Page 5 of The Demon's Spell
“Grant’s right,” Nadine said. “Let’s keep going.”
Chloe conjured a pocketknife. As she lifted her hand above the sigil, her cat hissed and ducked under her chair. Chloe pressed the blade to her palm—
Wind swept through the library so fast that the demonology book slammed shut. Chloe squealed and leapt backward. Her blade thudded to the ground. The cats all hissed and huddled together under the table. Grant grabbed Talia. She buried her face into his chest, while Nadine and I leapt to our feet.
I pulled her closer to me, but my gaze darted around the room. “It can’t be a demon,” I said breathlessly. “We didn’t finish the summoning.”
“Something is here,” Nadine emphasized in a wavered breath.
“What, like a ghost?” Talia squeaked.
An ominous scratching filled the room. My pulse quickened when I looked down at the table. I grabbed Nadine tighter and pulled her close to me. Lines appeared on the tabletop, as if someone was carving them into the wood right in front of me, but no one was touching the table. Letters formed in front of my eyes, breaking the sigil and spelling out words.
My mouth went dry as I read the words aloud. “History will repeat itself. He has come to kill. Return to the past to vanquish the demon for good.”
I barely finished reading the words before a white, ghostly figure appeared. All I saw was the outline of a woman before a high-pitched shriek filled the library. My friends and I slapped our hands over our ears. The ghost swooped across the table, air billowing out from the hem of her dress. The gust was so strong that it nearly knocked me over.
The ghost slammed straight into Talia, and she was blasted backward. Talia screamed as her chair flew across the library. Her chair toppled over near the entrance, and she rolled across the ground. The ghost vanished, but Talia lay on the floor, unmoving. I raced toward her. Grant and I reached her at the same time, and we gently rolled her over.
“Tal!” Grant cried. “Talia!”
She groaned, but she looked up at the ceiling with an empty gaze, like she was slipping in and out of consciousness.
Nadine stood over us, her hands slapped over her mouth. “Dear Goddess.”
Life returned to Talia’s gaze, but she gritted her teeth, like she was in pain.
“What hurts?” I asked.
“Ugh, everything,” she complained. “I’ll be fine, though. Just one hell of a bruise.”
Grant helped her sit up.
Talia pressed her hand to her forehead. “What the hell was that?”
“A warning,” Chloe stated.
My blood chilled. I knew Chloe was right. “Whoever that ghost was, she didn’t want us summoning a demon. She came to deliver an answer herself.”
“But what does it mean?” Nadine asked. “Return to the past? I thought witches didn’t have time travel magic.”
“We don’t,” Chloe said. “You’d have to be a demigod, at least, to perform that kind of magic.”
“We don’t need that kind of magic anyway,” I said, rising to my feet. “History will repeat itself. It’s obvious, isn’t it? This demon has been here before. We just have to figure out when and why, and we’ll find the answer to getting rid of him.”
The library fell silent. None of us wanted to acknowledge the last part of the warning. My heart hammered as the words repeated in my mind. He has come to kill.
This demon had been set loose on the coven by the priestesses. There was only a matter of time before he claimed his first victim.
CHAPTER 2
NADINE
Returning to classes felt like walking to the gallows. The pyre had been removed from school grounds after the Burning, but the grief and horror from that night remained. Dark clouds swirled above the school, like our Goddess ached for our losses.
Lucas and I sat in the parking lot our first day back. I didn’t move to get out of the car. I’d asked him to drive me to school, because I wasn’t sure I’d have the courage to return on my own. Lucas and I had been through a lot, but he was my rock—my person. If I ever needed anything, I knew that he’d be there for me. My hands knotted in my lap as I stared up at the towering spires of Miriam Mansion.
Lucas noticed my hesitation. “Take as long as you need.”