The Eighth Gate

24 | Mermaid's Cove

Mary’s bike skidded to a stop just outside the cove’s entrance.

 It hadn’t been easy to convince both Noah and her parents that going out tonight was a good idea. Noah, as per usual, was convinced Bailey’s bonfire had danger written all over it and consequentially didn’t want Mary anywhere near that place. Mary herself had not intended to go, but if Mason was going to be a stubborn, reckless fool about it, then the least she could do to soothe her conscience was pass by and check up on him, just to make sure he was all right. She would even try to avoid him—or anyone, for that matter—to keep them noticing her presence. It would be quick, she had promised Noah, unless of course something was wrong. If that happened to be the case, then they were prepared.

Mary had the last bottle of holy water stuffed in her bag, along with two crosses Salazar had given her and an exorcism prayer. Salazar had wanted to provide Mary with more for tonight, but the demon-fighting weaponry he lugged around in his suitcase—things he couldn’t even use but felt safe carrying around just the same—required him to teach Mary how to properly use them, and there had been no time for that. Besides, Mary was convinced she had the best weapon of all at her disposal, standing right by her side: Noah. He’d obliterated countless demons in the past in an effort to protect Mary, and although his disapproval of Mary’s decision to interfere with Mason’s idiocy was unwavering (he wouldn’t let her hear the end of it the entire ride over to the cove), he would protect her no matter what. 

The issue of Mary’s parents was more complicated. Mary’s recent good behavior was constantly being overshadowed by the outburst that had gotten her sent to an insane asylum, and her mom and dad were wary of her going out to anywhere that wasn’t school or Dr. Dashner’s office. It didn’t help that she’d lied to them the one time they trusted her enough to leave her alone in the house at night (and to make matters worse, she’d gotten into a car accident with a slightly intoxicated boy). On top of that, the only time she’d convinced them to take her to a social gathering in the evening, someone winded up setting themselves on fire.

Still.

Mary was smart, and most importantly, she was a good liar. Instead of asking her parents to take her to someplace as hazardous as the cove, she asked if they could drop her off at Tam’s house to watch a movie, knowing full well that they’d endorse any effort the two made at rebuilding their dismantled friendship. Mary’s parents were so approving that they allowed her to skip the pills she was scheduled to take when she got home from school, stating that one little pause in her routine couldn’t hurt, and besides, she’d be taking them before bed anyway. Mary quickly called Tam and told her what was going on—that she would be showing up at her house in fifteen minutes—and she replied that she was with Bailey, helping her set up for the “pre-examination kickoff” as Bailey had named her sad excuse to get drunk and hook up with cute boys. Tam’s father was home, though, and he was willing to cover for Mary if her parents called. Tam’s dad was pretty cool about those types of things—he was a scientist and spent almost all of his time down in the basement of their home running trials and recording data, so he didn’t have much care for what went on in the world above him. Mary hung up with Tam, happy that she had agreed to help her.

Her parents dropped her off after seeing that Tam’s father had opened the door for her to enter, waving at Mary’s parents as they drove away. Soon Mary found herself in a bit of an awkward position, being alone with Tam’s dad after not having seen him in months. He was a bald man whose eyes were framed by oversized glasses, and his body was a bit on the short and heavy side. She’d missed his friendly, open face and the tiny twitch in his left eye and the way he’d prattle on and on about something beneath his breath when he was in one of his “zones.”

Mary wasn’t sure what to say to him after they exchanged greetings, but thankfully he spared her a long, uncomfortable conversation regarding what she’d been up to these days.