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possible.
    "Creatures like me?"
    "Yes, creatures like you."
    "And what would that be exactly?"
    I prime myself for her reaction, tightening
my arms, preparing to re-cover her mouth if the need arises.
    "Hybrids," I answer. "Half-Demon, half-mortal
children."
    She surprises me again. Instead of
screaming, instead of thrashing, she laughs. Laughs!
    "Now I know you're lying!" she says, her
words broken by giggles. I just shake my head and cock a brow.
    "Oh, you'll see, sweetheart. It won't be an
easy thing to accept, but you'll be forced to."
    She grows still, her face a contorted battle
between laughter and thought.
    "Where are you taking me?"
    Now that is a question I am prepared to answer.
    "Right now? My home. It's a close safe haven.
After that . . . well, you'll see."
    If she thinks she's dreaming, it's the best
answer I can give her. If telling her she is a hybrid Demon makes
her laugh, telling her about the Acropolis will only result in a
nice guffaw.
    "And you'll let me call my mother there?"
    She isn't going to let me forget my promise.
We aren't supposed to allow hybrids contact with family, but I am
willing to bend the rules. If for no other reason than to calm her,
to force her to view this whole mission as reality.
    "I'm not crazy, you know? I'm not weak," she
defends.
    I have been quiet for too long, leaving
her question hanging unanswered between us. I look down at her
messy hair, her even messier face. Her eyes are still dilated but
no longer red. She won't meet my gaze. She shies away from
everything. It seems weak. It looks weak, but I am the one holding her, and I know better. I know
what she is going to have to face.
    "It would be better if you were crazy. Crazy is easier. But
weak? I don't see weakness."
    She seems surprised by this observation, and
she glances quickly at my face, her eyes staying longer than usual
before looking away.
    "What do you see?" she asks, her voice low
and trembling.
    I watch as Roach looks back at us, his
reptilian eyes narrowed, his forked tongue shooting out rapidly. He
is annoyed. I can't see Will, but I know he is shaking his head. I
am such a glutton for punishment. I have always had a thing for
wounded animals—a natural urge to protect the defenseless.
    "I see a girl about to be faced with the
biggest trial in her life. Maybe she will be overcome with the fire
this knowledge will bring. Maybe she will burn, but I also see a
girl that will rise out of the ashes, stronger. Powerful."
    Emma shivers.
    "You don't know me," she whispers.
    I didn't disagree.
    "No, I don't."
     
     
     

Chapter 6
     
    Emma
     
    Conor Reinhardt is charming. He is funny. He
is handsome. And he is a figment of my imagination. If he isn't,
then I am a hybrid Demon who isn't dying, and he is a gargoyle sent
to Extract and guard me. Whatever that means.
    After spending six years living under the
fear of death, it is easier to believe he is imaginary. Old habits
die hard.
    "I'm not sure I want to believe you," I say
quietly.
    It just isn't easy to accept the world can
change that drastically in an instant. He is saying that fairy
tales are reality. Gargoyles? Hybrid Demons?
    "I wouldn't want to believe me either," Conor
replies. "But consider this; you have lived with a constant fever
for six years with hospital stays and I.V.'s that couldn't reduce
your temperature. Do you really think that's any less freakish than
flying with a dude that can turn to stone?"
    He has a point. But fevers are less
frightening than his alternative. I had grown used to fevers. I'd
had six years to come to terms with fevers. Six years .
    "I can't be a Demon."
    Why I say this is beyond me, but the words
slip out. Conor sighs.
    "It's not as bad as it sounds."
    No, it is worse. Demons are terrifying
creatures. They are grotesque. They are evil. I read books. And
author renditions of Demons aren't comforting. They are horrifying.
I am close to hyperventilating when Conor speaks again.
    "Some Demons aren't evil. And hybrids