Trials of Magic

by Thomas K. Carpenter

  "I'm sorry," said Pi. "They're a bunch of jerks."

  The old woman shook with rage. "They're a bunch of fucking good-for-nothing hooligans is what they are. I hope they eat a bag of dicks."

  "Wow," said Pi, shocked at the profanity from the old woman. "Are you sure you're okay?"

  The old woman calmed, her brow smoothing apologetically.

  "Forgive my mouth, it gets the best of me. Thank you for your quick thinking, young lady," she said.

  "Yeah, no problem. Sorry I wasn't quicker. I might have saved the first bag. But if you're good, then I've got to go. Things to do and all," said Pi, walking backwards, waving.

  "Good luck with whatever it is you have to do," said the old woman.

  Pi jogged back to the bushes and retrieved her cardboard box before heading to the subway to take the Blue Line to the twelfth ward.

  Luck favors the bold. She hoped she hadn't used it all up helping that woman, because she was going to need some tonight. Pi hadn't been completely honest with Radoslav when she'd told him what she planned on summoning. If she had been, he would have never given her the focal.

  To get in the Coterie, she needed a sponsor. The one she wanted had told her he wouldn't even consider her unless she could successfully summon a Faez Lord. Which was probably about as dangerous as one could get.

  The good news was that if she failed, she wouldn't have to worry about getting into the Coterie. Either there'd be nothing left of her body or the Faez Lord would enslave her and take her back to his realm.

  She wondered how that would work with Radoslav's lease on her soul. Would the demon have to wait for the lease to be up to claim her, or would they have to take their disagreement to some sort of faerie court?

  "Let's not find out, Pythia," she told herself as she descended the subway entrance. It'd be a terrible blow to Aurie, right on the heels of getting into the Arcanium. Better to think about them both succeeding. Maybe they could pool their loose change and take each other out for an artisan cupcake in celebration of them both getting into the Hundred Halls.

  Chapter Five

  On the way back to their apartment to find Pi, Aurie made a brief detour to the Enochian District. She'd already stopped by the bank to deposit the money, and as long as it was daylight she was safe, but she kept a wary eye just the same. The buildings on the cobblestone street had bars in the windows and graffiti across the bricks with phrases like "Go home sub-humans" or "Kneel before the Cabal."

  It was one of the older parts of the city. When her parents had been students at the Hundred Halls, it'd been a bustling historical area. Since the death of the city's founder and head patron, Invictus, thirteen years ago, the street, along with the rest of the city, had fallen into disrepair.

  Aurie reached the old copper fountain in the shape of a dragon at the center of the square. No water had flowed for years, and a pale green patina had formed on the surface of the fountain. She flicked her black nail against the edge, eliciting a dull thunk, and regretted the noise as soon as it echoed into the square.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw shapes move in the windows. She knew it'd be foolish to look. Best to do what she'd come to do, and get out.

  Nestled amid the cobblestones was a marble plate etched with a poem titled Invictus. These plates were found in many locations around the city, but this one was special for Aurie and her sister.

  After giving the street one last glance, Aurie placed her hand on the plate. The stone was warm from the sunlight. After a few seconds, a glistening gossamer light formed around the edges of the words.

  Aurie stood back and listened as first a male voice began singing, and then a female one joined in. The song was a cheesy '80s' ballad by Cindi Lauper called "Time After Time."

  She listened in complete silence, concentrating on the voices and their earnestness. The voices were her parents'. They'd enchanted their voices into the stone sometime during their years at the Halls. They probably weren't much older than she was when they made the recording.

  After the song was over, she said, "Dooset daram. I miss you, Mom and Dad."

  Aurie wished Pi was at her side. When they were feeling down, they would come to the fountain together and hold hands while they listened to the song. It put an ache in her breastbone that she was alone.

  A bit of rustling echoed from one of the nearby alleyways, but Aurie ignored it. She didn't care about anything else at that moment.

