The wink was the last time the three heavy bodies acknowledged her. They conversed between themselves; strictly in English for reasons, Addison would never understand.

They acted like they didn’t have any other language - the fairies always did it to. There was some explanation given to her when she was very young about telepathy and magic but it hadn’t meant anything. She stood firm, believing they all made a choice.

Standing around her and ignoring her while speaking words they knew she would understand. It was taunting, at its core. But she wasn’t going to complain; it was better than getting the cliff-notes version. Terse commands and lies about what had happened.

Instead, she stood there, eyes wandering around the room while she shifted her weight and kept part of her attention on the conversation. They were discussing where to send her for her trip, but it didn’t sound at all like the argument she was expecting. There were no deals, no consequences, no talks of the long ahead future.

At the end end of the conclusion was simple but a bit grim. Rikas dusted his hands on each other and looked her in the eyes, with his stamped and crooked grin displayed on his face. If Addison were stronger, or dumber, it would make her want to punch him in the mouth, but he was the only one who recognized her as a person and not a thing.

He even let her stay on Earth once instead of bouncing down and then back up again.

“It appears we are ready to train your replacement. We are sending you to barter the deal.”

Before she could open her mouth to speak but just after her eyebrows shot up in recognition, her gut was falling through her. She was set up out of hell and onto the earth, landing right on the crossroad. Blinking, she met the watery hazel eyes of a woman who didn’t look to be that much older than herself. She was also thankful that in rare form, they had moved her gently and landed her on her feet.

Addison could tell the woman was old enough. An actual woman; an adult, someone who likely worked for a living with all the responsibility that went with it. But she couldn’t help but notice the babyness in her face as well.

Not that it mattered much. Only in so much as it could be used to relate and get her way before the end of the night. Perhaps, she thought, if she finished it fast enough she could spend extra time in the forest just this once.

The woman looked at Addison with her hands at limp at her sides and her mouth pursed. A dull pressure behind Addison's eyes told her she probably looked a mess. She was exhausted, had bounced from realm to realm, and the sun wasn’t exactly shining at the moment.

Aware of her squint, she tried to soften her face. She had made deals before and knew the drill, especially when it came to not being an actual demon. She needed to look soft, honest, and pliable. She needed to actually be none of those.

She didn’t actually know why they sent her when the only deals she closed were from those who were already desperate and needed no bargain. But here she was.

“You?” the woman asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Me and my name is Addy.” The words came without much effort on the girl's part. There had been so much training that it was automatic.

“You’re the demon I summoned?” the woman probed further. Her disbelief was palpable and almost insulting. She raised an eyebrow and immediately let it drop. Despite the apparent disapproval of her liaison, the woman still managed to have some sense.

Addison could feel the duality pulling something out in her. She didn’t want to be standing on the dirt road in the middle of the night and she didn’t want to barter for souls or babies or anything else. She didn’t want to run errands or the hag or sweep the floor of hell or dig holes for faires.

More than any of that, she didn’t want to be doubted on something she had spent a third of her life doing. More than that, this woman only saw her face.

Rikas was handsome, sure, but she knew several of the crossroads demons took childish forms just to disarm humans. Sure- this one sad woman wouldn’t know all of that, but it didn’t stop the wave of rebellion from rising.

“I am more than sufficient. If you are not interested in making a deal, you are free to make your way back home now.”

Defiance echoed both ways. The woman pulled her arms up to her chest, shifting her weight to one leg. “I didn’t spend a small fortune on the contents of that box to be sent back home like a scolded child.”

A taste of her own medicine, huh? the thought yelled inside Addison's chaotic mind.

“I’m listening.” She spit the words, as cooly as she could muster, and proceeded to mirror the woman's body language.