Five: Out of the Dark (4 page)

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow. “And what were these activities?”

“Chemistry. At least that’s what the guy told me. But, I know a meth lab when I see one.” His mouth turned up in a mischievous grin. “I made sure to blow their little chemistry set to smithereens right before I left, though.”

“Why were you in foster care, if you don’t mind my asking?” I said.

“I don’t mind. My life’s an open book.” He set the now empty can on the floor and leaned back against the wall. “I don’t have any parents. Well, at least that I know of. All I know is that my mom abandoned me at the hospital right after I was born. I’ve lived in foster homes all my life.”

I had no idea what to say to that. So, I didn’t say anything.

Alec fell right into the routine Johnathan and I had going. We studied the white book and practiced spells for several hours every day. We exercised every day, usually by running in various parks around Seattle.

I didn’t have much time to lament the loss of one-on-one time with Johnathan. Not long after Alec joined us, we had our first run-in with a Demon—and that was when I decided having Alec around wasn’t such a bad thing. If he hadn’t been there, Johnathan and I would likely be dead. Or worse. The thought of being possessed by a Demon—having no control over my own actions, carrying out its devastating orders—that was one of the scariest things I could think of.

Demons were a mystery to me. I’d read that they were fallen angels. Malevolent spirits. They were definitely malevolent. Whatever they were, their main goal seemed to be to possess or just plain kill humans. From what I’d read in the white book, Demons weren’t supposed to be roaming around our realm, outside of the Netherworld. The reason there were some running around, it stated, was this: there were sorcerers and others who dabbled in the Dark Arts but few were strong enough to summon a Demon. Even fewer were strong enough to hold that Demon captive once summoned. Those people all thought they were strong enough, though. These dabblers in the Dark Arts would call up a Demon, thinking to force it to carry out some unsavory deed for them, and they’d end up being too weak to hold the thing inside their pentacle. Demons didn’t really like to be called up or summoned. Forced to adhere to another’s will. So, they broke out and killed whoever called them. And then they were free to roam in our realm until someone sent them back to the Netherworld. I know my dad believed in Demons, they’re even mentioned in the Bible, but he refused to talk about them, afraid just doing so would evoke one’s wrath or bring its evil upon us. Just the thought of them scared the crap out of me.

We sat in the lobby of an old hotel Underground. Johnathan and Alec were trying to convince me that Pentacles weren’t dark magic. Alec drew an almost perfect circle. As he added the five point star to the middle, its points touching the circle, he said, “Pentacles aren’t evil, Paige. They’re just a tool that can be used for either good or evil purposes. We’ll only be using them for good so relax and start practicing.”

I reluctantly picked up a piece of chalk and touched it to the ground. I blew out an anxious breath. “I can’t do it.”

Jonathan dropped his chalk to the ground and scooted over next to me. I forgot to breathe when he put his hand over mine and started drawing the symbol with my chalk. The warmth of his strong but tender hand made me forget all about thoughts of evil. All I could think about was how good his touch felt. And, as he leaned over, his leg touching mine, I breathed in his smell.

“There,” he said. He finished the pentacle but still rested his hand over mine. He raised his eyebrows and smiled a stunning half-smile. “Nothing bad happened. In fact, I’d say that felt pretty good.” He squeezed my hand.

I nodded and Alec rolled his eyes.

“Now, draw one of your own.” He slowly withdrew his hand from mine as he continued to hold my gaze.

I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. I looked down and started drawing.

The circle drawn, I started on the star and then stopped and held the chalk up off the ground. “Shh. Be quiet for a second. I hear something.”

The boys held still. Alec cocked his head like a dog, listening.

“
London Bridge is falling down …”
the British accent sang, louder as it drew closer.

A white ghost-shaped blob flew through our door. It stopped short when it saw us. The big nerd glasses it wore on its sheet-like face didn’t even budge in spite of the fact that it had no ears or nose to hold them in place.

I glanced up at the books it carried. Physics, Human Biology
,
and Psychology
.

Valedictorian wannabee.
The laugh that was forming in my throat at that thought was stopped short as a million tiny spiders of terror crept up my spine.

“There you are,” the Demon said with a slight British accent. “I knew I smelled something interesting.” The thing dropped its books and opened its mouth w-i-d-e. Johnathan dove out of the way just as its protruding jaws and rows of terrifying shark-like teeth clamped shut with a loud chomp right where his head had just been.

Rolling to his knees, he reached for his channeling rod. Alec beat him to the draw and lifted his rod, yelling an unintelligible word as he aimed for the Demon. Blue flames burst from the tip of his rod and blasted into the Demon with the force of a cannon. The creature from another realm tumbled into the wall.

It righted itself with impossible speed, and with an inhuman roar, came at us.

“Paige, circle! Alec, fight!” Johnathan yelled, dodging the several new arms and jagged claws that had erupted from the Demon’s formless body.

I drew a pentacle with shaking hands while the boys fought. I concentrated on getting the star just right.

I raised my head when the pentacle was complete and froze in panic. The Demon had Johnathan in its grasp, pulling his head toward its many-toothed mouth. That unfroze me. I screamed something like “AAAHHHHH!!” as I aimed my channeling rod right at its glasses. I didn’t take the time to form a particular spell in my mind—instinct just took over. A blast of hot air from my rod hit the Demon square in the glasses, pushed it up against the wall, and encircled it like a tornado.

The clawed arm that held Johnathan stuck out of the tornado until the wind finally whipped it around and around, faster and faster. Johnathan tucked and rolled as the Demon lost its grip on him.

