Free Fever by Amy Meredith Page B

saying that. “Dubious” is a Callum kind of word,’ Jess commented.
    ‘What’s the link to?’ Eve asked.
    ‘An article on an ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll from some university I’ve never heard of.’ Luke began to skim the article. Eve and Jess moved in closer so they could read it too.
    Briefly, Luke was distracted by a whiff of fragrance from Eve. A mix of coconut and sunshine. A mix of suntan lotion and her . It made him want to kiss her again.
    Man, why had he let a cat screw things up between them? A cat . But the kiss had happened so spontaneously. And after the cat, there was just too much time to think, to wonder if Eve had wanted him to kiss her in the first place. She’d certainly bolted out of the kitchen pretty fast. Not that he hadn’t. He—
    ‘Demon!’ Jess exclaimed, returning Luke to the subject he should have been thinking about all along. She pointed to the word near the bottom of the first page. Clearly she’d been skimming too.
    ‘ The warning on the scroll is believed to refer to a demon often called Many Faces but sometimes referred to as Amunnic ,’ Luke read. ‘ The demon lives by drinking human blood .’
    ‘Back up,’ Eve said. ‘What warning are they talking about?’
    ‘Back up,’ Jess said. ‘The thing drinks blood ?’
    ‘That’s what it said. Blood,’ Luke answered. ‘There’s a translation of the scroll and one of the lines says “Ye shall know him by the coming of the plague”. That has to be the warning.’
    ‘Sounds like a warning to me,’ Jess said.
    ‘So this Many Faces or Amunnic brings a plague, is that what it’s saying?’ Eve asked. ‘That sounds sort of like Malphas. He brought bad dreams to weaken his victims with lack of sleep. That way, it was easier to feed on them. Maybe Many Faces wants weak victims too and that’s what the plague does.’
    My dad , Luke thought. A demon could be preparing my father so it can feed on him. All the others too . His gut began to churn. His dad was a minister. If he knew he was giving a demon strength that would horrify him more than dying from the plague. ‘Now that we have a name, let’s see what else we can find out.’
    Jess did a search for Amunnic and Many Faces. Only three hits came up. ‘I hope one of them says why he’s called Many Faces – that’s freaky.’
    Eve laughed.
    ‘What?’ Jess asked as she clicked the first hit.
    ‘So much is freaky, it’s like freaky is normal,’ she explained. She laughed again. ‘I know it’s not that funny. I’m just stressed.’
    ‘Wimp,’ Luke teased, smiling at her.
    ‘This one just mentions Amunnic–slash–Many Faces in a list of demons. No other info,’ Jess said. ‘Moving on. Another list of demons, but we get a few more details. Sightings in ancient Egypt, which we knew because of the scroll.’
    ‘Doh.’ Luke slapped his forehead. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t instantly made the connection. ‘Egypt! Where Mr Dokey was!’
    ‘So maybe he did bring back the plague!’ Eve exclaimed. ‘Not as a virus or some kind of bug. He somehow brought the demon to Deepdene.’
    ‘That would explain why the portal was still closed,’ Jess said. ‘This demon didn’t come through the portal. Eve, maybe that’s why you haven’t been smelling anything demony – maybe that wood-smoke smell comes from the portal, whenever a demon passes through it.’
    ‘Isn’t it bad enough we have a doorway to hell,’ Luke asked, rubbing his face with both hands, ‘without demons choosing Deepdene as some kind of vacation spot?’
    ‘I guess the travel brochures didn’t mention that Deepdene has its own demon-fighting witch,’ Eve joked. ‘A witch with a whole team to back her up.’ She looked back and forth between Luke and Jess. ‘I love you guys, you know,’ she added, turning serious.
    ‘We love you too.’ Jess reached out and gave her a half-hug.
    ‘Yeah,’ Luke said. And he did love her as a friend. But he was really starting to think he