Evil - Chapter 13
No, no, no, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. It was barely four o’clock. I had plenty of time to get home before the protection of my magic wards wore off.
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.
No, no, no, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. It was barely four o’clock. I had plenty of time to get home before the protection of my magic wards wore off.
“I can’t believe my mother was right,” Margaret grumbled as she wheeled forward. “Kneel.”
“Excuse me?” I said to her.
She didn’t speak again. Instead, she grabbed me by the collar and pulled me to her level. Then, she closed her eyes, and when she opened them a second later, they glowed with blue light. She clapped her hands together and then extended them as wide as she could.
“Arcticum inspiratione!” she shouted as a blue wave exploded from her body, sending the agents flipping over on the ground. The decorative glass around the entrance to the mall shattered along with the store windows and the kiosks showing the directory. After the blue wave dissipated, there wasn’t a single piece of glass left standing within twenty feet of us.
I let out an audible shriek, but Margaret was cool as a cucumber. She rolled herself down the hallway as fast as I could run, and we rushed past the agents who were already making their way back to standing.
“This is bad,” Margaret said. “This is so bad.”
“What’s happening?” I asked, panting. “Do you know those guys?”
“Not really.” She looked back over her shoulder. “Only by reputation.”
The agents rushed after us as the assorted store clerks hobbled out of their stores to make sense of what just happened. Two more agents appeared from a mall kiosk in front of us.
“I can’t—I don’t have enough power.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a white door hidden by the white paint around it.
“In there!” I slammed my shoulder against the door, and it snapped opened into a long corridor. I grabbed Margaret’s wheelchair and spun her into the hallway. “How about some of that teleportation magic, huh? We could really use it right about now.”
“I—can’t—” she said. “I only have so much magical energy, and if I spend it now, we’ll never get home before our parents kill us.”
“Can’t you do anything else?” I croaked, pushing her toward a door marked exit at the other end of the white hall.
“Nothing comes to mind,” she replied. “I have one more good spell in me before I’m spent, and I’m not leaving my mom’s car at this mall. She will super ground me.”
The door behind us slammed open, and six agents poured through it just as we reached the door and exited the mall. Outside, a rush of cold air shot at me, nearly taking the wind out of my lungs. I hated the cold so much. If I survived this, I was going to hide out in Bali next.
“Left!” Margaret shouted, spinning the wheels of her chair so hard that I couldn’t hang on to the handlebars. We turned another corner and up the ramp to a loading dock. I knocked hard on the door at the end of it.
“Please, please, please.”
The door fell open, and I tumbled inside, then clicked it closed as I heard the agents ascend the ramp to the dock, muttering to themselves.
“What are you girls doing causing all that racket?” A tall, well-built man with a mustache said in a thick Wisconsin accent. “You’re not supposed to be back here. That’s why we lock the door.”
“Please,” I replied. “Some very bad men are after us.” The door shuddered from violent men knocking against it. “That’s them. Please, help us.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe. No one’s gonna hurt you on my watch.” The man nodded. “Get behind that stack of pallets.”
We did as he asked, and he went to open the door for them. “Can I help you gentlemen—sorry, ma’am? Gentlepeople?”
A gruff voice spoke, sending shivers down my spine. “Has a girl in a wheelchair passed through here?”
“Not that I’ve seen,” the Wisconsin man replied. “This door is pretty much always locked, at least after morning load-in. It would be pretty hard for somebody to get in this way.”
“Come on,” I said, whispering to Margaret.
“But he said—”
“He doesn’t know what they are, all right?”
“Neither do we.”
“They’re bad guys, and bad guys don’t listen to reason. Any second—”
Before I said another word, there was a bright flash, and a pitiful croak came from the man as his body collapsed to the cement floor.
“Split up,” the gruff voice said, and six pairs of loafers clacked along the floor, inching closer.
I looked up to the top of the stack of pallets and had an idea. “Get ready to move.” Margaret didn’t say anything and only nodded. The group of agents worked methodically through the loading dock, and eventually, I heard one pair right next to me. I pushed the pallets as hard as I could, and the pile collapsed on the agents. When I heard them cry out, I turned toward the blue doors furthest from them and hoped they led back into the mall.
