Intern: A 13 Covens Magical World Adventure (YA)

by Cassandra

  No, she needed to visit Kacey first. Alone.

  “I’ve tried to tell them this isn’t normal, but they won’t listen,” Chad said. She had been so lost in her own thoughts she had missed a fair amount of what he said. Quickly, she deduced that he was telling her that the demon activity certainly wasn’t normal. “The elders,” he continued, “are so stubborn and set in their ways. They go on and on about rogue witches and refuse to accept what’s staring them right in the face. Something is up. I mean, sure, some of it can be attributed to rogue witches, obviously. But all of these possessions and stuff?” He shook his head. “There’s obviously something else going on.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  As the morning progressed, Jessica began to have calls from her mother and grandmother. They wanted to know how she was, what was going on, and if she was still at the witch’s academy. She simply told them she was fine and that she had an eventful night, and that she would tell them about it all later. It didn’t seem wise to have a conversation about what she’d actually been up to all night over the phone.

  Just after noon, the nurses came to the waiting room to inform them that Todd would be all right. He simply needed to be monitored for a few days but would make a full recovery.

  “Good.” Chad exhaled, obviously relieved. He turned to her. “I guess it’s time to get you home.”

  “I’d say so,” she agreed. “Thanks for everything. For showing me around and letting me go out on the hunt with you.”

  “And thank you again for saving Todd’s life. When he comes to, I’m sure you’ll get a thank-you call from him.”

  During the ride home, her thoughts returned to Kacey. In light of all the possessions that had occurred lately, she knew it was past time for her to check on him. She had put it off for too long already.

  “Grandma?” Jessica called when she entered the house. As usual, she had to step over the cats huddled around the door. No one answered her. She walked to the kitchen where she found Grace lapping water from her dish.

  “Hey, Grace. Where’s my grandma?”

  “Out,” Grace responded, swishing her tail.

  “Why, thank you. So specific. That’s really helpful.”

  “She went out with her knitting circle,” the cat elaborated. “She’ll be back soon.”

  Jessica chewed her bottom lip. Well, there’s no use sitting around waiting in an empty house, she thought. She decided it was probably best that she had a moment to herself, anyway.

  “I’ll be back,” she announced and quickly turned away.

  “You aren’t going to see about that imp of yours? He’s still in your room, probably watching Kardashian reruns again.”

  She waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll see him later.”

  Before she could change her mind, she headed out the door, hopped into her cold Jeep, and set off to Kacey’s house. The closer she got, the more worried she grew. She didn’t even bother to turn the radio on to distract herself. Her mind was already so thoroughly occupied with her friend. She had spent so much time hoping he hadn’t been avoiding her, but now, she actually hoped that was the case. It was certainly preferable to the alternative. She would be all right if Kacey decided not to speak to her ever again, as long as that meant he wasn’t possessed by a demon.

  She pulled onto Kacey’s block. Sweat formed on her brow despite the coldness of her Jeep. She parked in front of his house and simply sat there for a moment, her hands gripped around the steering wheel. When she looked at his house, she didn’t feel anything. No sense of foreboding. No sense that the house was shadowed by something evil nearby.

  That made her feel a little better she climbed out of her Jeep. By the time she made it to the porch and pressed the doorbell, her nerves had calmed. She knew what it felt like to sense a demon nearby, and she didn’t currently feel that at all.

  The door opened and a woman with the same eyes as Kacey’s appeared in the doorway. It was his mother.

  “Hello,” the woman greeted her.

  “Hi.” Jessica suddenly felt awkward. This was the first time she had ever shown up to someone’s house to ask for a boy. “Um. Is Kacey home?”

  The woman’s brow knitted together, and she shook her head. There was a quizzical look in her eyes that made Jessica’s face flush. She could tell she was being sized up to some degree. Kacey’s mother undoubtedly wondered if she was her son’s girlfriend. Had he talked about her?

  “He left a little while ago. I can let him know you stopped by. What’s your name?”

  “Jessica.”

  “Do you go to school with him?”

  She nodded. Her lips involuntarily pressed tightly together so that she wouldn’t accidentally say anything incriminating. She didn’t know whether Kacey’s mother knew he had skipped school and she didn’t want to get him in trouble.

  “I’ll be sure to let him know, Jessica. It was nice meeting you.”

  Jessica forced a smile and took a step back. “Nice meeting you too, ma’am.” She turned to leave but stopped abruptly. When she turned back, Kacey’s mom still stood in the doorway, watching her. “Excuse me, but by any chance do you know where he went?”

  She didn’t want to seem needy but she desperately wanted to see Kacey with her own two eyes. His mom gave no indication that anything was wrong, but something still nagged at Jessica. Even if Kacey wasn’t possessed by a demon, she felt she at least should apologize for how weirdly their date—or outing—had turned out.

  “He went for ice cream.”

  “Okay, thanks!”

