by Cassandra
She grimaced slightly at the thought and looked around for the pastor. She still wanted to talk to him. Naturally, he was now already speaking with someone else.
When she turned once more, her parents marched toward her.
“You two get home safely now,” Theresa advised. Her brow was furrowed and Jessica could tell that, like everyone else, her mom had been disturbed by the strange man and his creepy outburst. She pulled Jessica into a hug and glanced toward Ethel. “Mother, how are you?”
“I’m fine, child. Just fine,” the other woman replied, although her expression still looked a little preoccupied. She continued to stare off into the distance in the direction the man had taken.
Mark put his hand on Theresa’s shoulder. “I’ll get the car started.”
“No need. I’m right behind you.” Theresa hesitated. She seemed to want to say more to Jessica, but she was not quite sure what to say. Instead, she simply squeezed her daughter’s arm. “Well. I’ll see you later, sweetheart. Call me, okay?”
“All right.” She watched her parents head to the parking lot before she turned back to her grandmother. “Grandma, who was that man?”
“That, girly, is what you call an Aquiel.”
“A what?”
“An Aquiel. It’s a kind of demon.”
Jessica gasped. “That man…was a demon?” Her mind whirled. She knew demons to be huge, ugly creatures. They had scaly skin the color of street tar and smelled like sulfur.
That man, on the other hand, was no such creature.
He had…well, had been a man. A human.
“Oh yeah, he was a demon all right,” Ethel confirmed. “Not all of them look like deep-fried, overgrown lizards, you know.”
“No. Actually, I didn’t know.” She frowned at her grandmother. Of all the things she’d learned so far about the magical world, this was by far the most disturbing.
If demons could look like humans, that meant they could literally be anywhere.
“Well, now you do.” The old lady shrugged as if such a startling revelation was no big deal. “Aquiels are the laziest of the demons,” she continued when she saw the stupefied look on her granddaughter’s face. “You see, they only work one day a week—Sundays, naturally. They get a real kick out of degrading the Sabbath, the sickos.”
Jessica tilted her head in genuine curiosity. “So all they do is go around disrupting church services on Sunday afternoons? Well, I guess that isn’t too bad, right? I mean, other demons go around trying to kill people. A demon that only yells at people after church? Heck, it’s almost funny by comparison.”
Grandma Ethel shook her head. “No, no. Don’t be fooled,” she warned. “There’s nothing funny about it. If an Aquiel possesses the wrong person, things can get downright ugly. Imagine if he possessed a senator. What if he passed some kind of bill that made it mandatory for everyone to work seven days a week? Why, no one would have time for church. Religion would die. Faith would be lost. It would be a slippery slope, to say the least. Your friend Pastor Norman told me that particular Aquiel shows up for him every week, but every time, the thing is in a different body so the good pastor can never keep track of him. Evil genius, it is. The worst kind. Ain’t that right, Pastor?”
“Oh, yes. Unfortunately.”
Jessica turned quickly. Pastor Norman stood behind her and looked decidedly glum.
“I would have gone after him myself but…” Ethel leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I tried to be respectful. I didn’t want to cause too much of a ruckus out here at your place of worship.”
“I understand, Ms. Ethel. Trust me, I do.” He cleared his throat. “I won’t let him get away this time, though.” He glanced quickly at Jessica. “Good to see you, Jessica.” With that, he hurried away.
“Pastor, wait!” she cried, but her voice was drowned out by another unexpected hoot.
The owl from earlier had resurfaced. The bird flapped large and majestic wings and flew in a wide loop. It passed Jessica and Ethel again.
“You look quite lovely today, Ethel!”
Grandma Ethel grinned and gave a slight bow toward the bird. “Why, thank you, darling!”
With raised eyebrows, Jessica watched as the owl flew after Pastor Norman.
She rubbed her temples. Witches, demons, and imps. Talking cats. Demons disguised as people. And now a talking owl? How much weirder can the magical world get?
