Mimi's Demons

Chapter 58: A Little Girl in Wolf's Clothing

 Summer ended and Fall passed. Mimi spent many hours in her favorite courtyard raking mutli-colored leaves in a fascination no one understood but her. She'd create huge piles which she'd huddle in like a monster ready to pounce whenever Omen or one of her Nannies came to check on her. Nannies plural because Kevya had joined Serena so the latter could get back to some of her housework chores, which included maintaining the manor in general. Mimi didn't fully understand why she had nannies. She was fine playing by herself, she wasn't trying to run away anymore, and a good part of the day she was in classes anyway. Omen or one of his men was around somewhere to watch over her, though she was extra careful about looking out for demons around them. But Duke insisted that, when he had work, she had some sort of adult around to keep her company, and security guards didn't count.

Mimi didn't mind. She liked Serena and she liked Kevya as she rarely remembered liking any adult. Serena would play out Barbie dramas with her and give her no nonsense lessons on her manners or doing her hair. Kevya was sweet as honey and always brought exotic Indian snacks she made herself. She had so many stories about her home country that made Mimi want to visit someday. Not to mention Kevya had a similar air as Mrs. Bloomington that never had a demon hanging off her shoulder. Mimi even caught a demon giving Kevya a look one would give rotten milk. Kevya wasn't as good at playing Barbies as Serena, but that was fine. Serena needed her thing. Mimi was fine with just talking, and sometimes Kevya would even let Mimi braid her hip length, thick black princess hair. Mimi had never been a big braider, but she quickly became so with Serena's lessons and such beautiful hair to play with.

After her big panic attack, Juli was skittish for a while. He didn't jabber as much, which took up half his personality. It took a while, but eventually he came to believe Mimi when she said he'd done nothing wrong and wasn't about to get shot in the head by anyone. Then it was back to corny jokes, noisy sessions of videogames, and scattered future plans of all the mischief they could get up to.

She never went back up to Cromwell's nest. Stealy demons still bothered her the least out of demons, but they were still demons. He did come down himself to apologize. He even appeared as a random guest during their dinners a few times a month, but otherwise was as much an invisible presence as he was before. She liked when he visited, though, because it fascinated Mimi to see just how much like his son he was. Yeah, the more she looked the more differences she could pick out in their facial features. But their gestures, the way they talked, the funny big ears and toothy grins, were exactly the same. Even the way they treated her was the same.

It was hilarious.

Mimi finished her badminton classes and started martial art basics, given to her by Omen himself, which was very fancy in Mimi's opinion. To her Papa's displeasure, Mimi believed Omen to be the most deadly man alive. The only reason people feared her father more was because Omen had proper morals, another thing that made Duke roll his eyes when she'd told him.

Omen stressed that her first class was about forming a base for all the martial arts, already predicting that she'd pout at being told she wouldn't be swinging around a sword or punching things for an hour. Apparently, one needed things like stamina, basic muscle training, and balance.

"Wax on, wax off," he'd said.

"Huh?"

"Karate Kid. It's a movie. You haven't seen it?"

Mimi wrinkled her nose. "Isn't that, like, a million years old?"

Omen may or may not have died a little inside. Mimi could only tell because his shoulders were more slumped and Kevya had told her to look out for such things. Apparently, Omen as secretly more sensitive than he let be known. She would have apologized if she weren't afraid it would be a lie. She hadn't said anything wrong. Karate Kid was a million years old.