February 17 | Monday #9
“It’s just perfect!” Norma gushed over the most generic lamp in the world. “It would fit in my room like a glove!”
“What do you want from me?” Christine snarled.
“Okay, Christie.” Norma turned serious, approaching the girl. “We need to talk, and seriously. What’s been wrong with you lately?”
“Nothing!” Christine bristled. “Leave me alone!”
“Abby.” Norma’s eyes shifted to her friend. “Got any ideas on how to settle this quickly?”
Abby thought for a moment, then waved her hand…
…and Christine Ellis, pushed by a magical force, flew into the living room, stopping only when she hit the opposite wall.
“I’ll ask again…” Norma said, walking toward her. Abby stayed at her side, so Will did the same, although the situation was terrifying him more and more. What would they do if this girl really was just having a hard time? “What’s wrong with you?”
“I said, leave me alone!” Christine screamed.
A malicious little smile formed on Norma’s lips.
“You know what’s wrong with you, Christie?” she asked, squatting down next to the girl. “It’s that even though my friend just used her power on you, you don’t seem particularly surprised. In short, sweetheart… You suck at pretending.”
Christine looked shocked. So did Will, but only because it was in that moment that he realized how bizarre her reaction had been. If he had inexplicably flown across an entire room, he would be dying of fear, while Christine just seemed angry.
Suddenly, she started to cackle. It didn’t sound like a human laugh, and certainly not like a petite girl’s—the sound that came from her throat was low and raspy.
Will felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
And when Christine’s lips stretched into an unnaturally wide smile…
He instinctively backed away, feeling like he had just stepped into a modern horror movie.
“What do I see?” Christine’s head darted quickly from side to side.
Her eyes jumped from one person to the next.
“A little witch…” she finally said, looking at Abigail.
“A nasty bitch,” she hissed, focusing her attention on Norma.
“And a spy,” she added, looking at Will.
Her face changed. For a moment, it showed something like anxiety, and then she suddenly screamed, “A SPY! SPYYYYY!”
The screeching sound chilled Will to the bone.
“Okay.” Norma didn’t seem the least bit fazed. “Let’s calm down with the name-calling, huh? Here’s my proposal. You leave in peace, and nothing will happen to you. Sound good?”
Christine… or rather, the demon controlling her body, narrowed its eyes and then asked:
“Why would I leave when I am so powerful? You can’t stop me.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“Am I?”
“Do you really want to try your luck against three witches?”
The demon cackled.
“A witch, a bitch, a spy! That’s what I see!” it shouted, sizing up Will with a contemptuous look.
“That’s still a pretty solid lineup, don’t you think?” Norma countered. “Bitches especially can really get under your skin, which is bad news for a classless demon like you,” she hissed menacingly, slowly straightening up.
“I’m not afraid, you filthy slut!” the demon growled. “Tell him to stop staring,” it added with irritation, not taking its eyes off Will.
“Oh. Are you shy?” Norma mocked.
“Stop staring!” the demon screamed.
Will looked away, but then his eyes reflexively snapped back to the being.
“Stop staring, stop staring!” the creature shrieked.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Norma announced firmly. “Are you going to get out of here on your own, or does my pretty friend need to use a more forceful method of persuasion?”
A nasty smile appeared on the demon’s face.
“Oh, I’ll move. You can count on it.”
It was a fraction of a second. The demon sprang to its feet and rushed toward Will with such speed that he had no time to react in any way.
…and yet, he did.
An intense shiver ran through his body, and a moment later, the creature bearing down on him was thrown back with great force—so great that it flew through the window opposite them and landed outside.
“Holy shit…” Norma whispered in awe.
For a moment, all three of them stared outside in shock. The demon got up. It looked back at them, smiled nastily… and bolted.
“After it!” Norma ordered, racing toward the front door.
“Are you okay?” Abby asked, glancing at Will.
“Yeah, yeah,” Will confirmed, not entirely lucid.
Only then did Abby run after her friend.
When Will got outside, neither of them was in sight. A neighbor emerged from a nearby house, probably alarmed by the sound of shattering glass. Will pulled his hood over his head and started to run. The last thing he needed was to be accused of breaking and entering!
He ran into Norma and Abby two blocks away. The girls were walking slowly, breathing shallowly.
“Did you find her? Him? It?” Will asked.
“No, it lost us,” Norma replied tiredly. “Damn it.”
“Why did it call me a spy?”
“You think that’s bad? It called me a nasty bitch. Demons say a lot of offensive shit, don’t take it personally.”
