The Circle

by Val St. Crowe

  “No,” he said. “It’s not. But hearing you say that, it makes me feel marginally better. I’m trying to reassure myself with the knowledge that I’m disgustingly brave and noble, which means I’ll die a tragic death, and beautiful men will weep over my corpse, but it’s really not very reassuring when you think about it.”

  “I know,” I said, squeezing him. “I’m really sorry.”

  “Because, you know, even if there are beautiful men there, I won’t be able to do anything about it, because I’ll be dead. And also, I’m not sure if anyone will even know about my sacrifice, and that would negate the beautiful men coming there and weeping over the waste of my demise, you know?”

  “You’re really giving this a lot of thought.”

  “You’ve been unconscious for a while,” he said. “The ladies here aren’t real happy with us, because we made Abbadon mad, and sometimes he forgets to feed them for days at a time. If he’s actually mad, they aren’t sure what kind of shit he’ll pull.”

  I grimaced. “The more I find out about that guy, the more I hate him. They’re pregnant, for fuck’s sake.”

  “Which is the only reason he’s keeping them alive at all,” said Lev.

  “Because he wants the demonborn,” I said.

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that,” said Lev. “The lacing ritual that I couldn’t do?”

  “Oh, hell. This is where those demonborn must have come from.”

  He nodded. “I think so.”

  “But then… those demonborn were fully grown, right? How long has this been going on?”

  “I don’t know,” said Lev. “It must go deep.”

  I shook my head. “And how could Enid have been involved? It’s one thing for her to be promiscuous and laced and all that stuff, but… this is just cruel and wrong.” My voice cracked.

  Lev grabbed my hand.

  My stomach growled again. “I need food. I can’t do magic if I don’t eat.”

  “No, there’s no food,” said Lev. “And if there was any way out of this place, I would have done something. Abbadon took our phones, and I tried magic on the door up there, but it’s sealed tight. As for fighting him off, didn’t we already establish that you’re no match for him?”

  “Well… yeah.”

  “I’m no match for him either.”

  “So what? We give up? We can’t give up.”

  “We’ll go down fighting, of course,” said Lev. “But, you know, this is basically it. You haven’t heard me going on about being a corpse?”

  “I don’t accept that you’re going to be a corpse. I refuse to accept that.”

  “Well, that’s nice of you, but I don’t know that it matters,” said Lev.

  I sighed.

  He squeezed my hand.

  The door at the top of the steps opened.

  Lev and I were both on our feet.

  Abbadon traipsed down the steps, glowing from head to toe in white protective magic. “Just try a spell,” he said lightly. “It’ll bounce right off and hit you and you’ll only hurt yourself.”

  Lev and I backed away, into the wall.

  “We have to do something,” I said to Lev.

  “Well, he’s not wrong about the protective spell,” said Lev.

  “There’s got to be a way to dismantle the protective spell,” I said.

  “I can hear you, you know,” said Abbadon.

  I glared at him. I did my best to summon magic, but I had nothing to draw on. My body was wrung dry. I could do magic, but if I did, I’d pass out.

  “Now, listen, Lev,” said Abbadon. “I don’t want you to worry. You are too young to die, and if you did, your father would be far too interested in what happened to you. He’d never let it be, and we can’t have that. So, we’re just going to knock you out and take you off to do a nice memory wipe spell, and when you wake up, you’ll feel minty fresh.”

  Lev licked his lips. “What about Suther?”

  “Sutherland doesn’t have any pesky parents,” said Abbadon. All at once, his protective spell dropped and Abaddon unleashed both hands. Blue power flew out of one hand at Lev. Red power flew out of the other hand at me.

  I threw up a counter spell. It was a reflex more than anything.

  The counter spell absorbed Abbadon’s power.

  And I promptly passed out.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  I woke up to see Abbadon floating Lev’s body up the steps. Lev’s eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving.

  I’d only been out for a minute, then.

