when the voice spoke.

May I show myself?

“No,” he answered. “Go. Away.”

For the love of God, couldn’t a guy have some peace and quiet? It was after ten. Not that he was sleeping; his official school-night bedtime was midnight, not that Mr. and Mrs. Holiday were awake to enforce it. He was, however, busy trying to crack the new password for the parental controls on their internet connection.

Important shit.

His dad used to use a brand of film for all his passwords. Like that was smart. Everyone knew his father was a famous photographer. Might as well have just used his own birthday. For that matter, might as well have just used “PASSWORD.”

When the telltale ball of light appeared at the foot of his bed, he barely had time to slam down the screen of his laptop before Priya’s gigantic wings materialized.

“Don’t you understand the meaning of ‘go away’? Hey, watch it!”

The creature’s wings created a brief vortex of wind that scattered loose pages of his math homework and fluttered his hair.

“You almost knocked over my Frankenstein’s Laboratory model,” Jupe complained as Priya’s wings folded behind his back. “It took me an entire week to paint that. And while we’re at it, you owe me for ripping the corner off my Foxy Brown poster last time you showed up. Dad got that signed for me by Pam Grier. Which means it’s one of a kind. Unreplaceable.” That didn’t sound quite right. He quickly corrected himself. “Irreplaceable. Whatever. It’s priceless.”

“I don’t have time for your nonsense, Kerub. This is important.”

So was free porn, but Jupe didn’t feel like explaining this to a being who didn’t understand the meaning of privacy. “What is it now?”

“Did you know our mistress carries your father’s offspring in her belly?”

“What the hell are you talking about now, birdbrain? Are—” Jupe stopped in mid-sentence. He stared at the gray-skinned creature as realization dawned. “Cady’s pregnant? You’re a big fat liar.” Had to be. She didn’t look pregnant. And she’d tell him and his dad before she told some stupid servant creature from another plane.

“I saw the threads with my own eyes a day ago. The Kerub’s seed is growing within her.”

Seed? Gross. He did not want to think about that. And what was more, if Cady was pregnant, how was she going to do her job? He’d never seen a pregnant bartender. And if she was pregnant, that meant—

“I’m going to have a brother? Or a sister?”

“Not if Enola finds out. Our mistress’s mother is a murderer. She will slaughter the child or take it from her if our mistress does not find the Moonchild spell and reverse it. Do you understand?”

Jupe barely heard him. He was too busy freaking out. If Cady was pregnant, it was either the best thing, like, ever or his worst nightmare. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. And why hadn’t she told him? For that matter, why hadn’t Dad told him? He felt sort of betrayed.

“She did not know,” Priya said, as if he could read his mind.

Jupe hated when he did that. It was worse than his dad’s knack. He crawled across his bed to reach for the bedside table. “I’m texting her right now to see if you’re lying.”

“Are you a boy or a man?”

Jupe’s hand stilled on his bedside table. “What?”

“I said, are you a boy or a man? Because if you’re a man, you will understand that our mistress is in grave danger, and you must protect her at any cost. But if you are only a boy, I will seek someone else who cares more for her life and will take steps to keep it safe.”

Oh, hell, no. Bird boy was insulting him? Heat rose in Jupe’s chest. “I’m more of a man that you’ll ever be.”

“Prove it.”

“You wanna fight? I’ll pound your feathered ass into the floorboards.” The guardian wasn’t much taller than him, and Dad said that nine times out of ten, people who wanted to pick fights were all talk. Dad had also been showing him where to punch someone in the face, because the antibullying campaign at school was a load of shit. Okay, not all of it, but the tattletale part. Mrs. Henry said to run away and tell a teacher if someone was acting like an ass; Dad said that advice was for savages—humans who didn’t believe Earthbounds existed—and that Jupe should learn to hit back if someone hit him.

Hit first, then tell a teacher. Basically. At least, that was how Jupe interpreted it.

“I am not challenging you to fight me,” Priya said. “I am challenging you to fight for your mistress. She is confused and not caring for her own safety. If your father will not heed my warnings, then you must take up the charge. It is your responsibility to protect her.”

Jupe started to argue that, actually, Cady had promised to protect Jupe, not the other way around. But he realized it made him sound kind of pathetic, so he kept that to himself. “What are you suggesting?”

