Chapter 9
As quickly as he could, Zeth rushed to his room, yelling back to his mom to stay inside. He still had that shirt with the Hellfire Ritual circle written on it; maybe he could use that to—
“Zeth?” Sophie’s voice came from within his room as he rushed up to the door. “Where are you?”
What? Why was she in his room?
He pushed the door open to see her staring at his empty bed. She got down to the floor and looked underneath—where he’d put the hellfire circle.
“Are you gone?” she called out, voice trembling. She reached out to grab the shirt and move it aside.
“Hey!” Zeth shouted frantically, stepping forward.
Immediately, she withdrew her hand and hopped to her feet, looking back at him. “Zeth! There was a loud noise, and I couldn’t find you, and—”
“Yeah, uh, I’m sorry, I went up front to check things out,” he said, glancing at the slightly disturbed shirt under his bed. The dark red of the circle’s writing was barely visible. Close call. “Hey, listen, there’s some dangerous stuff going on. You should go to your room and go back to sleep. Maybe barricade your door.”
“What’s going on? I wanna see!”