  I couldn’t do magic again, that was for sure. I wasn’t any match for Abbadon, anyway.

  But Abbadon’s back was to me.

  I moved as quick as I could, rushing him. When I reached him, I pulled on his shoulders and then quickly moved out of the way.

  As I’d hoped, Abbadon lost his balance and fell down the stairs.

  Lev crashed down at the top of the steps.

  Abbadon roared. He was climbing to his feet.

  I was above him on the steps. I stretched my foot down and stomped on his hand, which he was using to pull himself up.

  He shrieked.

  And that was when I saw Naomi, holding a piece of one of the bed frames over her bed. She was running for Abbadon.

  I wanted to cheer, but I didn’t want to give her away.

  Abbadon tried to stand up again.

  I kicked at him.

  He caught my foot. “You little—”

  And Naomi crashed the bed frame into Abbadon’s head.

  Stunned, he looked back at her, a bewildered expression crossing his face.

  Naomi brought the bed frame down again. And again. And again.

  Abbadon twitched. And then he was still.

  The women surged forward. They climbed over Abbadon and hurried up the steps.

  I went ahead of them. When I got to the top, I tried to wake Lev, but I couldn’t. “Someone help me carry him!” I said.

  Naomi and Red Hair and I half-carried, half-dragged Lev out of the house.

  It was dark outside now, and I wasn’t sure what we should do. Lev was right that they all wouldn’t fit in my car, and that they would be conspicuous on campus. It was dark out, but that didn’t mean people were sleeping. Most people on campus were night owls. I also couldn’t walk indefinitely with them. I needed food. Losing all my magic had really taken it out of me.

  Of course, there was Abbadon’s car in the driveway. We wouldn’t really fit in there either. There were eight of us, and the car would comfortably fit five.

  But looking at it, I knew that I only had one option.

  I set down Lev. “Wait here.”

  “Where are you going?” said Red Hair.

  I went back inside the house, and I picked up Abbadon’s brief case, which was right where he’d thrown it when he’d gotten home. I started to go through it. For a few minutes, I was worried that I was going to have to go downstairs and go through his pockets.

  But, no, I had keys.

  Grinning, I went back outside. I got my bank card out of my wallet and gave it and the keys to Red Hair. “You guys should all be able to squeeze in there. You take my card, buy everyone bus tickets, wherever they want to go. Then you all get the hell out of dodge. Leave my card in this car in the parking lot of the bus station. I’ll get it back.”

  Red Hair’s lips parted. “What about you? What about him?”

  “Go, now,” I said.

  She gave me a small smile. “My name is Lily.”

  “Get out of here, Lily.”

  “Thank you,” said Lily. “And I won’t take your bank card, I promise.”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “Just get away from this place as quickly as you can.”

  “We’ll help you move Lev into the woods,” said Lily. “Out of sight.”

  So, they did. The women helped me hide Lev, and then they piled into Abbadon’s car and drove off. I watched them go from between the trees, and I hoped everything would go well. Suddenly, I ha
d all kinds of fears. Maybe they’d be stopped trying to get off campus. Maybe there were eyes and ears everywhere, and they would be coming for Lev and me soon.

  I peered around myself, into the dark woods, expecting something to materialize out of the trees. I wasn’t sure what. Maybe a monster, something transmogrified, half shark and half lion, claws and teeth and…

  Okay, this wasn’t helping anything.

  I shook Lev. “Wake up,” I said to him, but I whispered it, because I didn’t want to alert the monsters in the woods to our presence in case they were actually there.

  But Lev didn’t wake up. He was magically knocked out, and I didn’t know how long that would take to wear off. I could probably do a spell to wake him up if I had more magic, but I didn’t. I needed something to eat if I was going to be able to do any magic at all.

  As if to punctuate my thought, my stomach growled.

  I chewed on my bottom lip.

  Okay, there was Abbadon’s house right there. Odds were, there was food in his kitchen.

