Page 46 of What Happens at Nightfall

Little spots swam in front of Jess’s eyes. Had she been taking her vitamins recently? She wasn’t sure. But she felt drained to the point of imminent collapse.

“Is there somewhere we can sit? Like a bench? I think I twisted my ankle when we hit the pavement that time. Or we can go back to the diner,” she added doubtfully.

“Not the diner,” said Adam shortly. He looked from Jess to Ingrid. “I need to go home. You might as well come with me.”

It was not exactly an enthusiastic invitation, but Jess was too exhausted to care. Her ankle wasn’t twisted exactly; it just didn’t seem to want to hold her weight anymore.

“Someone made an attempt at warding this place,” said Ingrid, as Adam let them in through the kitchen door. She pointed at some scratches in the wooden door frame. “See this?”

“It looks like someone’s kids carved something in the wood,” said Adam. “Hopefully not mine.”

“This wasn’t kids,” said Ingrid importantly. “This is a classic New England warding technique: conjoining circles scratched on the door and window frames. I bet you there’s at least one shoe inside the wall.”

Adam looked helplessly at Jess. “Why would they put shoes in the wall?”

Ingrid dumped her tote bag on the kitchen floor. “You are so unprepared for this. Where’s your bathroom?”

“First door to the right.”

“She’s not wrong,” said Jess, leaning against a corner of the kitchen counter.

“I’m hoping she is wrong,” Adam said frankly. “Where do you find exterminators for demons?”

“I think it’s called an exorcism. You still don’t believe any of this, do you?”

“Do you?”

“I’m not sure. A week ago, I would have said no. Today—I just don’t know.” She made a concerted effort to smile. “I’m going to feel like an idiot when we find the wires.”

“You look like you’re about to pass out,” said Adam bluntly. “Here. Sit down and let me take a look at that ankle.”

She felt like a very unlikely Cinderella as he removed her battered black ballet flat. “Flex,” he advised.

Jess flexed, as Adam’s fingers moved gently over her ankle bone, pressing random spots. “It doesn’t seem swollen. But I can wrap it for you just in case. Ben did after-school soccer for four years, so I got very good at dealing with minor injuries.”

“No, it’s okay, really.” Jess looked down at Adam, kneeling at her feet. She could feel her cheeks heating for no apparent reason. “I’m sure it will be fine. Can I have my shoe back, please?”

The kitchen door clicked open and a spare older woman stalked in. “You’re late.”

Adam shoved Jess’s shoe back on her foot and shot to his feet. “Jess, this is Carla, Ben’s babysitter since—well, pretty much since he was born. Is Ben okay?”

Carla wrapped a patterned scarf around her neck, giving Jess some serious side-eye. “He’s playing one of his horrible games. Something with mutant toilets. I told him if any toilets explode, I’m calling a plumber, not going after them with swords, but he says I’m missing the point.”

“Thanks, Carla,” said Adam. “So . . . all normal?”

Carla snorted. “If you call mutant toilets normal.”

Adam mustered a crooked smile. “For Ben, that’s pretty normal.”

While Adam saw off the babysitter, Jess dug her phone out of her pocket. Still dead. She could have sworn she’d fully charged it before she left Manhattan.

Jess held it up. “Do you mind if I plug in my phone—again?”

Adam took the dead rectangle out of her hand, looking at it doubtfully. “Do you want me to have Melinda look at your phone? You seem to be losing battery faster than you should.”

“It was fine until this week.” To be fair, she wouldn’t really know. She hadn’t been going out much. At home, her phone was generally plugged in, on the long cord where it could stretch to either her desk or the couch. “Yeah, maybe. If she wouldn’t mind.”

“She’d love it.” Adam plugged Jess’s phone into the cord that lived permanently by the toaster, his face creasing in the fond and slightly bemused expression he got when talking about his children. “She’ll probably take out all the innards and put it back together again. Just make sure she doesn’t do something embarrassing with your ringtone.”