Chapter One #2
I swear, Senora Cervantes had the tact of a caveman.
Maria Elena sighed but said nothing.
I picked up a steaming mug and took a seat at the table beside the girl. “When I was your age, I summoned an earth sprite.”
I took a sip of the coffee. Cinnamony, creamy, sweet—Maria Elena made a spectacular café de olla. I wanted to gulp down the whole thing and ask for a to-go cup.
Violeta sneaked a glance at me. “A sprite?”
“Kind of like a faery, only nicer. Mom and I traveled a lot, and even when we weren’t on the road, I hung around mostly with adults. I was lonely for a friend my age, so I decided to summon one.”
“People can just do that?” The girl wasn’t sneaking anymore. She stared straight at me with wide, topaz eyes. Even Petra was looking at me.
“Not people, no. I’m an elemental witch.
Sometimes we can evoke living things through our element.
Mine’s earth. There are fire and wind sprites—water sprites, too.
” I took another drink of the delicious coffee.
“The thing is, sprites are pretty, but they aren’t very smart, and they really aren’t great company.
It’s kind of like befriending a butterfly.
You know it’s going to be a one-sided relationship. ”
“Oh,” she said. “What happened? Did you send her away?”
“My mom sent her back to where she’d come from. She told me it wasn’t right to summon friends. That we had to make them the old-fashioned way, or it was more a hostage situation than a friendship.”
Violeta stroked the kitten’s head. “Did you ever find one—a friend?”
I smiled at Ida. “Eventually, yeah. Some good ones.”
“And you weren’t lonely anymore after that?” Her voice was heartbreakingly soft.
I glanced up at her mother. Her eyes were hooded, and there were dark circles around them. I didn’t know Violeta’s story, but Senora Cervantes had mentioned Maria Elena’s recent divorce, and I could read between the lines.
“Sometimes I get lonely. Everyone does. But it doesn’t last too long.” I reached out a hand for Petra to nuzzle. She really was a sweet kitten.
Fennel trotted up and head-bumped Violeta’s knee. She gave his head a scratch, and he purred at her in return, eliciting a giggle from the girl. “He’s so handsome.”
“Don’t let it go to your head, Fennel,” I teased.
He ignored me and head-bumped her again, requesting more pets.
“Violeta, can you tell me exactly what you said to summon her?” I asked her. “If you want me to help you, I need to know everything.”
“Everything?” Violeta hugged Petra closer.
I didn’t reply. The kid didn’t need any more pressure. I’d figure out how to banish the creature with or without her but knowing the incantation she’d used would help things along.
“It’s nearly midnight,” Maria Elena said.
Violeta kissed Petra’s head and gently set her on the floor. Then she picked up one of the candles and took me by the hand. “It’s better if I show you.”
“Why the candles?” I asked, as Violeta led me down the short hallway to her bedroom.
“Mom’s trying to save on electricity. It’s almost summer,” she replied.
Summer in the desert meant triple digit heat and high triple digit power bills. Thankfully, Mom had installed solar at the trailer. It helped a lot.
“You’re probably wondering why we don’t have solar.” Violeta pushed open the door to her darkened bedroom. “Everyone always asks.”
“It’s expensive,” I said.
“Yeah.” Her shoulders fell. “We’d planned to put it in before Dad left.
Now we have to be more careful with money.
Tía Maria helps us a lot. She offered to pay for the installation, but Mom doesn’t want to take too much from her.
She says we need to find ways to do it on our own.
We can’t depend on other people to pay for us. ”
I sighed in remembrance. I’d had several tough talks about money with my single mother when I was a kid. And that was before she bought the Siete Saguaros. Money was even tighter after that.
“How’d you learn about Bloody Mary?” I asked.
Violeta’s shoulders bowed.
I hated making the kid feel bad, but I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t need to know.
“A girl at school. She didn’t think it was real, but she didn’t believe in witches or shapeshifters, so she wasn’t as smart as she thought she was.” She sniffed. “Anyway, she gave me the idea then I found more information online. They all thought it was a story, too.”
“It’s for the best. Humans would freak out if they found out she was real.”
“Yeah.” The girl nodded solemnly. “I know I did. The first time she showed up was scary.”