  But I had seen enough horror movies to know that if I went in there, Abbadon would be waiting for me with a chainsaw.

  Well, I mean, you know, the magical equivalent of a chainsaw.

  But what were my options, really? I could stay out here with Lev and wait for him to wake up, which could take all night, or I could try to do something to solve my magic problem.

  I shook Lev again.

  It was like shaking a big bowl of unresponsive pudding. He wasn’t in there. He was dead to the world.

  So, I yanked a branch off a tree and used it to cover him up, hoping to camouflage him enough that no one would even know he was there. And then I trudged out of the woods and back towards Abbadon’s house.

  Note to self: carry snacks.

  Seriously, if I’d just thought to bring along a protein bar in my pocket or something, think how much better everything would be going.

  I had to cross another bridge next to the old mill wheel, and then I was in Abbadon’s back yard. Everything was still and quiet. The clipped grass was only dark shadows in the night, and windows from Abbadon’s house provided the only light. Every sound I made seemed amplified. My breath. The sounds of my pant legs brushing together when I walked. My feet on the ground.

  I came to the shed, and now I could see the front door. I took a deep breath, starting towards the house.

  And the front door opened.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Abbadon stumbled out, clutching his head.

  I let out a breathy noise before I could stop myself and darted behind the shed. Peering around it, I could make out Abbadon, but I didn’t think he could see me in the shadows here.

  He had heard the noise I made, and he was walking toward the shed.

  Shit, shit, shit. This was the stupidest idea I’d ever had. What had I been thinking? I should have stayed with Lev. Now, I was definitely going to get killed.

  But Abbadon paused, staring at the empty space where his car had been parked. He walked over to the space, stepping around in it, as if he couldn’t believe his car was actually gone.

  “Motherfucker,” he muttered, and then he whipped his cell phone out of his pocket. He punched the screen several times and then held it to his ear. He gazed out at the shed, and for one second, I was convinced he had seen me.

  But then he turned his back on me and began to pace. “It’s Abbadon,” he said into the phone. “My car. If my car tries to leave campus—” A pause. “Shit.” A pause. “No, it wasn’t me in the car, are you insane? Couldn’t you tell when you saw it drive by?… Oh, it’s dark, sure. Great. You know, I don’t have time for your excuses…. Or your apologies. Fuck.” He hung up the phone and kicked the ground, sending dirt and gravel spraying over his yard.

  My heart leaped. It sounded like Naomi, Lily, and the others had gotten away. I was so glad. Maybe things were actually looking up.

  Abbadon stared down at his phone, shaking his head and muttering to himself. He looked up at the night sky, taking a deep breath. And then back to his phone. He dialed again.

  This time, he seemed composed. “It’s Abbadon,” he said. “We’ve got a situation. I’m coming to you, but I have no car, so I’m going to need to walk…. I’ll tell you everything when I get there. Be ready to do whatever we need to do to clean this up.” He hung up. He ducked back into his house and came out with his briefcase and then he started walking down the road away from his house, back towards campus.

  I couldn’t believe my good luck.

  I waited until Abbadon had walked so far that he’d disappeared from sight and then I darted back to his front door.

  Locked.

  Figured.

  I had to climb over the gate in the back again to get to the back door. Also locked.

  Damn it.

  Well, go big or go home, right? The doors back here were sliding glass. I picked up a lawn chair from the back deck and hurled it at the glass.

  Crash.

  I picked my way over the broken glass to get into Abbadon’s kitchen. I headed straight for the pantry and looked for a jar of peanut butter. I needed something that packed a lot of calories—carbohydrates, protein, and fat. I needed the works. And peanut butter was pretty awesome for that. My body could use the carbs right away, and then the protein and fat would take longer to break down. It was perfect magic food.

  Only problem was that it got stuck in my mouth really easily.

  I opened Abbadon’s refrigerator and found a couple bottles of soda. I could use the sugar.

