Dealing with Devils (Book 2 in the Road to Salvation Series)

CHAPTER 3

A high-pitched yip pulled Katie out of sleep. She rolled over and attempted to drift back into dream land, but she couldn't. Against her will, her brain decided it was time to think about what had happened the night before, and she wondered what was going to happen later that day. She slowly opened her eyes. The sun blazed behind her closed curtains. As she rolled over to look at the clock, a shadow moved in the corner of her room. She sucked in a sharp breath and whipped her head around to look directly at the spot. Did she really just see that or were her eyes playing tricks on her? Her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Slowly, she turned her head to the position it was in before, but it didn't happen again. The fear drained from her body. She shrugged. She must have been imagining things.

After putting on a pair of sweatpants, she went downstairs. It was almost noon, and her stomach growled audibly. Visions of her time in Hell ran through her mind, and she shuddered. She shook her head to get them out. She had gotten out safely, so there was no sense dwelling on what happened. The only thing she could do was ensure it wouldn't happen again. She took a deep breath and focused her thoughts on what she was going to eat.

As she walked past the living room, a black mass darted across the floor and disappeared under the couch. At least she thought it did. It made her pause and stare into the room. Must be lingering fear from last night. I'm seeing demons everywhere. Her skin prickled at the thought and she shuddered, but she reminded herself not to worry. Josh would keep her safe. He'd promised. She turned and headed into the kitchen feeling slightly better. Although, she glanced over her shoulder a few times to see if the shadow was back in the living room.

Her mom sat at the kitchen table reading the paper. A plate with a half-eaten sandwich and fruit sat before her. Katie didn't care that it was almost lunch time; she'd just woken up, she was going to have breakfast. She opened the fridge to find the eggs.

"It's about time you got out of bed," her mom said.

Katie smiled at her briefly, then she turned to get a pan out of the cupboard. Her eyes fell on the floor where her fake mother had been killed. There was no trace anywhere that anything had happened. No blood, no broken cupboards—nothing. Who would have cleaned it up? The demons when they brought her mom back to the house? Did it really matter? Maybe she should be thankful she didn't have to take care of it. She hadn't thought of that episode for days. She hadn't wanted to.

The scene with Randy in her kitchen drinking a cup of coffee passed through her mind. She had been upset to see him. The night before had been when she and Wes had stopped being friends. Then, Wes had gone missing, and Randy came over to see if Katie knew what had happened. It shocked her at first that her mom attacked—Katie hadn't yet realized a demon had assumed her mom's form. But when she figured it out, she did what she could to save Randy. It had been Katie's actions that helped Randy defeat the demon. Looking back on it, she wasn't exactly sure why she had done it. Part of it was instinct, and the other part was because she subconsciously realized she needed Randy's help. If she knew what she knew now, she might have acted differently. Or would she? It didn't matter now. She couldn't change anything.

Besides, her mom was back, and for all her mother knew, life was normal. Katie figured the only reason the thought came into her head now was because she was on edge.

"You all right over there? You fall asleep again?"

Her mom's voice pulled her out of her trance. "No, just trying to figure out how I'm going to cook these eggs."

Her mom chuckled. "Don't think too hard, you might hurt yourself."

Katie placed the pan on the stove and cracked some eggs into it. Her mom turned back to the paper and picked it up.