Quite surprised by my arrival, Nick looked like he was on a search for something in my room. I want to know is why he is in my room the first place, and where is my mom. I really do not want to talk to Nick. I always have my doubts about the guy, and I guess my doubts grow due to his mysterious appearance in my room.

“Nick?!” I say.

“Caden, I thought you had to go study. Your mother told me you were doing that, but it seems you came back here early.” He says.

“Well, I needed to talk to my mom.” I say.

“Too late.” He states

“Where is she?” I soon ask as I ponder about his last statement about being too late. Too late for what? Something happened to her? Did Asmodeus arrive here before me?

“Anne had to go to the hospital.” He continues, “She told me she’ll be backing home about 10pm.”

I looked at my watch; noticing it is 3:40 pm. So I guess I will be myself in this house for a while, but I soon think about Liana. Realized that my mom is safe at her job, I focus my attention to Liana. I need to check on her safety and see is okay. However, there is still one lagging mystery lurking in my mind. And that is the reason of why Nick was in my room.

“I saw you leaving my room.” I continue, “Is there something in there that caught your attention.”

Nick hesitates a bit before giving me an answer, but I can see his mouth pouting a bit. He then sits down on the living room sofa. Pressing his back onto the cushion. He then looks back at me.

“It was nothing.” He responds.

“Nothing!” I state loudly. He was in my room and nothing was his response. This man is making me want to believe he is a demon in disguise.  But he is?

“Caden, I know you have your questions on why I was here.” He stands up on his feet and approaches to the front door. “If you think I invaded your privacy, I’m truly sorry.” He is about to open the door.

In all likelihood, he was invading my privacy. He had no right being in my room; just another reason why I do not trust him being with my mother. Is he a demon working for Asmodeus? Was his mission to try to find something on me and report it to Asmodeus? I want to see if this guy is a demon, but I will let him go this time. I have no clue what could be in my room that would intrigue him to go in there. If my father’s journal was still in there, I would be definitely be worry, but something about Nick is questioning his loyalty. Does he have loyalty to my mother or to Asmodeus?

As he opens the door, Nick looks at me, “I’m sorry, Caden. Tell your mom I will see her soon.” He says as he leaves. I quickly rush to the door and slam it shut. I have my doubts about that guy; I do not trust at him. Even if he is not a demon, his reasoning for being in my room still is odd.

I walk back into the my room to check to see if anything around my bed, my desk, and near my dresser and closet are in the same spot I left it. Surveying the room twice, I kneel down to the floor to check below under the bed. I pull the cover up a bit to see the dark area, but I only see my shoes. I rise up back to my feet and sit down on the edge of the bed. I ponder on what is in here that would let someone check. The journal would be my number answer, but I have not seen that thing in months.

While thinking about the journal and where would it be, I start to rethink about Liana. Not wanting to forget about her safety, I quickly stand back up and walk hastily to the front door. I open the door and head out to the porch; I close the door and lock it up.

Wondering where Liana could be, I get out my cell and text Liana to see where she is. I sit down on the top of the porch step. As I wait for her text, I look up at the sky to see the moving clouds. I kind of see this spot as peaceful.

Compare to the practice area in the forest which was fierce and thought provoking, I see this area right here calm and quiet. I notice around the neighborhood block to hear quiet; I can only see one interaction. One of the neighbors just three houses right on the other side of the street is washing his car. Just as I was about to ponder about something else, I hear a ring sound from my phone. I look at it and I can see it is a text reply from Liana. I look at the screen to see the text.

Liana

Meet me at Girardeau Park around 4:30pm.

Getting the text, I stand up and walk near the side of the garage to unlock my bike. I take the lock off place in the lock holder right near the rear wheel. I hop on the bike, and begin to paddle my way to Girardeau Park.

About fifteen minutes later, I am able to take a faster rout to the park. Forgetting about the four traffic lights, I am about five more minutes away from the entrance of the park. Five minutes later, I am riding around the park and there I notice Liana has texted me again.

