The Summoner's Sigil

by Renee Sebastian

  I interrupted him and said, “President Newton is working to create more equality between all of us.”

  “Too little too late.” Then he held out the tablet with the sigil on it to me. “Now, activate this sigil so it will open the gates between our realms.”

  I looked at the proximity of the mummies, and doubted I could land my knife into Blake before they would tackle me. Even if I could, his cult would still attempt to carry out Blake’s plans without him. It would be in another town at a later time.

  “Now that we have ultraviolet radiation, courtesy of our sun, the tablet needs to be activated. Please do so now, or we’ll start dismembering him.”

  “Where did you get this sigil from?”

  He turned and smiled radiantly at me before saying, “My father found the design in an old book in the Congressional Library.” There was definitely a rat in D.C. I wondered if Colin had known that someone had been poking around in his library without his knowledge.

  That same someone wanted to eliminate Colin from the equation so that he wouldn’t be able to connect him to these people. They had no intention of keeping Colin alive any longer than was absolutely necessary.

  “What’s your fail safe if this Isis demon doesn’t do what you want it to do? You must know it will have its own agenda when it arrives.”

  “You haven’t figured out how to kill a demon yet?”

  I stonewalled him. I thought I knew, but it would be nice if he confirmed it.

  “But then why should I tell you?” Then he returned his attention to the sigil and said, “Once She is born from you, She shall be free to go forth and propagate.”

  “You’re not thinking logically. Once she is done with me, she’ll need more Users if she plans to replicate herself. The only people that might be able to banish her will be dead.”

  “Even those Summoners who die can be returned to life with a Necromancer and myself.” I looked over at the mummies who did not respond in the least to what he said.

  “But we also have ways of containing Them. Imprisonment can be a strong incentive.” Was he referring to Summoners? Did he think that we could trap deities by simply casting a circle? If they were indeed from the fourth dimension, he must know that no one knows the sigils for that dimension… unless he already knew them.

  “You know once they are done wiping out the Ordinary population, they will turn on us,” I told him. “The need to procreate is strong, no matter what the species.”

  “Won’t matter if I am in a city constructed and maintained by Summoners. We’ll lock them out and wait until they die out. Then we’ll rule the world.”

  He was a raving lunatic. He had to be stopped. His plans were juvenile and idiotic. He was a fool if he thought he had a chance of pulling them off.

  He came over to me and struck me. He must have read my disapproval over his preposterous plan. I tasted blood in my mouth and it only fortified my determination to stop him.

  He next told me, “Now that I have your attention again, do it, before I change my mind and try to stick her in the wolf first. We tried it once before, but who knows, maybe the result will different this time. He is most unusual for a wolf.”

  Wasn’t that the definition of insanity, doing the same thing again, but expecting a different result?

  I pressed my arm against my knife and was reassured that it was still there, under my corset. I looked at the sigil. It was then that I was struck with what I had to do, but to accomplish it. I had to get the timing just right. The only variable was if I would die in the process, but to me, that seemed insignificant in the scheme of things.

  Chapter 21

  Queen of Shadows

  Rule number twenty-one: From violent beginnings come violent endings.

  “I have changed my mind,” I told him. I just didn’t have the privacy or time I needed to add the mark to the circle. I was going to have to work with what I had.

  “Explain yourself.” He narrowed his eyes at me, obviously not buying my sudden change of heart.

  I looked back outside the circle. I still couldn’t see Colin, but I had to trust that they had him pinned down. I could only pray they hadn’t killed him yet.

  I said with as much daring as I could muster, “Oh, I think I rather fancy having a demon’s power at my disposal, and doesn’t ruling the world sound like fun. Isn’t that every girl’s dream?”

  He stared at me, weighing my words. I could tell his gears were spinning. Now to finish hammering the nail on the head. “I think I am not only ready to complete the pentachoron, but I want to host her as well.”

  “No! She lies. She is going to try and trick you!” Millie said.

  I waited patiently. Go on Blake. Take the bait.

  He took a long moment to think it over and then he said cautiously, “Very well, Periwinkle, bring her to the altar. If anything looks suspicious, use whatever means necessary to stop her.

  “Millie, you may leave the circle, lest Isis becomes confused as to who to enter.”

  She protested, but Periwinkle escorted her roughly out of the circle. Once she was out, he quickly returned back to its post to stand guard.

  I had better make this quick. My only caveat was that Blake needed me to stay alive, in order for his plan to work. I only wished I still had my gun, because it would have made everything that much less complicated.

  If I could not have one of those, then maybe I could have another kind of weapon – an ally.

  I slid the ochre stick between my fingers from its ring holder. Then I was grabbed and pushed onto the makeshift altar by the other mummy. I would have to carry out my plan while I was on top of the table.

  “Your mechanical mummy needs to work on his human touch,” I told Blake as I was brusquely pushed on top of it.

  “He is mostly mechanical, so exceptions must be made.”

  “He’s just a ghost in a shell,” I smartly replied.

  “Aren’t we all,” he acquiesced.