“What happens now?”
“We’ll have to find it somehow, which shouldn’t be hard, especially since we know who it’s hiding in.”
“Where are Christine’s parents?” Will whispered, not understanding. “How is it possible they didn’t realize something was wrong with their daughter?”
“To notice something, you have to actually pay attention to your kids, don’t you?” Norma asked, a bitter note in her voice.
Abby glanced at her discreetly.
“Anyway… your first almost-successful mission is behind you,” Norma added, happily.
Will smiled grimly. He didn’t see anything successful about it.
“Hey, cheer up!” Norma said. “It’s not your fault.”
He knew. He had no control over it. And that was the worst part.
“How are you going to explain all this to Christine?” he asked, wanting to change the subject. “When she comes to?”
“Possessed people don’t remember much. She’ll be confused, probably scared, but oh well. We’ll blame it on drugs or alcohol… It shouldn’t be too hard.”
“And those murdered girls… What will be the official story?”
“We don’t know yet. That’s a bigger deal. We had to notify the Agency, so they’ll decide what to do. As a rule, it goes like this: if the family is in on it, they learn the truth. If not… Well.”
That wasn’t a very optimistic well.
“So if I had been killed back then, my grandparents would have no idea what happened to me?” Will whispered anxiously.
“Like I said, that’s a bigger deal. But if you were the only victim, we’d probably forge a suicide note and leave your clothes by the river…
or something like that. Sometimes we stage accidents.
I know, it sounds cruel,” Norma added, seeing Will’s frightened look, “but we have to hide. It’s better than drawing attention to ourselves, believe me. ”
Something clicked for Will.
“You know Brad Foster, by any chance?”
“No, why?”
“He’s a guy who went missing a few years ago. Oscar’s ex. I was just thinking…”
“…that maybe something paranormal happened to him?” Norma asked, and Will nodded. “I’ll find out. If you want.”
“I do. Thanks.”
This world was pulling him in deeper and deeper.
And it was terrifying him more and more.
January 12 | Sunday
It was a little after ten as Will was heading to Norma’s house.
Walking along the edge of the woods, sleepy and a little chilled, he wondered what he’d do after leaving his friend’s place, when a low, raspy chuckle suddenly echoed nearby.
He stopped instantly and looked toward the trees, with the impression that something had just darted behind one of them.
Will swallowed nervously. He recognized that sound—it was how the demon had laughed. But was it really here? Or maybe he had heard some wild animal, and his not-quite-awake mind had turned a natural sound into something more unsettling.
Biting his lip, Will wondered what to do next. He had two options: run to get Norma, tell her his suspicions, and at worst, make a paranoid idiot of himself; or check it out himself and, at worst, die.
And although the second prospect was far riskier, Will was sick and tired of making an idiot of himself, so he walked into the woods, treading slowly over the melting snow and looking around for anything suspicious.
“Hey,” a familiar voice suddenly said.
Will turned and saw Liam standing in front of him.
“Hey, Li—”
He fell silent abruptly when it registered in his brain that Liam was naked.
Completely. Totally. Naked.
“What are you doing here?” Liam asked.
“You’re naked,” Will noted, still shaken by the fact. He reflexively glanced down at a certain spot. He turned red.
“That’s not an answer to my question,” Liam replied jokingly. “I hope.”
“Yes. No. What?” Will stammered, struggling to focus on the conversation. “Why are you naked?”
“Because I just transformed back.”
“You mean you were in your wolf form? Sorry, not wolf form, but…”
“Yeah,” Liam interrupted him. “And what brings you here?”
“Uh… I thought I saw something,” Will confessed, deeply embarrassed.
He was seeing something now, too. And that something was terribly distracting.
“What?” Liam asked, interested.
“A demon,” Will said, and seeing Liam’s look, he waved a hand and muttered, “It’s a long story.”
“I bet,” Liam snorted.
“Oh, sure,” Will grumbled. “The guy who’s standing naked in the snow is going to insinuate I’m crazy.”
“That’s right, don’t let him,” Liam said casually, smiling broadly. “Though I don’t think it’s all that strange.”
“Of course it’s strange! Picture a serene, postcard-perfect winter scene with a giant naked man standing in the middle of it!”
Liam chuckled softly.
“I’m not that big.”
“You are,” Will muttered, tilting his head back slightly to meet his eyes.
Liam made it easier for him by leaning down a bit, then asked with a mischievous grin:
“Are you sure we’re talking about my height?”
“God,” Will groaned under his breath, feeling like he was about to die of embarrassment.