When I said I thought things couldn’t get much worse, it turned out I’d been wildly off target.

I hauled my duffel bag full of meager belongings off to work, walking a mile across the city because I didn’t want to pay for the bus. I’d have to save every penny for a new place. As I dragged myself through the hot city, sadness bloomed in my chest. I hadn’t been able to get in touch with Holly, and loneliness pierced me to the core. Tears spilled down my cheeks as I walked and I sniffled, wiping them away on the back of my hand.

Maybe it had been stupid to try to drag all my things across the city, but I didn’t want to see Luke ever again. Lord knew he wasn’t giving up on me easily—my phone had buzzed mercilessly in my pocket until I’d blocked his number.

By the time I got to work in Harvard Square, Holly was already steaming up coffee behind the counter, skin glistening in the heat. A line of customers snaked through the shop. Why did anyone bother coming in here when they could go to the air-conditioned Starbucks across the street?

As I approached the counter, N.B. glared at me from a table in the corner where he sat picking at piece of focaccia. “I need you to clean the espresso machine. And when you’re done with that, I need you to prep our sandwiches.”

“No problem.” I lugged my duffel bag behind the counter, then dropped it off in the staff room by the kitchen.

With the oven on in the back, the kitchen felt roughly like the inside of a volcano. For a moment, sadness speared my heart, and I blinked back the tears. I needed to keep things together, at least while I was at work. At some point, a flood of emotions was due to hit me, but I had to keep it at bay as long as I was serving people their biscotti and cappuccinos. And for the love of all that was holy, I did not want to cry in front of N.B.

I crossed to the espresso machine and slowly began taking it apart to clean the chrome pieces. As I slid the soapy sponge over the nozzle, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, my muscles tensing as the word Mom popped up on the screen. I wasn’t sure I could handle her right now.

Sometimes my mom’s calls were fine. Other times she would yell at me about the apocalypse and angels climbing out of the heavens.

“Hello?” I held my breath.

“Dawn? Look, I need to talk to you today. Something very important is happening. Something very big. I found these toasters in Porter Square. You know, people just throw things out that have value. Like, why would someone waste them? Do you have any idea what I could do with them?”

I closed my eyes, marshaling my patience. It was going to be an ‘angels climbing out of the sky’ day. “I’m at work now, Mom. I got a job in Harvard Square. Maybe check in with your caseworker, and I’ll come by later.”

“Don’t do that to me!” she shouted. “Don’t try to pass me off like that. This is important. I’ve discovered something that can change everything. I just need to get to Worcester.”

I swallowed hard. “Please stay where you are. I’m at work. I’ll call you back.”

It was times like these I wished I could contact her caseworker directly.

As I got back to wiping down the steam wand, Holly frothed a drink at the machine next to me. “Hey. You okay? You look upset.”

“I tried to call you.”

“What happened?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t talk about this now. And yet, I couldn’t not talk about this now. “Luke. We broke up.”

Her dark eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? What happened?”

“Well, you were right. He is a controlling monster. He didn’t want me to have a job. He’s been photographing me walking around without my knowledge. Oh, and he’s been flipping out about the Lord of Cambridge.” Nausea rose in my gut. “Who, by the way, caught me using binoculars to stare at his naked chest.”

I’d grown agitated and kind of shouted the last sentence. It was, of course, that exact moment when the buzz of the coffee shop died down, and the words “naked chest” rang off the tiles.

I cast a nervous glance at N.B., who had paused mid-lick of his biscotti and was staring at me, his tongue hovering lasciviously just over the frosting.

Kill me.

A woman with frosted hair leaned over the counter, frowning at Holly over the rims of her glasses. “Miss? That is skim milk, right?”

Holly slammed the coffee on the counter, staring at me. “What did I tell you about him? Just because I don’t have a storefront doesn’t mean I’m not a real psychic.”

“You were right. You’re always right.”

She pointed her finger at me. “Damn right. I’m like that Greek woman no one listens to.”

“At the Dunkin Donuts? The one who shouts about cabbages and wears a shower cap?”

“No. Ancient Greece!”

I scrubbed the espresso grounds off the machine. “Oh, right. Cassandra.”

“Miss?” The woman on the other side of the counter was growing more irate. “I’d like it with skim milk. Can I have my skim latte?”

Holly frowned at her, slamming a top on the drink. “Yeah. I got it.”

“So, about that.” I grimaced. “I don’t have a place to stay.”

“Oh! No problem. Stay with me.”

“Is that okay? I know your apartment is tiny, but it’s just till I find a new place.”

A woman in enormous sunglasses tapped impatiently on the countertop, clearing her throat.

Holly leaned in closer to me, ignoring her. “Yeah. And you know what else? We’re going out tonight. We’re getting wasted. And then you’re going to find a nice guy. Like the Lord of Cambridge or his leather pants tattoo friend.”

My phone buzzed again, my mom’s name appearing on the screen. “I’ve got to take this.”

“I need you to finish the machine, Dawn!” N.B. called out.

I held the phone to my ear, taking apart the drip tray with the other hand. “Mom, I’m at work. Please call your caseworker.”

