that means nobody did,” Finn said, sounding worried. “Alvie spent the night with Gabriel.” He walked toward the motor home and rapped lightly on the door with his knuckles. “Rita, you in there?” he called. There was no answer, and when he went to try and open the door it wouldn’t budge.
“She never locks it,” I said. “Not unless she’s going out somewhere, and she hasn’t been anywhere since Noreen’s funeral.”
“Maybe she decided today was the day to stretch her legs,” Finn suggested, pulling harder on the door handle. This time a little bolt of purple electricity slithered over the metal and shocked his hand. “What the hell?” We both stared at the handle in confusion.
“I think she’s put a spell on it to keep everyone out,” I said to him, starting to panic.
“Bloody hell, did she get that idea from Emilia or something? And why would she want to keep everyone out?”
“She bit my head off yesterday for no reason and basically told me to get the fuck out of the RV.”
“She did what? I thought she was getting better after the empath girl worked on her.”
“So did I.”
“Well, this isn’t on. She can’t just keep herself locked up in there. It’s not good for her. We need to get her out.” He stood back and put his hands around his mouth, bellowing, “Rita! Get your skinny arse out here now and undo whatever spell you’ve cast.”
At this, my eyes were drawn to one of the windows, through which I spotted Rita standing in the kitchen, making a cup of coffee and completely ignoring us.
I walked up and knocked on the glass. “I can see you in there. Please let us in. We only want to help.”
Her back was to me, and she continued what she was doing, pretending not to have heard me at all.
“Maybe we should just leave her for a while,” I suggested, glancing at Finn. “I’m sure she’ll come around.”
He watched her through the window with narrowed eyes. “Yeah, maybe.”
Neither of us said it, but it was clear that we both had our doubts about Rita coming around at all.
***
Later that day, while I was doing laundry, something absolutely extraordinary occurred. As I stood by the washing machine, a little speck of golden light buzzed in my face and flitted around me like an annoying wasp.
I swiped at it, but it continued flitting around my head, growing in size. One second, it was the size of a pea, and the next, it was a golf ball. A second later, it was a football before widening into a hula hoop. It fizzled and crackled, sputtering physical sparks like you’d see come off a bonfire.
I backed up against the washing machine, my hands braced against it and my heart pounding. The smell of burnt coal and sulphur filled the room. My heart rate increased further when a blue foot appeared, followed swiftly by a blue leg. That was when I recognised Edwards in his demon form and a huge smile spread across my face. He made it back!
Edwards fell to the floor with a sizzling thud and another body followed, a human one, thudding to the floor right after him. My dad’s skin was blistered from head to toe and his hair was all patchy, like parts of it had been singed off. Emotion flooded me at seeing him like this. He lay on the floor, unconscious but breathing. I was distracted from staring at his horrendous state by Edwards coughing loudly, “A glass of water, please, if it’s not too much trouble.”
Wide-eyed, I went and poured him a glass, handing it down to him. Then I went and crouched before my dad, who groaned when I touched his burned skin.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked desperately, tears clogging my eyes as I turned to Edwards.
“Human skin is not made to withstand the atmosphere in hell. That’s another of the reasons why I changed into my demon form before venturing there.” He handed me the glass of water, and I refilled it before handing it back. He downed it in one long gulp, so I got him another.
I really wanted to comfort my dad in some way, but every time I tried to touch him his entire body shook as if in pain, so I sat on the floor beside Edwards instead. “I almost lost hope that you’d be back. What took you so long?”
“The dimension didn’t want to let your father go. He’d taken