Evil - Chapter 14
“You did what?” Junebug said, arms crossed, pacing across the living room. Carl hadn’t said a word since I started my story, and now that I was done, he just shook his head, eyes narrowed.
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.
“You did what?” Junebug said, arms crossed, pacing across the living room. Carl hadn’t said a word since I started my story, and now that I was done, he just shook his head, eyes narrowed, disappointed.
“I gave my necklace to Margaret,” I said. “She needed it more than me.”
“It wasn’t yours to give away! And now you’re being chased by agents of some organization or another. That’s exactly why you shouldn’t leave this house.”
“I didn’t think she was going to get chased by—by whatever those agents were. I just wanted to get us home, but yeah, I gave the necklace away, and now you know everything.” I turned to Carl. “She’s not a bad girl. You met her. She’s sweet, right?”
“Did you know about this, Carl?” Junebug asked. “Is what she’s saying true? Did you drive her over to this girl’s house?”
“I don’t—I don’t remember. I took her somewhere, but I can’t—the details are fuzzy.”
“Well, it goes without saying that you can’t hang out with this girl anymore. It’s too dangerous.” Junebug sighed. “I can’t believe you gave her your necklace.”
“She needed it more than me, and also…you can’t stop me from seeing anyone, June. This girl needs my help.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Carl said. “You’re not some fighter, or mage, or anything that can help her, except get her into more trouble.”
“Kimberly does it—”
“Don’t finish that statement, young lady,” June said. “Kimberly had lots of training and has been doing this a long time. You two are not the same.”
“Maybe not.” I stood. “But have you forgotten that I’m a demon? I can stand up for myself.”
“You’ve done a mighty fine job of doing that up until now,” Carl said, standing to tower over me. “Go to your room until we figure out what to do with you.”
“But I—”
“You heard your father,” June added, backing up her husband.
“You’re not my dad,” I said as biting as possible. I don’t know why I said it, except that I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to hurt them, and it worked because I watched Carl’s face contort into something unnatural. It was mean, but at that moment, it felt good to be mean. “And you’re not my mom,” I added with finality before stomping up to my room.
A shadowy figure sat on my bed. Usually, I would have jumped at such an intrusion, but my blood burned red with anger, and I flipped the lights on, ready to gut whoever was trying to sneak up on me. When I saw it was Kimberly, my face dropped, but my anger didn’t subside.
“You’re having quite a day,” she said.
“Don’t you start with me, too.”
“I’m not trying to start with you,” Kimberly said. “I’m trying to protect you. We’re all trying to protect you, but you keep doing stupider and stupider stuff.”
“I was just going to the mall. How is any of this my fault?”
She pointed. “You’re not wearing your pendant.”
“I gave it away,” I replied.
“I heard.”
“Then you know I gave it away to a girl who’s in a way worse spot than me.”
“And did you happen to remember that it only works if your house is warded?”
“Oh…no. I didn’t.”
“Just a teeny tiny, little, insignificant detail.”
“At least I’m trying to support her,” I grumbled. “She claims she’s a prophecy girl. She said she’s supposed to help usher in a new world order. Please, can’t you help me figure this out, so she doesn’t have to be locked in her house for the next century?”
She shook her head. “No. That’s not my job. My job is to protect fairy folk, and them alone. I already broke that dictum once with you, and you’ve caused me nothing but trouble. I am not taking on another charity case.”
“Charity case? I didn’t ask for any of this.” I stepped toward her. “If you just turned your back on me, that would be a real dick move.”
“Yeah, and being an ungrateful jerk to the people trying to help makes you one, too. Junebug and Carl didn’t ask for this. They don’t have to help you. They are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.” She sighed. “I can’t believe we have to keep having this discussion. Maybe this isn’t working. Maybe I should just…”
“Just what? Abandon me to the wolves?”
“No, that’s not what I was going to say, but make no mistake, if Carl and Junebug kick you out, there are no second chances. I’ve been trying to—to find somewhere you might get along better, but nobody else is willing to take a demon.” She looked at me. “Frankly, the way you’re acting, I can see why.”
“Ouch,” I said. “Well, at least you’re honest. I’ll give you that.”
“We didn’t meet under the best circumstances, and it all keeps going downhill, but I am on your team, Anjelica.”
“If you are, then help me. And help Margaret, like you helped me.”
Kimberly reached into her pocket and pulled out another black opal stone. “I hesitate to give you this, after how you treated the first one…but you were trying to be noble, if a little misguided. Lord knows I’ve been there. Still, I’m getting real sick of treating you like a child.”
She placed it in my hands, then closed my fingers around it.
“Then why are you?” I asked, looking at the stone in my hand.
