Truth or Demon Read Free Page B

his head leaning back against the couch’s overstuffed cushion.
    She was beginning to wonder if this poor guy did need medical attention.
    “Okay. But only five minutes. Or else I’m coming to find you with the candlestick holder,” she said loud enough for Killian to hear too.
    Daisy smiled. “Promise.” She turned to the man on the couch, then paused as if considering something. Then she said, almost tentatively, “Um, Kill—ian?
    The man opened his eyes, looking more confused than before, if that were possible.
    “I’m going to take you to where you’ll be staying.”
    He frowned, but slowly unfolded himself from the couch. It was like watching a giant stand inside a miniature apartment that was decidedly feminine and delicate.
    Poppy thought Daisy looked a little hesitant to leave with him now, and she started to say she would go along after all, but Daisy stopped her. She waved and promised five minutes again.
    Poppy watched as tall, broad Killian followed petite, skinny Daisy from the room. A weird feeling tightened her chest, but she didn’t think it was dread. Or fear. It was more the sense that something was amiss.
    “Five minutes,” she murmured to herself as she went into the kitchen to make cocoa.
    Killian followed the girl in front of him, trying to make sense of what had been going on. But he couldn’t. He wasn’t even sure who he was, or how he got here.
    Well, he knew his own name. Or at least he thought he did. When the tiny woman with the disheveled hair and baggy sweatshirt and even baggier flannel pants had asked his name, Killian O’Brien had popped into his head.
    That could be from anywhere, though.
    And he was Swedish? Now that he had no recollection of at all.
    “I’m from Sweden?” he asked the girl.
    She paused in her determined trek through the hallways of the building.
    “Yeah,” she said, sounding no surer than he felt.
    “So why am I here?”
    The girl started to open her mouth to speak, then hushed voices from around the corner drew their attention in that direction.
    Two more teens came into view.
    “Did you get it?” asked the one he thought he’d heard … Poppy call Daisy.
    A dark-haired girl dangled something in front of her triumphantly. A key.
    “Piece of cake.”
    All the girls surrounded a door a few feet away.
    “This isn’t going to work,” the curly-headed blonde said.
    “It will,” the darker one said, her voice filled with exasperation.
    “Just open up,” Daisy said. “Poppy said she’d come look for us in five, and knowing her, she’s actually timing it.”
    The dark-haired girl unlocked the door and pushed it open. Then they all looked at him expectantly.
    He frowned in response.
    “This is where you are going to stay,” Daisy said, gesturing to the open apartment.
    His frown deepened as he stepped closer. The place was dark, except for an old-looking lamp creating a dim pool of light around a hall table. The place smelled. He sniffed again. Like old age. Old books and the menthol of arthritis creams and mustiness and cat.
    He looked at the kids.
    “I’m staying here?”
    They all nodded, wide-eyed.
    “You have to,” Daisy said.
    Killian thought about it, wanting to say “no, I really don’t have to.” But he found himself nodding and stepping inside the apartment.
    “Don’t let anyone know you are here,” Daisy said once he was inside.
    He was supposed to be staying here, but no one could know. That didn’t sound right. But again, he found himself nodding.
    “We’ll check on you tomorrow.”
    He nodded again.
    They nodded back as if they were silently closing some secret pact—and maybe they were. Then the girls left, enclosing him in the dim light of this strange place. He listened to their footfalls hurrying away, back to Poppy’s apartment and her famous hot chocolate.
    Just leave yourself. Surely this wasn’t right.
    But his feet remained anchored to the spot.
    Eventually, he turned and surveyed the fussy, frilly, floral