Chapter 26: Chapter 26

THIRTEEN

I walk down the stairs with Cody in tow. Devin decided he wanted to look around upstairs some more. I don't have a problem with it. Jason stands at the foot of the stairs as I come down.

"Hey, since we don't have a hotel room booked for the night, would it be cool to crash here? Unless of course, you want to get moving now."

I shake my head. "No. We can spend the night here. I want to go through everything one more time before we leave anyway."

He nods and heads out to the car. Probably to get our bags.

"So...Devin's been bugging me," Cody says and I turn to face him, letting out a snort of laughter.

"Why am I not surprised?"

He rolls his eyes but smiles at me none the less.

"And...?" I trail off, leaving him to fill in the blank.

He feigns confusion. "And what?"

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to know if we were official."

"And what did you tell him?"

"What would you've preferred I told him?"

"Whatever your answer was will dictate my actions towards you in the next thirty seconds."

He laughs and takes a step closer to me with a smirk on his face. "I told him I'd talk to you." He takes another step towards me and reaches out with his hands. He pulls me towards him.

"So what do you say? Will you be my girlfriend?" His breath fans over my face and I keep my face blank.

"Nah," I say in a serious tone, but the look on my face says otherwise.

"No?"

"Yep."

"No way I can convince you otherwise?"

I pretend to think about it and shake my head. "Nope, not that I can think of."

"Nothing?"

"Nope," I smirk at him and his gaze flickers down to my lips. He lowers his head but before he can kiss me...

There's a very loud, very feminine sounding scream followed closely by the slamming of a door.

Except it's coming from inside the house...and Elaine's outside. The only other person inside the house at the moment other than me and Cody is Devin.

He comes running down the stairs and his face is white as a ghost. His eyes are wide and he looks around frantically before his eyes land on us. He doesn't even crack a joke about our position as he comes running up to us.

He's breathing heavily like he just ran a marathon and he struggles to form words to explain but keeps pointing frantically up the stairs.

"Six feet under and she's still scaring the crap out of people," I mutter under my breath.

"I found Angel." Devin finally manages to say.

"Is she dead?" Cody asks, obviously trying to find an explanation for Devin's terrified behavior.

Devin shakes his head wildly and points out the glass doors to the pool in the back. "I know why that thing's so filthy."He says, still gasping for breath.

"Because it's had years of neglect," Cody says simply. And Devin shakes his head again.

"Trust me, Jason is not going to want to spend the night here anymore."

"What's the problem? If she's not dead that's a good thing."

Devin shudders and pales even more. Suddenly I feel very worried if Devin's scared...I don't even want to know.

"No. It's not a good thing." He shakes his head rapidly back and forth. "Angel's not a person."

"So?"

He shudders again and points up the stairs. "You have to see for yourself." He stands to the side and motions for us to go up the stairs first.

I sigh and start up the stairs cautiously. I'll admit I'm a little scared to see what exactly Angel is.

"The room on your right," Devin says. I put my hand on the door and slowly turn the knob. I stand off to the side of the doorway as I push open the door slowly. There's nothing in there other than a bed, a dresser, and a closet.

I look back at Devin. "If this is your idea of a joke?" He shakes his head and stands slightly behind Cody, who just looks at him in confusion.

"Look under the bed," Devin says simply and refuses to come into the room when me and Cody walk it. "Don't get too close." He adds as an afterthought.

"Don't tell me it's a spider," Cody mutters as I bend down and lift up the edge of the comforter.

I feel my own eyes widen and I nearly fall backward as I stagger to my feet eyes wide and back up from the bed like it's a bomb.

Cody looks at me in surprise. "That bad?" He goes to look for himself but I grab hold of his arm and pull him back as a low hissing sound comes from under the bed.

He takes a cautious step backward and looks at me with concern. I just nod. "That bad," I confirm.

I pull him with me as the hissing continues. We take slow steps back towards the doorway were Devin's standing, looking like he's ready to bolt at any minute.

The comforter covering the opening underneath the bed shifts as a scaly tail pops out for just a moment before disappearing back under the bed. Cody pales beside me and begins to tug me a little faster out of the room.

"I thought it was just a snake." He mutters.

"That is not a snake," Devin states, pulling the door closed once we're in the hallway. "I wish it was a snake."

I shake my head in shock. I can't seem to grasp the concept that she actually had that as a pet.

"She named an alligator Angel?" Cody exclaims in shock and I just shake my head again.

"That basically sums her up all on its own."

The hissing behind the door suddenly gets louder and Devin takes off running down the stairs. I unconsciously back up into the wall along with Cody.

