Share
Chapter 34: Guilt
Related chapters
Darkness Chapter 35: Book
I stood at the checkout counter moving mechanically. This job required no thought, which was good because my mind was zipping through countless scenarios where I could have saved Mila's life. It always came down to two things: I trusted too easily and I wasn't brave enough. I wished I could be like my sister. She seemed so confident and so knowledgeable. I needed to learn from her so nothing like this happened again.I was the last one in the store again. I hated working last shift, but I had no choice. It came with a little pay bump. I stepped out into the night air. I was glad my car was working again, but I had left it for Lanie to use. It was another walk in the dark home for me. My eyes shifted from side to side as I walked through the parking lot. I was getting that feeling again, like it was okay if the darkness got me. I was pretty worthless, after all. But nothing seemed to appear. No black clouds, no burning embers, no shadow man tonight. Everything was just normal. It was a
Darkness Chapter 36: Offer
After sitting for a few hours at the dining room table looking over old languages, Lanie and I hadn't gotten much farther on the translation. The old book, which we brought out after Anton went to sleep, lay open in the middle of the table. Lanie stared hard at the laptop mumbling jibberish and jotting notes as she scrolled through various sites.I stared at the circle and triangle pattern on the page without really seeing it. As my eyes focused and unfocused I caught a hint of a symbol I recognized. I squinted, trying to get a better look at it. I tilted my head sideways."What are you doing?" Lanie asked."It's a delta."She raised an eyebrow at me."The whole triangle on the outside is a delta. The spell is a transformation spell, right?"She nodded."What if all these runes around the spell are variables in an equation?"She blinked at me, not understanding what I meant."It's all math, well physics." I started flipping through the book. "Ooh, here. Look this one shows up.
Darkness Chapter 37: Trust
I woke in the early afternoon. My mind felt heavy. It took me a long time to fight through it to wake up. I availed myself to a hot shower as I tried to straighten out my thoughts. I needed to confront Lanie about what Mother accused her of. Had she lied to me or was Mother just twisting her words? I leaned my head against the wall as the water ran down my shoulders. I didn't know who to trust. I didn't know what to do anymore. It felt like every move I made was the wrong one. I needed to make a choice.I dug down deep, replaying Mother's words, Lanie's, and Remi's over in my mind. I even played Angie's... wait Angie."Angie," I said, my voice clear in the hot steam of the shower. "Angie," I repeated with force, picturing him in my mind."You are not supposed to be able to summon me," his deep angelic voice echoed. I could see his tall muscular frame silhouetted through the shower curtain."Shit, it worked," I said."You are not dying. And you are naked. I should be going.""Wait
Darkness Chapter 38: Six Years Ago
LanieI stood in front of my summoning circle. This was my third one, but my first one solo. I looked around at the runes. I had no idea what they meant, but I knew they would work. Around the circle I set up this demon's favorite things. It was the best way to convince the demon to come. This one seemed to like Doritos, bunny ears, and chocolate pudding. I'm not sure what that was all about, but I didn't make the rules.I raised my arms before me like I was praising the lord, which I thought was sort of funny since I was definitely not doing that. "Irma, Destroyer of Worlds. I summon you. I beg your appearance. I offer you a trade. I beseech you, please, grant me an audience."The wind whipped through the scraggly pine trees. It was the best nexus point I could find given my options in Utah. I didn't dare go near the big one, there was way too much witchery going over there.The runes glowed green as the circle ignited. It transferred a little bit of my power in trade for the demo
Darkness Chapter 39: Pandora
I could feel the power crawling inside me. It crept beneath my skin like small worms creeping and searching for an escape. I pictured my skin like an iron shell of armor keeping them in. It calmed the movement, but increased my squeamishness. I burst open through front door of our house. It was a small two bedroom rental that backed up to a large forest, a forest that just happened to include the biggest nexus point on land in the United States. That was not actually a coincidence as I was instantly reminded when my knees banged into the couch.I went flipping forward over it and land square on my ass in the middle of the living room. I was getting tired of this new arrangement already. Mother insisted that everything line up with the ley line. I think in the grand scheme of things, a few households that weren't in line with feng shu was not going to make that much different with power flow, but when Mother insisted, I didn't argue. It wasn't worth the fight."Are you just getting in
Darkness Chapter 40: Summoning
I went to bed early in the morning thinking about my Pandora. If all my bad pieces were stashed away, then how come I couldn't learn new things very well? Why did words get all messed up when I read them? I just didn't feel like I was the very best of everything. That must prove I had bad luck.That got me thinking. Wouldn't the best version of me, the perfect daughter, as Mother had said, be even better if I had good Karma? All the good things would happen to me and then I would really be able to impress her. I'd never get another one of those condescending speeches about how I could do better.I wondered how hard it would be to summon Karma. I could call it an experiment. Like one of those practical's they talked about on those TV shows about school. Yeah, I could do a summoning spell on my own with no guidance. And Mother said I shouldn't let fear hold me back. What did I have to lose? Karma would be just like any other spell. And If I did it, then maybe Mother would even be impre
Darkness Chapter 41: Karma's A Bitch
I lifted my hands in the air as I stood at the edge of the summoning circle. The rich smell of incense filled my nostrils. I hoped it was enough to attract Karma to me."I, Alaina Grey, summon the great and mighty Karma. Force of Nature, Goddess of will, fate, and knowledge. I offer up these items in trade for a blessed karma upon me. Please, I beseech you, grant me your presence."As I spoke, I leaked power into my words. I could feel it entering the circle. The circle lit with a purple glow. The light turned into a purple cloud that swirled into the center. I couldn't believe it, but it was working. Either I had done something really right or Karma was as bored as shit.The purple cloud solidified into a curvy form. A tanned-skinned dark-haired beauty stepped forth. She wore a golden dress that clung to her form and draped about her with sashes of cloth. Her nose was sharp and hawk like, but her eyes... her eyes were dark and hard just like the picture.I bowed my head in respect
Darkness Chapter 42: Cyclops
We walked across the cloud covered sand. I kept the sun to our left as we walked. It didn't slip lower on the horizon. Instead, it just hung at the edge casting its golden rays across the clouds. The sky above lit in the most beautiful pinks and purples while the clouds in the distance were rimmed with golden edges.Eventually, a mountain of clouds grew before us. I walked with determined steps with my guardian angel at my side. When the mountain loomed ahead, a rectangular entrance into the mountain glowed. I shot Angandriel a look, but his face remained stoic. The clouds swirled away from my feet as I walked.When I finally stood beneath the threshold, I breathed in sharply. The doorway was so far above my head. It looked like it was an entrance for giants. I cast another look at Angandriel, but he just walked through like it was no big deal. I wondered if Heaven looked like this and he was used to seeing things like it.I followed after him at a trot. The ceiling of the mountain
Latest chapter
