Page 120 of My Roommate from Hell
She sits still, watching me. Her ear twitches.
Then it clicks. She’s trying to get my attention. And she’s from Hell. As strange as it is to think, she might be the best person to help right now.
“What do you want me to do?” I ask.
She leaps into my arms. I catch her, and she clings to me. Then she points her head at the door.
“Do you want to follow them?”
She meows.
I grab my key card. As I shove it in my pocket, I see the pitchfork by the closet. I grab it, then run out of the room.
Outside, I skid to a stop. The cultists are nowhere to be seen, nor are the police.
“Bell,” I say, somewhat struggling with the fact that I am talking to a cat. “Where should we go?”
Owen, can you hear me?
Zarmenus’s voice rings through my mind, as clear as day.
Owen? Hello?
“Zarmenus? Where are you?”
You have to think your responses, I’m not near you.
I try to think my response.
Yes, I can hear you.
Cool, okay! Can you bring Bell to the church on the south side? The cult is trying to kill me.
I think back,The south-side church? That’s near where my comparative politics lecture is. It’s about a twenty-minute walk.
Don’t worry, you’ve got some time, they’re doing some sermon. It’s a bit dry for my taste. But go as quick as you can.
Clutching Bell and the pitchfork, I run across campus.
When I reach the church, the heavy wooden front doors are open. I sprint inside, then stop in my tracks.
The church is full of people in heavy robes and gold masks. At the front of the room, on his knees, with a dagger to his throat, is Zarmenus. Standing behind him is a man in a white robe, wearing a huge golden mask shaped like the sun. He’s currently mid-speech, and is holding both a golden cup and a dagger.
He notices me. “Who are you?”
The entire assembly turns to face me. There must be a hundred of them. This is the biggest place of worship on campus, a gray brick building with a huge stained-glass window at the back.
The leader is waiting for a response.
“Um, I’m Owen,” I say. “Zarmenus’s boyfriend.”
Bell wiggles out of my hands, and drops to the floor. She runs down the aisle, toward the man in white robes. The cultists stop to watch her.
As she reaches the front of the church, she leaps. Midair, she starts to grow. When she crashes into the leader, she’s the size of a tiger. The pair tumble to the back of the room, rolling over the altar. Zarmenus smiles, and a gust of wind sweeps across the space, blowing out the candles and causing the front doors to slam shut.
Zarmenus stands, and the ropes binding his hands burn to cinders. Bell, who is now so tall she is easily double my height, leaps over him, her teeth bared. She crashes into the crowd, pinning a few attendees beneath her paws.
Cultists scatter, running toward the exit. When they find it locked, they start pounding their hands against the doors. Bell leaps around, catching prey in her teeth and tossing them like rag dolls. Aman runs at her, his golden dagger raised, but she sends him tumbling with a quick swat of her scorpion-like tail. Zarmenus starts to laugh as he transforms into his winged form. Flames appear on his fists, and he throws them at a cultist. Their robes catch fire, and they run screaming toward the locked exit.
