The portal let us out in front of the sushi restaurant of Kitsune’s friend. There was a big window in front of the shop that let us see inside. Cars passed quickly on the street behind us, and the light from their headlights illuminated the dark restaurant, where a funny-looking parrot stood prepping for the next day.

When I went for the door, Kimberly stayed my hand. “I really don’t like this.”

“I’ll admit it’s not ideal,” I replied. “But unless you want to fight a monstrous spider yourself, this is our best bet.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I could beat a monstrous spider.”

“Me too, but I can’t find one, beat it, and boil it proper before sunrise. Could you?”

Her arms dropped back to her sides. “Good point.”

“Then this is our option, even if it is a trap.” I pushed the door open.

“Please tell me they don’t put spider intestines into their sushi,” Anjelica said. She was looking a little green.

Kimberly rubbed Anjelica’s back. “Some people like exotic meat, and I’ve had tripe before. It’s not so bad.”

“That seals it. I’m never eating again.”

“I thought you wanted sushi for your last meal,” I teased her. “This might be it.”

“She’s right.” Kimberly pushed the girl inside. “If we don’t get that intestine, you won’t have to worry about whether it’s disgusting cuz you’ll be dead.”

“I don’t like either of those options.”

The harried-looking parrot stood six feet tall behind the sushi counter. She looked up from the halibut she was cutting. “You Ollie?”

“I am.”

She pointed her knife to the back of the restaurant. “Intestine has to boil for three more minutes.” She pointed to one of the red leather-covered wooden booths against the wall. “Meanwhile, sit, and I’ll bring over some fresh sushi.”

Anjelica held up her hand. “I’m not hungry.”

The parrot aimed her knife at Anjelica. “I wasn’t asking.”

Kimberly pulled Anjelica toward the booth. “Thank you. We would love your fish.”

“What if it’s poisoned?” Anjelica whispered.

“It’s not poisoned,” the parrot replied with a glare. “It’s delicious. People wait six months to eat here. This is your lucky night.” She swung around the counter and brought over a plate of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, octopus, and eel. “Enjoy.”

“Thank you,” Kimberly said.

“It looks scrumptious,” I added. It was the type of white lie that didn’t hurt anyone.

“It is. I guarantee it,” the parrot said with a bow. “I studied under Jiro Ono for five years.”

“Who’s that?” Anjelica said, confused.

The bird looked visibly distraught and sighed. “Just eat.”

Kimberly reached across the table and grabbed a piece of tuna with her bare hands. She smelled it carefully, shrugged, and downed it in one bite.

“How does it taste?” I asked.

“Not like poison.”

“You sure you don’t want any?” I asked Anjelica. “You said you love this stuff.”

“I’ll eat if you eat,” she replied. “But otherwise—”

“Might as well.” I picked up a piece of yellowtail and took a sniff. I didn’t trust Kimberly’s pixie nose, but mine was more sensitive than hers. I could smell a dog pooping a half-mile away. The fish didn’t smell like any poison I had ever come across before and, not to brag, but many people had tried to poison me.

“This really is great,” I said, chewing loudly. “I mean, I don’t normally like human food, but this is delightful. Is this why humans are always eating?”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Duh,” Kimberly said.

“You should try it,” I said to Anjelica. “It is, dare I say, delectable.”

“You really shouldn’t talk with your mouth full,” Anjelica said, eyeing a piece of tuna with desperate intent. “It’s disgusting.”

I covered my mouth and swallowed. “I’m sorry, but turnabout is fair play, after all. You did it to me earlier.”

Kimberly grabbed another piece of sushi. “Your next meal is going to be disgusting, so you might as well have something delicious for balance.”

“Well, all ri—”

The parrot squawked and emerged from the back room, holding a paper bag. “Here you go, one boiled spider intest—”

BAM! BAM! BAM! A spray of bullets crashed through the window and peppered the parrot with a dozen holes. I pulled Anjelica down under the table as the hail of bullets continued relentlessly.

“Holy Hell!” I screamed, knocking over the metal table and sliding it across the floor. “Get her into the kitchen!”

Kimberly grabbed Anjelica’s hand and dropped a pinch of pixie dust, disappearing and reappearing behind the kitchen wall. The parrot’s dead body sprawled in front of me, seeping blood onto the floor, her dead, glassy eyes staring at me, helpless. I waited for a lull in the gunfire, then inched across the floor, taking the paper bag from her cold, feathered hand.

“Are these the same demons from Phil’s house?” Anjelica asked.

I popped my head up cautiously, but their headlights were blinding. “Probably. I can’t be sure.”

“What about Blezor?” Anjelica said.

