by Cassandra
She had yet to master spells of any kind and couldn’t even use magic to change the color of her shoelaces. How could she hope to use mind-compulsion on anyone? Even if she could, she needed to start off simple. To try to alter the memories Kacey, Sara, Ashley, and Eric all at once was far more than she could hope to handle. If she considered using convincing spells on anyone, she should probably start off with something simple, like persuading Ms. Mitchell to release her from detention.
While she waited for Pastor Norman, her fingers slid across her phone screen and pulled up the pages from Grandma Ethel’s book. Spare time was going to become increasingly hard to come by, so she might as well make good use of what she had. She enlarged the pages and began to read through them, curious to see how much of it she could understand.
The more she read, the more curious she became. According to the book, convincing and persuasions spells were all about eye contact, and their effectiveness was directly proportional to the power of the witch who used them. In other words, the stronger the witch, the stronger the spell.
Attempting a convincing spell sounded like the perfect opportunity to discover exactly how much magical potential she really had. If she understood correctly, it seemed to be a fairly simple spell. According to the text, a powerful witch could merely look someone in the eye and make the spells work. The spells involved concentrating as much as possible on the thought one intended to implant in the other person’s head. After a period of first repeating the thought in his or her head, the witch was to voice the thought out loud in a clear and confident tone. The thought was to be voiced out loud until the other person actually repeated the thought themselves. If they did not willingly repeat the thought, the witch was to instruct them to do so. If the witch could maintain eye contact, it all seemed easy enough.
To Jessica, it sounded like an advanced form of hypnosis. Now, all she needed was someone to practice on. She looked up from her phone and stared out her window. Obviously, she needed a safe target but couldn’t think of a single soul who fit the bill.
She laughed to herself. If that imp she’d seen was really her familiar, she could certainly use his services now. He would be the perfect guinea pig for a little convincing spell. Jessica’s heart skipped a beat when a loud pop sounded in her Jeep. It was like a cork being pulled from a wine bottle. She yelped when none other than the imp appeared on the dashboard. He looked at her, clearly disgruntled.
It was definitely the same imp, all right. Jessica could tell from his ugly little face and the bald patch on his head. He did, however, look a little different. His cheeks were puffy, which gave them a somewhat swollen appearance. At first, she thought something was wrong with him. Maybe his face was swollen due to some kind of allergic reaction. Then she realized his cheeks were puffed because his mouth was full of food.
“I was right in the middle of dinner, you know?” He scowled and spoke around his stuffed mouth. He stood before her and tapped his left foot impatiently while he chewed. With a big gulp, he swallowed whatever had been in his mouth.
“What are you? How did you? What… Why are you here?” Jessica stammered.
“Why am I here? You tell me! I was perfectly content to enjoy my meal. Well, somewhat content. Of course, I now have to endure constant teasing from the other imps because of you. They keep making fun of me about this.” He pointed to the bald spot on top of his head.
“I’m sorry, but what was I supposed to do? Leave the sticker on your head?”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re a witch. Act like it. You could have magicked it off and left my hair unharmed.”
“I don’t know spells yet.”
The creature rolled his eyes again and mumbled incomprehensibly under his breath. Jessica couldn’t make out what he said, but she was sure it was something along the lines of being cursed to be the familiar of a pathetic and useless young witch.
A long and uncomfortable silence stretched between them. Her racing heart began to slow back down to normal. This was now the third time she’d seen the imp. Unlike the previous two times, she wasn’t afraid. It had become abundantly clear that the little creature wouldn’t hurt her.
Heck, thus far, she had been the one to hurt him. While she was normally repulsed by the little creatures, she actually felt a little sorry for her behavior toward this one.
“Are you really my familiar?” she asked and broke the silence.
He sighed. “Of course, I am,” he responded dramatically. “Why else would I be here? For fun? Besides, didn’t you call me?”
“No.”
The imp gave her a questioning look.
“Well, I didn’t call for you. I sort of…thought about you. Wished you were here.”
“Same difference.” He waved his hand. “Now, what do you want? Or did you simply want to get a good look at your handiwork?” He gestured to his bald spot once more.
Jessica shook her head. “Wait, wait. Hold on a second. How exactly does this work? Do all familiars magically show up when they’re thought about, or summoned, or whatever?”
“No, only the good ones.” He folded skinny arms. “I figured I needed to prove myself to you—you know, considering the way you keep trying to kill me every chance you get.”
“I never tried to…” Jessica’s voice trailed off. She couldn’t even finish that lie. The truth was that she most certainly had wanted to kill him the first time she’d seen him. “Whatever. I’m sorry. Anyway, what other things can you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean as a familiar. Like, what do you do? What’s your purpose? I’m really not sure what familiars are supposed to be or do.” She thought back to Grace, the familiar she had known the longest. She had never really seen her actively help Grandma Ethel with anything. In fact, she merely seemed like a talking house pet with expensive taste in food. Nothing more, nothing less. All she did was hang around as far as Jessica could tell.
“What’s my purpose?” The imp frowned and shook his head. “You’ll have to be more specific than that. I don’t know what you’re asking me.”
