I woke in the early afternoon. My mind felt heavy. It took me a long time to fight through it to wake up. I availed myself to a hot shower as I tried to straighten out my thoughts. I needed to confront Lanie about what Mother accused her of. Had she lied to me or was Mother just twisting her words? I leaned my head against the wall as the water ran down my shoulders. I didn't know who to trust. I didn't know what to do anymore. It felt like every move I made was the wrong one. I needed to make a choice.I dug down deep, replaying Mother's words, Lanie's, and Remi's over in my mind. I even played Angie's... wait Angie."Angie," I said, my voice clear in the hot steam of the shower. "Angie," I repeated with force, picturing him in my mind."You are not supposed to be able to summon me," his deep angelic voice echoed. I could see his tall muscular frame silhouetted through the shower curtain."Shit, it worked," I said."You are not dying. And you are naked. I should be going.""Wait
LanieI stood in front of my summoning circle. This was my third one, but my first one solo. I looked around at the runes. I had no idea what they meant, but I knew they would work. Around the circle I set up this demon's favorite things. It was the best way to convince the demon to come. This one seemed to like Doritos, bunny ears, and chocolate pudding. I'm not sure what that was all about, but I didn't make the rules.I raised my arms before me like I was praising the lord, which I thought was sort of funny since I was definitely not doing that. "Irma, Destroyer of Worlds. I summon you. I beg your appearance. I offer you a trade. I beseech you, please, grant me an audience."The wind whipped through the scraggly pine trees. It was the best nexus point I could find given my options in Utah. I didn't dare go near the big one, there was way too much witchery going over there.The runes glowed green as the circle ignited. It transferred a little bit of my power in trade for the demo
I could feel the power crawling inside me. It crept beneath my skin like small worms creeping and searching for an escape. I pictured my skin like an iron shell of armor keeping them in. It calmed the movement, but increased my squeamishness. I burst open through front door of our house. It was a small two bedroom rental that backed up to a large forest, a forest that just happened to include the biggest nexus point on land in the United States. That was not actually a coincidence as I was instantly reminded when my knees banged into the couch.I went flipping forward over it and land square on my ass in the middle of the living room. I was getting tired of this new arrangement already. Mother insisted that everything line up with the ley line. I think in the grand scheme of things, a few households that weren't in line with feng shu was not going to make that much different with power flow, but when Mother insisted, I didn't argue. It wasn't worth the fight."Are you just getting in
I went to bed early in the morning thinking about my Pandora. If all my bad pieces were stashed away, then how come I couldn't learn new things very well? Why did words get all messed up when I read them? I just didn't feel like I was the very best of everything. That must prove I had bad luck.That got me thinking. Wouldn't the best version of me, the perfect daughter, as Mother had said, be even better if I had good Karma? All the good things would happen to me and then I would really be able to impress her. I'd never get another one of those condescending speeches about how I could do better.I wondered how hard it would be to summon Karma. I could call it an experiment. Like one of those practical's they talked about on those TV shows about school. Yeah, I could do a summoning spell on my own with no guidance. And Mother said I shouldn't let fear hold me back. What did I have to lose? Karma would be just like any other spell. And If I did it, then maybe Mother would even be impre
I lifted my hands in the air as I stood at the edge of the summoning circle. The rich smell of incense filled my nostrils. I hoped it was enough to attract Karma to me."I, Alaina Grey, summon the great and mighty Karma. Force of Nature, Goddess of will, fate, and knowledge. I offer up these items in trade for a blessed karma upon me. Please, I beseech you, grant me your presence."As I spoke, I leaked power into my words. I could feel it entering the circle. The circle lit with a purple glow. The light turned into a purple cloud that swirled into the center. I couldn't believe it, but it was working. Either I had done something really right or Karma was as bored as shit.The purple cloud solidified into a curvy form. A tanned-skinned dark-haired beauty stepped forth. She wore a golden dress that clung to her form and draped about her with sashes of cloth. Her nose was sharp and hawk like, but her eyes... her eyes were dark and hard just like the picture.I bowed my head in respect
We walked across the cloud covered sand. I kept the sun to our left as we walked. It didn't slip lower on the horizon. Instead, it just hung at the edge casting its golden rays across the clouds. The sky above lit in the most beautiful pinks and purples while the clouds in the distance were rimmed with golden edges.Eventually, a mountain of clouds grew before us. I walked with determined steps with my guardian angel at my side. When the mountain loomed ahead, a rectangular entrance into the mountain glowed. I shot Angandriel a look, but his face remained stoic. The clouds swirled away from my feet as I walked.When I finally stood beneath the threshold, I breathed in sharply. The doorway was so far above my head. It looked like it was an entrance for giants. I cast another look at Angandriel, but he just walked through like it was no big deal. I wondered if Heaven looked like this and he was used to seeing things like it.I followed after him at a trot. The ceiling of the mountain
I stood in the threshold to the next arena. I could feel Angandriel's presence behind me. It felt huge and ominous, but also full of light. I pulled my mind away from his distracting aura. Ahead of us stood another circular arena. At the center was another stone statue, but this one was closer to our height. I walked forward with Angandriel at my back. This arena was lined with mirrors on holders. They could be tilted up and down. They all pointed at the figure in the center.As we got closer I could see the figure more clearly. Snakes protruded from the head with their mouths open showing their fangs. The figure had a female bosom and a snake like tail. Her fingers were raised with claws sticking out at them. In front of her another pedestal held a new weapon. I looked down the shiny edge of the axe blade. I remembered the stories of Medusa from Greek mythology. Don't look directly at her or you turn to stone and cut off her head to kill her. This was going to be fun.I grabbed the
We passed through to the final arena, at least, that was my hope. Before going more than a few steps, I looked around. Four pedestals lay out on the edges of the arena. At the center, a huge blob of stone sat like a mountain."How much do you want to bet that that thing comes to life when I touch the first pedestal?" I asked."I don't bet."I sighed in exasperation. "Seriously?""I'm always serious."I smacked him on the chest with the flat of my hand. It did nothing except hurt my hand. How could a teenager be so hard? I shook it out as I looked around. I was going to try and be smart this time. I walked to the first pedestal, keeping my distance in case I triggered it. I wasn't ready for this monster yet. The first pedestal held six blades. They were all different colors and sizes. They looked incomplete, none had handles or anything to hold on to.I walked to the next pedestal. I held pieces of what looked to be a hilt. They were laid out neatly. I could see the handle part, t