“Why did you keep calling her?” I didn’t know she had, but it was a reasonable suspicion. Mary was demonic, and demons usually had to be invited.
“I don’t know. I guess because her kind of scary was less scary than the being alone kind.”
Damn.
“You know, until she started asking for my soul, and it wasn’t anymore.”
Violeta’s room was small and clean. A twin bed with a black quilt was tucked into one corner.
A black beanbag chair slouched next to a particle board desk and dining room chair on the other side of the room.
An ancient desktop computer plastered with band stickers sat on the desk.
Posters of popular rock bands hung at irregular angles on the walls, and I was a little embarrassed that I didn’t recognize any of them.
Ida strolled into the room and looked around. “So, you like Ghost?”
The girl perked up. “Yes. They’re my favorite group. No one else around here knows about them, though.”
“I do. My favorite papa is Papa Nihil, being that he was the ‘original,’” Ida said, using finger quotations around the word for some reason.
Whatever she’d meant, Violeta appeared to understand. “Mine, too! Oh my gosh, I just got this last week.” Violeta pointed at a poster with a skeletal creature dressed in a white chasuble. “Tío Renato’s taking me to a concert soon. I can’t wait.”
“That sounds fun. I’m more of a K-pop gal myself, but I like to rock out once in a while,” Ida said, and I instantly felt two hundred years old.
I glanced from the disturbing posters to the neatly made bed to the closet doors. “Uh, where’s the mirror?”
Violeta looked at me. “Mirror?”
“You said you summoned Bloody Mary. Where’s the mirror?”
“I don’t have one in here.” Violeta pointed to the clunky, old monitor. It looked like something out of an early 2000s movie. “I used that.”
“Mary’s never been known to use technology,” Ida said.
“No, she hasn’t,” I said. “Places, everyone.”
Fennel perched on Violeta’s chair, Cecil sank into the bean bag, Ida guarded the closed door, and I stood behind the monitor. I’d gone over the script with Violeta in the kitchen and felt certain she could handle it. This wasn’t without risk, but if everyone stuck to the plan, we’d be fine.
“Go ahead,” I said.
“Bloody Mary,” the girl chanted, repeating the name as she turned three times before dropping into her chair. Fennel hopped onto her lap.
The monitor flickered on.
Cecil jumped off the beanbag and scampered behind the desk beneath the outlet. Fennel leapt to the floor, standing sentinel between Violeta’s feet the way we’d planned. Cats had the ability to travel between realms, and they scared the heck out of spirits and demons. We needed him close.
“Back in my day, we had to do it thirteen times,” Ida muttered. “What a rip-off.”
I held my finger to my lips to shush her.
The screen lit up with a ghoulish green light and a creaky voice reverberated through the crackly speakers. “Are you ready to give me your soul, girl?” The speakers popped as the creature spoke. It used a soft, low voice, as if purposely trying to sound more enticing. “We can be together forever.”
“No.” Violeta trained her eyes on the screen, the way we’d practiced. “I will not give you my soul. I rebuke you in the names of the guardian gods and goddesses of children. Go away.”
The voice reached cat screech levels of shrill, and a repulsive smell emanated from the machine. “Who told you to use that term? Did you tell your mother about me?”
There was something familiar about that stench.
I glanced at Ida, who rolled her eyes and nodded.
Fennel slinked up beside me. I gestured for Cecil to move away from the outlet and join us. We no longer needed to unplug the machine. We’d be doing this another way entirely.
I handed Cecil a bag of Siete Saguaro soil mixed with rock salt and told him to draw a circle. Fennel flicked his tail and followed. He would cast the spell.
The creature—who was absolutely not Bloody Mary—whined, “Aww, come on. Why’d you even call if you weren’t going to give me your soul? What is it with this generation? You’re all so godsdamned jaded.”
I made a “move” gesture to Violeta, and she dove out of the chair and into the beanbag.
“Hey, where’d you go, kid?”
I slid into the chair and gave the creature my best I’ve-got-you-now smile.
“I bind you to this circle, Gnath, servant of iniquity, commander of the second brigade of malfeasance, demon of Highway 86. Here you will remain until released."