“Forget it then.” She wasn’t even sure what she was trying to ask. Jessica paused to collect her thoughts. “When I first met you, you were with a demon. What’s up with that? How do I know I can trust you? Why were you outside the neighbor’s house that night? Are you trying to set me up?”
“I was outside the house that night because I wanted to meet my witch. Is that too much to ask? How could I have known the meeting would end up being so complicated.”
“But why were you with a demon?”
“Are you kidding me? I wasn’t with the demon. The blasted thing tried to eat me if you didn’t notice!”
“Why was the demon there then?”
The creature threw his hands in the air in exasperation. “The heck if I know. To eat me as an appetizer, and you as the main course, I reckon. What is this, an interrogation? Do you think I sent a demon after you and risked getting eaten on purpose?”
Jessica frowned. She eyed him carefully and couldn’t deny that his expression looked genuine. Something intuitively told her that he wasn’t dangerous—or in league with demons for that matter.
Somehow, she knew he was telling the truth. The question of why that demon had been there that night remained unanswered.
“I guess I’ll have to ask Pastor Norman about that.”
The demon nodded. “Ahh. I’ve heard of him. Is he here?” He looked around.
“Not yet. He’s on his way.”
As the words left her mouth, a vehicle pulled into the parking lot. Jessica was relieved to see that it was the pastor himself behind the driver’s wheel. “As a matter of fact, there he is now. Thank God.”
She pressed the button to unlock the doors of her Jeep and the imp hopped down from the dashboard.
“What are you doing? Where are you going?” she asked abruptly and stopped immediately.
The imp blinked at her. “What do you think? I’m goin
g with you. I want to meet Pastor Norman. The man has quite a reputation. I need to introduce myself.”
“No, you don’t,” Jessica snapped.
His eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
She swallowed. While she might have slowly warmed to the imp—and thus slowly accepted the fact that he was her familiar—she wasn’t ready to reveal this information to anyone else yet. She vividly remembered her grandmother’s reaction when she had asked if it was possible for imps to be witch’s familiars.
Ridiculous. That’s what Grandma Ethel said about such a thing. Needless to say, she felt like she still needed some time before she could spring her imp on anyone.
“Are you ashamed of me?” the imp asked as though reading her thoughts.
“No,” she lied. “I just… I need to speak to Pastor Norman in private, that’s all. So please stay here.”
“You invite him to an ice cream shop to speak to him in private? Sure. A likely story.” The creature began to mumble once more, clearly annoyed. He stayed put, nonetheless.
Jessica wondered if familiars were required to always obey orders from their witch. There was so much she still needed to learn about them.
She hopped out of her Jeep, slammed the door behind her, and hurried across the parking lot to the other car. “Pastor Norman!”
He had turned off the engine and climbed out from behind the driver’s wheel. “Jessica?” He squinted at her through the darkness. The sun had fully set. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. But Pastor, the demon escaped.” She lowered her head. “I’m sorry. It was right there in the ice cream shop with us, but suddenly, it was gone. I didn’t see where it went.”
He slammed his hand onto the roof of his car.
“I’m so sorry, Pastor.”
“Oh no, Jessica. I’m not upset with you. I’m merely tired of this demon. It’s too slippery for its own good. Every time I think I’m close to nailing it, the thing slips right through my fingers. This one has proved to be one of the trickiest demons I’ve ever hunted, by far.”
“Well, what does it want? Why is it here?”
“I’ve asked myself those same questions.” Pastor Norman’s lips pressed into a grim line as he stared off into the distance. “I suspect there could be a rogue coven that’s behind this, but I’m not entirely sure.” He sighed. “Actually, I think we should talk to Ethel about it. She tends to have good insight into these kinds of things.”
Jessica reflected on how knowledgeable her grandma had seemed to be about Aquiel demons when she first explained to her what they were. “Yeah, I think so too. It’s late, but I’m sure my grandma is still up waiting for me.” Besides, Grandma Ethel would never turn down a chance to see you, Jessica added in her head. “Let’s go.”
“Hold on, Jessica,” he called as Jessica was about to head back to her Jeep.
She stopped and turned to him. “Yes, Pastor?”
“There’s actually something else I want to talk to you about. Seeing how busy I’ve been lately, now is the perfect time for me to mention it. I’m not sure when I’ll have the chance to discuss it later.”
Jessica eyed him curiously, wondering what was on his mind. She wracked her brain in an attempt to recall if she had done anything that warranted a good lecture but couldn’t think of anything.
“What is it, Pastor?” she asked nervously.
His expression grew stern, which made her all the more nervous about what he might possibly say. “Jessica, after much consideration, I seriously want you to think about joining the church.”
She blinked. That hadn’t at all been what she expected to hear. She raised her eyebrows.
Join the church? Oh no. Is he going senile?
“Pastor Norman. I’m a part of the church already. My parents and I have come to your church for years. You know that.”
“No, no,” he interrupted. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Oh. You mean like a junior clergy member or something?”
He chuckled. “Is that something you’re interested in?”
