Quiet

Chapter 29 - No

"Am I dead?" I say.

The priest stares straight ahead and doesn't answer. Or move, like the Porsche. Except his eyes. They blink.

Anger boils up in me so fast I could punch him, but because of the swirling blackness and the fear, it only comes out in my voice. "Am I going to die or what?" For a split second, I'm calmer. Then, I shake with rage and squeeze my fists. "Or do I have to kill you right now with my bare hands?"

He swallows as if demon fumes stick to the insides of his throat. Without looking at me, he speaks. "Serving a god is a good choice."

The black smoke dulls the brightness of his skin and the color of his clothes. It flattens his appearance like a photograph, but even without that he's lifeless. I reach over and press my finger into his neck. The warm flesh surprises me.

"Stop that," he says in a monotone.

He calls it a god and is a Shinto priest. That may mean it came from his shrine, although shrines aren't supposed to house evil spirits, I don't think.

Outside the car, Joel pulls on the door. He tries again, but it won't open for him either.

I won't serve. No. I try the door again, but it still won't budge. I press my face against the glass. I want Joel to hope and smile, even if it turns out wrong, but confusion and fear streak his face. He can't see me and makes fists, like he wants to bang on the car but is worried it will speed away.

The demon won't let Joel see me. It answered my prayers, and maybe I'm dead now. Maybe I should attack. "Thank you for sparing my life," I say to the ceiling, to the car, to the demon. "The Yakuza are gone. I want to go. Thank you."

I sense the demon's consciousness. It listens to what I say and what I think. Its black wispy smoke caresses my legs and face. I try not to wonder if Joel's stake can really kill it. I try not to wish I had the foresight to borrow it. Maybe the demon will kill me, because I wish this.

Suddenly, I'm afraid of what my death would do to my mother and Sophia and even Mr. Lombardi. "Let me go now," I say to the demon. "Let me go. I don't want this." My fingertips burn like they did in the park, and somehow the demon's consciousness strikes me as like a baby's. "What are you?" I say.

Headlights come from behind the Porsche. Joel waves at a dark blue sports car, but he peers at my window like he won't leave. He yells at the people in the sports car. Behind it, there's an SUV. I can't make out what Joel says, so the walls of the Porsche aren't normal.

I reach over and pinch the Shinto priest's arm with my sizzling fingertips. "Let me out," I yell.

He shakes free and presses himself against the driver's side door. "Don't touch me with those."

I check my hands, but the tips of my fingers haven't changed visibly, though they sting and sizzle. I raise and turn them like a creature with claws. "I'll rub them in your face."

His eyes bulge and his lips peel away from his teeth. "It will find you if it wants you." He strikes my face hard. I holler at the sharp, stinging pain. The slap fills my ears and head with ringing, but the door opens, and Joel hops out of the way.

His jaw drops, and he holds the stake in one hand. He didn't open the door. The demon did.

I swing my legs from the car and push Joel further from the Porsche while he pulls on me. With my arms and body, I shield him, hoping it won't kill either of us.

Joel throws his stake. It bangs on the closed car door and falls to the street as the Porsche peels out. With a squeal, the blue sports car gives chase, but the SUV doesn't budge. "I wish I had this." I grab Joel's stake off the road. I scream out when it burns my hand again, and drop it.

Joel reaches around and pulls me into him. Our lips meet, but not for long. Three men get out of the SUV. I run, pulling Joel because he's not running. When I stop, Joel scoops me up and swings me around and around. The other men must be demon hunters too. I hold up my arms as I go around. "I'm not dead," I yell. "I'm alive." I hate to think it, but I'm so grateful the demon didn't keep me. I saw into it though, and surprised it. I got a glimpse of its mind, and that bothered it.

Joel puts me down and waves at the three men. They don't ignore me, but we make almost no eye contact. They're awkward, because I'm a woman or a girl or because of something else, like my connection to the demon.

"Demon hunters?" I say.

"Don't tell her too much, Joel," one of the men says. He wears a bright silver watch on his dark wrist.

Joel squeezes my waist and grins. "This is Makiko," he says. "She's great, and I love her."

One of the other men, a thin man, crosses and uncrosses his arms, like he doesn't know what to do with them. He puts his hands in his pockets then behind his back. "She got out of the demon car, Joel."

"So what?" I say. "So. What? Tell me."

The guy shakes his head. His jerky shuffle reminds me of a drug addict in a movie. The third man gazes impassively at his phone, like a commuter on a train. I survived being in the car with the demon, but they don't like something about that. I'm afraid why, but I'm also annoyed. Being dead is not better.

"Just give us a ride to her house, Tyron. Please?" Joel's smile ends with a twist, a tilt of his head, and puppy dog eyes.

Tyron stares at the street. Finally, he glances at his silver watch and looks up at the sky and hollers, like he's shaking a fist at the universe. He grabs Joel's shoulders. "But I'm going to miss working with you, rich kid."

Joel laughs. "Thanks."

That sounds like Joel won't be a demon hunter anymore. "Why won't you be a demon hunter? Am I a demon?"

He shakes his head vigorously. "No. You're not a demon."

They won't tell me anything right now, not even Joel. And maybe I don't want to know until tomorrow. In the sunlight. Under a blue sky.

The third man, the impassive man, lifts his eyes off his phone. "You're a witch," he says.

"Don't take her picture," Joel says.

The impassive man nods and puts away his phone. We head to the SUV. On the way, Tyron smiles at me, welcomes me with shy eyes, though doubts taint his peace offering. The other two men scuff their feet and follow behind us like we're at a funeral.

My fingers don't tingle right now, but I'm a witch? Whatever that's supposed to mean.

With Joel's hand in mine, I slide into the backseat of the SUV, happy to be alive. Right now I don't care about the demon. If the demon hunters know something I don't, then Joel knows too, and he's not running, at least not yet. And if Joel runs, fine. He doesn't have to stop being a demon hunter for me. The demon planned to let me go for now, but I also surprised it. I read its mind.

Thanks again for reading. If you enjoyed QUIET so far, thanks!