Liana

At the park, me at the Lafayette Garden.

I park my bike near the bike rack from the guest service building; locking it up. I walk across the grassy field and head straight to the Lafayette Garden. For Liana to ask me to meet her here is intriguing, because I rarely been in this park since I was thirteen.

I survey the kids’ jungle gym and it is brand new. Interesting. I look over to my west to find a stage set being prep in its early stages. Looks like the town is hosting one of their festivals which I believe is the Oakston SeaFest. I heard last year it was amazing. There was some great music being performed live and of course great seafood. Maybe I can catch next year’s event.

A few minutes later, I finally reach to the Lafayette Garden. This is a cool place. As I observe the area, I see great plants, flowers, and an amazing jumping fountain near the lake. I then see Liana reaching over to signify her appearance. I notice her waving at me; I soon walk down the three steps to a lower terrace where the park’s lake is close by.

Noticing Liana, I walk to her to see her sitting by one of the marble benches facing the lake. I sit right next to her and we both hug each other since it has been a week we have not talk or seen each other for a bit. Unlike the time before the museum trip, this time is entirely different. However, I’m still keeping my secret of being a Devos quiet. When I glance at Liana, she looks great and feels safe for now.

“It’s been a while.” She says.

“Yeah.” I reply.

“Isn’t the lake beautiful?” She says as she looks at the lake. I look at the lake as well. She is right; it does look beautiful and serene. I look back at Liana to see she is talking again.

“I remember when I was eight; my mom took me here for our first mother-daughter afternoon.” She continues as she giggles. “My mom was so frantic, because it was really my first time and she wanted to make it perfect.”

“Did she?” I question.

Liana looks at me and only smiles; “My mother tried to make it perfect, but it had it flaws.” She continues, “However, the one part she got right was right here. This lake.” She then looks around the bench we are sitting on and smiles again. “This was the same exact spot, my mom and I had our afternoon.”

“You two still do it?”

“Last year was the last time I know for sure, my mom and I spent many afternoons here.”

“I like this spot.”

“I know you would.”

“You do?!”

“I do.” She crackles up a smile. Feeling it being contagious, I crackle up a smile. I got to admit, this is a first time I seen Liana so happy. Before now, she seem depressed over her grandma’s illness and her mother’s constant working schedule. She hardly even had time to mention anything about her seven year old sister, Ruby.

“How’s Ruby?”

“With her dad.”

“When you mean ‘her dad’, you’re actually meaning her birth father.”

“Exactly.” She continues, “I love her I do, but she rarely comes here. She always spends her time in Shreveport.”

“At any time, are you going to go to Shreveport?”

“I can wait until the holidays. Usually that’s when we see each other.”

“I’m sorry.”

“None of my family drama is your fault Caden.”

“Well, if I didn’t mention Ruby’s name and interrupted your serene time here, I…”

“Caden, like I say, it is not your fault.” She continues, “My mother is doing her best to spend her time with both her daughters and as well have time to help take care of Grandma Vi.”

“How is your Grandma Vi?”

“She is doing better. Her illness isn’t serious as we all thought, but she will be able to recover by the end of this month.”

When she reminded of the month of November, I forget about the Winter Formal. The school is starting to prep the dance and getting the necessities done. I realize it is in the first Saturday of December. We are about a week away from that event, and I need to think about a date. I look back at Liana to ponder if she was asked already.

“Hey Liana, I need to ask you something?”

While she was looking at the lake, she pauses and turns to see me. Well this is now or never.

“The Winter Formal is coming up, and I was wondering if you were taken.”

“Wait!” She says surprised a bit, but not disappointed. “I thought you were going to ask your new friend Megan.”

“Megan is beautiful and all, but I don’t see anything between us.”

“I heard your date with her went great.”

“It did, but there were no sparks between us.”

