Evil - Chapter 9
This time I checked the bus number three times before I stepped onto it, but that wasn’t enough for me.
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.
This time I checked the bus number three times before I stepped onto it, but that wasn’t enough for me. The driver was a kindly, old man with a beard that hid his sunken cheeks and sagging jaw.
“Does this bus go to the Bronard water tower? The blue one in Bronard.”
“Yup, don’t worry your pretty little head about it. Just sit down, and I’ll get you there in one piece.”
“You’re sure it’s the blue one in Bronard, not the red one in Maynard?” I asked more emphatically.
“I think I know where the dang bus is going, girl. Now, you wanna sit down or what?”
“I’m sorry, I’m just—”
“This one’ll get you home,” Lizzie interrupted, hopping onto the bus. “Sorry, Frank. She’s new and got lost yesterday. I’ll take care of her.”
Lizzie grabbed me under the elbow as Frank eyed me. “See that you do,” he grunted.
The anticipation of seeing Margaret nearly got the better of me, and I leaped off the bus when I got home. Not only was I one step closer to getting on the cheerleading team, but I was about to see the only other human who actually talked to me. I hope she’s okay.
Carl was tuning something under the hood of the tractor when we reached the house, and I hollered at him. “Are you almost ready to go…Dad?”
“Almost,” he shot back with a smile on his face. “Go put your stuff away, and I’ll be done by the time you get out.”
I didn’t know how he had the skin to stay outside wearing little more than overalls and a flannel shirt in negative a million degrees, but I didn’t ask questions. I threw my bag down on my bed and rushed back outside. True to his word, Carl left the tractor hood open and walked over to the pick-up. He waved me in, and I sat in the front seat. I didn’t have an exact address, but I knew it was down the street from the Maynard water tower, so I told him to drive there. God bless small towns because he knew exactly where I was talking about and put the truck in gear.
“How are you fitting in?” he asked as he turned onto the main road.
“Pretty okay, I think. I had a cheerleading try-out today.” I smiled. “I think I made an impression.”
“I have no doubt. You haven’t been around for long, but I can tell you’re a special girl.”
My mom never gave me compliments, and it was an odd feeling, but odd in a good way.
“So, it was a good day?” he asked.
“I don’t know if I can have good days yet, but it was the best I’ve had in a while.”
He didn’t say much more on the ride. Carl didn’t speak often, and when he did, he always had something to say. His words were deliberate, thoughtful, like nobody I had ever met before, and there was a stillness to him. He wasn’t ever in a rush, but he always seemed to have purpose.
We pulled up to the Maynard water tower after about twenty minutes of driving. Unlike Junebug, he kept the speed limit. If I were ever in a rush, I would need to remember never to ask Carl for a ride.
“All right, the bus let me off here, and then I walked for a while in the opposite direction. So, turn around.”
He spun the car around, and we slowly crept down the street. When we were about a mile down the road, we reached the only house in sight. It wasn’t the house I remembered from the night before. This one was red, like a barn, and instead of having a second floor, it extended further back than Margaret’s house. A little red silo sat next to it, which I didn’t remember, either, but this had to be the place.
“What are we looking at? That the house?”
“I don’t—” I opened the door. “Just wait here a minute.”
I stepped down from the truck and closed the door behind me. I took the wooden stairs to the porch—I could have sworn they were concrete last time—and knocked on the door. A little dog yipped from inside the house. A Black girl with a tight afro and thick glasses opened the door. Before I could open my mouth, her eyes lit up.
“Anjelica!” She covered her mouth. “What are you doing here?”
“Um…I’m looking for Margaret.”
She looked down at her hands. “Oh right. Uhhh…”
“Regina!” A booming voice I recognized came from the back of the house. “Who is it?”
Margaret—Regina—whoever it was, rode her wheelchair forward. “You need to leave. If my mom finds out you can remember where we live, she’ll make us move again.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing, Mom. I think it was the wind.” Margaret-Regina rolled back inside. “Come back tomorrow after school. She’ll be gone then. I really can’t believe you remembered where we live.” Then the door slammed behind me, and I had never been so confused, and this was coming from a person who had been perpetually confused for the past several days on repeat.