Chapter Three
“Well, it looks like Pastor is on the case. The Aquiel won’t stand a chance.” Ethel clapped her hands together. “Come on, then. Let’s get moving. I have things to do and places to be.” She headed back to her car.
Jessica followed her grandma and climbed into the passenger seat. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. Yet, even with more important things to consider, she couldn’t suppress a snicker as she watched the old lady adjust her rearview mirror.
“What’s so funny?”
She shook her head.
“Don’t you shake your head at me, girl. Spill it.”
“Nothing…it’s only that you’re looking awfully nice. Especially since you’re just picking me up from church. It’s almost as if you hoped to catch someone’s eye. Somebody like…oh, I dunno. Pastor Norman, for instance.”
Jessica almost thought she was hallucinating, but she was fairly certain her grandmother blushed.
“Oh, you hush now with that nonsense.”
“If it’s nonsense, why are you blushing, Grandma?”
“I am not blushing!”
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh? Then what’s that on your cheeks? Makeup? That’s even more incriminating! You put makeup on for the pastor? Grandma!”
“You are my granddaughter and I love you dearly. But don’t think I won’t push you clean out of this car and leave your behind on the road.”
Jessica pressed her lips together and fought to hold in her laughter. Another snicker escaped her lips anyway.
Ethel glanced sideways at her granddaughter. “If you must know, Little Miss Nosey-Pants, I’m dressed nicely today because I have a meeting.”
“A meeting? With whom? What kind of meeting?”
“A meeting with the ladies of my knitting circle.”
She stared at the side of the old lady’s face. “Are you serious?”
“Serious as a heart attack.”
“The ladies of the knitting circle.” Jessica laughed. “You want me to believe you’re dressed up for the ladies of the knitting circle? Okay, Grandma. Okay.”
“Oh, ha, ha. Believe what you will, child. I have nothing I need to explain to the likes of you.” Ethel proceeded to mumble something under her breath.
While she had enjoyed the laugh, her thoughts soon drifted back to more pressing concerns. She might not have been able to talk to Pastor Norman, but she could at least try to talk to her grandmother.
Grandma Ethel hummed a little tune as she drove and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel.
Jessica cleared her throat. “So.” Her mind worked rapidly in an effort to determine how to start the conversation. “The owl. Was that Pastor Norman’s familiar?”
“Yep.”
Good. This conversation was going well. “When do new witches get to pick a familiar?”
“It doesn’t work like that. You don’t choose a familiar. They choose you. And it simply happens when it happens. There’s no timeline for it.”
“Hmm.” She paused for a moment and tried to imagine how her next question would sound out loud. “So can…like, anything be a familiar? Like an imp, for instance. Can imps be familiars?”
Ethel barked a laugh. “Who would want a ridiculous thing like an imp for a familiar?”
Jessica laughed nervously. “No one, I’m talking hypothetically. Can it happen?”
Her grandmother thought about that and nodded. “Yeah, I suppose that could happen to some unfortunate soul. Why do you ask?”
She swallowed awkwardly. “No reason.” Her voice was too high an
d her face grew warm. She coughed and hoped that would disguise the way her voice had risen. “It’s um…fascinating, that’s all.”
“If you say so.”
Jessica stared out the window again. She liked the idea of having a familiar, but she grimaced when she remembered the way the imp had claimed to be hers. She now hoped more than anything that the creature hadn’t been serious. Hopefully, he’d only said it to talk his way out of being knocked around with a baseball bat.
While she might not have been entirely sure whether she wanted to practice magic or live as a mundane, she knew for certain that she would be eternally embarrassed if she had to go through life with an ugly imp as her familiar. How would that look? The granddaughter of Ethel Libbons with an imp following her around forever. She had hoped for something normal like a dog or cat. Or even something cute like a hamster.
But an imp?
Did it have something to do with what kind of witch she would be? What were the chances that good witches got cool familiars and lousy witches ended up with silly things like imps?
