Page 38 of Demon Apathy: Sunderverse
“As a matter of fact, we should have gotten rid of that before we came here,” Drevan said, glancing disapprovingly at hisassistant.
Khargon huffed. “I wasn’t born yesterday. I took care of the SIM card at the restaurant.”
She was at the restaurant? Where? I was sure there was no way I would’ve missed her. She was one of those people who left an impression.
“Then why did you take it away?” Lunar asked.
“So you don’t get any funny ideas that you can be calling people because you can’t.” Khargon pronounced every word as if she were growling, showing the top of her perfectly white teeth along with slightly pointed fangs.
Fangs?!My first inclination was to think that she was a vampire, but they kept their fangs sheathed until they needed to feed. Besides, I had seen similar fangs on someone else: Drevan.
Which meant that Khargon was a demon.
Lunar appeared on the verge of crying, and I didn’t entirely blame her. These two had the sensitivity of an oyster. Time to intervene.
“Hey, it’ll be alright,” I said. “No one had the manners or courtesy to introduce us, so I’ll do it myself. My name is Lucia Sunder. I… work with Drevan. I’m sure there is a TV in this big ass place. You could binge-watch all the shows you ever wished you had time to binge-watch.”
She sniffled, blinking rapidly and looking as if the idea enticed her.
“There you have it.” Drevan snapped his fingers. “The television is in the bedroom.”
“And hopefully,” I added, “you won’t be here long.”
Khargon grunted skeptically.
I gave her a narrow-eyed stare, which she returned right back.
“I guess a few days of R&R won’t hurt,” Lunar admitted.
“Exactly!” I enthused.
Drevan clapped his hands together. “Great, it’s decided. Also, Khargon will be staying here with you, so if you need anything just ask her.”
The sound of something like an angry lion rumbled inside of Khargon’s chest. “I willnotbe the human’s babysitter or maid.”
Drevan smiled with all the charm of the impish devil that he was. “Nobody said you will. C’mon, Lucia. I need to get you to the league. Grant will have all the paperwork ready to get you situated again. You’re going to have to study really hard to catch up, but I’ll do all I can to help you.”
“I’m sure you will,” Khargon muttered under her breath.
Was I imagining things? Or did she sound jealous? I seriously hoped it was my imagination because the last thing I needed was a bitter demon angry at me. That couldn’t bode well.
And what was that about Grant having all the paperwork ready? Had the director known Drevan would convince me to stay? It seemed I’d been the only fool thinking I would get on that plane.
Witchlights!How was I going to explain this to my family?
14
Withintwentyminutesofarriving back at the league, I was sitting on the bed in my old room, staring at Jenna’s turkey decorations. She was in class and would probably have a shock when she saw I was back.
I had a schedule in my hand for my classes, which looked pretty much the same as the old one, except that whatever free time I’d had in the past was now filled with review and catch-up lessons with all my teachers. And not only that, I had several tests to make up.
There was no way the director had put this together today. The schedule looked like something he’d spent considerable time organizing. He had to get every teacher to agree to catch me up, something I doubted they appreciated. Who wanted extra work?
One more thing I had was a new Periapt for protection against demon possession. Before I left, I’d returned the one LeBeau gave me. That one had been pretty, tear-shaped with a ruby in the middle and diamonds around it. But this one was more my style. It was shaped like a sword, with what looked like a dragon’s tail intertwined with its blade, and outstretched dragon wings flanking the hilt. So very cool. I slipped it on, feeling comfort at its weight around my neck.
With a sigh of resignation, I picked up my phone and started to dial Mom. My thumb froze midair. I really wasn’t in the mood to get an ear full. It had already been a stressful day, and it wasn’t even noon. Instead, I dialed my sister, Toni.
“What’s up, kiddo?” she answered in an upbeat tone.
