Careful What You Wish For (2 page)

“No way!”

“Yep, and I had no idea he'd be here spying on me tonight.” As if on cue, Lou waved at us, then pointed at his watch.

“Oooh, that stinks,” Cole said. “My mom wanted to chaperone tonight, too. I had to beg my father to talk her out of it.”

I would have preferred his mom to my dad.

“Looks like he's ready to take you home,” Cole said, and nudged his chin toward Lou, who was still pointing at his watch.

“I guess I have to go,” I said.

Then Cole started walking. Straight for Lou. “Uhh. What are you doing?”

“Taking you over to your dad.”

That's what I was afraid of. “Don't worry about it,” I assured him. “He's not very friendly. He doesn't like talking to strangers.”

But Cole wouldn't listen.

“Hello there,” Lou said, grinning at both of us, flashing his dimples. The ones I inherited from him. “Having fun?” Then his face got serious, and he looked straight at Cole. “Not
too
much fun, I ho—”

“Anyway,” I said, interrupting what was sure to be a lecture on kissing. “Shouldn't we get going?”

“It was nice to meet you, sir,” Cole said, putting out his hand to my father.

I grabbed it instead. I wasn't letting Cole shake hands with the devil.

“But Ange—”

“See you on Monday,” I told Cole as I gave him a light push toward the door. The poor guy looked so confused, but I had no choice but to get rid of him before my dad said something damaging in his presence.

I grabbed Lou by the arm and dragged him out of the dance.

“Well, that was rude,” Lou said when we were alone.

“What?”

“You wouldn't even let me shake the boy's hand.”

I shrugged my shoulder. “Sometimes when people shake hands, it's to seal a deal. How do I know you're not going to turn around and act like Cole had agreed to some kind of pact in exchange for his soul?”

“Angel, I told you. I'm done with that. I'm a good guy.”

“A good guy who still runs the underworld.”

Lou shook his head. “Only because I haven't found a replacement yet.
Someone
has to make sure the bad souls are kept in check, and that person has to be very trustworthy—do you know how difficult it is to find a trustworthy person who also aspires to be the devil? But I don't do anything evil. You asked me to stop trading innocent souls for granted wishes and I have.”

He looked genuinely sad. “Okay,” I said. “I'm sorry.”

“You have to trust—”

Just then, Lou's hPhone went off. An hPhone is like an iPhone but with underworldly applications. Access to anywhere on Earth with the click of a button, for example. That's how I accidentally ended up under the dinner table at Cole's house one night.

“It's not a good time,” Lou said into the phone. “I'm going to have to call you back.”

“Wait,” pleaded the voice on the other side. Whoever it was shouted so loudly I could hear everything. “It's important. I need to talk to you.”

“It's really not a good ti—”

“You've got to help me,” the voice continued. “I did it just like you said. I made him a major leaguer, but something went wrong. I don't know what I did, but now he's also starring in
Swan Lake
at the American Ballet Theatre and has a seat in the Senate. He's trying to pass a bill outlawing the name Susan. People are very upset!”

I stumbled back a few steps. No. It had to be a mistake. My ears were playing tricks on me. Lou had just finished telling me he was done trading the souls of the innocent. Even
he
was past lying straight to his daughter's face. Or so I thought. . . .

“Hanging up now,” Lou said before clicking off.

“What was
that
about?” I asked, praying it was nothing.

“Just some silly underworld business. Don't concern yourself with it.”

But I couldn't let it go. “What
kind
of business?”

He waved me off. “Just helping make someone's dream come true.”

But at what price? People from the underworld didn't go around helping others. Not without getting something in return.

“Angel,” Lou said.

But I didn't respond. I couldn't. My whole body was numb, and the blood stopped running through my veins. Because my head understood what my heart couldn't. My father was still evil.

“That was just an old business associate joking around.” Lou moved toward me. “Really. Nothing bad.”

“Liar,” I shouted. “Do not come any closer.” My whole body was shaking, not so much from fear, but from anger. How could I have been such a fool? He was Lucifer himself. He made a living deceiving people. He wasn't going to change just for me.

“I know what you're thinking,” Lou said.

“You don't know anything about me.” My hands clenched into fists.

“You're feeling hurt and betrayed,” Lou said, his voice low and soothing. But I wasn't going to be lulled into forgiving him. “But I promise you, I kept my word. I have not tried to take a good soul.”

Did he think I was the biggest airhead in North America? “I heard you,” I spat.

“No, who you heard was Gremory. He was the one trying to take the soul. Not me. I was just helping him out of a jam.”

Seriously? Seriously?! Was his moral compass so messed up that he couldn't tell instructing someone to take a soul was just as bad as taking it himself? Or had he just found a loophole to his promise? “It's the same thing.”

“Not technically,” he said.

I let out a snort. “You want to get technical? Well, technically, you promised you'd be good. You even got mad at me when I doubted you two minutes ago. But last time I checked, teaching some guy to be evil is not good.”

“I didn't teach him to be evil. He already was. He's a demon—that's how they are.”

That actually caught me off guard. I never really thought about the other dark beings in the world.

“W-well,” I stammered, “you didn't have to help him.” My nails stabbed into my palms. I needed to feel the pain. To know this was real, not some nightmare.

Lou lowered his head. “I'll make it up to you. You'll see, I can be better.”

I wasn't falling for his fake promises again. “Too late, Lucifer. I want nothing to do with you. Ever.”

I started to run off. Only I tripped on my dress and fell forward, skinning my elbows.

Tears sprang out of my eyes before I could stop them.

“Here,” Lou said, reaching out to touch my wounds. “I can fix it, make you feel better.”

