“There was a demon anditran fromme,” Cammie said with confusion and wonder.
Posey sat down. Just dropped onto the couch next to Felix like her legs had given out. “I need you to start from the beginning. The very beginning. Because I feel like I just walked into the middle of a movie and I don’t know any of the plot.”
So they told them. All of them.
Ramona explained the summoning — they all remembered the exact night, but she painted a picture of the grimoire, the spell for fortune and success. Zara explained the binding, the tether, the proximity requirement. Together they vaguely described the past three weeks: the research, the failed ritual attempts, Hell’s deadline.
By the end, all four roommates were staring at them with varying expressions of shock, disbelief, and what might have been genuine terror.
“So you’ve just been…” Kashvi gestured vaguely. “Dealing with all of this. For three weeks. While we had no idea.”
“We didn’t want to worry anyone,” Ramona said.
“Worry?” Felix’s voice cracked. “Ramona, you’re magically bound to a demon.”
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds so much worse than it is,” Ramona said defensively. “I mean, look at Zara. She’s not like the demon who just showed up in the hall.”
“I appreciate that,” Zara murmured.
“Does the binding hurt?” Cammie asked. She’d moved closer, her expression shifting from shock to something more analytical. “Like, physically?”
“Only if we try to separate too far,” Ramona said. “Otherwise, it’s just… there. Background presence.”
“And you have four weeks to break it or…”
“Or Hell extracts me forcibly,” Zara said. “Which would be significantly more painful for both of us. And possibly catastrophic for the surrounding magical infrastructure.”
“Catastrophic,” Posey repeated.
“The binding has been in place for three weeks. Breaking it incorrectly could cause substantial magical backlash. It could hurt Ramona.” Zara glanced toward Ramona with a frown.
Gerald emerged from behind the couch cushion. He studied Zara for a long moment, head tilted, then made a soft cooing sound and hopped onto the back of the couch near her.
“Oh,nowyou come out?” Felix said, reaching for Gerald. “You coward.”
“Gerald has excellent survival instincts,” Zara said seriously. “He recognized a superior predator earlier and took appropriate defensive measures. That’s wisdom, not cowardice.”
Felix blinked. “Did you just… did you just defend Gerald’s honor to me?”
“He made a tactically sound decision.”
“You really are a demon,” Kashvi said, but she was almost smiling. “Only a demon would take a pigeon that seriously.”
“Gerald is an exceptional pigeon,” Zara said.
There was a long pause.
Then Cammie stood up. “Okay. Okay. So. Ramona accidentally summoned a demon. They’re magically bound. Hell wants the demon back in four weeks. We have four weeks until the new moon ritual that might break the binding.” She looked between them. “What do you need from us?”
“What?” Ramona said.
“You’re our friends. Both of you. You clearly need help with this.” Cammie crossed her arms. “So what do you need?”
“We didn’t want to impose,” Zara said.
“You’re literally magically tethered together and Hell just sent a demon to your door,” Felix said, seeming to recover slightly. “I think we’re past ‘imposing.’ What do you need?”
Ramona looked at Zara. Zara looked at Ramona. The tether between them — invisible, but suddenly feeling very present — pulsed with something warm and complicated.
