Page 52 of Truth Revealed

“Catch me like they do in Dirty Dancing?” he requested with a gulp.

That was done by stunt professionals on a level surface, but Truth didn’t want to crush his dreams.

“Sure, man,” he agreed instead.

“Alright, get your ass down there and protect those girls.”

Truth breathed a sigh of relief when his bare foot touched the comparatively soft hardwood of the deck. He crouched down just as the two demons turned to face their direction and cursed under his breath. Pain hadn’t gotten down yet, but when Truth risked a peek up at the roof ledge above them, he didn’t see the demon, nor the sheet.

“Where’s Pain?” Persy hissed from the bushes framing the deck. Truth slid between the two banister rails and ducked between the edge of the deck and the bundle of tall shrubs. “I don’t know, he didn’t come down.”

A grunt of muffled pain came from within the house and Truth’s eyes slid closed. That idiot.

Glass shattered, shouts sounded, and footsteps went running, reverberating over the deck as the two demons on the lawn ran into the house.

Yeah, it was a good distraction, Truth had to admit.

“He’ll be okay,” he promised Persy. His stomach twinged with an ache at the lie. “He is Pain, after all.”

Clenching his jaw, he banished his worry and anger. They needed to get Sofia out of Pandora’s reach.

“Alright, we’re gonna have to run for it. The water is gonna be cold, but don’t forget to breathe. Get to the other side and run. Sof, grab a float and I’ll help you cross.”

“What about Pain?” Persy whimpered, and Truth’s heart punched against his chest.

“He’s gonna be fine,” he repeated.

His stomach twinged again with the lie.

DARIA

As the car careened around the corner of her street, Daria gripped the oh shit handle and cursed. Cars were parked alongside the road in the verge running parallel to the stone fencing.

Like they were guests at a fuckin’ party.

“They’re already here,” she stated, noting the obvious.

“Let’s just hope they haven’t found her,” he replied. But despite his words, he didn’t sound very optimistic.

He threw the car into park a little ways down from their house, and Daria was out of the car faster than she thought possible. Her chest was tight, heart pounding, palms sweating. Truth had been sleeping. What if Pandora and her demons had snuck in, and taken them by surprise?

The worst of the worst ran through her head, imagining Persy, Pain, Truth, and even Sofia dying every death she’d ever experienced.

“They’re okay, right?” she hissed in the darkness, panic in her tone.

“Hey, Daria. Hey,” Hope whispered, pulling her close. Just having his arms around her helped her regain her head a bit, and she sucked in more of his warm, clean, sunshine scent.

“No, I’m okay. I’m sorry. Let’s go kick some ass,” she said with more bravado than she had within her.

“Here, take this.” Hope stopped her forward march with a hand on her wrist, and the familiar leather of a hilt hit her palm.

“Oh, great. Another knife to get myself killed with,” she muttered dryly.

“Har, har,” he growled, brows furrowing and a frown tugging his lips down.

“Kidding,” she replied, and then grabbed his hand again.

The warmth of his palm against hers was better than a shot of whiskey when it came to her nerves.