Evil - Chapter 10
I was a prisoner. No, I didn’t have a cage, but I was a prisoner all the same. Carl and Junebug weren’t my “parents.”
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.
It's not easy being the Antichrist.
Anjelica’s mother never told her that she was a demon. Now, all she wants is her old life back, but that’s not possible for her. Not after what she’s seen.
Anjelica used to be a popular cheerleader with an awesome life, but that was before an evil cult of demons tried to use her blood to open a portal to Hell and start the Apocalypse.
She was rescued from that fate, barely, and because of the imminent threat to her life, her saviors ripped her from Los Angeles and brought her to a safe house in the middle of nowhere.
They said it was for her own good, but she would rather be dead than stuck in boring, old Bronard, Missouri. She was from the big city, so a sleepy, rural life wasn’t for her.
She longed for excitement.
So, when she met a young witch with a mysterious past who promised to show her everything she knew about opening portals and traveling between distant lands, they bonded immediately
I mean, what’s the worst that could happen, right?
It’s not like they would open an intergalactic gateway to another planet and get thrown into a brand, new world with no way to get back to Earth, right?
Join Anjelica in her own solo adventure and find out what happened to her immediately after the events in Magic.
I was a prisoner. No, I didn’t have a cage, but I was a prisoner all the same. Carl and Junebug weren’t my “parents.” They were my wardens, and Kimberly was my jailer. I knew they were trying to protect me, but I’d been sold a bill of goods when I agreed to move to the middle of nowhere, and nowhere did it say I had a curfew.
I appreciated them. I did. Did I? I did—I think I did. The next day at breakfast, though, I couldn’t help feeling contempt in every word Junebug and Carl said to me. In every smile, I felt malice, and in every kind gesture, I read sinister underpinnings.
As I walked toward the bus, the black opal amulet thwapped against my chest. Each time I felt it touch my skin, it was like my shackles tightened. I would be wearing this amulet forever. I would be stuck in the house, away from people, for the rest of my natural life.
When I pushed my way into school, Chrissy and Ella made a beeline toward me. Ella was smiling brighter than I had seen her previously, and the dread of my imprisonment caught up to me. Basketball games happened at night. Sometimes, on-road games, we wouldn’t get home until nine or later. If we went out for food afterward, then it might be closer to midnight. I couldn’t join the team.
“Ready, superstar?” Chrissy asked. “We told the girls about your performance, and they are so excited to meet you. If they like you, then you’re in.”
“See you after school?” Ella added expectantly. It was less a question and more of a statement.
I wanted to tell her no, but when I opened my mouth, what came out was, “Looking forward to it!”
Chrissy squealed with excitement, and it filled me with joy that somebody wanted to hang out with me. I wasn’t going to let them down. I might be a prisoner, but I was not going gentle into that good night.
After I decided to go to my full team cheerleading tryouts, my mood drastically improved, even though my classes were weird. I was as far ahead in Biology as I was behind in History, for instance. The first two days, I was lucky to avoid homework, but I wasn’t so fortunate on the third day, which made up for the other two and then some. Each teacher dumped, except for gym and lunch. By the time I got to the end of the day, my enthusiasm for practice had waned. When Harriet guided me there with a big smile and can-do attitude, my tank refilled a bit.
“There are nine girls on the team right now, which puts us one short of a full pyramid.” Harriet grinned ear to ear, wide enough to make my mouth hurt watching it. “Well, we can do a little pyramid, and we do, but it’s just not the same as having the whole squad up there, ya know?” She didn’t wait for me to answer before continuing. “Of course you do. You’re from Los Angeles. I bet they have monster pyramids out there. How many girls were on your team?”
“About forty,” I replied. “Double that if you include JV.”
“Wow,” she replied, starry-eyed. “We don’t even have a JV team here.”
“It’s not so great in Los Angeles,” I said, not sure if I was trying to convince her or myself. “You’re totally replaceable over there. Everybody is super talented, and they’re always gunning for your spot.”
We reached the gym, and Harriet held the door for me. “You won’t get too much of that here, except for Ella, but she’s not ‘destroy your body and soul’ mean. She’s more like ‘I will not accept anything less than perfection’ mean.”
“I don’t mind that kind,” I replied, thinking back to the Ginnifer, the captain of my team back in LA, who screamed when we landed anything wrong, even in practice. “Honestly, Harriet, I’m just here to have fun.”
“Me too!” she squealed.
“Harriet!” Ella screamed. “Don’t fraternize with the fresh meat!” Harriet wasn’t wrong. Ella was a drill sergeant. “New girl. There’s a locker room to change.”
“Change. Right.” The rest of the girls were wearing black shorts and gray shirts with a black cat on them. Junebug hadn’t bought me workout clothes, but the gym teacher provided a set of clothes for his class. After changing and pulling back my hair into a messy bun, I was ready to rock and roll. I tied my shoelaces tight and took a deep breath, gazing into the mirror.
“You can do this, Anjelica. You’re a winner. Don’t you forget that, and don’t you dare forget to smile.”
I used to have no problem smiling, but now it strained the muscles on my face. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. As my chest expanded, I felt the black opal necklace on my skin. When I opened my eyes, it sparkled gently in the fluorescent overhead light.
I badly wanted to pull it off and throw it away, to run away, to run home, but that wouldn’t be helpful to anyone, least of all my mother. I was mostly doing this for her, after all…and so I didn’t die…I definitely didn’t want to die.