  "We're finally going to do it," she told the stone. "We have our Merlins tomorrow. I wish you were here. I know you would be cheering us on." Aurie took a quivering breath. "It's been a tough few years. When Pi got sick, I didn't know what to do. But we made it, we made it through. Now, we're going to get into the Halls, I know it. I just wish...you know...I'm..."

  Aurie collected herself, pushing her fingernails into her palms to keep from crying. The shadows were getting entirely too long. She needed to leave soon, but she hadn't said what she wanted to say yet.

  She ignored the itchy feeling between her shoulder blades that told her she was being watched and continued speaking. "I just want to say, I need to say...I'm sorry. Pi and I were just letting a little of our faez magic out. Every kid did it, and I'm not saying that makes it okay, but I don't know how it got away from me. I know Pi says that it wasn't me. She still claims it was some guy who she saw in the neighborhood, but I know she's just trying to protect me. I'd do the same for her. But I know it was me. The magic got away from me, it always does. But I'm going to fix that now. Arcanium's the best place for me. They can teach me how to control it so something like that never happens again. I swear it. And I'll make sure Pi is okay. I always have. I know you would have wanted it that way, that we stayed together and looked out for each other. I'll keep her safe. For you. For her. I miss you, Mom and Dad. I miss you a lot. But we'll get through this. I'm going to do my best. My very best. I—"

  The crash of toppled cans startled Aurie out of her speech. The sun was almost below the tops of the nearby apartment buildings. Aurie felt pressure on her skin, like she was a bubble being pushed out of liquid.

  She kissed her fingertips and brushed them against the singing stone, then hurried out of the square. She barely made it onto the train before the sun set.

  As she rode towards home, she thought about her sister. Something in her gut told her she needed to find her. It wasn't like Pi to lie about work unless she was planning something that she knew Aurie wouldn't approve of.

  Aurie had a feeling that whatever Pi was doing had to do with Coterie. The elite Hall required sponsorship from one of their alumni. The whispers of tasks attempted by potential students made Aurie's skin crawl. Coterie believed in power for power's sake, and there was no telling what Pi might have to do.

  As the train rode up an elevation, heading over Tinker Town, Aurie caught flashes of lightning in the west. She couldn't see the line of clouds rolling towards the city, but a storm was coming.

  Chapter Six

  The abandoned warehouse was the perfect place for a summoning. Pi had found it a few months back. The locks and wards on the doors were still intact, but she'd found a way in through the basement, bypassing them completely.

  Over time she'd cleared the concrete floor of dust and rat droppings, until she had a nice, clean area for a circle of protection. In fact, she had everything she needed, including a cloudless night, which had been her biggest worry. Most demons could feed off nature's energies, which would make it harder to control if there was a storm.

  One of the reasons she needed a big space for the summoning was to safely record the event for proof. Magic and electronics didn't play nice together, so the cameras had to be a good distance away from the circle.

  Sea salt with a pinch of silver went in a wide circle around the summoning focal. She was careful not to complete it until she was ready. Then she made a triangle outside of but touching the circle, placing a different symbol in each of the smaller triangles that were created. Candles she'd
liberated from nearby churches were placed at precise locations, including anywhere lines intersected.

  Pi placed a handful of graveyard dirt, a drop of her blood, and a chunk of fulgurite on top of the focal. Once she was safely outside, she closed the circle with the last of her salt. It was important that she not have any salt remaining.

  Standing on the west side, which was closest to the nearest leyline, Pi began chanting in Latin and manipulated her fingers into complex forms. As she worked, Pi let out small amounts of faez to give power to the movements.

  The faez funneled into the summoning circle, giving the lines a faint glow. Pi kept this up for a while, being careful to enunciate each word correctly and shape her fingers precisely. The author of the spell claimed it was the equivalent of playing one of Mozart's piano concertos flawlessly.

  She was almost done with the summoning when the rumble of thunder crashed against the warehouse windows, rattling them. Pi nearly lost her concentration. Faez surged from her, the glow burning too bright.

