Preston

Since Nash couldn't control his urges to make buildings and people explode around him, I left Misty and Kat to babysit him while I gathered the necessary information. I met with my advisor at our designated time in his office. I entered to see chaos reigning supreme. Hasn't anyone taught this guy organizational skills? It would save him so much time.

A hippy-looking guy shuffled into his office. I had to check to see if I had missed my advisor.

"Preston Harper?" The guy asked me.

"Yeah. Who are you?" I glanced at the guy sideways.

"I'm your course advisor, Castiel."

"Say what?"

My advisor leaned back in his chair, his hands folded on his stomach, and smirked. "Were you expecting a stuffy old man?"

"Uh, I was expecting a progressive advisor that dealt with theology."

"I understand theology better than many people. Trust me. I learned from the best." He smiled.

I sat in a chair across from him.

"You wanted to discuss the spiritual world?"

"Yeah, I had questions. The office said you're an expert in the field."

"I am. What is your question?"

"What do you know about the afterlife?"

"Are you talking about what happens when we die?"

"Something like that?"

"There are many theories about what happens to people when they die. But that's all they are—theories. If you want to assume our souls ascend to heaven, you must understand the other side of the process."

"Which is?"

"Hell, darkness, the opposite of what heaven entails. Some souls descend into darkness, never making it to heaven. Those are lost souls."

"What about demons?"

"Demons provide balance. Since people have free will, they must choose between right and wrong. Demons represent the wrong while angels represent right." Castiel sat up and leaned forward. "But you're not asking the right questions, are you.?"

"What about shadows?"

"Now, we're getting somewhere." He smiled.

"Hypothetically, if reincarnation existed, what are the chances there's more to it than what people suspect?"

"Hypothetically, there's always more to it than what people assume."

"What do you mean?"

"Most people negate that something will attach itself to the returning soul. They assume a soul returns free from its chains. If a soul can return, so can other things."

"Like, let's say, a demon?"

"Demons feed on negativity while searching for a powerful source. The power attracts them."

I pursed my lips, knowing our return couldn't have been simple. Nope, the almighty gave us a challenge. Great.

*******
Valentino

Mags and I searched for Diego and Aiden. We found them with their girls exploring the campus. Mags kept their girls distracted while I talked to my cousins.

"Wait. You want to tell Eden, Marissa, Emilio, and Karlene the truth about you and the others?" Aiden asked.

"It'll make things easier than having to make up an excuse about the crazy shit happening around us," I said.

"Eden wouldn't have an issue with it." Aiden shrugged.

"Hell, Marissa would think it's cool," Diego added.

"But it would piss odd Karlene if she found out everyone knew when she didn't."

"And I'm not sure how Emilio would react. He's never dealt with our level of bat shit crazy."

"We'll figure out something. I don't need anyone getting hurt because we kept the truth from them," I reasoned.

"Let us work on our girls and ease them into this news before you figure out how to tell Karlene and Emilio," Aiden said.

"Yo, Marissa, and Eden! You won't believe this shit!" Diego yelled to the girls.

Before I could stop Diego, he headed to Eden and Marissa and told them the truth about us like the good little snitch he was. I wanted to throttle him.

*******
Misty

Nash had one job to do. Tell Aiden and Diego he needed help telling the others the truth about us. He couldn't even get this right when Diego spilled the beans about us. If looks could kill, Diego would be twelve feet under with cinder blocks on him.

I had to calm Nash before he lost his shit. Aiden smacked Diego for opening his mouth and flapping his lips. Eden and Marissa just looked at us without flinching.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Tino asked for our help. He didn't say vomit the truth to everyone," Aiden said.

"I didn't tell everyone the truth. I told our girls. The truth shall set us free unless you forget that therapy lesson," Diego said.

Aiden smacked his head again.

"This is so cool!" Marissa exclaimed dramatically.

We looked at Marissa with our heads cocked to the side.

"I always wondered if this was a possibility. Now, it is. I want to come back in my next life as a cat."

"Why a cat?" Eden asked.

"Cats sleep twenty hours a day. It's the best life ever." She grinned.

"I doubt you will return as a cat if you return."

"Wait. This news doesn't bother you?" Aiden asked.

"No. Should it?"

"Most people would flip out if they found out dead family members returned."

"I played a live version of Who's the Daddy this summer. This is child's play compared to that." She circled her hand in front of her.

