Part 17 (2/2)
Eyes beginning to water from the sulfur, Claire studied the design. It wasn't an exact match, but close enough for Keeper work. ”Just as we thought, she tried to gain control. If h.e.l.l offered her power in exchange for freedom, that must've come as an unpleasant surprise.”
”I can't say that I find myself feeling too terribly sorry for it,” her mother murmured.
NO ONE EVER DOES, h.e.l.l sighed.
”Do shut up. Now then, I think we've been in here long enough.” Martha took hold of her daughter's arm and guided her up the stairs. ”Hopefully, we'll find out more from a thorough examination of Aunt Sara.”
GIVE HER OUR REGARDS.
”Don't count on it.”
”Well?” Austin asked from the top of the was.h.i.+ng machine as they tightened the chains across the closed door. He had point-blank refused to go back into the furnace room.
”She wants to go see her,” Claire told him, pointing upward.
”You should take Dean with you.”
”Are you out of your mind? Has he been feeding you on the sly?”
The cat's eyes narrowed. ”Read my lips, he's a part of this.”
”You don't have lips.”
”A moot point. Your mother will have to meet him sooner or later.”
”She can meet him later.”
Martha started toward the other end of the bas.e.m.e.nt. ”Are his rooms down here?”
”Yes, but...”
”Austin thinks we should take Dean, and I'm inclined to agree.”
Claire threw up her hands. ”Mom, Austin thinks baby birds are a snack food.”
”What does that have to do with this?”
”Listen to your mother, Claire,” Austin murmured as he padded by.
She managed to resist kicking him and hurried to catch up, wis.h.i.+ng she'd remembered that her mother's professional opinion carried personal baggage along with it. ”I don't want Dean told about what's in the furnace room.”
”You don't think he deserves to know the truth?”
”He knows there's an accident site; telling him that he's bedding down next to a hole leading to a cla.s.sical manifestation of a Christian h.e.l.l will only compromise his safety.”
”In what way?”
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