Nest reached down abruptly, snatched up a squealing Kyle, and thrust him at his father. “Here, Kyle, you explain it to him,” she urged.
“Splane,” Kyle repeated, giggling.
Robert took his son into his arms, jiggling him gently. “Don’t forget the Christmas party Tuesday night,” he said to Nest, kissing Kyle’s fat cheeks. “You got the invitation, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “Sure. I’ll be there.”
“Good. My parents are sure to find a way to blame me, if you aren’t.”
“Serve you right,” she said, moving away. “See you later, Robert. Bye, Kyle.” She wiggled her fingers at the boy, who hid his face in his father’s shoulder.
“Hey, don’t scare him like that!” Robert threw after her.
She put her coffee cup on a tray near the kitchen door, ready to leave. Larry Spence was still watching her, but she tried not to notice. Life in a small town is filled with moments of trying not to notice, she thought wearily.
She was just departing the reception room to retrieve her coat from the narthex when a tall, angular young woman with wild red hair and acrylic green eyes came up to her.
“Are you Nest Freemark?” the young woman asked, eyes wide and staring like a cat’s. Actually, on closer inspection, she seemed more a girl barely out of her teens than a woman. Nest nodded. “I’m Penny,” the other announced.
She stuck out her hand, and Nest took it in her own. Penny’s grip was strong and sure. “I just wanted you to know how much I admire you. I’ve followed your career, like, ever since the Melbourne Olympics. I was just a little girl, but you were such a great inspiration to me! I wanted to be a runner, but I didn’t grow up with strong enough lungs or something. So I became an actress. Can you tell?” She giggled. “Anyway, I thought you should know there’s someone who still remembers you. You know, when you were famous.” She giggled some more. “Hey, it was nice meeting you. You’ll be seeing me around, I expect. Bye-bye.”
She was gone before Nest could reply, disappearing into the crowd gathered by the coffee urn. Someone who remembers you from back when you were famous? Nest grimaced. What a strange remark! She had never seen the young woman before and had no idea who she was. She didn’t even look like anyone Nest knew, so it was impossible to match her up to a Hopewell family.
Must be someone new in town, she thought, still staring after the young woman. Things around here change so quickly, she thought, mimicking Alice in Wonderland.
Speaking of which, there was Larry Spence, moving in her direction with a decidedly hopeful look in his eye. She turned as if remembering something and hurried out the door.
CHAPTER 3
Findo Gask stood across the street from the First Congregational Church, just in front of the Hopewell Gazette, waiting patiently for Penny’s return. He was an incongruous figure standing there in his frock coat and flat-brimmed hat, his tall, stooped figure silhouetted against the white stone of the newspaper building by the bright winter sunlight. With his black book held in front of him like a shield, he might have been a modern-day prophet come to pronounce judgment on an unsuspecting populace.
The truth, however, was a good deal scarier.
Even as demons went, Findo Gask was very old. He was centuries old, and this was unusual. For the most part, demons had a tendency to self-destruct or fall prey to their own peculiar excesses rather early in their careers. In completing their transformations, demons shed their human trappings, reducing themselves to hard, winged husks, so that when stripped of their disguises they looked not unlike bats.
But as hard as they worked to shed their human skins, they remained surprisingly dependent on their origins. To disguise themselves, they were forced to resume looking like the creatures they had been. To satisfy their desperate need to escape their past, they were forced to prey upon the creatures they pretended to be. And to survive in their new forms, they were forced to struggle constantly against a small but intransigent truth—they hungered endlessly and helplessly for contact with the creatures they despised.