The thought caused butterflies that felt like bats to flap through her stomach.
“What’s eating at you, child?”
“Huh?” Jessica realized her frustrated sigh hadn’t only been inside her head. “Nothing.”
“Girl, I won’t warn you twice about lying to me. I see right through you. Remember that.”
I sure hope not. Jessica squirmed in her seat. “There’s been a lot on my mind lately. That’s all.”
“Such as?”
“Stuff.”
“Wow, honey. That’s so descriptive.”
Jessica sighed again, more heavily this time. “Give me a minute Grandma.” She pulled out her cell phone, flipped through a few screens, and found the note-taking app. It might be a good idea to make a “pros” and “cons” list to help her decide whether being a witch was a good idea or not. She started a new note and added having a cool familiar to one side and having an imp to the other. She looked at her grandmother. “Does my mom have a familiar?” she asked.
Grandma Ethel’s easygoing expression suddenly tightened. Her lips pressed together into a thin line. “You’ll have to ask her that yourself, my dear.”
She was taken aback by her grandma’s response. “But don’t you know? Or is it because she gave up being a witch? When you choose not to be a witch, do you not get things like familiars? Or does your familiar disappear? Mom doesn’t really like to talk about this stuff. I mean, I know she thought living as a mundane was safer for us, but I don’t know. I feel like there’s more to the story. Something she’s not telling me.”
Ethel continued driving, stone-faced.
“Grandma, I know you know. Tell me. Please. Why isn’t my mom a witch?”
The old lady shook her head obstinately. “I’m sorry. You’ll have to ask her that yourself. These are conversations the two of you need to have. It’s not my place to blab on your mother’s behalf.”
Jessica sighed and leaned back against her seat. It seemed like getting the answers she wanted would be a lot harder than she expected. She began to feel a strong pang of annoyance. What was with the secrecy running rampant in her family? Wasn’t it enough that they kept so much from her for so long in the first place? Now that she was finally somewhat in the loop, they made getting the answers she needed even more difficult. It wasn’t fair.
She had half a mind to voice some of her frustration out loud when her phone buzzed and interrupted her thoughts. With a scowl, she fished it back out of her pocket. It was a text from her friend Kacey asking if she wanted to go out to the movies.
“Is that Chad? I’ve waited to hear from the boy and find out what he’s up to,” Ethel asked.
Jessica shook her head. “No. It’s my friend, Kacey, asking if I want to go to a movie tonight.” Her fingers danced across her phone screen as she quickly replied that a movie sounded good to her. “I’ll see what Eric, Ashley, and Sara are up to. They’ll probably want to come along.”
“Does this Kacey happen to be a girl or a boy, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Kacey’s a boy. Why?” Jessica added Eric, Ashley, and Sara to the message to extend the invitation to them.
Ethel chortled. “Oh, my poor girl, you are a clueless one, aren’t you?”
She stopped before she’d finished the message to her friends. “Excuse me? Clueless? What are you talking about?”
Ethel gave an exaggerated sigh. “Honey, use that noggin’ of yours!” She reached sideways and poked Jessica in the forehead. “This Kacey boy asked you out to a movie, not a whole group of friends.”
“Yeah, so? He knows my other friends. He won’t care if they come along.”
“Oh, I bet he will.”
“No, he won’t.”
“Trust me, he will.”
“And what makes you think that?”
“Jessica Palmers, you’re too old to be so naïve. I see I’ll have to spell it out for you. Listen to me carefully. The boy is asking you out on a date. One-on-one.”
Her eyes bulged and her phone slipped from her hand to fall onto her lap. She shook her head vigorously. “H-he… Wait. No, he’s… He wouldn’t… Kacey never…”
“Bless you, child. You’re so new at this.” Grandma Ethel shook her head and laughed. “I can’t even remember being as innocent as you. That was so long ago.” She sighed. “Not only do I have to teach you about magic, but clearly, I have to teach you about boys and dating too. No grandchild of mine will walk around oblivious to the ways of the world.”