  She pulled into the ice cream shop’s parking lot, saw his car almost immediately, and parked not too far away from it. Her nervousness had returned. She had correctly guessed that he had gone to the parlor they had visited on their date.

  Now that she had tracked Kacey down, she wasn’t quite sure what she would say to him. She wondered if she should have called or texted first. However, she guessed he probably wouldn’t have responded. He hadn’t answered any of her attempts to reach him for several days now.

  The bell chimed as she pushed the door open and entered the ice cream shop. It wasn’t particularly crowded. The only customers were an elderly man with his young granddaughter, a young couple somewhere in their twenties, and Kacey.

  It was only a matter of seconds before their eyes locked. If Jessica hadn’t known better, she would have thought he was somehow waiting for her. It was as if he’d known she would show up. She thought it was possible that his mother had called and told him that Jessica would come by.

  He smiled and Jessica released a very short-lived sigh of relief. Immediately, however, he began to whistle. It was cheerful but somehow, under the jaunty rhythm, there was a hint of malice. He whistled the demon tune.

  She felt the blood drain from her face. Her worst suspicions were confirmed.

  “Can I help you?” one of the store clerks asked. Jessica stood frozen barely inside the door. She couldn’t answer. All she could do was stare at Kacey in disbelief. Her mind raced, still not able to form a coherent thought.

  Kacey stared at her with an eerie gleam in his eyes. He stood and continued to whistle as he began to walk toward the shop’s rear exit. It seemed obvious that he tried to make his escape.

  Jessica couldn’t allow that. Not this time. Not now that the demon was inside her friend. Reacting quickly, she rushed out the front door. The bell chimed noisily behind her. She made it into the parking lot as she saw Kacey race toward his car.

  She cursed and realized she should have called Pastor Norman all along. What was wrong with her? Why did she think it was smart to check things out for herself? With all the demon encounters she’d had thus far, she should have known to hope for the best but plan for the worst.

  Her legs felt unusually heavy as she ran across the parking lot. She never took her eyes off Kacey. She pushed herself and propelled her body forward as quickly as she could, determined to catch him. That demon would not, under any circumstances, get
away with possessing her friend.

  Kacey jumped into the driver’s seat of his car and Jessica reached the vehicle only seconds later. She rushed to the passenger’s side and managed to leap inside before he could lock the doors.

  He hissed at her. His eyes flashed with an animosity that she had never seen on his face. The inside of the car felt even colder than her Jeep and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She became acutely aware that she had no weapons whatsoever. No crosses. No holy water. No Bible. Nothing.

  Pastor Norman’s voice shouted in her head and took her back to the exorcism. She didn’t know how, but she could hear the chants and prayers he had used to save the possessed women. It had to be a sign. Without knowing what they meant, Jessica began to repeat the words she heard echoing in her head.

  Kacey’s angry expression melted into something confused and fearful. He snarled and leaned away from her. In the nick of time, she noticed that he fumbled for the door handle, obviously planning to jump out of the car.

  Jessica seized his hand with all her strength and held him in place. She chanted louder and more forcefully, determination driving the words.

  He felt cold to the touch, but she felt her hand warm around his. Although she looked him in the eyes, she could see in her periphery that her hand glowed where it touched him.

  When he tried to pull away from the heat of her grasp, she clamped down hard and raised her voice. She could feel intuitively that what she did was working. While she chanted, she thought about who she knew him to be. The real Kacey. The cool, sweet, funny guy from school whom she had the pleasure to call her friend. She let thoughts of him fill her mind as she recited the words.

  Kacey roared.

  His voice reached a pitch that almost hurt her ears but she continued relentlessly. The heat in the car fogged the windows. Jessica’s hand burned on his, but she held onto him even tighter.

  His jaw dropped into a horrifically wide and silent scream. A black fog rose from his throat. It rose, twisted into the air, and disappeared out of the roof of the car. His body shook as if with a seizure, his teeth clenched. He suddenly fell limp and slumped over the steering wheel.

  Jessica released his hand. “Kacey?” She swallowed nervously and touched him tentatively. When her fingertips touched his arm, he suddenly pushed into a sitting position. He gasped like a man nearly drowned.

  She withdrew her hand. Her heart jumped into her throat and she clutched her chest and swore.

  “Jessica?” he mumbled, obviously confused. The car windows slowly began to defog. The unnatural coldness seeped away along with the mist. “Jessica, what are you doing here? What… Where… What’s going on?”

  His response was so bemused that she laughed, so relieved that she hardly knew what to do. She had gotten rid of the demon and had saved her friend. All at once, she realized he was staring at her. He was obviously waiting for an explanation. Jessica cleared her throat. “Um. You invited me out for ice cream, remember?”

  “I did? When?”

  “Just now. This is sort of a do-over for last time. I know things got weird, and I’m sorry about that.”

  Kacey wiped the corners of his mouth and frowned the remnants of strawberry ice cream on his fingers. He shook his head. “I must be losing it. I can’t even remember.”

