Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) by Joshua Grove

Simon
asked.
    Jena’s face
became red. “Oh, shit. Or, shoot. That’s not your name, is it?” She felt like
an idiot.
    “Actually, that
is my name,” Simon answered.
    “What?” Jena
asked. She wanted to kick herself. She had heard what he said, every word of
it. She just didn’t know how to respond.
    “That’s my
name,” Simon repeated. “Simon.”
    “Right,” she
replied, feeling nervous. “Simon.”
    “How did you
know his name?” Trevor asked.
    “I don’t know,”
Jena said. And that was the honest truth. She didn’t have the slightest idea
how she knew. But the instant she saw Simon, it was like she recognized him.
Jena also felt a strong connection.
    Anish quickly
began removing debris and other odds and ends from the sofa and loveseat across
from his desk. Trevor helped, and eventually Simon did, too. Jena just watched,
still confused by the strange impact of having met Simon. She could tell that
he felt it, too.
    “Please, let’s
all have a seat,” Anish said. “So you were saying that you blacked out on the
way here?”
    “Kind of,” Jena
responded. “I was in my bedroom at home, moving stuff with my mind. I thought I
was fine, but all of a sudden I just passed out. When I woke up I was standing
at your door. Then, to top it off, something blew up.”
    “You were moving
stuff with your mind?” Simon asked, dumbfounded.
    “That was me,”
Trevor said. “I made something go boom.”
    Simon snorted.
“Uh, fair warning, Jena. Things going boom is kind of a thing with him.”
    Trevor beamed
with pride.
    “I think I have
telekinetic power,” Jena explained.
    “Well that was
random,” Trevor said, wondering why she wasn’t more interested in his
predisposition for explosions and destruction.
    “There’s no
thinking about it, Jena,” Anish chuckled. “You have a gift.”
    “Cool!” Simon
gasped.
    “Your gift goes
beyond telekinetic abilities,” Anish explained further.
    “What do you
mean?” Jena asked.
    “I do not like
to use the term ‘psychic,’…” Anish began, but was cut off by Jena.
    “I’m a psychic?”
she asked, her eyes wide in astonishment.
    “We can discuss
this further at a later time,” Anish said, raising his hand. “But suffice to
say that you have a gift that you need to refine as quickly as possible.”
    “That’s pretty
awesome,” Simon said, admiring Jena in ways he didn’t think possible.
    “Well, not
really,” Jena said. She told her side of the story about what had happened last
night with Nicholas and the bird demon.
    “We think it’s a
Mantis demon,” Simon said.
    “Oh, ‘we’ think
so?” Trevor joked. Simon covertly kicked him, hoping Jena wouldn’t notice.
    She did notice.
And thought it was sweet. It didn’t take long to figure out a few things about
these teenage boys. First, Simon was pretty smart. Second, Trevor was pretty
reckless. But somehow they seemed to fit together perfectly. She figured they
were brothers.
    Jena returned
her attention to Anish. “A what demon?” she asked.
    “A Mantis
demon,” Anish said. “Like the one you killed last night,” Anish said.
    Jena was in
shock. Glancing at Trevor and Simon, she could tell they already knew that part
of the story.
    “You guys seem
awfully calm about finding out that demons are real,” Jena said, feeling a
little out of place.
    “We’ve already
fought demons,” Trevor said with pride.
    “But we’re still
surprised, even a year later,” Simon added, trying to comfort Jena.
    “How do you know
that I killed it?” Jena asked Anish. “I mean, I don’t remember anything. And
you said you found me wandering in the woods. So I’m a little fuzzy about that.
What gives?”
    Simon and Trevor
liked her honest and blunt approach. “Because he watched you kill it,” Simon
answered, pointing to Anish.
    Jena thought for
a moment. “Yeah, that makes sense. It’s not like you could have told Mullins
and Busty that kind of story.”
    “Officer
Mullins? The guy with