Jessica stared at her phone as she tried to think of a way to un-send the group message she had sent. An uncomfortable squirming feeling went through her stomach. It had never occurred to her that Kacey had any interest in her in that way. Now, the mere thought made her so nervous that she felt she absolutely needed her other friends to come along to ease the tension.
“Mark my words,” Grandma Ethel continued, “little Kacey wants you to go to the movies with him, not your whole posse.”
She scoffed. While she might not have much experience in the dating game, something told her she didn’t want her eighty-something-year-old grandmother to be the one to give her advice.
“What? You kids don’t use that word anymore? Posse?” Ethel asked.
Jessica couldn’t be bothered to respond. She needed a more reliable source to analyze the Kacey situation and started another group message. This time, she excluded Kacey and only sent it to Sara, Ashley, and Eric.
Her fingers moved a mile a minute as she typed. Hey. Don’t laugh. I know this sounds weird…but…have any of u ever heard anything about Kacey liking me? Like, liking-liking me? U don’t think he was asking me out on a date, do u?
After she’d pressed send, she bit her bottom lip and eagerly awaited their responses. Normally, one of them would respond right away.
At that moment, to Jessica’s frustration, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Exactly as Pastor Norman suspected, the Aqueil hadn’t entirely left the premises. He zeroed in on the demon, who now mingled with the few scattered churchgoers who still hung about. The pastor was determined to end the demon once and for all.
Under the guise of putting his hands in his pocket, he reached beneath his robes to ensure that he still had a bottle of holy water and a knife on his person. Attacking the Aqueil in broad daylight would be tricky, but he would manage. He had to. There was no way he could let the blasted thing escape again.
The bothersome demon had shown up in one form or another for weeks and always caught him when he least expected it. Today, he’d had the audacity to show up right after his church service and in front of his church family, no less.
The Aqueil had officially crossed the line.
Surprisingly agile for a man of his age, Pastor Norman crossed the church lawn quickly and headed through the parking lot. His gaze remained entirely focused on the monster in disguise.
“Pastor, that was an excelle
nt sermon.”
“Huh?” He paused and turned to find Ms. Johnson, an elderly church member, smiling at him. With her wide-framed glasses and her curly gray hair blown all over her head by the wind, she resembled a frightened cartoon character.
He smiled tersely. With each passing second, the demon moved farther away. “Thank you, Ms. Johnson. You enjoy the rest of your day. I’ll see you next week, all right?” He hoped that would deter the woman from wanting to hold a whole conversation. He loved his church members dearly, but everyone knew Ms. Johnson could be particularly long-winded.
“Oh, you know I plan to be here bright and early next week, like always!”
Just as he knew she would, she began to chit-chat. Pastor Norman smiled politely but all the while, he kept his target firmly in view. The demon strolled around like he was completely at home.
The Aquiel glanced over his shoulder and looked directly at the pastor. A flash of red sparked in his eyes. The creature’s smile grew wider as he waltzed past the scattered crowd of churchgoers who hadn’t been present to witness his earlier outburst. Some of them even smiled warmly at him, assuming he was a new member of their church family.
Pastor Norman ground his teeth.
The distance between him and the Aquiel was widening rapidly, but Pastor Norman could still hear the eerie tune it whistled. On the surface, the tune had a jaunty sound to it, but anyone who listened closely would eventually hear a sinister quality lurking between the notes.
Hearing the tune drifting on the wind made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
The demon took another quick glance at the pastor. He almost seemed to be dancing as he walked. He knew precisely the effect he had on him.
“Ms. Johnson,” Pastor Norman interrupted the woman. He tried to be pleasant, but his voice was somewhat terse. “I’d love to stay and chat, I really would, but I have some business to attend to. I apologize. Have a great evening.” He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Please, get home safely now, you hear?”
With that, he hurried off before she could make a response.