Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy #1)(56)

I agreed to meet up with Inaya and Victoria for lunch over the weekend. Leon was still sleeping like the dead, and it felt odd to leave him alone at home. I wasn’t sure if it was normal for a demon to sleep for so long, but I wasn’t going to try waking him up. Victoria was running late, so Inaya and I got a table at a little cafe serving Sunday brunch, a corner seat near the window where we could watch the rain.

“We should watch Midsommar,” Inaya said, as we sipped mimosas and planned our next movie night. “Or maybe we should start with some classics and go for The Exorcist.”

“You know I’m always down for Friedkin’s genius,” I said. The mimosas here were bottomless: lucky for me, because I’d already entirely downed one. I was restless, and a little desperate, and I’d hoped getting out of the house would help, but it hadn’t done much yet. “We could get wine drunk and watch Hocus Pocus after.”

“Oooh, yes, girl, I’ll bring this new Pinot I tried. It’s so good. It’s honestly a crime I haven’t come over for a visit yet. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t you dare apologize,” I laughed. “The place has been a mess anyway.” A mess...besieged by monsters, currently hosting a sleeping demon...yeah, it wasn’t fit for visitors. I was still contemplating if I should insist on having the movie night at her apartment — considering I had no idea when Leon would wake up. Or leave. Or…

If I even wanted him to leave.

She was scrolling through a list of horror films on her phone, trying to come up with one that I hadn’t already seen. I let my eyes relax, staring off into the hazy rain outside. I envied Leon for being able to sleep for days straight; I needed to sleep for that long. People ran by, hoods up, shoes sloshing in the growing puddles. I loved watching the rain, but the grey day made me sleepier than ever.

The clouds above were thick and dark, as if a thunderstorm was brewing. They were moving rapidly, swirling and coiling like steam pouring off dry ice.

Inaya was speaking again, but her voice was fading in and out. There was something strange about the clouds. I’d never seen clouds move like that. They were so dark, almost black. The pale glow of lighting flashed behind them, but in the illumination, I realized those dark gray coils weren’t clouds at all.

They were tentacles: massive, thick tentacles moving through the clouds.

Suddenly, it was as if my head was being squeezed. Every beat of my heart felt too hard, too slow. I wanted to look away. I wanted to close my eyes. The sensation of drowning was burning through my lungs, as if my dream from last night was trying to yank me back in. The smell of damp earth, salty brine, rot — panic tightened in my chest.

Beyond the clouds, beyond the dark tentacles, the vague silhouette of something truly, incomprehensibly massive was moving.

“Hey! Raelynn!”

I gasped, and Inaya jerked back in surprise. She’d grabbed my arm across the table, and it had snapped me out of my weird hallucinations. The sky looked normal. No tentacles. No silhouette. Nothing but the sound of the rain and dark, thick cloud cover.

Inaya was staring at me with a wide, worried gaze.

“What the hell just happened?” She reached across the table for my forehead, her hand cool against my skin. “Are you sick? You were shaking and your eyes were twitching.”

“I’m fine,” I said softly, pulling off my glasses and rubbing my eyes as if I could somehow push the memory from my head. That massive shape...it made me feel sick to remember, as if my body was rejecting the idea of something so wrong existing on earth. “I just, uhm…”

“Helloooo, ladies!” Victoria walked up to the table. “Sorry I was so late, ugh, more family drama.” She sat next to me, giving me a quick hug. She tucked her pink Coach bag onto the seat between us, and slid a Tupperware container onto the table. “Did you order yet? Oooh my God, mimosas, yes! I need a whole tub of that shit.” She began to wave her hand for the waiter, snapping her fingers as she urged him over.

I’d never hallucinated before. I’d never experienced terror that felt so consuming. Perhaps it had been a panic attack, or a waking nightmare. Maybe the stress of all this was getting to me more than I thought.

Or maybe Leon hadn’t been lying. Maybe there really was a god in the mine. Because that horror, that thing I’d seen in the clouds, was the closest thing to a god I could imagine.

“Rae,” Inaya was still staring at me, her voice seemingly the only solid lifeline I had to reality.

Victoria looked between us curiously. “What’s wrong? What did I miss?”

“It’s nothing,” I said softly. “Hungry, I think. I zoned out. I’m fine.”

The expression on Inaya’s face made it obvious she didn’t believe me.

“Well, let’s get some food in you then, girl! Here, you two can be my critics.” Victoria pulled the lid off her Tupperware, revealing chocolate cupcakes within. Each one was beautifully decorated, with sparkles of purple edible glitter and little candy ghosts. “I’m going to make a bunch for the Halloween party, but I wanted to try out the recipe first. Are they boozy enough? They’re bourbon chocolate maple.”

It was hands-down one of the best cupcakes I’d ever eaten. I knew it was a ridiculous judgment of character, but I didn’t feel like a death cult member would be baking delicious cupcakes for her friends. Was I really supposed to believe that Victoria worshipped some ancient God? Or Jeremiah? Or even Mr. Hadleigh?