“I think he would be crying more if it were him,” I replied. “Besides, he’s probably still unconscious.”

“Oh yeah.” She nodded. “You’re probably right.”

The gunfire stopped for a second, and I poked my head out again, this time catching the outline of what looked unmistakably like Moloch. “Yeah, it’s those two demon dickheads.”

“I guess that firefight at Phil’s didn’t kill them.”

“I told you it wouldn’t.”

“Can we kill them now, please?”

“Working on it!” I kicked the table away and rose to my feet, mustering every ounce of energy I had inside of me. “Gan yr hen dduwiau a'r newydd, teyrnaswch eich dialedd i lawr trwof fi!”

A torrent of energy ripped through me and exploded out toward the demons. When it was over, there was nothing left of the storefront, and from where I stood all the way to the front door, the tiles were ripped completely out.

“That was awesome!” Anjelica said as I fell back, drained of all my energy.

“Thank you.” I struggled to keep from collapsing onto the ground, until I couldn’t.

“Ollie!” Anjelica wrapped her hands around my shoulders and lifted me off of the sticky floor. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I lied. I felt like I had just had my soul ripped from my body. “I just need to rest for a minute.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re going to have that chance,” Kimberly said. The three of us watched as the light from a dozen cars flooded the restaurant, and shadowy demons with massive blasters emerged from them.

“I can’t do that again,” I said. “We need to go now. You have to take us.”

“That I can do.” Kimberly wrapped herself around us and threw a pinch of pixie dust. We vanished just as the bullets whizzed toward us. We reappeared in front of the Hollywood sign.

“Why are we here?” I asked. “How is this helpful?”

“I don’t know!” Kimberly said. “I panicked, and it was the first place I could remember.”

“It’s a nice view of the city,” Anjelica said, looking out on all of Los Angeles.

“Yeah,” I said, pointing at the sun poking through the horizon. My stomach turned over inside my body. “And it’s almost sunrise. Come on.”

“Where are we going?” Kimberly said.

“Well, we can’t go to your house, and I don’t have a blender…so I guess we’re going back to Mom’s. This should be fun.” I stood up. The blood rushed to my head, and I listed to the left for a moment before catching myself. “Port i dŷ mam.”

When the portal appeared, I fell into it, and on the other side, I stumbled into my mother’s kitchen. She was standing at the counter, staring into her coffee pot.

“Jesus Christ!” Mom shouted, jumping six inches into the air. “We really need to lay some ground rules about how you enter my house.”

“Tomorrow,” I replied, trying to stop from vomiting. “We can talk about this tomorrow.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you, too, Mom,” I said wearily. Kimberly brought Anjelica through the portal. When she was through, Anjelica grabbed her stomach and fell to the ground. “We’re in bad shape, and we need your help.”

“Of course you do. You only come when you need something. What is it this time? Spell gone wrong? Potion concocted—”

“Yes, a potion. It’s a potion,” I said breathlessly. “Quit guessing. I know potions are kind of your thing.”

“Why do you say it like that?” she asked. “Such bitterness.”

“I’m not bitter,” I replied. “I’ve just had a bad—I need your help, Mom, and for once, I need you not to rake me over the coals for it.”

She pointed to Anjelica. “I suppose this is to help your little demon friend?” She didn’t wait for me to answer. “You know how I feel about demons.”

“She’s fifteen. She had no idea she was a demon until this morning when she was kidnapped, and she doesn’t deserve to die. She’s an innocent.”

“HA!” Mom screamed the word, but she didn’t laugh. “That’s funny, coming from a demon.”

“You know what, forget it.”

“No,” Mom said. She flipped her perfect hair back and let out a sigh. Then she swished her pink nightgown like it was a cape. She always had a flair for the dramatic, even in the dead of night. “I’ll help. Where is the potion?”

“Right here—” I reached into my pocket. “Wait, where is the piece of paper?”

“Did you leave it with that miserable Kitsune?” Kimberly asked. “Do we really need it?”

“Absolutely,” Mom said, indignant. “You have to add each ingredient in the right order, or it could destroy everything. Don’t you know anything about potion making?”

“No,” Kimberly said. “Not really.” She looked at Anjelica, who had suddenly gotten very pale. “She doesn’t look good. We don’t have much time.”

“Let’s just hope it’s with Kitsune and not burned up at that sushi restaurant.” I called another portal and pulled Anjelica to her feet. “Come on, sweetheart. We’re going to get you some help.”

“Good seeing you as always,” Mom said, turning back to her coffee pot. “I do hope you’ll come for dinner soon.”

“If I’m alive in a couple of hours,” I replied, barely able to keep the room from spinning, “I might take you up on that.”