Page 1 of I Accidentally Summoned A Demon
Chapter 1
Unexpected Guest
Katherineclutchedthescriptto her chest, covering it with her cream-colored cardigan as she rushed through the rain. Racing down the uneven sidewalk, she avoided puddles and sprays from cars driving through overflowing gutters. The sun hovered above the horizon, but stormy clouds gave the illusion of night.
By the time she got home, rain soaked her cardigan, wetting several script pages. She grimaced and set the papers on the kitchen table before removing the cardigan and hanging it on the back of a chair. She kicked out of her boots and peeled off her socks, dropping them with aslop.
Auburn hair stuck to her freckled skin as she pulled the strands out of her face. After grabbing the wet papers, she spread them on the wooden floor. A circle made the most sense; she could sit in the middle and read while the pages dried, never having to get up. Pages laid out, she went to her bedroom.
Water made everything stick. It complicated getting undressed, especially when wearing leggings. Clothes off, Katherine was tempted to leave them in a pile on the bathroom floor. She scrunched up her face, knowing she’d be mad at herself later if she left them.
She hung the wet clothes and got in the shower, shivering. Though the hot water took away the edge, echoes of the chill remained. Closing her eyes, she tried to rid herself of the annoyances from the day. Running home in the rain was the least bothersome thing that happened.
Acting was something she’d always wanted to do, but she was shy. She longed for the confidence to go on stage and had worked up the nerve to audition for something last semester. She only had a small part in the play, but it was enough to encourage her to try for something bigger. Auditions were the next day, and while others got together for practice, her awkwardness left her out of the group running lines and going for pizza. In fact, Ashley made a point to say Katherine wasn’t invited.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, her year-and-a-half crush on Jason Macker was going strong, and now Ashley had her eye on him. Katherine felt invisible most of the time, more so when Ashley entered the room.
There was also the minor fact Ashley was going for the same part as Katherine.
Katherine let the heat from the shower calm her nerves, desperate to do well tomorrow. She’d worked hard and wouldn’t give up because of a bad day. A portion of the play included songs, and while she loved to sing, doing so alone was intimidating. That meant the rest of her audition had to shine enough it didn’t matter.
Once showered, she applied vanilla and pear leave-in conditioner to tame her curls before putting on dry leggings, an oversized cable-knit sweater, and wool socks. The chill lingered, so she stayed bundled and decided to make a hot drink.
The old floor creaked as she passed the circle of papers to the kitchen. Aside from the bedrooms and bathrooms, the house had an open floor plan. She started the tea kettle and grabbed her favorite oversized mug with the Oscar Wilde quote, “With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy?”
She opened the cupboard, fully aware she should have herbal tea to help her relax and sleep before auditions, but there was also hot chocolate. Sugar would probably keep her awake.
But, chocolate . . .
Self-control could wait a day. She snatched a pack of hot chocolate, made the drink, piled on tiny marshmallows, and sat in the middle of her script circle. Leaning forward, she skimmed the first page and sipped her cocoa. Halfway down the page, thunder cracked so loud the house shook.
Then the power went out.
It seemed perfectly quiet before, but as everything shut off in waves, the background hum she’d filtered out was gone. Now it was truly quiet. Almost unsettlingly so. Was the universe telling her to give up on this ridiculous idea of becoming a stage actress?
After a few moments of dwelling on the existential crisis, she maneuvered toward a kitchen drawer where she kept matches and flashlights, stubbing her toe on the way. Whimpering, she hopped on one foot, almost falling before sucking it up and lowering her foot.
She bit her lip and ignored the pain as she hobbled to the drawer, fumbling around until she found the flashlight. Turning it on, she found the matches and the bag she brought home from choir. The bag contained white, scentless candles used during a Harvest Festival celebration at church. No one else wanted them. If for nothing else, she could use them for crafts.
She lined the candles around the outside of the script circle, but that didn’t illuminate it enough, so she added ones along the inside as well. Once they were lit, she could read the script again. She sat in the circle, but her tummy rumbled.
“I just sat down,” she muttered. Frowning, she rubbed her stomach, glanced to the kitchen, and did a mental recap of the contents.
Today was Friday, payday, but she was busy and didn’t get groceries before the rain. Leaving when she was all warm and bundled sounded terrible. Saturdays were always hectic at the stores, but she’d have to brave one. She checked the date on her phone—the thirteenth. Tomorrow was the day she’d prepared for over the last several weeks.
“You’d think my stomach would be too full of nerves to be hungry.” Kat stepped over her circle and shuffled to the kitchen cupboards. Tea and baking ingredients—nothing easy to fix.
Except a microwavable brownie. The power was out, but the brownie only called for hot water, and the kettle was still hot. She snatched it, along with a spoon, and poured the powder into a mug. Returning to her circle, she waited for the brownie to thicken while she read the script.
If she got the part, she couldn’t tell anyone from church. The play was a dark comedy about a woman who discovers her husband cheating, so she summons a demon to kill him. She summons the wrong kind, and hilarity ensues. Kat was going after the part of the betrayed wife, Constance, who follows the demon around and tries to discover how to send it back to hell.
Kat skimmed lines that weren’t hers and enunciated her own aloud. As she read the scene where the demon is summoned, the room grew brighter. Outside, the full moon shone through a break in the clouds, into her living room window, right on her. She smiled and took a bite of brownie, taking it as a sign to keep practicing. The pages were almost dry but brittle. She read the Latin words used to summon Constance’s demon in her head before speaking them. Pronunciation was her focus. Ashley’s pronunciation was off, so Kat hoped getting it right would impress the director.
“Fasciculus hic—ow!”
Running her finger down the edge of the paper caused a paper cut. Blood pooled and dripped onto one of the candles while she examined the wound. Kat stuck her finger in her mouth and waited until the bleeding slowed before she tried again.
“Fasciculus hic nugarum vage et male translatus est, sed scire non debes.” She was supposed to yell it. She considered moving on, but it was important to get it right, so she said it again louder. Thunder crackled toward the end of the phrase, and she shuddered. She shook her head at allowing the sound to scare her.It’s only thunder. She repeated the phrase a third time. “Fasciculus hic nugarum vage et male translatus est, sed scire non debes!”
