Page 25 of How To Take Down A Cult At The End Of The World

“Because they’re here.”

Chapter

Nine

“So what I’m saying is, it’s like a demon glory hole.” Charlie taps his chin and looks thoughtful. Nothing he’s saying makes sense to me.

I blink at Charlie. “A what?”

He points at the boulder-now-turned-gate-to-hell. “The hole in the boulder that freak is trying to get us to help him out of. That’s a demon glory hole.”

“What’s a glory hole?”

Charlie grimaces. “I’ve said too much.”

I pull at my hair because I don’t get what the hell Charlie’s obsession with demon holes is and why he thinks it’s important that I know what this one is.

“Drop the holes, Charlie. We have to focus. They’re here!” I throw an arm out at the trees, or at least I do in their general direction because we’re hiding behind the boulder now. The mages the demon warned us about burst through the trees right on cue just as the demon growled out a warning:

“Run. Hide. Do not let them catch you. They are not like me. You won’t be safe from them.”

Like him.

The only thing I know about him is that he’s a big scary demon that I’m pretty sure has been infiltrating my dreams. Oh and that he has massive claws. I swallow hard remembering the sharp-tipped claw that had reached through the crevice towards me. I threatened to cut it off, but I don’t think I’m bad ass enough to actually do it.

If the mages are worse than the demon…well, I don’t think Charlie and I are going to get out of this in one piece.

“Run. Hide.”

We ran but just barely and now we’re hiding so we got half of his instructions right. They’re going to catch us. I can feel it in my bones. I sag against the rock and look at my hands. They’re still shaking. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to pull in magic. There’s not so much as a twitch of magic in my palm. Nothing comes. It’s like trying to bleed a stone.

“We’re in big trouble,” I whisper to Charlie. “My magic is zapped.”

“I know.”

“This is freaking bad. Why did we come out here like we were the A-Team? What were we thinking?”

“Listen, in my mind I’m Beyonce.”

“Who?”

“I swear to the gods. I got you a phone but you don’t even use it for anything important.”

I mostly use my phone to look up plants that I’m using for tinctures or potions. I use the moon tracker on there to know what cycle it’s in and there’s also the fact that I finally have a place to store as many photos as I want in one place. I use my phone for plenty of important things, so I tell him that.

“I use it for only the most important things, okay? You-”

“Be still! Quiet!”

We both freeze. It’s the demon.

“They draw near.”

Thetheyis mages and a second later, a voice sounds loud and clear. It booms across the clearing. “Brothers! Gather near. The time of our greatest summoning is at hand. The Chosen One will be offered!”

I try to shimmy to the side to get a better look at the mages. I’ve never seen one. I wonder what they look like. They can’t look much different than us, right? I haven’t noticed any changes in myself since last night. I seem normal enough and Sunday is a witch and she doesn’t look different…well, not too different. There’s a maniacal light inside her that shines bright and even if you didn’t know she was a witch you’d know to steer clear of her. I edge closer to the edge of the boulder, focused on getting an eyeful when my right leg buckles and I go down.

I land with a heavy thud and slightumphthat you wouldn’t normally hear with a meadow full of no less than forty mages but when they’re all dead silent it’s easily done. I lay with my face in the dirt for a half second and pray that maybe they didn’t see me. I know the jig is up when I hear the leader’s voice.