“Almost perfect,” said Eph. “Because only one of us can actually slay the bastard. And it’s going to be me.”

Nora had been waiting anxiously to speak with Eph, pouncing on him once he stepped away from Setrakian, pulling him into the old man’s tiled bathroom.

“Don’t,” she said.

“Don’t what?”

“Ask me what you’re going to ask me.” She implored him with her fierce brown eyes. “Don’t.”

Eph said, “But I need you to—”

“I am scared shitless—but I have earned a place at your side. You need me.”

“I do. I need you here. To watch Zack. Besides—one of us has to stay behind. To carry on. In case…” He left that unsaid. “I know it’s a lot to ask.”

“Too much.”

Eph could not stop looking in her eyes. He said, “I have to go after her.”

“I know.”

“I just want you to know…”

“There’s nothing to explain,” she said. “But—I’m glad you want to.”

He pulled her close then, into a tight embrace. Nora’s hand went up to the back of his head, caressing his hair. She pulled away to look at him, to say something more—and then kissed him instead. It was a good-bye kiss that insisted on his return.

They parted and he nodded to let her know he understood.

He saw Zack watching them from the hallway.

Eph didn’t try to explain anything to him now. Leaving the beauty and goodness of this boy and departing from the perceived safety of the surface world to go down and face a demon was the most unnatural thing Eph could do. “You’ll stay with Nora, okay? We’ll talk when I come back.”

Zack’s preteen squint was self-protective, the emotions of the moment too raw and confusing for him. “Come back from where?”

He pulled his son close, wrapping him up in his arms as though otherwise the boy he loved would fracture into a million pieces. Eph resolved there and then to prevail because he had too much to lose.

They heard yelling and automobile horns outside, and everyone went to the west-facing window. A mass of brake lights clotted the road some four or more blocks away, people taking to the streets and fighting. A building was in flames and there were no fire trucks anywhere in sight.

Setrakian said, “This is the beginning of the breakdown.”

Morningside Heights