entire story. Once we filled her in she insisted we introduce her to our guide to all things supernatural. Upon their first meeting I expected some sort of blow up. I was just waiting for Grams to spout off about Alaina filling our heads with nonsense. Her encounter with Barnabus must’ve impacted her enough that she listened to the whole tale intently. She absorbed everything enthusiastically. She even let Kendall heal her broken bones. After that, Grams became so passionate about our calling, she was ready to march in a superhero pride parade. Come to think of it, that would be a lonely parade. It would just be one crazy old lady in a leopard print bikini waving a banner.
“Ooh! Look at this one! It says there is a place on a person’s hand that if you squeeze just right, you can render them immobile! That’s a good one! She could use that!”
“Does it only work on humans?” Gabe asked between heaping mouthfuls of cereal. “Cause it’s not likely we’ll be fighting people.”
“I don’t know, these books are really lacking in demonic stuff.” Grams perked up when she noticed I entered the room. “Good, you’re here! Which sounds more interesting; Judo or Jiu Jitsu?” In each hand she held up a dummies guide to each of the fighting methods.
“Nope. Not today Grams. Today I’m just a normal girl.”
“Normal is boring.” She brushed off my statement and began flipping through the pages of one of the books. “This one has pictures. I could practice with you. It’d be fun.”
Well, that idea is beyond terrifying. “Seriously, Grams. I’m not talking about anything superhero-ish today.” I said, carefully dancing around the landmine she just laid out before me. “Today I am just Celeste.”
“You’re no fun, Celeste. How about you, Gabe? You want to learn martial arts with your grandma?” She turned her attention to my brother who was devouring his breakfast.
“Sure, why not? What guy doesn’t want to watch his grandma break a hip?”
“I’m not going to break anything! And even if I did, it’d give me an excuse to go see Dr. Allen again. Yummy!” She smacked her lips at that idea. Then buried her nose back in the book.
Gabe and I exchanged disgusted looks. That’s when I noticed his breakfast. Before him was Grams’ punch bowl filled with cereal.
“Geez, Gabe! Is there any cereal left?”
“Nope.”
“I bought that box yesterday!” Grams stated.
“What? It takes a lot of energy to morph into a lion. Don’t judge me.”
“Not judging.” I opened the cereal box and gazed in. Not a flake or a raisin left. “Just hungry!”
“Oh. Can’t help you there. And PS—I ate all the bacon, too.”
“Are you sure you don’t turn into a pig instead of a lion?” I snapped.
“If he turned into a pig that would make him eating the bacon cannibalistic and gross,” jabbed Grams.
My mouth fell open, stumped once again by her quick wit.
“All right, Grams! You rendered her speechless! I didn’t think that was possible!” Gabe cheered and high-fived her over the table.
“Whatever. I’ll grab something while I’m out.” I grabbed my keys off the counter, and shouldered my bag.
“Hey, wait. Can I come? I need to swing by the community college to get registered.” Recent events had finally helped Gabe find a direction in life. He enjoyed coaching so much he decided to go back to school to become a teacher. While I was insanely proud of him, I really didn’t want company today.
“How about tomorrow? I’m going up to the hospital to see Alec.”
Gabe adopted an over exaggerated pout, lower lip out and the whole bit. “That’s okay. If you want to impede upon my academic achievement.”
Unlike me, Grams fell for his act. She gave him a sympathetic look than shot me the stink eye.
“Oh, for crying out loud! Fine!” I relented. “But you’re waiting in the car at the hospital!”
“Will you at least crack a window?” he smirked.
“Only if you promise not to eat my upholstery,” I shot back.
“Then we should probably stop for snacks on the way.”
There should be a support group for girls with obnoxious brothers.
Demons are predictable. You know they’re going to try to kill you and they don’t disappoint. In the heat of battle, they aren’t going to stop and say, “You know, this just isn’t working out. It’s not you, it’s me. I just think I’d like to try to kill other people. Maybe we can just be friends?”
I wiped my sweaty palms on the sides of my dress and tried