“If she will not heed my warning to find the Moonchild spell, then you must find it for her. If you are a man, you are honor-bound to do so.” Priya held his chin high. “I once gave up my life to protect her. Are you willing to do the same, or are you going to cower like a small child and allow her to be killed?”

“How am I supposed to find a spell no one else has been able to find?”

“You possess the voice of persuasion, do you not?”

“My knack?”

“Use it to interrogate members of her occult order. Trace her history, and find the spell.”

“But her order is in Florida. That’s a long way away. There’s no way in hell Dad will let me go alone.”

“Then do not tell him. Be your own man.” Priya’s gray skin crackled with energy; he was fading. “Summon me if you need help. I will assist you however I can.”

And with that, the creature disappeared.

“Goddammit!” Jupe shouted, hurling an empty video-game case at the place where Priya once stood. It hit a shoe on top of a stack of books, which all fell off his dresser with a loud thump.

He immediately heard a muffled call from the guest room.

“Sorry,” he called back to Mrs. Holiday. “It was an accident. Everything’s fine.”

After hearing whining and scratching outside his door, he pushed himself off the bed and let Foxglove inside. The Lab sniffed around the area where Priya had materialized. Good thing she wasn’t there for the visit, or she would have barked her face off, because Foxglove didn’t like Priya any more than Jupe did. Smart dog. He gave her a quick scratch behind her ears and watched her trot over to the hedgehog crate to inspect Mr. Piggy’s well-being—who, unlike Foxglove, couldn’t care less about anything but snacking on fruit and projectile pooping.

Had to admire that kind of simple life.

So Cady was pregnant. He blew out a long breath. Before everything happened—before Mr. Dare, the biggest asshole in the world, may he rot forever and ever, put Cady in the hospital—Dad sat down with Jupe and told him all his plans. About buying Cady an engagement ring. Asking her to marry him. Everything was so much better then. Cady would say yes to Dad’s proposal, of course—why wouldn’t she?—and they’d all be a real family.

But his real mom showed up and caused major drama, and then Mr. Dare did what he did.

And now all this junk.

Cady had told Jupe all about her real identity. When she was in the hospital, he’d tracked down all the books about her parents and the Black Lodge slayings. He read one from cover to cover and skimmed the rest. They all basically said the same thing: her parents were crazy serial killers who went around murdering the heads of other occult orders. Dad told him about how they’d tried to kill Cady, too. That her mom gave birth to her already planning to kill her and take her power after Cady had reached some sort of age of magical maturity.

That was fucked up. Jupe’s mom was a piece of work, but she’d never tried to kill him.

He thought about Yvonne—that’s what he called her in his mind, just to remind himself that she wasn’t his mom in spirit, not really, and so he shouldn’t get his hopes too high. She was staying with Gramma Rose in Portland. Had been there since the Incident at Christmas. Auntie Adella e-mailed him updates every few days. She said Yvonne was doing better. Still sober. He wondered what they’d all think about Cady being pregnant. He considered calling them to ask their opinion. But Auntie had lost a baby a long time ago after her husband killed himself. He didn’t want to upset her.

He glanced at his alarm clock. Dad had called to say he and Cady were staying in Golden Peak for the night. Should he call them? And say what, exactly—I’m afraid you’re going to love the baby and forget all about me, and by the way, Priya called me a pussy?

No, that didn’t sound needy. Not at all.

He fell onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, listening to Mr. Piggy make his little hedgie noises at Foxglove. Putting his needy feelings aside, he wondered if Cady was in real danger. And the more he thought about everything he’d read about her parents, the more he began to worry.

What if he could really fix this for her? He wasn’t allowed to use his knack without permission, but surely Dad would want him to use it if he could save Cady’s life. And if he saved the baby’s life, he’d be the kid’s hero. No one forgot about heroes.

He cracked open his laptop again. The name of Cady’s order was Ekklesia Eleusia, otherwise known as the E∴E∴. He did a search for their website. Their main headquarters—the Grand Temple—was located outside of Miami. It was only open to the public once a month.

He was too young to get on a plane without his dad’s permission, so flying was out of the question. If only his GTO was ready to drive, but it was months away from being finished, and he didn’t have a license.

Okay, so he might not be able to rush off to Florida and save the day, but he remembered a place that might be within his reach. The E∴E∴ had a local branch, a half-hour bus ride into Morella. It just might require a few white lies to Mr. and Mrs. Holiday and a little bit of stealth. So for maybe the first time in his life, he decided to follow his father’s advice and keep his mouth shut.