Therese grabbed my arm nervously as the trees closest to the backyard shifted and quivered, leaves shaking as if frightened themselves.
And then it appeared: a large white demon covered in shaggy hair, a single horn growing from the middle of its forehead and curving upward, yellow like an infected toenail. Nearly as tall as the tallest tree, its eyes were black and set deep in its furry face. It had no nose nor ears that I could make out, but had a wide mouth, as if it would hold rows upon rows of horrible teeth. Wide shoulders topped its bulky frame, with arms that reached the ground. It paused at the edge of the yard, as if to regard its audience, then sniffed twice loudly.
The other witches kneeled.
“Verdelet,” Freya said softly.
I glanced at her. “What’s that?”
“The demon that brings witches to the sabbath.”
“Oh, fantastic.”
As we watched, the demon bent over and opened its wide mouth. As expected, there were many sharp teeth within, and its mouth seemed to grow exponentially as its jaw touched the ground. Taking this as some sort of sign, the robed figures stepped into its mouth, wide enough now to accommodate them both standing comfortably within. One gulp and they would have been dead.
The creature turned back toward the forest, its head now larger than the rest of its body, and pushed through the trees again, with little care as to what damage it caused along the way. Its head looked bloated on top of its thin neck, but it hardly seemed to notice the difference in its body’s dimensions as it left us behind.
“So….” Narcissa leapt up onto my shoulder. “Do we have to do that when it returns? Step into that hideous creature’s mouth?”
I winced. “I don’t see a way around it.”
“I would simply swallow us if I were that awful creature,” Narcissa offered. “What an easy meal.”
Freya grunted. “Yes, well, let’s hope a demon has more self-control than you, then.”
I crossed my arms. “It’s likely a test. If we waver, it probablywillswallow us.”
“Comforting,” Freya said, frowning at me.
I stared up at the moon, red as blood, seeming to ooze. I couldn’t feel the power radiating from the celestial body, but I knew it was there, ready to be harvested by blood witches and those who practiced blood magic.
In another minute, we heard the trees creak in the distance once more. The demon appeared quicker this time, at least to my mind, as my certainty plummeted. What if I was completely wrong about this demon, and it swallowed us because we weren’t supposed to be here? But I didn’t see a way around this. When it stood before us at the treeline, I mimicked the actions of the witches from earlier, kneeling until it lowered its head to the ground and opened its mouth.
I tried to project confidence as I walked up to the demon with a smile pasted on my face. I bowed my head reverently as I approached its mouth, its black eyes trained on me as if searching deep into the core of my being.
I stepped carefully over its teeth and onto a spongy tongue, where the other witches had stood. I wrinkled my nose. The demon’s mouth smelled of rotten meat. I hated to think that the stench would cling to my clothes.
“We’re in a demon’s mouth,” Therese said to herself. “No big deal. Just a mouth. Just a demon. It’s fine.”
I put a hand on her arm as she stood beside me, and we could feel the demon rise to its feet, throwing me momentarily off-balance. And then we felt a swaying, like being back on the ship.
I eyed the sharp teeth surrounding us. They were huge. The size of croissants. I wondered if they tasted as good. I reached out and caressed one, wondering if the demon would feel it if I tried to yank one out by its root, but Freya seemed to read my thoughts and scooted over to place herself firmly between me and my prize.
I frowned at her. “That’s hardly fair. It’s been a long, trying day. I’m peckish.”
“And I’d like for us to survive this experience.”
I stifled a sigh and nodded. “Quite right.”
When we arrived at our destination, presumably a sabbath, we felt the demon lower itself once more. Its mouth opened to allow us to filter out into the night, illuminated from a nearby fire.
I tried to strike a balance between acting unaffected and trying to vacate that mouth as quickly as possible. I think I did rather well, and since it didn’t eat me, the demon must have agreed. As soon as we passed over the behemoth’s lips, the huge creature began to sink into the ground like it was quicksand, until it had been swallowed completely by the forest floor.
But I hardly had time to process the demon’s exit; a short distance through the trees, I could make out the glow of another fire and a loud chanting carried by the wind. I made a beeline for the light until it was just on the other side of a small copse of trees. Six small fires at the periphery of a circle of robed figures. We ducked, clinging to the shadows as we observed.
The robed figures stood around an altar, their faces bathed in shadows, the fire throwing menacing shadows across the ground. There were skulls of various small animals upon the altar, from birds to skunks, with runes traced in blood down the side of the stone. At the head of the altar was a figure in a blood-red robe. He wore a gold mask that resembled a ram over his face, with curved horns slipping out the sides of the hood and slits for eyes that regarded the circle. This was obviously the person behind the ceremony. Erik.
But where was Auggie? He was nowhere in sight. We couldn’t be too late, could we? Until I knew where he was, I didn’t dare interfere. But I had my hands ready in my cloak, caressing ingredients.