“No, no, no, no. He doesn’t understand. Dawn, I’m going to need your help with getting these toasters up the stairs. There’s dozens of them. It’s important, Dawn.”

“What do you plan on doing with them, exactly?”

“It’s for protection. They’re coming for you, do you know that? The shadow angels are coming.”

In my mom’s world, angels were terrifying.

I loosed a frustrated sigh. I’d heard the phrase ‘shadow angels are coming to get you’ so many times that it was practically white noise at this point. “I’ll be careful of the shadow angels. Please just call your caseworker.”

I hung up the phone, glancing at Holly, who’d resumed her speed-coffee-creation, working her way through the line.

From my pocket, my phone buzzed again. I considered picking it up—my mom had a habit of getting arrested when I didn’t pay her enough attention—but N.B. was glaring at me from his table in the corner, and I hadn’t gotten very far on the espresso machine. With any luck, Mom would be too distracted by her toasters to get into too much trouble.

* * *

By lunchtime, I couldn’t ignore my phone anymore. It had been ringing incessantly, frantically, and I knew something bad was about to happen.

As I took my break in the overheated staff room, I held my phone to my ear. “Mom?”

“Yeah. Look, I’m not fucking around here, Dawn. But you need to know this. He’s here.”

“Who? Who is here?” All I knew right now was that I needed to get her to the hospital.

“The Devil. He’s here. In Cambridge. And he’s coming for you.”

I took a deep, steadying breath. Okay. Okay. I need to work with the delusions. Whenever I contradicted her directly, it just backfired. “Tell me what the Devil looks like,” I said, “so I know how to avoid him.”

“You’d know if you saw him. His eyes glow like stars. Smoke curls around his body. Beautiful. More beautiful than anything you’ve ever seen. I just don’t know where to find him. I need to find him. I’m supposed to stop him. I’m trying to piece together the right signs.”

“What kind of signs are you looking for?”

“I won’t know until I see them.”

Think, Dawn. How could I get her to the ER? Ravens. She was always talking about ravens. I cleared my throat. “I think I saw something, not far from here.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. A flock of ravens circling over Mount Auburn Hospital.” I had to do this part delicately.

“Ravens. You think that’s it? You think that’s where I’ll find him? Ravens are messengers, you know.”

“I know. Maybe I could meet you there.”

“Mount Auburn Hospital?” she asked doubtfully. “Are you sure that’s the right place?”

“Yeah. I’ll leave now. I’m gonna walk there.”

“Okay. I’ll be twenty minutes. Be careful, Dawn. If the Devil’s here, his henchmen will be everywhere. They’ll be drawn to you, like vampires to blood.”

“I know. I’ll be careful.” I had an unsettling suspicion that my mom might come armed with some kitchen knives, but she wouldn’t divulge that kind of thing ahead of time.

I hung up, wiping the sweat off my forehead. Now I just had to explain to N.B. that I’d be leaving early. And he didn’t seem like the forgiving type.

I crossed to Holly, who was wrapping up a sandwich in a paper bag. Her shift was ending in twenty minutes, and I was about to ask her to stay longer. Guilt tightened my stomach. I knew she wanted nothing more than to get home and drink wine in front of the TV. I was starting to feel bad about all the favors I was asking today.

“What’s up?” she asked when she noticed me.

I chewed my lip, regretting that I had to ask this. “Any chance you could cover me for a few hours? I need to get my mom to the hospital.”

“Uh oh. Yeah. No problem. You’re having a shitty week.”

“I promise I’ll repay the favor.”

I turned to find N.B. glaring at me, his arms folded. A few crumbs hung in his mustache. “Were you going to run this idea by me?”

“Sorry,” I blustered. “I was just about to check with you. It’s an emergency.”

“It’s fine.” Holly waved a hand. “I have it covered. And I’ll get your giant duffel bag home, too.”

Relief flooded me, and I blew the hair off my sweaty face.

N.B. held up his hands. “Look, I’m a nice, chill guy. Ask anyone. I do yoga. I have Tibetan prayer flags. I go to Coachella. I’ve got Instagram photos of me wearing war paint and feather headdresses. But just because I’m a chill guy doesn’t mean you can take advantage. You know what I mean, Dawn?”

My chest clenched. My mom was going to arrive at Mount Auburn Hospital without me, possibly armed with a knife.

“It’s an emergency,” I repeated.

He nodded, narrowing his eyes. “It’s just that it’s only your second day here.”

Holly frowned. “She’s telling the truth, N.B. She needs to get her mom to the hospital.”

He steepled his fingers, tapping them together. “We all have issues in our private lives. But when you step through that door”—he pointed at the glass door—“you’re entering a sacred space. I don’t need part of Dawn to be here. I need all of Dawn to be here. Your personal issues stay at home, and you’re with me during the time I schedule you for.” He smiled serenely. “Otherwise it would be chaos, right?”

My phone buzzed again, and my mind flashed with an image of my mom brandishing a knife at the hospital staff. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. I’ll be back here first thing tomorrow, if you’ll let me.”

But as I rushed to the door, I heard N.B. calling after me, “don’t bother coming in tomorrow!”