Demon Ex Machina: Tales of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner

seemed to be moving at about the same pace. Which made me feel somewhat better at being both a novice and pathetically slow.
    Our work area was near the entrance, and a few people slowed to watch as they came into the store. I saw a tall woman with gorgeous auburn hair holding the hand of a toddler with an orange carrottop and freckles. He looked about Timmy’s age and was yanking on the woman’s hand, seemingly desperate to get on with their day. She sipped idly on a Starbucks cup, hesitating near the automatic doors. For a moment, our eyes met, and I smiled, the solidarity of a shopping mom. She looked back blankly, though, and I began to wonder if she’d even seen me. Probably mentally running shopping lists in her head.
    “So where do you think he’s working?” Laura said. Since we’d rode together to Home Depot, we’d both seen Eddie head off down Fourth Street, the local car-free promenade near Main Street. Unfortunately, Fourth Street curves sharply, and unless we got out of the car and actually followed him, we couldn’t pinpoint his destination. We’d actually considered that as a plan, but since that would make us late for tiling class, we’d decided to leave it to another day. “Maybe he’s doling out ice cream at Baskin-Robbins.”
    I tried to picture Eddie in a uniform asking kids if they wanted a cherry or sprinkles. “I’m thinking no. Besides, he said it was a new shop.”
    She frowned. “My old phone had a web browser. I probably could have figured it out by now. But I gave it up for this old thing.” She tapped the outer pocket on her purse, which held your standard-issue, telephonically functional phone. “It doesn’t do a damn thing.”
    I squinted at it. “It doesn’t make calls?”
    She rolled her eyes, looking remarkably like my daughter in the process. “Kate, sometimes I wonder about you.”
    I ignored that, my thoughts having shifted to my missing teenager and toddler. “Do you see Timmy and Allie?”
    She craned her neck and peered around, then shook her head. “Are we worried?”
    I hesitated, then shook my head. “I think it’s okay. Allie said she was going to entertain him, so I’m sure they’re off doing something entertaining. Probably playing in tubs in the bathroom fixture section.”
    “Or plucking the petals off flowers in the garden section.”
    “Or emptying the bags of play sand all over the aisles,” I said.
    I lasted a good twelve seconds before I reached for my own telephonically functional phone and managed to call my daughter despite my lack of Internet and text-messaging capabilities.
    “Can we go yet?” she asked, answering on the first ring.
    “About fifteen more minutes. If you want to start heading this direction, that would be great.”
    “So you were just calling to check on us?” I stayed guiltily silent. “Come on, Mom! We’re in Home Depot. Even if some demon was stupid enough to jump me here, it’s not like there’s a shortage of weapons. I’m looking at a screwdriver, an ax, and a sharp pokey thing right now.”
    “Hardware aisle,” I said to Laura. And then to Allie, “Is that really the place for Timmy?”
    “Mother.”
    “Fifteen minutes,” I said, and hung up. So long as the kid was entertained . . .
    “Does she know about She?” Laura asked. I must have looked baffled, because Laura clarified. “Does Allie know about the ‘She’ that your backyard demon went on about?”
    “Not yet. I haven’t had the chance to tell her. And I haven’t figured out how to tell her without mentioning her dad’s little problem.”
    “How about Stuart? Told him?”
    I shot her a frustrated look.
    “Just saying,” she said. “You need to tell him.”
    “I know. I will. But I want information before I do.” I flashed her a wide grin. “That’s where you come in.”
    She looked like she had more to say on the subject, but Larry the Tile Guy showed up. “Excellent work,” he said, peering down at my cuts. “Set it aside and