Demon

Natalie

Gabe stares at me, his eyes huge. “Demon’s back?”

“That’s what Angel says. He could tell as soon as we got close enough for him to hear that Demon is with Jonathan again.” We are whispering, so our parents don’t hear our conversation. They’d think we’re crazy, or playing a weird game, I suppose.

“I have to go see Jonathan,” he says.

“Yes, but I think we should talk to Angel first to see if he can tell us what’s going on.”

“Can he tell how Jonathan is doing?”

Angel says, “Jonathan seems very well. His soul is restored, even more than it had been through your efforts in touching him. He appears far more lively and energetic than he has been the last several months.”

I repeat all of that to Gabe. “Great!” he says. “Sounds like the old Jonathan is back!” He looks really happy. I know he has missed Jonathan the way he used to be.

Dad pulls the car into the driveway, and we start getting out. Gabe is about to run straight down to Jonathan’s house, but I grab his hand. “Hold on a minute, please, let’s go inside and talk some more first.”

He is impatient to go. “Fine,” he huffs, “but let’s make it quick. I’ve got to see him.”

Dad hands us our backpacks from out of the trunk. “Here,” he tells us, “carry these inside.” We take them while he is unloading everything else.

Mom is unlocking the front door, and she laughs as we zoom past her and run up the stairs.

Gabe tosses his bag into his room then comes into mine. I shut the door. “Before we go down there, we should make a plan.”

“Why? I just want to see Jonathan!”

“I really want to see him too, but you have to remember what he was like before Demon went missing. He was completely mad at me and fighting us. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We should be prepared.”

Gabe frowns. He remembers, but he was so excited to see if Jonathan has returned to being his old exciting friend, that he hadn’t thought of that.

He crosses his arms and slumps down on my bed. “Okay, fine. What do you want to do?”

But then Angel tells me, “Darling, there is no more time to make a plan. Jonathan is on his way here.”

Jonathan

I’ve been waiting for them all day. I thought they were going to get back a long time ago - I’m pretty sure they had told me that their plane was supposed to land before lunch, but it’s almost dinnertime. So as soon as I see them drive up, I grab my shoes, yell to Dad that I’m going to see Gabe, and start running down the street.

I’ve been so excited to talk to Gabe. And Natalie too. I want to tell her all about Demon being back, and how I could tell as soon as he got here, and how I am feeling just fine. She’s been ridiculously worried about nothing. All that asking me about whether I thought Demon was controlling me was totally pointless. I know he’s here, and except for that first moment when he got back last weekend, I haven’t felt any emotions that seemed strange.

I just feel great. It’s like I was tired or sick for a long time, but now I am healthy and strong and feeling fantastic. I have had fun doing stuff every day with Dad this week. The zoo, or the park, or the beach, or playing with Socks, or just hanging around at home watching cartoons. Everything seems wonderful. I can’t wait to share it all with my friends again.

I’m about to knock on the door, but it opens before I can.

There is Gabe, with Natalie peeking out at me from behind him.

I get a huge smile as soon as I see them, and I’m about to tell them hi and go inside, but then I feel it happening.

Seeing Natalie creates this rush of strange emotions, that don’t feel like they have anything to do with me. I’m happy to see her and Gabe. I shouldn’t feel like this, like I want to run away from her.

I hesitate on the porch, confused.

I see her look over to the side, and then she slowly backs away, getting further behind Gabe.

I don’t know what to do.

Jonathan’s

My dearest one is delighted to see his friends, but my reaction to the presence of the unnatural creature is instantaneous and involuntary. Everything she has done to me rushes at once into my thoughts. The torture, the delight, the imprisonment, the salvation. The eternity of anguish interspersed with the hateful pleasure that she forced upon me whenever she touched my beloved. I am filled with loathing and desire, an urge to merge with her and a desperation to flee from her.

I sense energy erratically flowing outward as my memories crash down upon me. I have never felt such a powerful tumult of emotions. I know they are flooding into my beloved, overpowering his own feelings, creating in him the exact thing that the Seer had trained him to fear. And for this too, I both detest and admire her. She was exactly correct, hatefully so.

She feels the vehement passions emanating from me and flowing through Jonathan, even as her Guardian begins to warn her against me.

There is no conceivable way to move forward from this schism.

The humans stand frozen. We are all utterly stymied.