  Once I laid out my legs, I asked, “How long is their lifespan? You know the Egyptians thought they were immortal.” I raised my knees just high enough to slide my hand underneath them. I began scribbling the summoning symbol for Calidum under them.

  “Born of flesh, bound to perish,” he replied.

  It was his turn to squirm a little. “Did you know that I can commandeer circles? She’ll know how too also, once she is in me,” I told him.

  “You’re lying. No living Summoner can do that,” he said as he stood next to me, but I could see a tidbit of doubt worry his brow.

  Just then, I finished Calidum’s seal and called for him. I told Blake, “You are a small minded, shortsighted, little man. I’m going to rue the day, so just stay out of my way.”

  Dutifully, Calidum popped into the circle with us, thankfully not from under my legs. I rotated my body and wrapped my legs around Blake, who had been caught by surprise. Then I pulled him down onto me, obviously in shock from the recent developments.

  The mummies became preoccupied with Calidum, which was exactly what I had hoped for, as they chased him around the circle. From the corner of my eye, I saw one of the mummies fall as Calidum tripped one of them. Calidum spent most of his time though jumping from one to the other in a clever game of tag.

  I slid down one of the bits of rope that I had taken from the crate in the basement. I grabbed Blake’s hands, and then I attempted to tie them together, which didn’t go exactly the way I had planned. He was a wiggly bugger.

  “Just be still, Blake, I’m sure she won’t mind too much being stuck in you for just a little while.”

  He struggled against me harder and spat, “She doesn’t want to be in a man you stupid whore! Why did you really think I really needed you?”

  I looked over at the clay sigil that Blake had dropped on the ground. I called out, “Calidum! Get the sigil!”

  He jumped off the back of one of the mummies, and landed next to the table. He picked up the tablet, and then he jumped back onto one of
the mummies, where he promptly covered the mummy’s eyes with his hands.

  “Damn it!” Blake screamed.

  I then squirmed out from under Mr. Morlock, whose hands were finally bound. I kept a hold of the other end of the rope. I was finally able to reach my knife with my free hand. I considered just killing him outright, but I decided against it. It was a kindness I decided I couldn’t spare him.

  This had to end here and now. If the people here thought they could try this again elsewhere, then it was up to me to make sure the demons no longer wanted to come to this world. I was ready to become their boogeyman.

  As I walked backwards until I reached the edge of the circle, spots of darkness danced in front of my eyes. What was happening? Between the islands of blackness, sunlight beat down upon my face from overhead. I turned around and watched a gathering of shadows grow to encompass Blake, who struggled against his binding. I still had a hold of the rope, and when I gave a sharp tug, he lost his balance and fell. He bumped his head hard on the edge of the table and it knocked him out.

  I backed up as far away from him as I could, until I met the edge of the circle. Razor sharp pain radiated up my backside. I spared a glance back and observed that everyone outside of it appeared frozen, as if in a trance. I still could not see Colin.

  Then I became momentarily distracted by the clanking of gears. The mummy that I thought was not Periwinkle was powering up its cogs, while Calidum played peek-a-boo with Periwinkle. I heard the ticking sound speed up, and then I sensed he was about to jump on me. It would only take a couple of blows from his mechanical arms to kill me.

  “Calidum, come!”

  He jumped towards me, depositing the sigil at my feet. I next had my flint stone out and by the time the mummy had jumped in front of me, the spark had been made, and Calidum immediately became engulfed in flames. He then turned and fought the mummy off from me, embracing him in a true and fiery death embrace.

  But Periwinkle was still left, and this was his circle. Calidum and the last mummy circled one another. I quickly drew the marks to augment the circle, the ones I needed in order to steal it out from under him. If I failed in my plan, then this circle might be the only thing holding Isis back from the world. I added the last slash to fully take the circle and then I felt my energies fueling it, but would it be enough? The fast growing inkiness grew to surround us.

  Thank God for Calidum. He may not be there all the time that you think you need him, but he is there when you really do. After a few half-hearted jumps feints, it seemed as if the mummy wanted to die. He did not defend himself as much as I had thought he should have. When Calidum descended upon him the last time, he too went up in a fierce blaze that filled the circle with incense and myrrh.

  The only unfortunate consequence of their demise was that their deaths super charged the circle, which only strengthened it. Blake, Calidum, and I were all trapped in the circle with the shadows, which were steadily engulfing us.

  Then the darkness coalesced into a form next to Calidum. What was happening? How could one of these demons be in the circle with us? But I had not activated the sigil! How could this be? It must have been the sacrifices.

  I shrieked, “No!” But it made no difference, Calidum appeared mesmerized by the growing shadowy form that was directly in front of him. He reached out a tentative finger, and in an instant, it struck him.

  I watched as the inkiness invaded Calidum’s mouth. It had chosen Calidum as its vassal, rather than Blake. My little friend spun around to face me, and I could see his friendly eyes turn from their usual black and yellow color to all blue and gold.

  No!

  I pressed myself up against the circle, which felt wholly mine now. I watched as flames shot out of Calidum’s nostrils, followed by black curling smoke, not unlike dragons from ancient lore. Maybe the demon was rejecting Calidum or he was fighting it, but if Blake was to be believed, it was trying to birth itself with Calidum’s DNA. I could not leave the circle while the demon was infecting Calidum.

