I sit against the wall in the hallway on the floor below her, picking through the shit and freaking. I'm about to piss myself – but I've come this f...ar ... I wait until after midnight to go on up.It's quiet in there. I'm standing there with my ear to the door. There's no light under the door. The knob turns slowly under my gloved hand; I stand there imagining her watching it, like a scene from a horror movie, slowly turning...The latch clicks! The door moves! Shit! I'm in! Well, not yet ... I. Things came to a head when Steve Hadfield, my biological father, waskilled in a car accident. My mother went to pieces. She had beenengaged in an affair with Steve for the previous 13 years - longerbecause the affair had started before I was conceived. For their ownreasons she and Steve had each tried to end it more than once, but theycould not. It went on for that long, under the eyes of Daddy and Steve'swife Rachel.My mother never got over the loss of Steve, and she took her own life.That. People are out front talking and the music inside is thumping. I climb out and pay the driver and he comments as I leave, “Whoever hooks up with you tonight will be one lucky person.” I smile at his kindness and am feeling a little more confident about myself. As I walk up to the door, my hearts beats harder and almost in time with the music. There are so many people and I don’t know a soul. I walk through the crowd looking for Tristan. He must be somewhere. Walking from room to room does no. The Magic from the spell disappeared as his body turned to ash. I was now alone on the silent concourse. Mandara was greatly disappointed that It hadn’t gotten to drain down any of the Demons. I re-sheathed It to keep it quiet, and slowly shrank back to my eight-foot height.On reentering the restaurant, I found only Al there. The other three had all disappeared, presumably to return to their normal locations.“Damn, Maddy, give a little warning when you are going to do something like that. If it.