The tornado didn’t last long. I used up all my energy on that one spell and I sunk to the ground, exhausted. The Demon wobbled like a drunken sailor. Taking advantage of its temporary state of dizziness, Johnathan pointed his channeling rod at it and said, “
Blow
.” A strong blast of air pushed the white blob toward the pentacle.

Alec joined, using the same spell. As soon as the Demon was within the boundaries of the circle, Alec aimed and growled, “
Bind.
”

The Demon dropped to the floor, unable to move. Johnathan pricked his finger with the tip of his pocket knife and let fall a drop of blood onto the circle. I could sense the magic as he willed the circle closed, trapping the Demon inside.

The rage exhibited by the Demon when it realized it had been trapped was incredible.

“Wow,” I exclaimed as I stared in disbelief. Rabies-like foam exploded from its mouth with every furious flip of its head. I could feel my face turning a dark shade of red at the disgusting language it screamed—even when it screamed in several different languages, I could tell the words were foul. It pushed against the pentacle barrier with a fury I’d never seen nor felt before.

“We need to combine power,” Johnathan grunted with the effort of holding the circle together.

Alec stood next to him and concentrated on the circle. I pulled the little white book from Johnathan’s backpack and flipped through the pages in search of a way to send the Demon back to the Netherworld.

“Thou doesn’t need to know a Daemon’s name when sending it back through the portal, that is only necessary when summoning,” I read aloud.

“Just get to the
sending
part, Paige. Hurry!” I could hear the strain in Alec’s voice.

The Demon realized we were going to send it back and it screamed furiously in protest. “Ye cannot send the magnificent Shalbriri back! Ye are just kids!”

My eyes widened, stunned that it had spoken its name to us. In its throes of fury, I guess it didn’t realize what it was doing.

I shook off my surprise and found the spell below where I’d just read. I joined with the boys and felt the strength of the Demon pressing against the three of us, trying to overcome us. I read the words aloud, hoping the spell would still work even though my voice was high and shaking. “
Lacio expello locus exigo
!”

The void opened, and the Demon was sucked back into its own world.

Johnathan twisted toward me; his breathing was heavy and drops of sweat trickled down his brow. Dark eyes searching mine, he lifted a hand and pushed a strand of hair away from my face. He rested his hand on my cheek. His touch caused a wave of dizziness and I reached for his arm to steady myself.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his forehead creased with worry.

The muscles of his arm were tense, yet the touch of his hand on my face was so warm and gentle. I smiled a closed lip, shaky smile.

“I’m fine. You’re the one that was nearly turned into Demon chow. Are you okay?”

He smiled, causing my stomach to do somersaults.

“I’m great,” he said in a near whisper.

That night, the three of us decided to take our practicing more seriously. We focused the majority of our efforts on learning defense and fighting skills aimed at Demons and other Netherworld beings. After a little further studying on the matter, we figured that Mr. Ghost Demon was a lesser Demon and worried that others we might have to face would be much stronger and smarter than it was. I’m not exactly sure why, but I wrote the Demon’s name in the White Book.

Another decision we made that night was that we should move our base camp around every couple of days and start using wards to keep unwanted guests out of our sleeping quarters.

That’s how Seth joined our group. We heard something come in contact with one of the protective wards we’d placed around the entrance to our new digs, then a grunt as the ward worked as planned and threw the intruder a short distance away.

Alec disabled the ward, and the three of us went out to see what we’d stopped from entering our rubble strewn shelter. We found a burly blond kid with messy hair falling in his eyes. He scrambled to his feet and put his hands out in front of him, forming a ball of light between them.

“Whoa, dude. Relax the magic, there,” Alec held a hand out and formed a
star-bright
. “You’re one of us.”

The boy dropped his hands and the light dissipated. His shoulders relaxed a little and one corner of his mouth twitched.

“I’m Johnathan, this is Alec and Paige. What’s your name?”

“Seth.” He looked at us each in turn. “Are you all … can you all, uhh, you know … do stuff?”

“Yeah, we can all do stuff,” Johnathan half-smiled.

Seth’s story was simple. Not long after he discovered his abilities, he realized they created a dangerous environment for his family. So he left.

He joined our practices and shared our living quarters as our supply of canned beans dwindled.

That same week, Johnathan returned from his search for where we would next shelter, with a small, filthy girl following closely behind him. She studied us with big green eyes—one of them peeking from behind a strand of shoulder length brown hair.

“Halli, this is Paige, Alec, and Seth.” Johnathan pointed each of us out to her.

“Hi, guys.” She stepped up and shook each of our hands with a strong grip. She wasn’t as timid as she appeared.

“Halli’s like us,” Johnathan said, smiling down at her.

“Where’d you come from?” Alec asked.

Her face screwed up in concentration before she shook her head and stared down at the ground. “I don’t remember.”

Johnathan put a hand on her shoulder. “I found her curled up in a dark corner, shaking and confused. She only remembers her age and her name. Nothing else before waking up in that corner.”

“Oh,” I said, very near tears for the young girl. “That must have been terrifying. Are you hurt? Hungry?” I stepped up to her and wrapped my arms around her in a hug. The top of her head didn’t even reach my chin.

She leaned into me for a minute before answering. “I’m not hurt, just dirty. And, yes, I’m starving.”

Seth got her a can of beans. We were all a little surprised to find out she was thirteen years old, I would have guessed closer to nine or ten.

The addition of Seth and Halli strengthened our team, but the food situation was becoming dire. We were down to just a week’s worth of beans.