by Rani Clark
“Should I come in?”
He nodded. Rather than knock, he unlocked the door and stepped inside. “Dad?” he called. “Dad!”
His father came in from the kitchen, “I thought I told you not to come back here,” he growled.
“I-I know, but I want to go on a trip with Ms. Byrne and she thought I should tell you.”
“I don’t care what you do or where you go. Get out and don’t come back or I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.”
Ty took a step back, startled by the threat. His father had never been this awful. “Alright. I-I won’t come back.”
Lilly Ann watched him leave, “How can you do that to your son?”
“You have no room to talk. It’s because of your son that I have to do this. Maybe he’ll straighten up and act right. Get out.”
Lilly Ann obliged even though Ty knew she wanted to start shouting. He watched her stomp off. “Are you alright?”
“No.” She put her hand to her forehead, “Your father is a complete asshole.”
“I know. Elias wants to hit him for what he’s been doing.”
“At least he has that much sense.”
Ty buckled in, “Well, I told him.” He laughed, “And he kicked me out for a second time.”
“He doesn’t deserve a son like you.”
“My life is a wreck, I don’t think it matters.”
“It matters to me, Ty. I care about you and I don’t want you hurt.”
“I’m fine. Once they get a divorce I don’t have to live there for very long. I’ll be eighteen and I can move out.”
“You mean you can go to Germany?”
Ty flinched, “College actually.”
“Don’t lie to me, Ty. Please.”
“So what if I wanted to go to Germany? Can’t you just believe that there is something between Elias and myself that’s nice?”
“Nice isn’t the word I would use. There are plenty of nice, respectable young men in this town to date. One of my coworkers has a son who is good looking and smart and-”
“He isn’t Elias. I like Elias and I can’t control how I feel.”
“I didn’t mean to make it sound like you could or that you should.”
Ty turned on the heater, “Can we please stop talking about this?”
Lilly Ann sighed heavily, “I want to talk to you about this. I want to talk to you about . . . about Elias. Why did you start talking to him?”
Ty looked out the window, “I don’t know. I went to see him at first because I wanted to know if he knew anything about Jaska and Mr. Ragnar. Then he was . . . he said things to me that I’ve never had said to me.”
“Ty-”
“He’s the first person that wants to talk to me like I’m attractive to someone.”
“Elias can’t be the only one-”
“He makes me feel special. He listens to me, he knows my favorite everything.”
Lilly Ann pulled out of the driveway, “I’m not going to scold you about this anymore, I can see that it isn’t going to help, but I do want to ask you about someone finding you attractive.”
“Why?”
“No one knew you were gay.”
“My friends did. They assumed I was.”
“But you didn’t make it clear to anyone, you didn’t try to date anyone beyond what you did with Jaska. Someone would love you if you put yourself out there.”
“Elias loves me.”
Lilly Ann turned left down the street, heading downtown to pick up dinner, “He says he does.” She smiled at him, “Ok, lecture over. I’m starving.”
Ty didn’t mind being lectured by her. He didn’t want her to keep going on and on about Elias, but it was nice having an adult worry about the things he was doing. His own parents had never cared this much beyond despising the fact that he was gay. They had barely been worried about him failing out of school before he had asked Jaska to tutor him.
“Thank you,” he said as she pulled into the parking lot of a small Greek restaurant.
“For what, sweetie?”
“For caring. For getting mad at me for stuff, for letting me live with you. For everything you don’t have to do.”
Lilly Ann turned off the car, “I know I don’t have to do it, I wanted to, and I’m glad I did.” She opened the door, “Come on, I need help carrying the bags and drinks.”
Ty nodded and followed her out. He had never done anything like this with his parents. They went out to restaurants and sometimes his father would pick up food on his way home from work, but it was never this easy.
Lilly Ann was the kind of mother everyone should have. Jaska and Margo were lucky, but he wasn’t sure they knew just how lucky they were.
19
Jaska sipped his tea as he walked down the basement steps. Mr. Ragnar had retired for the night and Lantern was tucked into bed. He set his mug on the table and took a book from the stack. With a sniffle, he grabbed the small bag of chalk, a box of candles, two vials of blood, and matches. Mr. Ragnar had told him he would need to pick out a backpack to carry his supplies in. Mr. Ragnar had a briefcase and a messenger bag he used.
With his hands full he made his way back up the steps and out into the large backyard. This was the first time he had been out here so he looked around before stepping onto the stone walkway towards the large square cement patio in the middle of the grass. There was a dark tree in the corner that looked sharp and thorny. It was cold, but he didn’t mind it all that much with the jacket he had on. Mr. Ragnar kept the patio free of snow and ice. He had never seen the man shovel, Leif didn’t either.
“What are you up to this late?”
