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up, looping through the air to land on the next platform.
    “You couldn’t have brought it back to me?” she asked, hurrying around to fetch it. When she got back to her place, she put the ticket in her backpack, zipping it inside.
    “I have to believe in your symbol?” she asked.
    “No.” Loki faded until he was just a face again. “You just have to believe in me.”
    He disappeared from view, leaving her with a whisper. “Katie Spears, vampire hunter.”
    She shook her head, unable to stop herself smiling. But as her thoughts settled, the smile faded. It vanished as the train pulled into the station and she got on. How was she meant to explain this to her father? He’d know something had happened, when Sonneillon stopped tormenting him. How was she meant to tell him she had Loki as her god?

Chapter 8
     
    Home
     
    K atie paused at the front door of her house, her hand on her key. There was no screaming from inside, no sounds of breaking furniture. She’d thought of her excuse on the train, consulting online sources for a way to avoid telling her father without lying. Now she was on the verge, however, she wasn’t sure she could go through with it.
    With a click, the front door opened, her father standing there, frowning in concern. “Katie?”
    “Dad.”
    “Come in, we need to talk.” Aidan led the way to the living room, which was much tidier than it had been earlier. She assumed he’d spent the day cleaning it.
    “Sit,” he said, pointing to the sofa. “I’m not feeling Sonneillon anymore. At all. At first, it was an empty space where he used to be, but now there’s someone else there instead. A demon calling himself Meizur.”
    She sat where he’d indicated. “I know. I can explain.”
    “You don’t have to. I know what you did. That money was for you, Katie. It was meant to set you up with an incredible god. One who could make all your dreams come true. You could have gone to space.”
    “I don’t want to go to space, if it means leaving you in pain.”
    Aidan sat beside her. “Thank you, Katie. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve such a selfless daughter. But what about your god?”
    “I got a weak one called Thokk. She makes sure envelopes stay sealed.”
    He sighed, but Katie noticed relief among the disappointment. He reached over and hugged her. “As long as you got someone, that’s the main thing. I didn’t tell you, but it was very important to get a god before your eighteenth birthday.”
    “I heard. Arch-demons, right?”
    He nodded. “Horrible things. Now, go get ready. We need to have that dinner you wanted.”
    She got up, then paused. “Can we go in an hour? There’s something I need to do first.”
    “Of course. Whatever you like.”
    She smiled and made her way through the house to the utility room. She found her father’s whittling knife and a random off-cut of wood from a repair Aidan had done. Both held close to her side, she took them to her room and shut the door. She almost locked it automatically, but realised with a smile she wouldn’t have to. Not anymore.
    She went to her desk and pushed her keyboard aside, putting the wood down. “You still there?”
    Loki appeared nearby, smiling at her. “I haven’t been Thokk in centuries. How did you know?”
    “I read it on my phone.” Katie held the device up. “It’s like an encyclopedia.”
    He shimmered in front of her and became an old woman, stooped and with red cheeks. She looked ill, on the verge of collapse. With another shimmer, Loki was back. “You got the wood for my symbol.”
    She held it up. “Obviously.”
    “Make a straight line with a figure eight on top of it.”
    She took up the knife and cut into the wood. The tip didn’t go where she wanted it to, instead bending and twisting with the grain of the wood. In the end, she managed to get a rough line with an eight on top of it.
    “Good,” Loki said. “You’ll have to make something better in time, but it’ll do for