“I’m giving this to you to prove this isn’t a prison, and we aren’t jailers.” She sighed. “Maybe if I keep saying it, eventually you’ll believe it.”
I shook my head. “I believe in actions. Nothing you say can convince me.” I placed the pendant around my neck. “This helps, though.”
“Good.” She walked toward the door. “I’m going to talk to your parents now and try to figure out what to do with you, try to convince them not to feed you to the wolves.”
“Tell them I’m sorry.”
“I will.”
“Kimberly, please look into Margaret for me. I’m begging you.”
She paused for a moment at the door before she opened it, then said, “No.”
***
If Kimberly wasn’t going to help me, then there was one other person I knew who was a badass with this kind of thing. Well, two, but Ollie made it pretty clear she didn’t want to see me again when we said goodbye. That left Phil, if I could find him.
I couldn’t just open the phone book and look him up, but I knew he was good with computers. I figured that if I could get onto a computer, then I might be able to contact him…even though I had no idea how that worked. It was just tubes and junk, right?
There was a computer in the library of our school. It was an ugly looking thing, but two days before, we’d taken a trip to the library in English class, and I saw the librarian behind the green monitor, typing away furiously on the keyboard.
Before school the next day, I stopped into the library to find Mrs. Sloop pushing a cart of books.
“Good morning,” I said.
The noise startled her, and she jumped a bit before glaring at me. “Shhh.”
“Sorry,” I whispered. “I thought being quiet was just a during-school hours thing.”
She shook her head. “It’s an always thing. How can I help you, Miss…” Her mind churned behind her eyes, trying to find my name. She was coming up empty.
“Anjelica.”
“And what do you need, Anjelica?”
“I need to send a message to my friend on the computer. Can you help me?”
She looked at me like I was an idiot. “Our computer can’t do that. You need a networked computer to send something complicated like that.”
I pointed to the computer. “That one...isn’t…?”
She shook her head. “Certainly not. You would need a…something connection, or a driver, maybe? I don’t know all the ins and outs. They told us what we needed when they set our system up…I wasn’t interested. Regardless…I can assure you the computer we have can’t do any of that fancy stuff.” She looked over at the boxy thing. “It’s pretty worthless if you ask me.” She tapped her temple. “My brain can find books faster than that stupid thing.”
“I’m sure it can.” I thought for a second. “Do you know where I could find one of those networked thingies?”
She nodded. “I believe the college has a few. They are mainly meant for universities to communicate with each other anyway. I don’t know why you would need to send a message to somebody else over it. Can’t you pick up a phone?”
“I just do, I guess. I don’t know. Isn’t the future all about computers? That’s what people are saying.”
She snorted. “I don’t want to live in a world like that.”
I thanked her for her time and walked out of the library. To get to the college, I needed a car. I hadn’t seen a college driving back and forth around town, which meant it was out of my walking distance, especially in the middle of winter.
The problem was that I didn’t know anyone, with or without a car. I doubted Chrissy, Ella, or Harriet would help me. The minute they refused me entry to the team, they acted like I didn’t exist anymore. I didn’t want to risk Margaret getting caught by going to her…which only left one other person who might take pity on me—Lizzie.
I found her after second period. Her classes were on the other side of the school from mine, and all the junior high students looked tiny in comparison to me, even if I was a shrimp in comparison to the rest of the kids in my grade.
When she saw me, she rolled her eyes. “What do you want?”
“I need your help.”
“Sorry,” she said, barreling past me. “If Mom and Dad aren’t your parents, then I’m not your sister, and that would make us strangers, and I don’t help strangers. They’re dangerous.”
I grumbled. “What do you want?”
“I don’t know what you mean. I’m distraught about how you are treating my beloved parents.” I didn’t know much, but I knew sarcasm, and it was oozing off her. “I’ll play along. Tell me what you need, and I’ll see what it’ll cost you.”
“I need a ride to the college.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You know I’m twelve, right? I can’t drive.”
“Yeah, but I remember when I was twelve, I had friends who had older brothers with cars.” I smirked. “Not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty good at getting boys to do things for me.”
“That,” she said, “that’s my price.”
“What? Manipulating boys?”
She looked down the hall for a moment, and I followed her eyes to a tall, black-haired boy with dark rings under his eyes. When she saw me looking, she blushed. “If you want my help, show me what you know, and then I’ll do what I can.”
My eyes narrowed. “If I do this, you aren’t going to screw me, are you?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” She held out her hand. “Do we have a deal?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“You could not do your thing.”
I sighed and shook her hand. “Fine. Tonight, your room. Be there or be square.”
“Of course I’ll be there. It’s my room.” She spun and walked away from me. “Ugh. I regret this already.”
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.