“Go!” I screamed and bolted to the door. It led us into a massive store. All the agents gave chase as we made our way to where the sounds of elevator music blasted. We had come out into the gardening department and pushed through the plows, backhoes, and mowers. The agents were quicker than we were, and one of them caught us before we could make it to housewares. He grabbed at me, and I felt a surge of energy course through my body. I reached back with a guttural growl and tipped over a shelving unit. It toppled down on him.
Oh yeah. I am a demon. That was probably good for something.
Two agents circled us from the front, trying to outflank us. We passed a pair of mops, and I grabbed them, handing one to Margaret. “Use this like a lance on the left one!”
She built up a head of steam and charged them like we were in a joust, holding the mop handle while I leaped onto the back of her chair and pointed to the one on the right. I don’t think they knew what to expect, having a girl in a wheelchair and her demon friend rolling at them full speed because they didn’t even bother to dodge. Instead, they took the full brunt of the force and stumbled back into the menswear department, leaving an opening for us to blow through them.
I leaped down from Margaret’s chair and pushed her toward the exit. I recognized it as the one we came through, and I didn’t even bother to look behind us to confirm that the agents were chasing us. I kept my legs thrusting at top speed.
A big black van sat outside. The door slid open, and another agent lunged for us. I turned Margaret’s chair on a dime and swerved around it into the parking lot. Luckily, I had a good memory, and we found Margaret’s car without issue.
“Open the trunk! Hurry!” Margaret said. I pulled open the truck, and she lurched into it. I didn’t even bother to close the wheelchair before flinging it inside and slamming the door closed.
By the time I dropped into the passenger’s seat, Margaret was buckling herself into the chair behind the steering wheel. The black van skidded to a stop behind us, and the agents surrounded our car, pointing something that resembled a gun but was like nothing I had ever seen before.
“I guess this as good a time as any,” Margaret said, closing her eyes. She mumbled something under her breath as she turned the ignition, and we disappeared from the parking lot, reappearing inside the black ether of nothingness. “You’re really not supposed to start from a dead stop in here. Let’s just hope—”
She stopped mid-sentence. I turned to her, hands shaking with nerves. “Hope what?”
“Nothing, nothing. It will be fine. Just sit back and relax.”
“Relax? I can’t relax! What are you? Are you an antichrist? A demon? What the heck is happening?”
“Nothing like that,” she said, taking a breath. “But since you almost got caught up in it, I guess you have a right to know.” She gripped the handle tightly. “I’m a prophecy girl.”
“Uhhh…is that as—”
“As stupid it sounds? Yes. A long time ago, when I was just a little kid, a seer told me that I would lead a ruined world back from the brink.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “That sounds so stupid, and I’m not getting it exactly right, but it sent my mom into a tailspin. She’s had me barricaded in my room ever since.” She looked back, even though there was only the darkness. “Now, I know why.”
I reached over and grabbed her shoulder. “Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay.”
“How?” She moaned. “I’ve messed everything up.”
“This is going to sound really weird, but I actually have some experience stopping the end of the world, and I think I know somebody that can help.”
“Well…that’s convenient,” she said.
“None of this is convenient.”
A pinprick of light blinked into existence in front of us and slowly grew until it washed over the car. Margaret skidded to a stop on a small country road, in front of a big, blue water tower that said Bronard on it.
Home.
I smiled because it was the first time I’d thought of this place as home since I arrived in Missouri. Margaret was sobbing on the steering wheel. I reached over and rubbed her back.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said. “I promise.”
I didn’t know if I could actually help, but it was a thing to say. If anybody could help her, it would be Kimberly. I just had to hope the pixie wouldn’t be too mad at me. I reached behind my head and pulled off the necklace, laying it down in the cupholder.
“You need this more than I do. It needs to be recharged, and I don’t know how to do that, but yeah. There should be enough juice to get you home.”
Yup, Kimberly was gonna be so mad at me.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.