He flinched, startled at the noise, “Monarch, can you please stop popping up like that?”
His Spirit Guide laughed, “I could get a bell,” he joked. “Anyway, what are you doing?”
“I wanted to practice making the circles I’ve been drawing.” He set his things on the small table next to the patio. “Want to help?”
“I would be delighted.” He stepped to the table and looked at the book, “What are you going to be trying?”
“I thought I would try a basic summoning spell.” He turned to the page and picked up a piece of chalk, “Can you pick up stuff or just stand there?”
“I’m not completely useless. What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing for now. The spell says I need your help for this though, most of the spells say that.” He bent down and began to lightly draw the circle, making sure it was straight before making it darker.
“You’re good, it’s very symmetrical.”
“Thanks.” He looked at the drawing in the book before beginning to draw the triangles and circles inside the larger circle. “I don’t know. Think it looks like that?”
Monarch took the book and looked at it, “Yes. Do you have the blood ready?”
“Yeah. I think it’s Mr. Ragnar’s.” He took the vial from his bag and sprinkled drops around the circle. He added a large drop to the center. “Ok, that’s all we need.” He put the stopper back in and set the vial on the table, “How do you help me?”
Monarch stepped to stand across the circle from him, “You can’t put all your power into this, you’re too young.” He bent down, “Alright, let’s do this.”
Jaska bent down and put his hands on the circle. He closed his eyes and tried to force the cold out of his body. It was difficult, more difficult than he would have thought. After ten minutes he opened his eyes.
“This is pointless.”
“You aren’t doing it right.” Monarch stood and stepped around the circle, “This circle is powered by your worst memories. You can’t be happy when dealing with death. I mean, necromancers aren’t a miserable bunch, but when you first start this you need to get a little misery out. Think of your worst memory.”
“This?”
Monarch shook his head, “When your father hit you.”
Jaska watched him walk towards the other side of the circle. He looked down at th
e circle before kneeling. He closed his eyes and thought back to when his father had first hit him. That moment had scared him more than any of the other times because he hadn’t been expecting it. The fear had been new and it had been very strong. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he let his emotions bubble up to the service. Pressure pushed on his chest as the circle began to pulse with blue light. He let out a sniffling squeak and looked up.
The light wasn’t pulsing anymore, it was glowing brightly. Monarch nodded to him as a skeletal hand burst from the center. The rest of the skeleton followed, pulling itself out of the circle as if it were a grave. Jaska blinked as pale, smoky skin wrapped around the bones though they were still visible. A pale blue cloak surrounded the thing as black hair sprouted from its head.
The thing he had summoned was taking the form of a woman. Her long fingers clutched her cloak around her as she turned to look at him. Jaska opened his mouth to speak, but the thing shrieked and came at him. He stumbled back, putting his arm up to shield himself, but Monarch appeared in front of him. His Spirit Guide put his hand forward, blasting the thing with bright white light as he put his foot forward, smudging the circle. The ghost vanished along with the fear.
Monarch put his hand down, “Some ghosts are not nearly as friendly as I am.”
“Why-why did she try to do that?”
Monarch turned to look at him, “You didn’t specify who you wanted to summon. Sometimes the luck of the draw happens to be an unpleasant creature. However, good job on summoning something.”
“Yeah. Will I always have to bring up those emotions to do this?”
“No, no, don’t worry. Eventually you’ll get to the point where you can just send out that energy without much thought. It just takes practice.”
“Alright.” He picked up the book, “This doesn’t say how I can specify the person I want to summon.”
Monarch looked at the book, “What book is that?”
“Basic spells.”
“It should say something on how to do it.”
Jaska sighed and looked through spells, reading over the passages, “Oh, here.” According to the book, he had to put a specific symbol for the kind of spirit he wanted to summon. Each type of ghost had a symbol and he would have to learn them all. “I can summon a type, not a person?”
“Eventually you will be able to call on them like that, but for now focus on the type.”
He nodded and they tried again. This time he managed to summon the ghost of a little girl. She smiled at him, asked him if he wanted to play, and then was gone. He couldn’t keep her there. His body was getting weaker. He sat back on the cement as Monarch wiped the circle away, cleaning up for him. “Thanks.”
“No problem. Feel like a cup of coffee?”
Jaska nodded and stood. They walked out through the gate, Monarch had his hands behind his back as they walked. He glanced at him, “Why did you kill people?”
“Fair question. From what I remember of being alive and human I was interested in power. I came into contact with a Master Necromancer and managed to find out how to locate a demon. I should say demons. Power, that’s it.”
“Why the butterflies?”
“I thought it was funny.”
There was only one coffee shop open this late. Jaska bought a large cup of coffee and sat down at one of the tables on the patio. He sipped his hot drink and touched his chest near his left shoulder. It had started bothering him since the last circle.