She listened to what I had to say, but I could not hear any response from my question. If Liana cannot accept, I may have to forgo the dance. Suddenly, Liana places her right hand over my left hand. I glance at it and try to decode what that that hand touching trying to tell me. Is she going to decline because we are only friends; and we have boundaries.

“I will love too.” She says.

My heart was like skipping too many beats, and I was about to be crushed until she answered the question. She said yes as she hugs me. So I guess we have no boundaries. I guess we can go out as friends. Can we? I suddenly feel a strange sensation inside me; it is something I never felt before.

She then stands up, and I quickly stand up not wanting to make a fool of myself. I notice she was still observing the lake. But I want to make sure of something between her first before we leave.

“So that yes is a real yes.” I say.

“Yes.” She responds while giggling. She then is about to walk out. Impatient about her safety, I try to see if I can help her. “Hey Liana, do you want me to walk with you?”

 She chuckles a bit before she replies, “I’m fine, but thanks.” She is about to head out until she pauses again and tells me something else, “you want a cab to bring us to the dance?”

Not wanting to have the same fate that happened to poor Cort happen to another helpless cab driver, “I’ll talk to my mom and ask her to drop us off.”

“That’s great.” About to walk off, “See you.” She waves bye.

“You too.” I wave bye back.

Liana then walks away while she puts her hands inside her pockets. A bit chilly outside, I can see the sun setting down. I walk off to return to my bike. As I walk back to my bike, I realize the next time I will see Liana again will be before the dance. Hopefully, we can see each other before then, but I clearly would not know what would happen between now and the dance.

Reaching back to my bike, I hop back on to return home. Twenty minutes later, I return home. I park my bike back to the side of the garage and lock it up. I head to the front door, open it, enter into the house, and close the door. Realizing today was somewhat eventful, practicing all by myself with no Mal; his whereabouts still unknown. Noticing Nick looking in my room for I do not know what; then getting the best news of the day, taking Liana to the Formal. Tired, I retreat to my room forgoing fixing anything to eat, and I cast myself off to sleep.

***

As the next two days pass on, it seems things have acted as normal. Desmond’s assertion that Asmodeus is creating an army of demons looks like it is false for now. If there is an army of demons up here surrounding this town, they are doing one heck of a job hiding. I do not know if it is part of Asmodeus’ plan to keep these demons hidden until that moment to strike. I hope it does not come to that. However, the more I question his endgame the more I doubt I will be able to stop him.

Mal sense that fear which I did not; the fear that I was afraid that I will not be able to stop Asmodeus. If I let this get to me, I will end up losing all the confidence and motivation I built these past two weeks. Now is not the time to squander the hope I still have.

I need to practice again just to make sure Mal—wherever he is—will love to watch. I need a bit more time and practice until I can gain full control of my demonic side, but right now training the basics for now will help in a big way. I’m able to enter into the forest that has been a huge second home for me and then venture to the practice area. However there is a major problem.

I suddenly smell smoke. I look up in the sky and there I can see black smoke ascending in the skies. I can spot the smoke further into the forest. Wondering if there is a small forest fire or something more, I start to run to investigate. I run into the forest still smelling the smoke as I sprint as fast as I can. As the smell gets worse, I start to notice the smoke is beginning to obscure my vision. Passing the trees, fallen braches, and leaves, my vision is really getting hazy because of the smoke. As I believe I’m getting warmer, suddenly I hear a voice inside my head.

“It’s too late.”

The eerily, whispery shallow voice seems to resemble Asmodeus like he did before. And if it is him, what he means by ‘it is too late’. Not wanting to take any chances to go back now, I continue to run to find out the source that is causing the smoke. About a minute later after navigating with such an obscured vision, I run just enough to smell the smoke getting worse. Then I can hear it. The flames. Something was on fire.

As I continue to run, I make an immediate stop. I widen my eyes in horror. I know what is causing the smoke. I know where the flames are coming from.

Oxley’s hut.