***
When we pulled into the driveway, Carl put the car in park. I had to test what Margaret-Regina said about remembering where she lived. “Hey, Carl. Where did we just go?”
“Don’t be silly, Anjelica. You were there, right?”
“Just humor me.”
“You are a weird girl. We just went—Well, it was—uhhhh—well, ain’t that the damnedest? I have no blasted idea where we went. I know we were gone and that we’re back now, but—” He thought for a second and then shook his head. “You know what, I’m not surprised.”
I followed him out of the car. “Why aren’t you surprised? That’s really weird.”
“Kimberly told you this place was full of magic, right?”
“I think she said something about fairy folk when we came.”
“There’s a lot of us here. In the grand scheme of things, our numbers are pretty weak, but we’ve got more than most places, and with fairy folk comes magic. And with magic, well—magic is the darnedest thing.” He stepped inside the house. “The darnedest thing.”
I kept pace with him. “So that’s your answer: magic is weird. I swear the house we went to wasn’t the same as the one I visited last night.”
“And it probably won’t be the same as it will be tomorrow.”
I turned to see a familiar face to match the voice I recognized. “Kimberly!” I smiled.
She took a step toward me, her face downturned in a scowl. “I’m afraid this isn’t a social call, kid. Junebug called and told me what happened, and I need to explain something to you.”
“Oh.” My head dropped. God forbid she made a social call. “You’re here to what, scold me?”
“Not like that,” she replied. “I didn’t tell you everything because I was trying to protect you, or so I thought. But if I’m mature enough to hunt monsters, you’re mature enough to know the truth.”
“It would be a refreshing change of pace.”
“The reason Junebug and Carl were so worried last night—well, aside from the fact that they are worried about you—is that this place is heavily warded to prevent bad people from finding it.” She pointed to the black opal medallion on my necklace. “This necklace uses the magic from the house and takes it with you, but it’s only got so much charge and recharges itself from being inside this house. If you stay out too long, it will lose all of its ability to protect you, and any bad monsters trying to track you down will be able to do so.” She put a hand on one hip. “And you’d be putting all of us at risk, including Junebug, Carl, and Lizzie. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not,” I said. “I would never want anyone to get hurt because of me.”
“Good,” Kimberly said. “I didn’t think so.”
“I don’t understand, though. You said…you said that they weren’t after me anymore. You said I was safe.”
“I hope you are,” she replied. “Maybe it’s just a bad feeling in my gut. I’m still looking into it, making sure the coast is clear. I can protect you here, but if you get lost again…well, I don’t know what will happen to you.” She looked over at Junebug, who had her arms crossed, leaning against the doorjamb to the kitchen. “Maybe we should homeschool her for a time.”
“No!” I pleaded. “Please. I’ll be good, okay?” It was pretty insulting to have someone my own age dictating my life, but Kimberly was the one calling the shots. I didn’t have any other options but to beg. “I promise.”
She bit her lip and frowned. “Okay. I don’t want to overreact. I want you to have a life. You deserve that after what you’ve been through. Just remember, never take that necklace off.”
“I won’t.” I looked down at the necklace. “So, this thing, it does what, repel magic?”
“Something like that,” she said.
“Is that how I knew where my friend was when nobody else could?”
“Maybe, but that’s not your concern. If she’s being protected, whoever’s doing it has their reasons. It’s best not to be mixed up with them.”
“Unless they’re keeping her captive.”
“This isn’t a fairy tale.” Kimberly gripped me by the shoulders. “You are not a handsome prince. Don’t go around saving anyone. Just worry about protecting yourself. Got it?”
I swallowed my pride. “Got it.”
“Good.”
“How are you—”
She didn’t let me finish. “I have to go now. I’ll see you soon.”
“Will you, though?” I called after her.
She didn’t answer; she simply waved at Junebug and Carl before vanishing into the abyss.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.