Lucas and I navigated through the crowded club with haste. We wanted nothing more than to get away from Cassandra Blackwood, but our escape was put on hold after I bumped into a very familiar face.

“Mya?”

“Aliyah?”

“What are you doing here?” we exclaimed simultaneously.

My eyes squinted at the guy standing next to her, his blue dreadlocks covering his left eye. Lucas interrogated him first.

“Quest?”

The dude, Quest, gave Lucas a forced smile. “Yo, Luke. Good job tonight.”

My brows knitted at the sight of him holding Mya’s hand. “Are you the reason why my fifteen-year-old sister is here? How old are you?”

“Uh, hey, Aliyah. I don’t know if you remember me. We had class together last year.”

“Answer the damn questions.”

“I chose to come here on my own,” Mya confessed over the loud music. “His brother does security here. He let us in through the back, not that any of this is your business.”

“It is my business,” I snapped back. “You don’t belong here.”

“And you do? You’re only two years older than me. You have no right to dictate my life and stop me from having fun with my boyfriend.”

Lucas stepped in Quest’s face. “Bro, what the hell? Aren’t you a senior?”

“Yeah,” he replied, scratching the side of his head and backing away. “But we’re not doing anything. On God.”

I shook my head in disapproval. No way was I allowing this to go on. “Mya, you’re coming home with me and Lucas. That’s final.”

“No, don’t tell me what to do. I’m going home when I feel like it. Mom and Dad know I’m out.”

“Do Mom and Dad know you’re at a night club?”

“No. Do they know you’re outside, period?”

Our verbal confrontation left the guys mute and distraught. It wasn’t until Quest spoke up that our bickering concluded.

“Ay, Mya, maybe your sister’s right. We’ve been here for a while, and you got a feel for what it’s like. We should leave the scene and call each other in the morning.”

She huffed. “Why is it that I have to be the perfect daughter while she can do whatever she wants and Mom and Dad will still spoil her? It’s not fair. I have the better grades. I have something that I’m passionate about. I have a plan for my future. What does she have over me that gets her so much attention?”

Her words stung, and I didn’t have an answer to her question, nor did I want to argue anymore.

“But fine, whatever.” She shrugged and turned to Lucas. “Can you bring me home?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

I delivered a dirty look to Quest as I walked past him to follow Mya and Lucas. After we made our way out of the club and into the car, I recalled the conversation with my mother about my influence on Mya. Were my actions truly leaving an impression on her all this time?

***

When we arrived at the house, I unbuckled my seat belt and looked back at Mya, who sat with her arms folded in the backseat.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Wait outside the front door,” I told her. “We’ll go in together.”

She got out of the vehicle and slammed the car door shut before stomping toward the front of the house. Lucas waited until she was further away before speaking.

“When are you going to tell me what happened?” he asked, placing his hand on my thigh. My leg jerked back in response. “Ali, what’s wrong with you?”

“Cassandra Blackwood tried to kill someone tonight. I stopped her, but afterward, she—”

“She what? What did she do?”

“She put me under some spell with her touch. I couldn’t control my body. If you didn’t show up, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

The confusion shaping his face morphed into a scowl. “She violated you. I’m going back to the club to confront her about this.”

“No, you need to stay away from her. She’s not normal. I didn’t sense any demons around her, but she has some crazy seduction ability. Promise me you’re not going back to that place.”

He sat in silence before exhaling. “Alright, I promise to stay away from her.”

“Thank you.”

I got out of the car and walked to the front of the house, frowning after seeing my sister turn away from me. The friction between us had escalated too high for my comfort.

“Mya, before we go inside and talk to Mom and Dad, I wanna apologize. Mom was right, and you’re right. I haven’t been making the best decisions, and I never think about how my actions influence you or impact the people around me. When I do something out of the ordinary, Mom and Dad always fight over it and that disrupts the peace in the house. It also takes their attention away from you, and I’m sorry for that.”

She turned back to look at me. “And how do I know you’re not just saying this so I don’t rat you out?”

“Because I’ll still be looked at as the bad daughter whether you do or don’t. Mom already thinks I’m a troublemaker with no plans for the future. Dad tries to hide it by smiling, but I can tell he’s disappointed in me as well. There’s no agenda behind admitting that I’ve been a terrible daughter and a bad sister. Are you happy, Mya? Is this what you want to hear?”

Our quarrel ended when the front door opened. Our parents stared at us in disappointment.

“Get in the house. Now.”

My mother’s angry tone made me nervous, and my fear only heightened when I stepped into the house and saw Sophia the Doll sitting on the living room couch.

“I don’t know who the two of you think you are, but if you want to continue living under this roof, you will respect the demands your father and I give to you. Mya, I told you to be home by ten. It’s past midnight. And Aliyah, I don’t even know where to begin.” She looked at me with scolding eyes that told the tale of a parent who had enough of their child’s disobedience. “I can’t believe you’d have the audacity to not only sneak out the house, but to think that you could fool me with a damn doll. Do you take me for an idiot?”

I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to provoke her further with the wrong words. I should’ve known the doll trick wasn’t going to work.

Dammit, Lucas.

“Aliyah, no phone, TV, or laptop for two weeks. And you’re grounded,” my father declared with his hand out. “Give me your cell phone. You’ll get it back when you learn to obey the simple rules we ask you to follow.”

I handed him my phone just as Mya began making her way up the stairs. She stopped at the sound of my mother clearing her throat.

“Where do you think you’re going? You’re not getting off the hook. Your punishment will be—”

“Be what?” Mya asked in a harsh tone. No demands were given, however, as both my parents remained tight-lipped with a stern posture until smiles slowly formed on their faces. The sudden switch of their expressions was unnerving, as if they just transformed into happy robots waiting for their master’s orders.

“What the… Mom? Dad?”

An eerie, icy breeze gusted into the home. My parents didn’t react to my calling. They simply grinned at Mya with disturbingly jolly looks.

“Mya, you may go to your room or wherever you like. No punishment is necessary.”

What my mother said sent chills down my spine. She’d never let us off the hook like that. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening to my parents.

“Aliyah,” my father yelled out. “You’re a rotten, ungrateful daughter. Go to your room and remain there until I tell you to come out.”

My dad’s powerful shout caused me to flinch. It was the first time he had ever raised his voice at me.

Heading up the stairs, I saw the cause of my parents’ strange behavior. It was tall, ominous, and standing behind Mya at the top of the staircase. The Shadow influencing her even alerted Cinnamon, who had bolted out of the kitchen to bark her displeasure at the creature.

I was in a tight spot. Purging the demon and freeing my parents from its spell wouldn’t be a problem, but I wasn’t sure how much they were controlled by Mya’s desire—whatever it may have been. If they weren’t completely brainwashed, there was a chance they’d remember my light against the Shadow, and that would be bad. Really bad. If they ever found out about my power, my days of demon purging would be over, and there would be no one to protect the city.

With that in mind, I decided against destroying the Shadow. It seemed like Mya’s desire was strictly to get whatever she wanted from them, so keeping the demon around until I found the perfect opportunity to purge it shouldn’t have been a problem.

At least, I had hoped so.