Dani had been expecting a demon. Horns, scales, fangs, the usual kind of thing. But behind that humongous door was an older man with a beard and graying hair wearing a pair of white scrubs like a doctor.

“My boy! You’ve come to visit me. And you brought friends!”

“This is the scary dad?” Edrisa whispered to Dani.

“Looks can be deceiving,” Dani whispered back.

She knew that all too well. The most innocent-seeming person could be a blood-thirsty vampire, or worse. Sometimes the ugly, evil parts didn’t show on the outside.

“We’re not staying.”

Once Dani stopped looking at Malcolm’s dad, she saw there was another door. A child-sized one, in the opposite wall.

“But we have so much to talk about!”

“I have nothing to say to you,” Malcolm snapped.

He pushed past his father, and then stopped short with his back to Dani and Edrisa.

“We’re the same,” Malcolm’s dad said. “You and me.”

Between one breath and the next he transformed, his eyes glowing red and his limbs stretching out grotesquely. His hands curled into claws and horns sprang from his forehead.

Malcolm let out a cry and dropped to his knees, curling in on himself until he was nearly in a fetal position. He made himself as small as possible, but Dani could see he’d changed as well, mirroring his father’s demonic appearance.

Edrisa ran to Malcolm’s side, squatting down next to him with a hand on his back, trying to soothe him. Dani squared off with Demon Dad.

“You’re not the same,” she said. “Not even a little. Malcolm is kind and good. He cares about people.”

Demon Dad growled at her and took a swipe in her direction with one of his gangly arms, but Dani did a tuck and roll.

“Tell him, Malcolm!” she shouted. “Tell him who you really are!”

“You can do it, Malcolm,” Edrisa encouraged. “I believe in you.”

“We’re the same!” Demon Dad said, his voice gone deep and ragged.

He caught Dani with a backhand, sending her flying across the room and crashing into the wall near the escape door. It took the breath out of her for a minute, but she was accustomed to being knocked around by demons and vamps.

“Stop it!” Malcolm yelled. He got to his feet and faced his father. “I’m nothing like you! You hurt people and ruin lives, and I would never do that! You only care about yourself. But I care about my family. And my friends. And they care about me!”

The more he talked, the more the demon aspects melted away until he was just Malcolm again. Edrisa stood beside him, glowering at Demon Dad.

“Let’s go, Malcolm,” Dani said, dusting herself off.

The three of them went to the child-sized door, ignoring Malcolm’s dad.

“Malcolm? Don’t go.”

Demon Dad had turned back into unassuming human-looking dad. Dani was proud of Malcolm, who didn’t even turn around.

She sent Malcolm and Edrisa through the door first, and followed behind them. The next thing she knew, she was waking up in the library, a crick in her neck from falling asleep with her head on the table.

She was exhausted.

“That was trippy,” Edrisa said. She had a line in her cheek from the book she’d fallen asleep on.

Malcolm still had his head pillowed on his arms, face hidden, and Dani could tell he was crying a little. She let him be.

“I’m gonna need some caffeine, or I’ll never be able to study for that test,” she said. “You want to go to Be the Bean with me?”

Edrisa paused in the middle of cleaning her glasses with her shirt. “Me? You want me to come?”

“We badass ladies need to stick together,” Dani replied with a grin.

Sure, the girl was weird. But Dani could also count on her when there was trouble, and that mattered a whole lot more.

“Yes. Thanks!’

“Malcolm?” Dani asked.

He tried to surreptitiously wipe his eyes on his sleeves before he raised his head. “Sounds good to me.”

They walked out of the library together, leaving a mess of books for Gil to deal with the next day. It was time to get back to the real world.