So how in the fuck had a small witch like Raven encountered a demon and lived to tell the tale?
17
Raven
Professor Dunton stared at me in annoyance. I quaked in my shoes but refused to look away. He’d asked the class if we knew anything beyond the obvious facts about demons, and I’d given him a fact.
“Miss Blackstone, do not insult my intelligence by suggesting demons are living among us. Look out the window.” He waved his hand toward the grassy field and forest beyond the tall glass panes. “Can you see any demons out there? Have there been demon attacks mentioned in the news lately? No.”
A few people snickered, but I ignored them. The skin on the back of my neck prickled and the ache in my chest that had nagged at me all morning worsened. It wasn’t as bad as when Alar-dick crossed my path, but the tugging sensation behind my ribs made it difficult to think. Especially now, when my magic wanted to burst free and smite that dung beetle of a professor.
I planned to add him to my list of orange trumpet flower potion recipients just as soon as I’d located some. Unfortunately, the plantonly flowered in a few places, which made harvesting it tricky. Still, I was a resourceful and highly motivated witch.
“Demons are not running riot all over the place,” I conceded through gritted teeth as Professor Dunton sneered at me. “But they are out there.”
He folded his arms and tapped a foot on the floor. “Describe what happened when you saw one, Miss Blackstone. We’re all curious.” He smirked as several students leaned forward on their desks, eyes wide with excitement. Either they were desperate to hear a gory story or keen to see me humiliated. “And to ensure you don’t make up a fantasy based on a textbook you read in high school, I’ll cast a truth spell.”Like I’d attended high school…
He flicked his wrist. An icy shiver ran over me, sinking into my bones as every single person in the classroom stared at me in fascination. It wasn’t the first time I’d had a truth spell cast on me. Truth spells were Adam’s favorite method of punishing us and rooting out any dissenters in the coven. The magic made it impossible to lie once the spell took hold. Even if you wanted to protect your friend, you had no choice but to give her up under questioning.
The nasty slither of bitter magic coating my tongue made me want to vomit, but I swallowed it down and focused on the professor.
“Describe the demon you saw.” He smirked, expecting me to have nothing. Well, the joke was on him.
“It looked like a large dog.” A loud guffaw startled me.
“She saw a large dog? Ooh! Scary!”
The professor ignored the asshole mage two rows down. “Continue, Miss Blackstone.”
“The beast was tall, much taller than me. It had red glowing eyes and bald, burned patches of skin all over its body. I came across it while I was out late collecting herbs.” I could still smell the stenchof its breath as it cornered me in the orchard at the perimeter of our property, leaving me paralyzed with fear. No way could I have fought it. Not without magic.
“The demon’s teeth were longer than my arm. It could have ripped me to pieces.”
“And how did you escape the demon?” The professor loomed over me, his gaze serious now that he knew I was telling the truth.
“My guardian appeared and blasted it with enough magic to knock it back. Then he sliced off its head with a blade. I don’t remember what happened after that. I must have passed out.”
When I woke, I was in my bed with Willow asleep in a chair. Adam appeared shortly after. He said I was safe and not to worry; the demon was dead and no more would attack.
I’d been ten years old.
“Thank you, Miss Blackstone.” The professor nodded and stepped back.
“Is she telling the truth, sir?” a witch with blue hair asked.
“Are you suggesting my truth-spell-casting ability is inferior, Miss Shaw?”
“No, sir.” The witch blushed and slumped lower in her seat.
People muttered to each other while staring at me. Glynda said nothing, but her determined expression told me she wasn’t letting this one go. No doubt she planned to interrogate me later.
Professor Dunton clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Now that we’ve heard Raven’s story, I want you all to go away and research demons. Your assignment for this week is to write a paper about the demon realm, and most importantly, how to kill the abominations that live there. Papers are to be handed in on Monday morning. Anyone who misses the deadline will earn five days of detention and a demerit on his or her student record. Is that clear?”
I heard lots of grumbled affirmations just as the bell rang for the end of the lesson.
“You, me, library, now.” Glynda’s hand grabbed mine and before anyone could stop us, she’d blinked us out of the classroom and straight into the library.
“Um, when were you going to tell me you could teleport others?” I gasped while bending over and retching.