“Something wrong?”
“No.” He lowered his arm, “Do you have a choice about doing this?”
Monarch shrugged, “Kind of. I don’t have to stick with you, but to be honest I want to. In the ghost world there are beings who designate necromancer powers. They’re basically ghosts who are stronger than everyone else.”
“How do they pick which ghost goes to which necromancer?”
“Draw a name out of a hat.”
“What if the wrong ghost is paired up with the wrong person?”
“They make it work, I assume. I don’t know everything.”
Jaska leaned back, “Do you really think I can do this?”
“You’re good at it already. Your first time and you summoned two ghosts. That’s impressive.”
“Frankly, I would have rather been terrible at this.”
“Why?”
“Ragnar would have had a reason to let me go. Now he won’t.” He looked at his hands, “Why did he kill his family?”
Monarch turned his head, looking at him for a long while before speaking, “I know what I was told. I was told that he killed them to gain power.”
“Why would he do that? He doesn’t seem like the type even if he does kill people for money.”
“Ask him about it.”
He chewed his lip, not sure if that was what he wanted to do. Mr. Ragnar had taken him from his family, but he wasn’t overly mean about things. He didn’t hit him or yell at him. “I don’t know.” He scratched his chest. The ache was getting worse.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. We should get back.”
Monarch walked with him back to the house. His Spirit Guide bid him goodbye when he was safely in the house. Jaska walked up the steps to the chime of the grandfather clock in the living room. It was four in the morning. He climbed into bed with Lantern, the creature cuddled close to him. Going to bed this late meant he was forced awake by Lantern when the creature got hungry. He slumped downstairs, made him breakfast, and gave him his drawing supplies as he curled up on the couch to have a nap.
The days went on like this. Mr. Ragnar was busy with a case so he wasn’t around at all. Jaska slept all day and practiced his circles at night with Monarch. The serial killer was a welcome companion in the darkness. He didn’t push Jaska to talk, but welcomed when he did. They didn’t talk about Mr. Ragnar.
“Are you sure you should be trying this?” Monarch asked one night as he drew a circle in black chalk.
“I kind of want to try this. Besides, if I can’t it just fizzles out.” Jaska looked at him, “Ready?”
“I suppose.”
“Don’t sound so happy about it.” He set his hands on the chalk and took a deep breath, channeling the sorrow and pain he kept locked up during the day.
The circle thrummed and pulsed with dark light, Jaska’s hands felt warm. He opened his eyes as black fire roared from the circle. A dark, scaly creature erupted out of the fire, twisting its lithe body as it rose into the air. Massive horns jutted out from its thick head. It shrieked as it spread its spiny wings.
“Smudge the circle, Jaska!” Monarch shouted. “That’s a Demon Beast!”
Jaska stared up at the creature as it fixed its red eyes on him. The beast roared and took a swipe at him. Jaska fell back, tumbling into the snow with a grunt. He saw Monarch smudge the circle, but the creature didn’t disappear. It opened its wide mouth and let loose a stream of fire. Jaska rolled to the side and scrambled up, leaping behind the tree. The beast slammed its horns into the tree in an attempt to knock it down.
“Monarch, what do I do?”
“Give me a moment!”
He heard a crash and the sound of wind. He peeked around the tree to see Monarch trying to subdue the creature with a bright ball of light. It didn’t work. The Demon Beast lashed the ground with a sharp tail, denting the concrete. He was going to die. Mr. Ragnar hadn’t taught him how to fight. As the monster turned to face him he heard a shout. His master leapt over the fence and ran to stand in front of him. He took off his gloves and snapped his fingers.
White fire sprang from his fingers and covered his hands. He frowned as he threw the power at the beast, driving it back. The beast turned and swiped its tail at Mr. Ragnar. He jumped over the tail and ran at the thing, hitting it with the white fire again. The beast roared and punched him into the iron fence. The fence collapsed under Mr. Ragnar’s weight. Jaska didn’t know if he should intervene, but decided not to when his master rolled from the fence and stood.
The fire was gone from his hands as he reached into his jacket and took out a cigarette case Jaska had never seen him use.
Mr. Ragnar popped open the silver case and took out three blue marbles. He threw one on the ground, hard. Jaska gasped as blue smoke curled into the air and surrounded him. Mr. Ragnar appeared fifteen feet in the air, walking on the smoke as if it were solid. He leapt at the beast and kicked it in the mouth as the white fire erupted on his hands again. He pushed the fire into the beast, causing it to roar and gnash its teeth. Mads appeared by the door and extended his claws, ripping a swirling red hole in the air. Monarch jumped to stand in front of Jaska to protect him.