Page 2 of Bent Out of Shade
Another key difference was that if a demon slashed her shadow, Sadie’s insides wouldn’t ooze out, nor would she feel pain like I did when anything hurt my shadow, Delilah, as we’d learned fifteen minutes ago.
“Your reaction was understandable, but ‘magic or run’ must become instinct,” Nav said. “Unlike your mother, you don’t get injured if your shadow does, so use it for all physical contact.” He bonked the fiend on the top of its head to shut it up. “We’ll double down on those drills.”
“That’s an excellent idea.” I rested my scythe in my lap. “Let’s practice running away.”
Since Sadie’s power and its unique manifestation would never be explained beyond conjecture, Sadie, Eli, and I had decided to focus on her mastering her abilities instead. Running away was top of the list as far as I was concerned.
Eli smoothed out the bunched-up plastic sheeting. “No drills. Nav has enough to do keeping the demon away from the walls.”
Murder in his eyes, Nav swung his staff in my ex’s direction.
I smacked the big dummy, who clearly wanted to never get laid again. “Sadie’s had enough demon exposure for one day.”
Sadie took a few deep breaths, her hands on her belly and her shadow’s brilliance dimming from midday-sun-on-snow to floodlights-on-a-soccer-field-at-night. “Stop helicopter parenting me.”
I wagged a finger at her. “Or ‘Thanks, Mom, for valuing my well-being over that of furniture.’”
“Mir.” Eli draped an arm over my shoulders. “Sadie’s got this.”
She preened at his words. I, however, knocked the traitor’s arm off me.
“Nothing is going to happen to her,” he continued. “Especially if she doesn’t ever touch the damn thing to see if she can null its magic.”
“Oh my God!” Sadie snapped. “You touch it if you want it that badly.”
Nav whistled loudly, shocking the humans into silence and the demon into rearing onto its long hind legs. It swiped a pincer along the mantel, hitting Eli’s framed Canucks’ jersey, which hung in the spot of honor above the fireplace and was signed by his man crush Henrik Sedin and Sedin’s twin brother, Daniel.
The jersey thudded to the ground, the glass shattering.
Eli emitted a half swooning, half guttural cry that was almost operatic in nature, freaking out the demon, whose pincer then caught on the hem of the uniform.
Nav herded the creature away from the jersey. “It’s merely a snag.”
Eli grabbed his prized possession, examined it with laser precision, then clutched it to his chest with a sigh of relief.
“The stupid hockey jersey gets you more upset than the smashed photo of me?” Sadie’s white shadow flickered wildly.
Her dad carefully folded the garment. “I mean, I have lots of wonderful pictures of you, pumpkin.”
I slashed a hand across my throat.
He deflated back into his chair, the jersey out of harm’s way. “Love you, baby girl.”
“You suck!” Her shadow pulsed like a strobe light.
“Breathe, poppet,” Nav drawled. “Let’s try this again.”
I slapped a hand over my sunglasses. “I can’t watch.”
“So you keep saying, and yet you remain,” Nav said.
“Less sarcasm, more demon minding.” I jerked a thumb at him.
“Amen,” Eli said.
Making a snarky face at both of us, Nav herded the demon toward a corner where it bumped into a large planter.
“My ficus,” Eli moaned, earning a huff from our child.
