“Do you have a phone I can use?” she asks.
The demon’s red eyes are completely focused on my sister. “Sure,” it says, pulling one out of his too-tight jeans. My sister fawns her thanks and dials a number on the phone. The demon moves closer to her. Then, the boys ambush.
Thomas moves first, tossing the salt on the demon. It hisses and its skin pops under the burn. Carter’s right behind him, iron pole that unfolds like an umbrella in hand.
“Behind you!” I shout to Connie as another demon jumps into our area. But my sister is quick, pulling her own stash of salt and iron from her tall black boots. Thomas leaves Carter and goes to help her. I move toward Carter. Since he’s here, I can help. Maybe I can contain the demon. Right before I reach him something tumbles into me and knocks me into the floor.
An older woman with graying hair pulled back into a bun. And demon eyes. Another possessed Non.
I think Connie yells at me in the distance, but I’m not sure. I’m too focused on the old woman demon sitting on my chest. I do my best to maneuver so it’s under me, but it’s strong—really strong for a demon in the shape of an old woman—and its claws are digging into my arm. One of them draws blood.
“Stupid witch,” the demon hisses at me.
Carter rushes at us. With a flick of the demon’s wrist he’s flying. A nail digs into my arm, making the wound deeper, and blood drips to the floor. It licks its lips. Something clicks inside of me at that. Warmth washes over me, filling me up and out. I order up my magic, letting the images and sparks build before I heave the demon across the room. It’s not me moving—it’s the magic moving me. And then somehow I’m right on the demon, my gaze boring into its.
The incantation plays on repeat in my head; I lift my hand in preparation to send out the magic. But I don’t have to speak. I don’t mutter the words at all. The demon shudders under my power and hisses at me, and somehow the skin of the innocent separates from her, slowly falling away like a snake shedding its skin. The demon screams, curls up into a ball at my feet, and peers back at me.
“What are you?” she mutters.
I tilt my head to the left. I’m starting to hate that question. “A witch,” I say, though suddenly I’m nervous. I didn’t even speak the incantation. That’s not normal at all.
“N-never seen a witch do that,” she says.
“Now you have,” Carter says, suddenly beside me. I look at him, but he doesn’t meet my gaze. I look back at the cowering demon and chant the expulsion incantation. The demon screams one last time before exploding across the ugly brown tiles.
Carter turns to look at me, something playing on his lips and in his eyes. He flicks his wrist, cleaning up the demon guts. Footsteps clack behind me, and Connie gapes at me. Everyone is silent.
“You just expelled that demon,” she says. I nod my head, not sure what to say. “No,” she says, separating me from Carter and Thomas. She whispers in my ear. “You weren’t pulling from me. I can usually feel it; you really expelled that demon. You have magic.”
I didn’t feel her either. Carter’s magic was stronger than hers, and it attached to me like a magnet.
The glamour fades away and the Nons start moving past our space again. Everyone else looks confused, and that’s when I see them. Or rather, their badges. Enforcers.
“This isn’t good,” Thomas mutters.
“No,” one of the Enforcers, a woman with bright red hair, says. “It isn’t.”
“Status on the WNN says a large amount of magic was used here in coordination with a demon attack—one that was called in—and from the looks of you, none of you should be doing magic,” the male Enforcer says. He’s a big guy with small eyes. Kinda scary-looking.
Connie steps forward. “There was a demon; we protected Nons. That’s allowed.”
“Did the demon seek you out?”
“No,” she says. “But—”
“Did the demon harm anyone in your immediate group?”
“No.”
“Then you had no right to track it down in a highly infested Non location.”
I snort. They made Nons sound like ants. Big guy Enforcer didn’t like that, and he shoots me a look.
“I can explain this all,” Carter says. The rest of us look at him. He moves toward the other side of the hallway and looks back. “If you will,” he says, pointing at the Enforcers to follow him. And they do.
I watch Carter talking with them, his hands moving and the Enforcers asking questions. They take down a few notes, but I can’t hear anything. What can he be saying to them about this?
“Penelope,” Connie whispers in my ear. “How did you do that without a spell? I didn’t imagine that, did I?”
I shake my head. No, she didn’t, but what do I tell her? I met some stranger who gives me powers? I can’t explain any of it.
“I’ve never seen that before,” she says.
Me either. It felt like my magic latched onto the demon and hauled it out. I didn’t make it do anything—it just did it and let me follow along, catch up. It saw what I wanted, and it happened.
“Don’t tell, Gran, okay? I’m not sure what that was but I don’t want to get her hopes up.”
Connie nods, draws a cross over her heart before handing me back my bags and turning to Thomas. I glance back at Carter, but he and the Enforcers are moving back toward us.
“Your friend clarified the situation, took blame for the whole thing. We’ve determined you under no fault,” the male says.
“However, we are giving all of you a write-up. Any future offenses will lead to repercussions,” the woman says.
“We appreciate that, don’t we?” Carter asks. We all say yes, and while the Enforcers take down our information, I stare at Carter. His eyes haven’t left me either, and it makes me nervous. That kind of magic, this situation, how he makes me feel, and our power—none of it seems like it should be this way. Yet it does.
After the Enforcers leave, we all stand in an awkward little circle. Now that we’ve broken the law together and killed some demons, there’s not much left to talk about.
“I saw you said in your text that you passed. Congrats” Carter says, nodding toward the dress and shoes I hold.
“Yup,” I say quickly. “Yup”? That’s all you’ve got, Penelope? Not even a whole word. I send Connie a glance to please help me, but she grabs Thomas’s arm.
“We’re going to go.” She leads Thomas away. “See you at home!” she yells back. I really need her to stop leaving like that.
Carter totters on his heels, stuffs his hands into his jacket.
“I don’t know—” Carter starts.
“I wanted to say—” I say at the same time.
I bite my lip, and he waves me on to talk first. I start walking and he falls in step next to me. My mind races with thoughts, but each of them is overshadowed by the one question: Why? Why does our magic work together? Why are we connected? Why him? Why now?
We’re outside before either of us speaks again. As soon as the door closes he escorts me away from the sidewalk to this patch of trees so we’re hidden from view.
“Thanks for Thursday. I wouldn’t have passed without you,” I say.
“It was no problem,” he says. He looks at the dress in my hands. “Ceremony is tomorrow?”
“Yes,” I say. Part of me wants to say come, but there’s no reason. I need his magic, yes, but I have to make my own way.
Carter looks at me. It feels like his eyes are seeing something more than what I am. It shakes me to my core. “You had powers before,” he says.
“I don’t really want to explain it right now.” Just thinking of my parents, of the way they died and the way I lost my powers, it’s too fresh. Especially after Thursday. That test was scary-accurate from the color of paint on my walls to the smell. I push down all those thoughts. They’re part of why I’m doing this.