Jessica gulped. She had no desire to be a preacher, but she wasn’t sure how to say so without sounding rude. “I, uh…don’t think I’d be… I honestly don’t think I’d be any good at—”
Pastor Norman waved his hand. “Relax. That’s not what I’m asking you either.” The easygoing smile slid from his face and he fixed her with a stern look. “I can’t ignore it any longer, Jessica. You have extraordinary potential as a young witch. More than you know. I can see it in you, in the way you handle yourself and keep a cool head under pressure. Not to mention the way you’ve managed to deal with full grown demons and imps on your own. You’re special, Jessica. I could use your services. The world is turning upside down and I need young minds like Chad, Roger, and you to help me sort it all out.”
Her mouth went dry. She suddenly wished that he had asked her to be a preacher. That seemed like the easier conversation to have. She shifted uncomfortably and fidgeted with her fingernails, all too aware of his gaze.
On one hand, a part of her wanted nothing more than to help him and prove herself. On the other, she still felt underqualified, no matter how skilled everyone else thought she was. She had killed demons, but she didn’t think it was skill or prowess that had got her through those tough situations. She was convinced that she’d had nothing more than good luck over and over again.
Maybe your good luck is what they need, a voice in her head argued.
Jessica sighed. “I don’t know, Pastor. Do you really think I can help?”
“I wouldn’t make this offer if I didn’t believe in you, Jessica. I know how dangerous this work can be and yet, I have faith in you.”
She was slightly embarrassed to feel the sting of tears in her eyes. She never thought of herself as the sentimental type, but there was something overwhelming about hearing him proclaim his faith in her as a witch. For the first time, she seriously considered whether he and the others saw something in her that she couldn’t. It left her debating whether she needed to let go of her reservations and believe them.
The irony drew an inward laugh. All day, she had been desperate to speak to Pastor Norman because she wanted answers. The last thing she expected was a job offer.
She scratched her cheek distractedly. “Pastor? If I take this job, will I get paid?”
He paused for a moment, and then laughed heartily. “Yes. A lot, Jessica.” He clasped her shoulder. “You merely have to keep your head about you in order to collect it. That’s why I have faith in you.”
Chapter Ten
“So, did you tell the preacher about me?” the imp asked as soon as Jessica returned to her Jeep. She and Pastor Norman were each in their respective cars and now headed back to Grandma Ethel’s house.
She jumped at the sound of the creature’s voice. Her mind was so preoccupied with the offer the pastor had made that she had managed to momentarily forget about her familiar.
“Well? Did you?” he asked impatiently.
“No, it slipped my mind,” she mumbled as she cranked the Jeep engine. She checked her rearview mirror and saw Pastor Norman in his car. He made eye contact with her, gestured for her to go ahead, and indicated that he would follow her. She flashed him a thumbs-up before pulling out of her parking space and onto the road.
“Oh, really? It slipped your mind, you say? How convenient.” Her passenger rolled his eyes scornfully.
Looking at him in her periphery, Jessica marveled at how absurd he looked seated beside her. She felt like she was driving with an enchanted troll doll or something.
“Well, if you didn’t talk about me, what did you two talk about?” he inquired.
“There’s an Aquiel on the loose. It was here in the ice cream shop earlier, but I lost track of it. That, and…” Her voice trailed off.
“And what?”
Jessica tightened her hands on the steering wheel. “Pastor Norman offered me a job working for the church as a demon hunter.”
<
br /> The imp released a high-pitched whistle. “A demon hunter, eh? Well, nice knowing ya, kid. You should take the job as soon as possible. It’ll be better for my health.”
She glanced sideways at him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Demon hunting is a dangerous job. I’m not exactly thrilled to be your familiar if you can’t tell. After all, you’ve tried to kill me three times already.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” she demanded. “And for the record, I have not tried to kill you three times.”
“Have too. And I’m not a cat. I don’t have nine lives.”
Jessica’s face twisted in confusion as she tried to make sense of what the creature implied. She was distracted and latched onto his last statement. “What? Cats really have nine lives? Like all cats or only magical ones, like familiars?”
He huffed. “It’s a figure of speech, for crying out loud. No, the blasted devil pets don’t really have nine lives.”
“Devil pets?”
“Yes. Bred by Satan himself.”
Jessica’s eyes bulged and the Jeep swerved from her shock.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going. I’m kidding. Geez. Must you take everything so literally all the time?”
Jessica tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “Quit messing with me like that. My grandma has a house full of cats. How am I supposed to react to someone telling me she’s been taking care of Satan’s pets my whole life?”
“All right, all right. No, cats don’t really have nine lives. And no, they aren’t really devil pets. They’re merely obnoxious creatures who get lucky and always land on their feet.” The imp shook his head. “Honestly, you’re a little dense to be a witch, aren’t you?”
He could not have sounded less impressed with her and she felt her face warm. Before she could retort, he sprung another question on her. “How long have you been a witch, exactly?”
She pursed her lips and straightened her back, not liking how inadequate the ugly little pest made her feel. “Honestly, I’m not sure if I’m a real witch.”
“What?” The imp scowled at her. “What do you mean, you’re not sure? You finished school, right? The Academy of Advanced Witchcraft?”