Stephie had shut the shower off just in time to hear the knock on the door, and Marie's squeal of delight as she took off toward it. "Josie!" she shrieked, sticking her dripping head around her ensuite door. "Don't let Marie answer the door!"
"It's not a demon," said Josie, slowly peeling herself off Stephie's bed, where she'd been reading a magazine and trying to block out Marie's xylophone noise. Josie's nonchalance forced an enraged squawk out of Stephie, which had been Josie's intention.
Josie's best technique for dealing with an over-anxious, traumatised best friend was to wind her up whenever a possibility of danger presented itself in an effort to prove that not every possibility of danger turned cataclysmic. In her calmer moments, Stephie pointed out this was a bad technique and was probably going to get her stabbed in the face.
But Josie still made it to the front door before Marie, because Marie had to stop to open the child-proof gates on the stairs, and Josie could just step right over them.
She checked through the peephole in the door, because while it definitely wasn't supernatural, whoever was on the other side could still be a Templar, and Josie wasn't stupid. She'd never been the kidnapped, only the kidnapper, and wanted to keep that particular status quo.
Josie opened the door to Jude and Parker with an actual smile on her face, and a suddenly shy red-headed toddler attached to her leg.