  I ate several spoonfuls of peanut butter and washed them down with some soda. Then I found a canvas bag hanging up on the door, shoved everything inside, and slung it over my shoulder. I headed back for Lev. I didn’t want to stay in the house any longer than I needed to.

  Lev was right where I had left him, thank goodness. I pulled the branch off of him and sat next to him while I ate half the jar of peanut butter and demolished the soda bottle.

  Then, feeling refreshed, I put my hands on either side of his face and summoned some power.

  His eyes popped open and he gasped. “What the hell?” He pushed me off, sitting up straight.

  “You okay?” I said.

  “What happened? Where’s Abbadon? Where’s Naomi?” He looked around. “Where the hell are we?”

  “Abbadon knocked you out. Naomi hit Abbadon over the head with a piece of a bed frame. I sent them in his car, because we wouldn’t all fit. We’ve been hiding in the woods.”

  He looked at me. “I smell peanut butter.”

  “I stole this from Abbadon’s place so that I could do magic,” I said, pulling out the jar. “You want some?”

  He wrinkled up his nose. “Thanks, but no.”

  “Honestly, I need a proper meal too,” I said. “We need to get to my car and make an escape before Abbadon raises the alarm on us. Well, hell, he probably already did.”

  “So, we can’t go back to our dorms.”

  “I doubt it,” I said.

  “But the women got away?”

  I nodded. “Pretty sure they did. If we can get to a car, we can go to the bus station and see if my bank card is waiting for us in Abbadon’s car.”

  “Okay,” said Lev. “Let’s head back to the parking lot. Hopefully, we can get to one of our cars.”

  “Yeah,” I said, “and then get out of here without being stopped by campus security or something. I think Abbadon already called them about his car getting out. They’re probably on high alert.”

  “Perfect,” said Lev. “Nothing like it being easy.”

  I laughed a little.

  He pushed to his feet. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Lev and I crouched at the edge of the parking lot, both of us hiding between two hedges that were growing next to the sign that said Student Parking. There were two parts to the student parking lot. This was the first-year portion.

  We’d already been to the upperclassmen parking lot, where we’d
seen Grayson stalking in circles around Lev’s car.

  Now, we could see my car, and Phist was leaning against the hood, smoking a cigarette.

  “What do we do?” Lev whispered to me.

  “Not sure,” I said. “Maybe steal a car from the faculty parking lot? You know a spell to hotwire a car?”

  “No,” said Lev. “Magic’s not really great with machines, actually. Don’t you know this?”

  “Never really tried,” I said, grimacing. “I don’t guess you know how to hotwire a car without magic?”

  “No,” said Lev. “Not part of my skill set.”

  “Great,” I said. “Well, maybe we can hide out somewhere, like in the basement of the dining hall or something. We can steal food there and we can live there for… who knows? Months maybe?”

  “We’re not hiding out for months,” said Lev. “I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, and I think we need to tell someone about what’s going on. Someone like my dad.”

  “Your dad?” I said. “But he’s the one who took you to that ritual to get laced to demonborn. He knows all about it.”

  “No,” said Lev. “If he knew that they were breeding demonborn on unsuspecting human females, he would never be part of that. I’m sure he thought that they’d just captured the demonborn or something. Anyway, he’ll know what to do. He’ll know the proper channels to go through in order to stop Abbadon and the Circle and everyone else. My dad is pretty well connected in the occultist world. If I had my phone, I’d just call him and he’d come and fix all of this.”

  “Well,” I said, “that would be pretty great. I could really stand with this being fixed.”

  “How about you go and flirt with Phist and convince him to give you your car?”

  “That’s never going to work!” I said.

  “What other ideas do we have?”

  “Maybe I could fight him,” I said. “Hand me the peanut butter.”

  Lev rolled his eyes. “You could never take him.”

  “Maybe you could?” I said. “You’re laced, right?”

  “Yeah, but I’m, you know, not exactly really applying myself to my studies if you know what I mean,” said Lev. “I’m no match for Phist.”