Good Intentions (Book 3 in the Road to Salvation Series)

CHAPTER 10

Katie's alarm screeched through the room and pulled her out of a dreamless sleep. She turned it off and lay back on her bed with a sigh. How was she supposed to lure Wes out if he didn't show up again? Maybe she wouldn't. As Josh feared, Wes was aware that the demons were after him. There was nothing she could say to convince him to leave the safety of the holy land. Maybe it was a stupid idea, but at least she was trying to do something. She sighed again, searching for the motivation to get out of bed. What would the day bring? She rolled over to find Josh gone. That kind of surprised her. She thought for sure he would stay. He had before. Maybe he was still upset with her. Whatever. She needed to get ready for school. She'd see him later and they could talk about it. Climbing out of bed, she headed for the shower.

Her mom wasn't at the table when she headed down for breakfast. Katie stopped in the middle of the floor and looked around, as if she was perhaps in the wrong house. Where was her mom? She turned and headed upstairs to her mom's room. The door was closed, so Katie opened it slowly. The sound of soft breathing entered her ears. Her mom was still beneath the covers. She was both relieved and confused at the same time. Concern coursed through her. Was her mom sick? She stepped into the room.

"Mom?" she whispered.

There was no response.

Katie tried to remain calm as she stepped to the side of the bed. The paranoia and panic that had been plaguing her of late threatened to boil over and cause her to scream into the room. But she kept telling herself that her mom was breathing, so everything was fine. She just overslept. No biggie. Demons didn't have her and weren't threatening to take her, so Katie just needed to calm down. Placing a hand on her mom's shoulder, she shook gently.

"Mom," she said a little louder.

Her mom inhaled a sharp breath and sat up abruptly in bed. Katie jumped back slightly. Blinking rapidly, her mom glanced around the room as if trying to figure out where she was. Her breathing slowed, and she brought her hand up to her forehead.

"You all right, Mom?"

She nodded. "Yeah. What time is it?" She reached for the clock. "Oh, damn! I overslept." She threw her covers off and jumped out of bed. She gave Katie a quick kiss on the forehead. "Thanks for getting me up. You need a ride to school?"

Katie shook her head.

Her mom nodded once and began to scurry around the room, grabbing clothes before heading into her bathroom.

Katie watched her wide-eyed until she closed the bathroom door. Her shoulders slouched and her muscles loosened. Katie became aware that her fists had been balled at her sides, and she shook them to get feeling back into her fingers. She took a deep breath and forced a chuckle. She mouthed a "wow" before heading back downstairs to eat breakfast. Inwardly, she was thankful that her mom was fine and still in the house. She hated to see her flustered, but at least that meant she was away from demons.

Her mom came downstairs like a whirlwind muttering to herself just as Katie was about to head out the door for school. She was mostly dressed, but she still had to put her make-up on and do her hair. Katie sympathized with her mom. She hated getting up late. It threw her entire day off. She pulled on her backpack before heading into the kitchen.

"I'm leaving now. You need anything?"

Her mom looked at her with a frantic gleam in her eye. "No, honey, thanks. Just gotta get it together." She kissed the top of Katie's head and gave her a quick hug. "Have a great day. I love you."

"You too, Mom. See you tonight. Love you too."

Katie headed out the front door. As usual, Josh's car was parked at the curb. He stood by the passenger-side door, smiling. She smiled back but didn't dilly-dally getting into the car. With all the talk her mom was doing lately about having people over for dinner, Katie didn't want to risk her coming out and bringing it up again. Not that she would as late as she was running, but Katie wasn't going to take the chance.