“No, you can't.” Because while the fall stung, it was nothing compared to how he hurt me. Without another word, I turned my back on him and walked away.

“There you are,” my best friend, Gabi Gottlieb, shouted as she ran to catch up with me. I kept walking without even bothering to turn around and acknowledge her. “I've been looking for you everywhere. It's a good thing that dress is so bright. I could probably see you from Mars. Where are you going, anyway?”

She followed, ignoring the fact that I was ignoring her.

“You're not going to believe what you missed. There were about forty cupcakes left over on the dessert table, and Marc Greyson bet Porter Ciley he could eat all of them. He got to nine before Miss Simmons came over and made him stop. You should have seen him, this light blue frosting all over his face. It was actually kind of cute. Cute-disgusting, anyway.” She put her monologue on pause to take a few breaths.

“Will you slow down? I can't keep up. I saw you and Cole . . .”—she lowered her voice to a stage whisper—“kissing. So cool! Does this mean you two are back together for good? Normally, I would totally be against stealing someone else's date. But since it's Jaydin you're stealing from”—Gabi made a gagging noise after her name and then continued talking at superwarp speed—“and she did kind of take him from you, I think it's okay. Besides, you and Cole are meant for each other. So, come on, fill me in!”

“Not now, okay?”

“Whoa.” Gabi reached out and pulled on my arm to keep me from moving forward. “Not so fast,” she said. “What's going on? You just kissed Cole Daniels. Why do you sound like you just found out you need to have all your teeth pulled without any novocaine?”

“Because Lou lied to me. He never gave up his old ways.”

She didn't even know how to respond. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. He's still evil.” I choked back a sob. “And maybe that means, deep down, I am, too.”

“You are not.”

“You don't know that. The seeds of it could be lurking inside me waiting to explode. He and I share half of our DNA.”

“Don't be ridiculous.” Gabi put both her hands on my shoulders. I thought she was going to shake me. “This is probably all a big misunderstanding. Lou's been trying to get on your good side, he wouldn't risk that.”

“Well, he did.” I filled her in on everything.

“I'm sorry,” Gabi said, and gave me a hug. “But everything will be okay. You were fine before Lou came into your life, and you'll be fine now that he's out of it.”

I wished I was as sure.

“Angel,” my mom called out to me. “Come on downstairs. It's noon. You can't stay in bed all day.”

I dragged myself out of bed as quickly as I could. Otherwise my mom might have forced me to do some hocus-pocus wake-up ritual. That's my mom: into anything new age. It's even her job. She has a website called
aurasrus.com
where she sells crystals, potions, and other corny products.

“I didn't hear you come in last night. How was the dance?” she asked as I plopped myself down in our big Buddha chair.

“Fine.”

“Are you okay?” She studied me, probably looking to see how blackened my aura was.

“Yeah, just tired.” I know I could have told her the truth. If anyone could understand what I was going through, it was her. After all, Lou had lied to her a zillion times, telling her he had given up the devil business. But somehow, that made it worse. She had warned me about him, and I didn't listen. It was my fault he was back in our lives, and I didn't need to hear an “I told you so.” Not today.

“Are you getting sick?”

“NO!” I jumped to my feet. The last thing I needed was my mom force-feeding me some of her “super secret sleeping potion to knock out illness.” Which I was pretty sure was TheraFlu—only chunkier. Mom added her own special touch by throwing in some extra goodies. I think I tasted ginger and maybe eucalyptus. It was hard to tell. But whatever it was, it was definitely gross.

“I'm fine. Really.” To prove it, I moved to the fridge. I wasn't hungry, but a healthy appetite meant a healthy girl. At least in Mom's eyes. So I grabbed an apple. “I'm going to go take a walk,” I told her.

I didn't even get two blocks before Lou stopped me in my tracks. Literally. His face popped right out of the stop sign. The bright red color made him look like he was wearing one of those devil masks they sell on Halloween. Only he didn't need a mask. He was pure evil all on his own.

“Can we please talk?” he asked.

“No.” I didn't want to be near him. But I couldn't get away. When I turned left there he was, sitting on the fence; right, he became the garden gnome; when I went forward he was perched on a mailbox. No matter where I went he was one step ahead of me. “Go away,” I shrieked.

“Then talk to me. Let me explain.”

I stopped running and faced him. “There's nothing to explain. I don't want to be near you. I don't trust you—or what you'll do.”

“We can go somewhere public. Will that help?”

“No.”

He ignored my protests, and with a wave of his arm we were in Starbucks.

I gestured toward the handful of people in the store. “Aren't you worried they're going to wonder how we just poofed in here?”

“Not really.”

“That's right,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “You can just erase their memories.”

“I told you before that's very dangerous.”

“You've said a lot of things that aren't true.” I didn't wait to hear him defend himself. I headed straight for the exit. “I'm out of here.”

“Angel, wait,” he called after me. “Hear me out.”

I tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge. Not even when I pressed all of my weight against it. But the strangest part? No one noticed. Not even one person bothered to look up at the girl fighting with the front door. Something was up. Something Lou-related. “What did you do?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I may have cloaked us in invisibility. No one in here can see or hear us.”

What good was having people around if they couldn't hear me scream for help? “I thought you said we'd be in public.”

“You can still see them. I thought it would make you feel more comfortable,” he said. “Isn't that something?”

I was sick of Lou's loopholes—his half-truths. “Undo it.”

“I promise,” he said, holding up his Boy Scout pledge fingers. “Right after you let me explain.”

His word didn't mean much. But it wasn't like I had much choice. “Fine,” I said, and dropped into the closest chair. “Talk. You have three minutes. Go.”

“What would you like to drink?” he asked, wasting six of his seconds.