“Anora!” Ethan bounds out of the house, jumping down the patio steps all at once. His gun is drawn, and he grabs my shoulder with one hand, spinning me around, needing to see for himself that I’m okay.
“I’m fine,” I reassure him. Hunter yips and we turn, seeing the fire spreading. Ethan stomps out a trail of flames and I make a mad dash for my hose, which is all twisted and tangled from me being lazy and just throwing it aside. Harrison rushes to my side, helping me pull the hose free, and turns on the water as I run back to the fire. Smoke billows up and the fire broadens at a terrifying rate. Embers rise into the air, carried by the wind, and land on the roof of my garage.
Ethan takes the hose from me and starts spraying the fire. I squeeze my hands closed again, trying to put out the fire I started, but I can’t. Maybe once the fire is out of my hands, I can’t control it anymore.
“Anora!” Laney yells, stepping onto the patio with the fire extinguisher in her hands. Harrison runs over and takes it, right as a small fire starts in the gutter of my garage. It’s not attached to the house—thank fucking god—but if that thing goes up in flames, it could take out my house and the two surrounding it.
“Take the hose,” Ethan tells Harrison, holstering his gun and then grabs the fire extinguisher from his hands. He climbs up the chain-link fence and pulls himself onto the roof of the garage. Smoke wafts in his face, but it doesn’t stop him, and he pulls out the pin and sprays the fire with white foam.
Harrison pulls on the hose, putting water on the center of the fire, but then the hose kinks and the water stops.
“I got it!” Laney runs through the yard, and something else takes over. I throw out my hands, channeling the same energy I use to hold up my mental shields, and push it toward the fire, and for some reason, it works and keeps the fire from spreading.
Laney yanks the kink free, and Ethan comes back down, spraying what’s left of the bird-demon. I keep the fire contained and don’t dare drop my hands until the last ember is put out. The hose falls from Harrison’s hands, and I can feel both him and Laney staring at me.
“Holy shit,” I pant, and Ethan takes me in his arms. I don’t know what I’m more shaken up over: the fact that a demon attacked me or that I almost burned my garage down.
Blinking a few times, I tear myself away from Ethan and turn back to Harrison. “Are you okay?”
“I…I don’t know. I’m not hurt,” he says.
“We need to get inside,” Ethan says, looking around the yard. “There could be more.”
I nod and step away to check on Hunter. He’s sitting calmly, watching us as if he knows exactly what’s going on. We all hurry into the house, and Ethan closes and locks the door behind us.
“Where’s your salt?” he asks, and I point to a cabinet next to the sink. He opens it, knocking a few plastic jars of spices down in his haste, and then goes back to the door and pours a line of salt in front of it.
“Is that going to keep that thing out?” Harrison asks, eyes still wide.
“Probably not,” Ethan says. “But it will at least slow it down.”
I let out a breath, hands trembling a bit. And then the doorbell rings and we all jump.
“The food,” I pant. “It’s our food. Unless demons ring doorbells.”
“I’ll get it,” Ethan says, handing me the salt. Hunter trots along with him, and I take the bottle of wine and a glass for Harrison into the living room. Ethan gives the delivery driver a tip and takes the food, shutting the door before the guy has a chance to turn around and leave. He puts the bags of takeout on the coffee table and starts opening them, because, unlike the rest of us, what just happened didn’t make him lose his appetite.
“That was a demon, right?” Laney asks and takes a big drink of wine.
“Yes,” I say and look at my best friend. It’s one thing to be told that demons are real, but another to witness it. Her world has just been turned upside down and I’m not sure if I should feel guilty about being the one responsible for it.
“I’m going to make sure no more are out there.” Ethan takes a bite of an egg roll and goes to leave but I grab his arm.
“There aren’t any more,” I say. “I can sense it, or more I can’t sense it. And Hunter is calm too.” Ethan looks at me, jaw tense. It’s in his nature to go after the bad guys, I know. “Stay with me?”