  Shit, she thought while maintaining the ritual, bad timing.

  It was too late to stop. She had to forge ahead even as the incoming storm brought gooseflesh across her arms and made the little hairs on the back of her neck rise.

  When at last she got to the end of the spell, she called out the demon's name three times in a loud voice:

  "Pazuzu! Pazuzu! Pazuzu!"

  Lightning split the sky directly above the warehouse.

  A shape appeared inside the circle. He had the body of a man, with wings and a scorpion's tail. The demon lashed against the walls of the circle with his tail, bringing sparks.

  Pi held her breath while the demon of storms, Pazuzu, spun around testing his cage. If she'd made any mistake in her preparations, he would break free of the circle. Death would be the most favorable outcome if it came to that.

  "Pazuzu, Prince of Storms," she yelled above the rising winds, "hear my question and answer me."

  The demon spat against the cage, speaking in an unintelligible tongue. Or at least Pi couldn't understand it. Learning the Infernal tongue would have taken too long, so she'd set up the cameras so her sponsor could understand the answer.

  A torrent of rain splattered against the windows. Pazuzu grinned at the flashes of lightning and held up a wicked talon. The demon jabbed it against the barrier repeatedly, like a miner digging through stone. Through the link of her faez, Pi felt the barrier weakening.

  "Pazuzu, Prince of Storms. Hear my question and answer me!" she shouted, pouring faez into the pain symbols in the three triangles around the circle. "Where is the Rod of Dominion?"

  The demon lord thrashed around the circle as the symbols assaulted it. Pi repeated her question, followed by another dose of faez into the pain symbols.

  A crash of thunder rattled the windows. The center of the storm was almost over the warehouse; Pi could feel it. As she prepared to ask the question a third time, lightning hit a tree right outside, sending sparks into a fountain and breaking a huge branch free to swing through the upper windows.

  The opening released the storm's fury into the warehouse, blowing out half the candles. The salt circle seemed to vibrate from the wind.

  "Pazuzu, Prince of Storms. Hear my question and answer me! Where is the Rod of Dominion?" she shouted.

  This time she didn't hold back. Using too much faez was a danger, but it would be much worse if the demon got loose. She had to get the answer and send it back to the faez realm before that happened.

  The demon whipped its scorpion tail against the barrier. The blow translated through her magic, feeling like a kick in the gut. She poured everything she had into the symbols.

  Finally, it seemed to affect the demon. He bent backwards, screaming in rage. Then he answered in his rough, garbled tongue.

  She didn't even care if it wasn't the answer. Pi started chanting again while the wind blew drops of rain into her face. The banishing was much shorter, but her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. She focused on the ritual, shaping her fingers exactly as required—no more, no less.

  Unhampered by pain, Pazuzu attacked the barrier with fervor. Pi was reminded of an enraged xenomorph in a glass barrel.

  She only had a few more lines before the demon would be banished. Then the rest of the branch came through the window, sending shards of glass in all directions. It was a miracle that she didn't get hit, but Pi would have preferred it to the damage done to her summoning circle.

  A gust of wind blew a hole into the salt, releasing the demon from its barrier. Pi fell to her knees as the magic gave way. Pazuzu, the demon Prince of Storms, was free.

  Chapter Seven

  Aurie had gone to the apartment, fully expecting not to find her younger sister. A quick cataloging of their belongings revealed a few key items missing: a bag of tea lights, a salt funnel, a ritual knife, and a hunk of fulgurite.

  Also absent was the box of recording gear. Pi had claimed she was going to make a YouTube video about Freeport Games to help Hemistad get more business. Now, she knew that was a lie.

  It took about thirty seconds outside the apartment to figure out where Pi was located. The storm had rolled over the city, and an abnormal amount of lightning activity was happening over the twelfth ward. That part of the city had many abandoned warehouses from when the city of Invictus had a thriving magical trade industry.

