Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy, #3)(74)

Marna came over with a towel for me and we turned off the shower. I was still shaky as I stood, and my stomach was not right. Physically, I felt weak. Mentally, I was more scared than I’d ever been. I started shivering with my hair dripping onto the floor. Marna took one of the fluffy white robes and wrapped it around me. It was huge. I tried to towel dry my hair. I could hardly sit up straight. Worst timing ever for a hangover.

I tried to think of everything that had happened, but there were many blank spots in my memory. Had I done or said anything that could incriminate us? I remembered dancing. When exactly had the other Neph shown up? I flashed to a memory of Kaidan kissing me on the couch, and I was horrified to recall how I’d baited him. I looked up at Marna and Ginger. They had saved us from ourselves. I could have ruined everything.

Marna sat me down at the vanity and took a brush from her bag, working it through my wet hair. Ginger filled a glass with water and set it in front of me. I emptied it all and gave her a small smile, which she did not return. I grabbed her hand and she stilled.

I’m sorry, I signed to her.

She surprised me by grinning. You can be mean, she signed. It was nice to see.

My face flushed and I shook my head. Ginger patted my shoulder with her free hand, then pulled the other hand from my grip to pick up the blow-dryer.

The hot air felt good on my head. My body shook every few seconds with tiny tremors. I was so tired.

“Order us some food, Kaidan,” Ginger shouted at the door. “I think we’ve all worked up an appetite.” My stomach growled at the mention of food, and I realized that I was completely famished.

I took Marna’s wrist and looked at her watch. It was eleven o’clock. We had somewhere between one and four hours to prepare for hell on earth.

What was I going to do? I felt completely unprepared. How could I ready myself for a spiritual battle under these circumstances? What would Patti do?

Wait. That was it. I knew exactly what she would do.

I jumped from the chair and ran into the suite, leaving the twins with hairbrush and blow-dryer midair. I could feel all of their eyes on me in my oversized robe as I flung open each dresser drawer. All empty. Oh no. I turned and saw the night-stand. I ran to it, passing a confused Blake, and opened the tiny drawer.

There it was. The Holy Bible.

I took it out like a precious gem. It probably hadn’t been opened once in all its years in this room. It was a funny thing, wasn’t it?—the notion of keeping Bibles in hotel rooms. I wondered how the tradition had started and why it had been kept going. Maybe superstition. Maybe for me and this very moment.

I looked up at everyone staring at me. The room was wrapped in nervous tension.

Watch for spirits, I signed.

The others nodded their agreement. I climbed up to the middle of the big bed and placed the book on the terrycloth robe over my lap. Very slowly, very quietly, I opened to the back and found the Dictionary/Concordance. It was hard to concentrate with everyone on edge and the television blaring, but I forced myself to focus. Kopano walked away from the group, going to sit at the table in the living room area with his eyes closed in mediation.

Marna climbed up and sat next to me. Blake and Ginger watched television, or at least pretended to, and Kai paced silently. I first looked up “demons.” I knew there were a ton of passages about them—this wasn’t my first time looking—but in the past none of it had stood out to me as very informative. I guess the verses that stand out are the ones most relevant to you at the moment you’re reading them. Like poetry. I pointed to the lines I was reading so Marna could follow.

For forty-five minutes I read the many accounts of demon possessions. There were weird passages about suicidal, demon-possessed pigs. I didn’t have time to pick those ones apart. The use of parables and lack of explanations had me dissecting for meaning, something that I wasn’t good at.

I nearly came out of my skin at the sound of a knock at the door. Kaidan went to it, and I was flinging the puffy down comforter over the Bible. Marna patted my arm to reassure me. I tried to catch my breath and slow my heart when I saw it was only our room service. Kai had ordered a ton of food, and my mouth watered as the scent hit me.

Nobody else ate quite as enthusiastically as me. I barely took time to breathe as I downed an entire huge hamburger, then drank a soda. My stomach wobbled a little with nausea again, so I sat back on the bed. My full belly made me feel even sleepier. I patted my cheeks and pinched my cheekbones. Get it together, Anna.

I turned again to the Concordance and looked up “sword” this time, but it was all mostly symbolism for war, or proverbial lines like “reckless words pierce like a sword.”

I read about angels and their jobs as messengers and guardians of souls. Kaidan paced the room again with his arms crossed over his chest, listening for danger, his face slightly pinched from absorbing so much sensory input at once. I chewed my fingernails while I read until Marna pulled my hand down.

My palms were starting to sweat. I wiped them on the robe absentmindedly.

Can you turn the air up in here, please? I signed to Blake.

He nodded, fiddling with the temperature gauge.

I couldn’t stop peeking at the clock. It was after midnight. I wasn’t even dressed yet! I knew Kaidan would warn me when it was time to get ready, but panic was fraying me around the edges. The Sword of Righteousness was still in my bag, and we needed to figure out who would carry it—obviously not me since I’d be patted down to the max if they had one of the Neph checking people as they came in like at the last summit. I grasped my head. I had too much to figure out still!