"That thing can't get through the door right?"

"I hope not," I mutter, but I don't stick around to find out and grab hold of his hand and pull him down the stairs behind me. "I'm not taking that thing with me. I don't care that she asked me to. It's not happening,"

As soon as we hit the bottom of the stairs, Jason and Chase both come up to us.

"Why is Devin so quiet?" Chase asks us.

"Why do you two have the same look on your face as he does?" Jason questions.

I just mutely point upstairs and repeat the words Devin told me and Cody moments ago. "You have to see for yourself. First door on the right. If you don't see anything...look under the bed...but be quick about it."

They both look at us funny but oblige. They head up the stairs and disappear from sight. I start counting down on my fingers.

3...2...1...

"Oh, Shit!"

The door slams shut again and both Chase and Jason come running down the stairs.

"That's Angel?!" Chase yells out when he hits the last step. I nod mutely.

"I have a feeling she was much smaller when Lily first got her," I mutter.

"You didn't know she had a pet alligator?!" Jason shouts, his hand over his chest as he paces back and forth. "How do you even get one of those."

"You have to have a special permit,"I respond. "Now I know why there weren't any traps set up around here other than that one room. Angel was the trap. One look at her and you'd be running out the door."

"Bet you're regretting not letting her get a dog now?" I punch Jason in the arm and he laughs.

"Still want to spend the night here?"

He pales and shakes his head. "No way."

There's a crash from upstairs.

"Please tell me that thing can't break down the door," Cody mutters.

"It's like a hundred times stronger than you, I'm pretty sure if it really wanted the door opened it would-"

I stop talking as it-sorry-Angel comes sliding down the stairs. Her mouth is wide open and she's hissing. We all freeze and take slow steps backward.

"That thing didn't look that big when it was hiding under the bed." Chase mumbles.

"Devin probably woke it up," Jason mutters. "Let's give him to it as a peace offering."

"Devin's outside genius," Cody grumbles as we slowly begin to inch our way to the door. Angel follows our movements like a silent warning.

"Aren't these things less deadly on land?" Jason asks and we all shoot him a look.

"Would you like to be the one the test that?" Chase suggests.

My hand finds the doorknob and I open it slowly. Angel takes a few steps towards us, mouth still open. As soon as I have the door open wide enough, I run through and the rest of the boys do as well. Chase slamming the door shut behind him.

I put a hand over my chest to calm my racing heart and Chase begins to pace in front of the house, his hands on his head. Cody slumps to the ground and Jason lies down on the grass covering his face with his hands.

"Your friend was something else." Cody says simply.

"I'll definitely agree that she was worse than Devin." Chase adds. "Anyone who can scare Devin has to be worse."

"Should I call animal control?" Devin asks from where he leans back against the car.

I shake my head. "What good will they do against an alligator?"

"So I should probably just find a hotel instead." Devin suggests and I just nod.

"That thing is no freaking angel." Jason mutters, more to himself than anyone else. "What was the purpose of naming it Angel of all things? How about Heart Attack? Or Death?"

"Irony." I reply simply. "That's just Lily's twisted sense of humor."

Jason groans and sits up. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to die of a heart attack if she's got any more surprises in store on this wild goose chase she's sending us on. What's next? A freaking tiger?"

I point an accusing finger at him. "Don't jinx it."

I run my hands through my hair and take a seat on the steps next to Cody. He still looks really pale and he's got a hand over his face.

"You ok?" I ask.

"What was wrong with your friend? I mean seriously, was she dropped on her head one too many times as a baby?"

"Wouldn't be surprised." I respond simply.

"How were you two even friends? I still don't get that." He says and removes his hand from his face to look at me.

"I hated her originally." I admit. "She was wild, reckless, and couldn't take anything seriously. I was all work and business. Just get the mission done and move on. That's how everyone on the team was...till Lily."

I shake my head and smile. "Zero put her on our team after everyone else was already on it. That might have been the only good thing he ever did. He says how serious the team was and came to the conclusion that we need a little more fun in our lives. So he tossed Lily to us. We all warmed up to her...eventually."

"That still explains nothing."

I laugh. "I really don't know. She just wouldn't leave me alone. She wouldn't give up on me."

It silent for a long while before I break it.

"Yes." I say simply and he lifts his head up to look at me.

"What?"

"To your previous question."

He thinks about it for a second before a smug smile takes place on his face.

"What?" He asks again but I can tell by his face he just wants to hear me yes again.

"Yeah, there's no way you're getting me to repeat that." I smile and he laughs, throwing his arm over my shoulder.