“Shit.” My heart pounded, and I ran a stale red light. No one else was on the road in small-town Texas at this hour.
Donovan’s headlights shone in my rearview mirror. If what I thought was going to happen was happening, then we all needed to get there. Five minutes ago.
“We’ll get there in time,” Dastien said.
“What about your brother?” Adrian asked. “He texted me to check on you after the press conference. He was thinking of coming down, but I don’t know if he did.”
That’s right. Dad had told him not to come, but if Axel wanted to come home, he was home. He didn’t always listen to our parents. Especially when it came to me. He was my first friend. For a long time, my only and best friend.
Dastien pushed his number, and my brother answered on the forth ring. “What the fuck, Tess? It’s after three in the morning.”
“Are you at home?”
“What?” He still sounded half asleep.
“Wake the fuck up. Are you at home?” I paused, but only for a split second. “Now. Answer me now.” If he wasn’t, then I was going to have Dastien keep calling my parents’ phones until one of them answered or I got there.
“Uh.” I could almost see him wiping his eyes. We shared the inability to wake up quickly. We both needed a second to adjust, but we didn’t have that now. “Yeah. Shit. Sorry. Yeah. I came home after class. I saw your press conference. I wanted to see you. Make sure you were—”
Thank God. “Go wake up Mom and Dad.”
“No way in hell. Mom is a beast when she gets woken up.”
True. But not tonight. “Wake them up. Then go downstairs and get the big canister of salt from the panty. Bottom shelf on the right.” I couldn’t hear him moving. “This is life or death, Axel. I’m on my way, but you have to fucking move. It’s three twenty-nine. I have a feeling when the clock hits three thirty, you’re going to have some nasty visitors. You’ve got less than sixty seconds and no time to run.” I put as much force into my voice I could. “Move fast.”
“Shit. You’re not fucking with me right now.”
“Jesu
s fucking Christ, Axel! Does it sound like I’m fucking with you right now? This is not a joke. Move it!”
I heard the sheet rustling. “Mom! Dad!” He pounded on the door. “Wake up! Shit’s about to go down.”
The sound of his feet hammering steps echoed through the phone. “Salt. Salt. Salt. Shit. I don’t see the salt.”
“Bottom self. On the right.” That was where Mom always kept it.
“It’s not there.”
I took a breath. “Then she must’ve moved it.” Where would she have put it? “Look on top of the fridge. Or beside the stove.”
“Got it! What do I do? Shit, Tessa. I saw the news footage. Please don’t tell me—”
We didn’t have time. “Go into the Mom and Dad’s bedroom and pull their bed into the center of the room.” The stairs squeaked as he ran back up.
“I’m putting you on speaker.” The phone clattered. “We’ve got to move the bed.”
“You’re going to have them do a circle?” Shane asked over my family’s talking.
I glanced at him by the rearview mirror. “Unless you have a better idea?” I hoped he had something more, but if not, this would do. For now.
“No. That’s pretty solid. If they had some holy water or something—”
The sound of furniture squeaking along the hardwood floors filled the car.
“I have holy water,” Mom said.
There was a huge bang, and Mom yelled. “What was that?”