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“It’s holy water and treats all manner of demon and supernatural wounds.”
“I thought it was only useful as a demon repellant?”
“Oh, it does that too, but it can’t be beaten as a disinfectant. I recommend you get some for the first aid kit, especially when you’re on babysitting duties.”
She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. It struck me that I had no idea how close she and Dad were to Juli’s kids, let alone if they actually babysat them.
To be honest, I couldn’t actually imagine my dad having the time or the patience.
I slipped the near-empty bottle back into my pack, then walked across to where Belle stood at the spirit point of the pentagram and took off my boots and socks. Being grounded wasn’t necessary for this sort of ceremony, but there was something within that just said “Do it.” I wasn’t about to gainsay it. Not when the last time we’d summoned a demon had almost ended in disaster.
The warm pulse of the earth’s heat pressed against my feet, the sensation oddly welcoming. I dug my toes into the soft but gritty soil and somehow felt connected to the deeper, wilder power of the earth.
Illusion, of course, but it was nevertheless a comforting one. Especially given what we were about to attempt.
The four men took the other points while Mom, Ava, and Samuel positioned themselves close to the outer salt ring.
We lit the candles, then activated our protection spells. The air filled with so much power the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Ava had placed a containment dome over the clearing to mute the force of the magic we were raising, but I had to wonder if she’d known just how much power this many protection circles would emit.
If it wasn’t successfully contained, it would be a beacon to the wraith if he became aware of what we were attempting, and it would definitely override any draws or subterfuges Ashworth and Eli might have placed at Hattie’s place.
Belle placed the two sheets of paper at her feet, lightly stood on them to prevent them blowing away, then linked to me.
“Right,” she said, more for the benefit of everyone else than me, “make the connection, Liz.”
I drew the watch from the plastic bag, wrapped my fingers around it, and then unleashed my psychometry. This was the tricky bit—the bit we were uncertain would actually work. As my “other” sight leapt across the psychic lines, chasing the faintly pulsing thread that connected the watch to its owner, I raised the map and stared at it, trying to force a location reveal via the map rather than my usual method of physically chasing the link in a car or on foot.
For several extremely long seconds, nothing happened.
Then, without warning, something within me shifted, and a line on the map began to glow, moving across its surface, following the network of roads in the same manner I might have had I been in a car, working its way from our location to an area on the other side of Canberra.
Then it stopped and spun, as if trying to recatch the trail. The sharp movement had my stomach churning, but I gripped the watch tighter and, after a second, the spinning stopped and pointed at a street, then a house. Against all the odds, it had worked.
“I have his location.” I quickly gave Samuel the address and then added, “Now, Belle; start now.”
She deepened the connection between us, telepathically following the faintly pulsing psychic line to our target as she began the summoning.
As the four men echoed her words, the connection sharpened, and just for an instant, I felt the caress of evil.
The demon now knew it was being summoned, but the spell was far enough along that it could not warn its master.
Despite my connection with Belle, I had no insight into the mind of the man the demon inhabited. No idea if Russel still existed, or whether, despite all our conjecture, his soul had been consumed the minute the demon had taken him over.
In all honesty, I didn’t care either way. The man brokered dangerous spells, and if he was stupid enough to make a bargain with a dark sorcerer, then he deserved his fate.
Light speared up from the pentagram’s five points and met above the metal eggcups to form a cage-like structure. As the summoning spell deepened and the force of its demand grew stronger, the center of the pentagram began to shimmer and boil.
The penultimate line of the summoning began. As the weight of the spell grew heavier and the thick scent of evil now stained the air, a figure began to form in the center of the pentagram, just above the metal cups. It was small and scaly, with taloned fingers and toes and a body that was twisted and odd-looking. It was still fighting the summoning, the air around it a churning mass as it twisted and turned, pulling at Belle’s strength but not her determination. As she spoke the final line of the summoning, the demon screamed and took the offering. He was ours.
“Three answers you have,” he said, his voice a harsh scratch of sound that hurt my ears. “What you wish?”
“I need the name of the other demon or demons your master has with him.”
It hissed but nevertheless gave us a name. Relief stirred through me. One was better than the two or three we had feared.
“And where is your master now?” Belle asked.
“Know not. Release restriction.”
