Mimi's Demons

Chapter 41: Guests with Spiders

Mimi was quiet as she walked with Serena to the kitchen. It was still a stupidly long walk to make in someone's own home, but it got shorter every time she walked it.

Just as they passed the toilet closet just outside the kitchen ("Just-in-case-some-funked-up-food-makes-someone-hurl-closet," as Juli called it), Mimi stopped.

"Little Miss?" asked Serena.

"Where's Papa?"

Serena didn't comment on Mimi's address of the Duke. "In the morning parlor, I believe."

Mimi turned on the spot and made back across the mansion. The morning parlor was the farthest parlor from her classroom. Her classroom was close to her bedroom and the center courtyard, a well defended position, as Omen said. Any guest who visited the mansion would be kept far from Mimi.

A needly thought asked Mimi if this was a good idea. She'd never met any of her father's clients outside the police officer that one time and she had liked it that way. The police officer had had enough little street demons hanging off his elbows to make Mimi's stomach hurt. It was harder to see demons on someone who was supposed to be good and help others, like police officers. Or doctors. And if any of the people Duke met was like the Brain Doc, with his black, bloody-eyed demon who made her throat up...

Still, the cramped clump of her insides wouldn't let up. She wanted to...to...

Mimi crossed the reception hall that led into the morning parlor with slowed steps. She glanced around at the art and potted plants without really seeing it, even if it was only the second time she'd ever seen this place. To Mimi it was an utterly useless room, though Serena said it was used for parties or meetings. Mimi didn't understand why a house would need so many rooms just for parties and meetings when it had an entire basement, living room, and dining room that would work just as well, not to mention her father used his office for plenty of meetings. Mimi chalked it up to 'rich people' stuff.

Mimi hesitated at the closed parlor doors just long enough for Serena to catch up with her. Serena wasn't as fast as Mimi and puffed a little when she came to a stop. Weird, she didn't look too fat. Maybe she should exercise more.

"Chit, let's not interrupt your father."

But Mimi had just heard his voice on the other side of the doors and it went right to the awful clump in her chest like a splash of soothing, warm water. Something that used to rise up and swallow her whole on the coldest nights in the parking garage took her then, with all the power and speed of a tsunami, and before Mimi could think better of it she had her hand on the door handle.

The morning parlor was done in shades of cream, gold, and green. It had a lot more plants than the other parlors and a lot more windows. In the morning Mimi imagined the whole place would be aglow with new sunlight, but right now, at noon, it was just an ordinary room that smelled of a strange mixture of greenhouse and carpet cleaner.

Duke sat on a couch across from another couch where two other men sat, a large glass and white coffee table between them. He had his eyes on her before she'd fully opened the door, along with those of his guests.

Mimi froze. Her throat went tight. Her mind went white.

"Who's this child?" the man who asked had an interesting accent that Mimi couldn't place, especially with the horned, shiny tarantula on his head turning to screech at her. She flinched, as it had been a while since she'd heard a demon make sound, let alone one of the spider ones. This one was huge.

She looked to her—to Duke, intending to examine his shadow for thickness, only to find it had thinned in the brief second she'd entered and a soft smile had come over his face.