  For better or for worse, it was too late to banish Calidum, unless I wanted a goddess loose in a level nine reality, which was not a terrible alternative plan actually.

  I decided that it was past time to activate the mark on the clay tablet. I retraced the mark with the ochre stick, and then everyone within the confines of the circle was thrown into another realm, the one that we had come to believe was the fourth dimension. This slice of it seemed to be made of only shadows.

  There was a loose conglomeration of what appeared to be obsidian looking furniture that shifted and moved of their own volition, unable to decide exactly where they wanted to be.

  There was a window like opening in the room, where the sky was white and the sun was black, not unlike looking at a photographic negative.

  The shadow figure, forced back into its own reality, started separating itself from Calidum. It slowly coalesced into a more distinguishable humanoid form. One that was about eight feet tall with a crown made of a sparkling black smoke, which must have been at least three feet tall in its own right. It had eyes that were fathomless, and I could discern no other facial features.

  A hand like appendage shot out and touched me. I felt a searing burn that reached into my core. The pain blinded and crippled me, and I fell to the ground as the black haze enveloped me. I only now realized that I was foolish to think I could use raw power against these entities and win.

  I faintly heard Blake screaming, which was the only thing keeping me conscious. My vision returned and I watched as the vaporous black shadows decided to destroy him first. His screaming sounded warped and muffled in this realm as it swallowed him up into its shadowy form, leaving only a husk of a body behind along with his clothes and the rope. I pulled the now loosed rope him back to me.

  I quickly found Calidum hiding in a corner, and he appeared to be regurgitating whatever was left of the blackness in him. As I called out for him, I was struck by how odd my voice sounded, as if I were ten feet under water. Calidum didn’t respond to my call.

  The clay tablet with the sigil on it sat in my lap, broken into three pieces. If somehow the circle had turned into a portal, amiable for the demons to use, I needed to reverse the polarity here to break the pentachoron back on our plane.

  I looked frantically around for another sigil, one that I could activate. There were black, smoky pillars, all around me, but no sigil.

  That was when I felt a weak tug. Colin must have been still alive, but not well. I couldn’t leave yet. I had to find the sigil in this world first, to deactivate the poles in our world. That should collapse the pentachoron.

  Then serendipity struck me. I knew how to do it.

  I glanced back at Calidum, and it appeared that my fire demon was finally free of whatever had remained of the inky blackness.

  I used my knife to slice through the front of my shirt, and then I took out my ochre stick from the ring holder. I next drew the missing sigil across my chest with the stick. I would become a living sigil.

  I did not want to leave Calidum behind, since he might die here or worse before I could find the sigils necessary to summon him out of here. Also, his DNA might have been changed somehow, so when I summoned him out, he might have a tag-along demon with him.

  The other problem was that Colin was not the anchor for Calidum. Maybe, just maybe, I could use the rope that had been wrapped around Blake to encircle Calidum and me together, metaphysically. He was still on fire, but I the rope should hold long enough for the trip back home.

  “Calidum! Come here!”

  The shadow queen left Blake’s body and began studying us. Calidum crept his way over to me. I took out my special knife, the one I had used on Colin, and then I took aim. Again, my timing had to be impeccable and my haunch that it might harm the creature had to be correct. At least let it distracted it for a few moments I prayed. That was all I needed, a few seconds.

  Calidum was a couple of steps away when I threw the knife at the shadow creature, an
d it landed right where its heart should have been. It staggered, but recovered, but not before Calidum closed the gap between us.

  Calidum looked up at me, and I said, “Don’t catch this rope or me on fire.”

  I wasn’t certain if he understood me, but I threw the end of the rope around us both and secured the ends together. Then I took the second rope and fashioned a large lasso out of it.

  The last part of my makeshift plan was the tricky part. I had to wait until that thing was close enough to me to lasso it with the second rope.

  An instant before I finished tracing the new sigil on my chest, the doom and gloom monster drew closer to us. I had to teach these creatures that Earth was an inhospitable place to visit. Patience, Basil, patience.

  The demon leaned down and caught Calidum by his foot. That would not do at all. I reached into my boot and took out the small crook we had found at the constable office. I then threw it at the shadow. It made contact with it, and immediately, released Calidum.

  Then, in the moment it took to recover, I threw the rope over the creature. We were about to test my theory with the ultimate test. If I failed, we would die, and it would be free to play in our world. If I succeeded, Calidum and I will be safe and the demon would be dead, sending a clear message to any others who thought to trespass into the third dimension.

  I said one last prayer, and then I felt another tug from Colin and knew it was past time to finish drawing the sigil.

  I put the stick to my chest and finished it.

  I felt a blistering heat scorch my skin. Next, I was instantly sucked back into a black vortex, which I hoped meant we were being transported back to Earth. But would Calidum be safe with me? Would the shadow queen be pulled with us, the rope acting like an umbilical cord that would bring her into my world as well? Would dragging her cross the lines of my newly acquired circle at the penthouse kill her?