"Okay, we know Eden and Marissa are fine with the truth. What about Karlene and Emilio?" I asked.

"Emilio might question it, but he won't care. He'll even want to search for ghosts if you let him," Marissa said.

"What?" We asked.

"My cousin loves ghost hunting. He dragged me to a cemetery when we visited his family a few years ago to see if he could contact a ghost."

"Ghosts don't hang out in cemeteries," I said.

"Tell that to Emilio. I spent most of the evening bored out of my skull, waiting for one to pop up."

"Just out of curiosity. What is Emilio studying in school?" Aiden asked.

"Electromagnetic fields and how they influence our surroundings."

Diego looked at Aiden. "In other words, he's studying ghost hunting."

Aiden shook his head.

"That still doesn't help us with Karlene," Nash said.

"Oh, that one's easy. Karlene will flip her shit when she finds out. Guarantee," Diego said.

"Great."

"So, what do we call you?" Eden asked.

"Nash," I pointed to Nash before myself, "Maggie. If people ask, we use our middle names. The other boys are Nixon, Nathan, Noah, and Nolan. The girls are Kat, Marcy, Macey, and Brook."

"Uh, okay."

"Your middle name wouldn't be Marco, would it?" Nash asked.

I placed my hand on my face. Why?

"No, it's Marica," Eden said.

I dropped my hand and stared at Eden.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, no reason." I pursed my lips.

"Excuse us for a minute," Nash said, pulling me away from everyone until we were out of range. "What was Marco's last name?"

"Diaz. Why?"

"Eden's stepdaddy's last name was Diaz."

I looked at Nash until my eyes widened. "No!"

Nash nodded. "Yep."

"But that was his adopted family."

"Well, Eden wasn't related to the Diaz family since her mom married her stepdad before she was born." Nash tilted his head.

I glanced at Eden, noticing she had the same features as my long-lost brother in our past life, and puckered my lips.

"Mags, even if Marco returned as Eden, she has no memory of before, unlike us. I doubt mentioning it will help matters."

"We have enough to worry about than confusing someone about the past. Let's focus more on our current situation than on our crazy past."

"I agree."

*******
Valentino

After talking to my cousins and their girls, we searched for Nix and found him grabbing two coffees from the local coffee shop.

"I thought you and Kat were on babysitting duties?" Nix asked Mags.

"We were until we left and ran into Aiden, Diego, Eden, and Marissa," Mags said.

"How does one run into people when they're supposed to stay home?"

"When you search for them." Mags shrugged.

Nix rolled his eyes.

I moved to the counter. "Can I get two iced caramel lattes? Thanks."

"Aw, you remembered," Mags swooned.

"Who cares if Nash remembered your specialty coffee? You suck at babysitting duties," Nix said.

Mags rolled her eyes.

"What did your advisor say?" I asked, ignoring the babysitting reference before I beat Nix's ass.

"My advisor likes to talk in riddles. It doesn't help his name is Castiel," Nix said.

"Wait. Isn't Castiel the name of an angel?" Mags asked.

"Yep. I figured that out when he told me his name."

I paid the barista before grabbing the coffee and leaving the coffee shop with Mags and Nix. "Okay. So what did your advisor say?"

"From my surmising, a demon is filled with rage and can assume any identity. But they crave power, not just any power but the ultimate power. They need it to feed them, and brother, you a walking, breathing generator."

Mags and I sipped on our coffees while Nix drank his and carried Kat's to the house.

"How do we stop it?" I asked.

"I haven't figured that part out yet or how we're dealing with one. I'm guessing it hitched a ride with us when we returned, hoping to become one with the living."

"We don't know anything about demons."

"No shit. It's not like the almighty handed us a manual when we returned and said good luck. He's praying we survive long enough to destroy this thing."

"Maybe that's why Azrael visited us on vacation," Mags said.

"Azael is the keeper of souls. He wouldn't return us with a demon attached to us unless the same demon kept trying to escape and finally succeeded. Archangels don't work for Lucifer. They answer only to God."

"Unless Lucifer is trying to destroy what God created. Didn't he want to rule Heaven, and God gave him his own kingdom?"

"If you follow the Bible, yes. But who knows what the realities are in this situation? But one thing is certain: this psycho demon is hell-bent on getting its hands on Nash. It needs to extract you from him to do that."

With this new information, we had to figure out our next move. But first, we needed to figure out Emilio's deal.