in silence. Everything was fine. Weirdo bat-guy was probably long gone by now. But just to be sure, I should check…so I went back to look again.
He was still there.
Still staring.
This time with a wide smile curling his crooked mouth, his pointy fangs sticking out.
My heart rocketed. I drew the curtains closed and ran to the other side of the room, unsure of what to do with myself. I slid down the wall, crouching on the wooden floor, curling my knees against my chest.
A skitter of thumps beat against the wall next to the window, as if something was scaling it. That thing probably could; it had wings. Was it trying to get up here?
No, you’re just hearing things.
The window had bars on the outside of it, I reminded myself. Thick, heavy, metal bars. There was no way it could get inside. The charm on the bracelet Xander gave me buzzed, sending pulse waves of energy through me. As if it were trying to warn me.
My eyes flared as a shadowed silhouette moved beyond those curtains. Oh god, it was him! He moved his head back and forth, trying to look inside.
Go away. Go away. Go away.
The shadow vanished. I let out a small breath. Gone, just like that. Maybe he saw the bars and gave up—
Heavy feet crashed against the stairs.
Holy crapballs!
I jumped up, moving away from the wall. My body went stiff as I stared at the door. Shadows filled the bottom crack where he stood. He was so close, just on the other side, only a dozen or so feet from me. His voice came out like sizzling embers, crackling and sharp. “Let me in, pretty girl.” The knob rattled loudly, his ragged breath whirring through the crevices.
Good grief, I was about to pee my pants. Where were Grey and Toad? I wanted to shout for them, but then that thing would hear me. He’d know I was right there, listening. Well, he probably knew that anyway.
His talon slowly scratched against the outside of the door, sliding against the grains of wood as if he were trying to carve out a hole. “Magic,” he hissed. His fist pounded furiously. “You spelled it!”
My heart beating uncontrollably, I ran into the bedroom, shutting the door behind me. Riley sat up in bed. “What’s going on?”
My voice came out all in one rush of air. “Creepster bat-man.” I sucked in a breath. “Saw me.” Another breath. “From the street.”
Her gaze sharpened. I wasn’t making a lot of sense, but she understood enough to know something was wrong.
“Sheridan, calm down.” She threw her covers aside and stood, heading out of the room to inspect.
“Calm down? You want me to be calm?” If she had seen that thing—actually she had probably seen all sorts of monsters just as terrifying or worse—but still. If she knew what was out there, she would be freaking out too.
She reopened the bedroom door, her voice still hoarse from sleep. “Where are Grey and Toad?”
“Great question,” I said, on the verge of hyperventilating. It would be nice to have our bodyguards around at a moment like this.
“It will be fine,” she said, poking her head out of the bedroom. “He can’t get through the door. He’ll probably go away—”
The creature slammed his fists against the front door again, and Riley jumped back. Her expression went from groggy to wide awake in two seconds flat. “Grey!” she screamed, her voice high-pitched.
The creature mimicked her in a mocking tone. “Grey isn’t here.” He laughed, the sound anything but funny. “Open up the door, pretty little human girl. Let me taste your human flesh.”
Riley blinked, going pale. She closed the bedroom door again.
“Hey, can’t you use your summoning magic to send a monster?” I said, hopeful.
“It doesn’t work like that. Summoning takes hours of incantations and careful planning.”
“Awesome.” She was just as useless as I was.
“Come on,” she said, rolling up her sleeves. “Help me move one of the beds in front of this door.”
I did as she asked, not that it would help much. If the creature managed to get past the spelled front door, it wouldn’t have a problem getting past an unspelled one. But we got behind the bed anyway, pushing and heaving until it was shoved in front of the door to make ourselves feel safer.
“What should we do now?” Riley said, lowering herself onto the remaining bed. In the span of the last few moments, she had taken my place as the nervous wreck. Watching