“Hey!” I heard as the locker room door squeaked open. Chrissy stared at me, irritated. “Come on. We don’t have all day, recruit.” Then, she smiled at me. “Sorry. Ella forced me to say that. You’ll be great. We’re ready for you.”
All eyes were on me when I stepped out of the locker room. Their looks ranged from wanton indifference to irritation to wide-eyed fascination. I rolled my shoulders back and cracked my neck as Chrissy led me to a set of black mats stretching out across the hardwood floor.
“All right,” she said. “First things first, show everyone that thing you did yesterday.”
I nodded and stepped to the front of the mat. Somehow, I was less nervous doing it on hardwood, risking breaking my own neck, than on the mats with so many eyes on me. I reached down to the floor to stretch out, buying myself some time.
Then, I sprung back again and again before twirling into the air. When I finally landed, I leaped forward, spinning, and slid to a stop to stunned applause.
“What do you call that?” Chrissy said. “It’s so cool.”
“The ‘like whatever’, cuz you kind of end like, whatever. It’s got that, ‘Yeah, I’m hot, but who even cares?’ vibe.”
Even Ella smiled at that one, but it didn’t last long before her stern face returned. “That’s all well and good. Now we have to see how you integrate with a team. Celia and Gina will show you a cheer, and you have to follow them.”
She snapped her fingers, and a gawky girl popped up, as did a girl even smaller than me. They stood on either side of me. They clapped their hands together in unison.
“We are the Black Cats. We can’t be beat. We got the magic to knock you off your feet!” The first time they just yelled it before adding in steps during the second time. First a clap after Cats, then a punch after beat. Then, a flex after power, and finally a kick after feet. They repeated it two more times before stopping.
“That’s great, girls!” Harriet said. “Got it, Anjelica?”
“I think so. Can we add our own flare to the end, or do you want it in complete formation?”
“Do what’s in your heart,” Harriet said.
“As long as it doesn’t suck,” Ella added.
“All right.” The girls clapped us off, and I followed them in harmony and rhythm. Not much in life made sense to me, but dance and cheer did. I could learn choreography in a snap. “We are the Black Cats.” Big clap. “We can’t be beat.” Punch. “We got the magic.” Flex. “To knock you off your feet!” Kick. When we were done, I leaped into the air for a flying split. Admittedly, I was showing off a bit, but I wanted them to know what I could do.
“Nice,” Chrissy said with a clap when it was over. “Okay, you said you were a flier on your old team, right?”
I nodded. “That’s why they let me on the team. Not many people want to be thrown in the air, you know?”
“Tell me about it,” Chrissy said. “Let’s work a couple more cheers, then some throws, if you’re comfortable with that, and we’ll finish with a pyramid. Cool?”
“Very cool,” I replied. “How am I doing so far?”
She smiled. “So, so good.”
***
After working on a couple more cheers and helping the girls roll out several more mats, it was time for me to fly. I preferred having a group of male cheerleaders launch me through the air, simply because they could toss me higher than the same number of girls could, but at the end of the day, I enjoyed anybody tossing me in the air. It was like going on a roller coaster without having to buy a ticket.
Celia was the tallest girl on the team. She, Harriet, and Ella formed the base, and I stepped into their interlocked hands. My heart fluttered in my stomach as they collectively took a deep breath and, with all their force, flung me into the air. For my first attempt, I decided to simply fall back down to Earth without any fancy splits, kicks, or spins, all of which I could do, of course, but I didn’t know what the team could handle. I was still a little bit nervous about why the previous flier had broken her leg, and I didn’t trust them enough…yet, and that was the operative word.
I leaned back and crossed my arms across my chest. Flying was mostly about trusting in somebody to catch you. My old team had days of trust fall exercises getting us comfortable with your team, but there was none of that at Mark Twain. Just grip it and rip it.
I took a deep breath and pressed my eyes tightly closed as I felt myself descend, and a second later, six arms wrapped around me. I exhaled deeply and opened my eyes to see Ella glowering at me.
“That was horrible,” she said. “You were like a dead noodle up there.” Her lip curled into a sneer. “Also, you’re heavier than I thought. You need to lose some weight if you’re gonna fly with us.”
I pushed to stand. “First, it’s muscle. Thank you very much. Second, you’ll forgive me if I don’t want to give it all away on the first day.”
“That’s literally the point of this try-out,” she said. “To show all the girls your best.”
I stumbled away from the team. “I just let you hurl me into the air. I could’ve broken my dang neck, but you wanna see something.” Don’t do it, Anjelica. Don’t let your competitive streak get the better of you. “Let’s go again.” And there it was. “Set it up for me.”
The other girls looked around for what to do, but Ella chuckled. “All right, limp noodle, let’s see what you got. Actually try this time, okay?”
“I haven’t even begun trying,” I replied, stepping to their interlocked hands. “Shoot me!”
The girls took a collective breath and flung me into the air. As they did, I kicked out my legs into midair splits before twisting back down to the ground into their arms.
“That was—”
“Again!” I shouted.
They reset and threw me into the air again. This time I twisted from the beginning of the lift, executing a perfect corkscrew before they caught me again. I rolled out of their embrace and rose next to them. “Is that enough, or do you want to see mo—”
Past them, Carl stomped into the gym. I looked down at my watch. It was already dark, and I hadn’t come home yet. Shit. I was in a whole heap of trouble.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.