“Yeah, lay off, Eddie,” I said.
“I’m just saying.I would hate to get stranded in the middle of the lake and not have enough night-time left to get back,” Eddie said.“I mean, I wouldn’t, but I know Al and you have some issues with daylight, so…”
“Oh my God,” Vic said.“Fine.You want to do this, we’re doing it.”
“What are you intending?”Brother Al asked.
“We’re going to summon a demon,” Vic said.“And it’s going to point us where we should go.”
He rushed off upstairs.
“I don’t recommend that behavior on a boat,” John Steeley said.
The three of us followed Vic, who was on his hands and knees at one end of the deck, drawing an elaborate outline in chalk.
“This really isn’t necessary,” Brother Al said.
“It is,” Vic said, and his voice was harsh and dark.“Eddie had such a brilliant idea, why wouldn’t we try it out?”
“If you boys don’t cease with your bickering, I’ll be forced to put you in time out until we arrive,” Brother Al said, voice dark and foreboding.
“Bite me,” Vic said.“Eddie wants a demon, Eddie gets a demon.”
Eddie leaned back against a railing, smirking.
“This isn’t gonna work.I didn’t even really mean a demon, Vic.”
“First, you say this is the answer, and now you’re changing your tune,” Vic said.
“You’re the one that escalated this.”
“Stop it,” I snapped.“Stop being so childish!I can’t take this anymore.If I hear one more word of complaint or fighting from either of you, about each other, I’m done.We’re on a hiatus.Indefinitely.”
“I’m still going to summon a demon,” Vic said.I opened my mouth to protest, but Vic’s face fell.“I hate to admit it, but Eddie’s right.I just didn’t want to admit it.As much as I want to trust my own dowsing skills, this may be a time-sensitive situation.”
“Thank you,” Eddie said, after a moment.
Vic said nothing, just continued to focus on his diagram.After a few minutes passed, he stood up and dusted off the knees of his pants, and took a few steps back.
“I think this should do it,” he said.He put his hands together and fell to his knees.More incantations—more mutterings.He raised his arms to the sky—called out to the Moon—and before our eyes, a hand appeared, splitting from the air as if it just passed through.The rest of a scaly demon wrenched itself out from nothing, spilling and slithering out like it was boneless.It seemed unable to pass the chalk drawings.
“Thee again,” the demon spat.
“Yeah.Me again.”
“I am not some jester to be called forth for your amusement.You cannot just call upon me when the mood takes thee.”
Vic looked a little bashful.
“I need some help,” he said.“We’re after a missing boat.It should have disappeared in the area.”
“Have thee and thy company tried a map and some star charts?”
“It’s kind of urgent,” Vic said.“Someone with your power-your skills-heck, I’ll say it, your radiance.I didn’t know who else to turn to.You were the first one I thought to go to.”
“Thou art a flatterer,” the repugnant reptile hissed, batting its eyelids.
“What say you?Point us where we need to go?”