  The whole train ride, Aurie reviewed the possibilities of what her sister was trying to do, but only one answer was clear: Pi was trying to summon a demon. Aurie had no idea where her sister could have gotten a summoning focus—that was a problem for a different time—but the power of the storm worried her. Even an imp could be troublesome with this much natural energy in the air.

  The rain started around the time she left the station, along with gusts of wind that made Aurie squint. The air was alive with electricity. Even soaking wet, she could feel the energy crackle across her skin.

  A purple bolt of lightning slammed into a huge tree on the next block, sending sparks up in an arc. The brief flash revealed a black funnel hanging beneath the clouds, rotating in a slow churn.

  Aurie had no doubt where Pi was located, and broke into a sprint towards the center of the storm. Coaxed by the violent energies in the air, Aurie's faez rushed to the surface. It was like running with a full bucket of water, trying not to spill a drop.

  When she got to the warehouse, she could hear Pi's chanting. She banged on the metal door, but the magical wards seemed to absorb her blows.

  Aurie searched her pockets for magical reagents that might help her bypass the door, but she'd run out of the apartment without even a sprig of mistletoe. She would have circled the warehouse looking for where Pi might have gotten in, but she knew her sister wouldn't leave an obvious entrance to the location of a summoning. It would be foolish to allow some drifter to wander into the middle of a dangerous magical event.

  An inhuman roar echoed from within, sending Aurie into a panic. She cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed Pi's name, but the storm swallowed her words.

  Aurie threw herself to the ground when a bolt of lightning slammed into another tree, followed by the crash of glass.

  "A window," she muttered as she ran towards the metal fire escape near the massive oak tree.

  The winds waved the tree limbs around, making them creak and crack. Aurie kept expecting another branch to come off, whistling at her head. The entrance to the fire escape was directly under the tree. The stairs rattled as she climbed.

  Inside, Pi was shouting commands, and Aurie began to make a mental image of the scene inside, but that didn't prepare her for what she saw when she reached the broken window with the tree branch sticking through it. Aurie was simultaneously angered and proud of her younger sister when she saw the demon Pi had summoned.

  The demon screamed in Infernal as its tail slapped against the invisible barrier, eliciting sparks. The skillfully drawn circle contained the demon. A quick glance told her that Pi had ta
ken every precaution necessary, but she hadn't factored the surprise storm.

  As if coaxed by her thoughts, a gust of wind pushed Aurie against the wall. She put her hand out against the broken glass, daring the shards, rather than upset the precariously balanced tree branch. But the wind had pushed the angled limb as well, tipping it forward, shattering the window and blowing everything into the warehouse.

  Moments later, the demon wailed in Infernal. Aurie knew snatches of the language, but no translation was needed for that victorious noise.

  Pi was thrown to her knees by the breaking of the circle. Aurie didn't hesitate and leapt into the warehouse, using the huge tree branch as a makeshift slide.

  The scorpion-tailed demon advanced on her sister with talons extended. It was going for a quick kill.

  Aurie didn't have time for fancy tricks. She picked up one of the camera tripods that had fallen over and threw it at the demon.

  "Get away from her, you fugly bastard!"

  The demon recoiled for a moment, before he realized it was only another young girl. The demon looked between the two sisters, deciding which one he would kill first.

  "Aurie, no! Get out of here!" yelled Pi, climbing to her feet.

  The demon started to turn back to Pi, so Aurie let an unhealthy amount of faez collect into her fist until it glowed. The demon whipped its head around, quickly reevaluating Aurie as the larger threat.

  With faez dripping from her fist like a handful of golden honey, Aurie backed away from the demon, being careful not to knock the salt lines or step on any candles as she stepped into the center of the circle. The demon came after, his tail slapping against the concrete, avoiding the salt lines. The impact sprayed bits of venom in a wide arc. If the demon hit her with his tail, the end would not be pleasant.

  Pi threw a few rocks at the demon, but it ignored her. "Aurie, what are you doing?"

  "Once it's inside, close the circle behind me," she shouted over the storm.