Misha
We decide to go to the restaurant near where Trine left her car as we talk about the next step.
Not that we need to talk about the next step. We know exactly what comes next. We go back to Boston, and Tom…well, I have no idea what happens with Tom. But we didn’t get to him before he needed serious medical attention, which means that we probably won’t get to him at all.
There are practical considerations.
We probably won’t be paid. The mother will be devastated. It’s another exorcism we will fail at, which means whatever is happening with people right now—the demons seem to be getting stronger.
I’m starting to think something weird is happening in Orlando, and not just the usual Florida shit.
But I don’t have to say any of this at the table, since we all seem to be thinking it. The only one who doesn’t realize this is Trine. She wouldn’t know. She’s working on a cheeseburger and curly fries, saying nothing to any of us.
“So,” Luke says. “What did Mrs. Souter say?”
“She was upset,” I reply. “I told her to at least spend the night at the hotel. There will be no one there to come home to, so…”
“We could come back,” Rei says. “After a week or so, when he’s doing a bit better. We could check up on him.”
“They probably won’t let us see him if he’s in a psych hold,” I reply. “It’s normally a seventy-two-hour thing in Florida, right? But that’s only after they make sure he’s better, so…”
“So it could be longer than that. And we’d have to trust Mrs. Souter to come talk to us. I don’t know if she would,” Luke says. “I think she might falter.”
“Wait,” Trine says. She’s holding a curly fry up to her face, but it’s frozen in midair. “What do you mean come talk to you? Where are you guys going?”
Fuck. I mean, we all knew this was coming, but we didn’t expect it to end like this. I feel bad for her. She probably wanted us to get rid of the demon. I’m sure there’s a part of her that feels like whatever happened to Tom reflects on her own situation.
I want to tell her that it isn’t like that, that what happened to Tom isn’t at all what’s happened to her. After all, she’s sitting here, enjoying a meal with us. Talking about the future.
If she was still possessed, she wouldn’t be able to do that.
“We’re going home, Trine,” Woods says. “It’s over.”
She puts her fry down and glares at him. “What do you mean it’s over?”
Woods looks into her eyes. I can see that she’s getting angry, but I don’t want to intervene. I’m glad he’s the one delivering the news and not me. I don’t like it, though. I can see that she’s upset, and the more upset she gets, the more upset I get.
“We came here to do a job. We’re no longer able to do the job,” Woods says. He takes a sip from his lemon water and looks into her eyes. “We failed. We can try again later…”
“Wewilltry again later,” Salinas says softly. Rei doesn’t even acknowledge him. He doesn’t even wave him off.
“But right now, there’s no reason for us to be here anymore,” Rei says. “We need to go back and keep doing our jobs. We’re not going to be helping anyone here.”
Trine holds on to the end of the table as if she’s about to faint, and her jaw hardens, but she says nothing. “Right,” she says, her voice shaky. She doesn’t seem to think it’s right, but I don’t think she’s going to say anything. “I guess that makes sense.”
She looks at her drink, but she doesn’t take it. She gets up instead. “Excuse me,” she says. “I need the bathroom.”
We watch her as she walks away from the table. Woods sighs. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told her.”
I shake my head. “She needed to know,” I say. Luke gets up, but I wave him off. “No, I’ll go.”
When I find her, she’s standing outside the restaurant, leaning against the wall. She’s patting herself down as if she’s looking for something.
“What did you lose?” I ask.
She looks up at me and flashes me a tight smile. “I normally carry my vape pen on me,” she says. “It helps calm me down. I guess I left it at home this morning, and I need it now.”
“You’re upset?”