  Jessica laughed and tried to sound casual. “You know what? Why don’t we go to Betty’s Ice Cream Parlor? It’s actually a pretty cool place if you give it a chance. I like the vintage vibe of it.”

  “But it looks like we already had ice cream. Didn’t we?” he asked.

  “Is there such a thing as too much ice cream?”

  He was still confused but he seemed to feel better. Kacey smiled. “I guess not. All right. Let’s go.”

  “Hold on. We drove here separately. Let me get my truck. You can follow me there.”

  “Okay.”

  Half an hour later, they were seated at a table in Betty’s enjoying ice cream sundaes.

  Kacey smiled at Jessica from across the table and in that instant, she knew that her initial assumptions had been incorrect. The Aquiel had caused him to avoid her earlier, not any animosity he actually felt toward her.

  “It feels like I haven’t talked to you in forever,” he admitted. “How’s it going?”

  “Good. It’s going good,” She didn’t know what else she possibly could say.

  “Do you have any plans for college yet? Any particular schools you’re looking into?”

  “Oh yeah, there are a couple I have in mind.”

  “I don’t have the slightest idea where I want to go yet. A few of my buddies have made a list of the colleges known for throwing the best parties. Somehow, I’m not sure that’s the best way to go about things.”

  Jessica laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s the best strategy either.”

  “Maybe I should go somewhere fancy like New York or Hollywood to get discovered.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Discovered for what?”

  Kacey smirked. “That’ll be part of the discovery. I need somebody to find out what I’m good at.”

  Jessica snorted into her ice cream sundae.

  They continued chatting. Their conversation was easy, fun, and light-hearted. It felt like old times again.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Grandma Ethel’s dining room table was filled with delicious sandwiches, salads, soup, and breadsticks for Sunday lunch. She cast a barrier spell to keep all the cats out of the room so that everyone could eat in peace. Except for Grace, of course.

  Jessica sat at the full table. It was crowded with her parents, Grandma Ethel, Pastor Norman, and Chad. Todd was missing, but only because he was still recovering in the hospital wing of the academy. An empty fold-up chair leaned against the wall. It had been brought because Jessica assumed he would have been released by now.

  “The nurses want to keep him longer for observation. You know, to make sure there aren’t any unexpected side-effects from the demon attack. That happens sometimes,” Chad had explained. “So far, so good. Like they say, better safe than sorry.”

  Despite the young man’s absence, Jessica was in better spirits than she had been in quite a long time.

  “You know, I thought long and hard about what you said, Jessica,” Theresa began as she passed a plate of sandwiches.

  “Oh?” Jessica asked. “About what?”

  “About whether I felt guilty keeping so much from your father.”

  Mark slurped his soup and stopped with his spoon held halfway to his mouth. “Pardon me?”

  Theresa took his hand in hers while everyone else watched with bated breath. They all wondered what she would say next.

  “Mark, honey, I know magic makes you uncomfortable but I’m afraid you can’t be kept in the dark any longer. If your one and only daughter will be a part of this world, I’m afraid that you’ll simply have to get used to it.”

  “B-but…” he stammered and shook his head. “No. No, there’s no need for me to be involved after all these years. I never had to know about it with you.”

  “That was different,” she explained. “You didn’t have to know about it because I willingly gave up this world long before I even met you. Now, we have a daughter who wants to be a part of this world. As her father, you’re a part of her life, which means you’ll have to be comfortable with her life. All of her life. Including the magical part.”

  Mark’s spoon dropped into his bowl with a clatter. He leaned back in his seat and sat silently as his wife’s words sank in. Finally, he took a deep breath. “All right. How about this. Can we keep things to a bare minimum? Like…only tell me things on a need-to-know basis, all right?”

  At that precise moment, Frank materialized in the middle of the table to snatch up a breadstick. Her father gasped and nearly fell out of his seat.

  Chad started to cough violently in an attempt to disguise his laughter.

  “Um, Dad?” Jessica could barely contain her own laug
hter. “If there’s one thing you need to know about, it’s Frank. He’s my familiar. That means he’s like my magical sidekick. He’s an imp. You’ll probably see quite a bit of him.”

  Frank took a big bite of his breadstick and nodded at Mark. “How do you do, sir?”

  She had never seen her dad faint before, but she thought at that moment that he might collapse altogether.

  They spent the rest of the meal explaining the basics about the magical world to him. He learned far more about that than he ever wanted to.

  “What are you looking so pleased about?” Chad asked when he noticed the serene look on Jessica’s face.

  Her smile widened, and suddenly, everyone looked at her. Everyone with the exception of her father. He still stared at Frank, dumbfounded.

  “He’s like a talking troll doll,” Mark whispered to Theresa. She shot him a warning glare.

  “Everyone, I have an announcement to make,” Jessica interjected.

  Grandma Ethel pushed her glasses up her nose. “Well, let’s hear it.”

  “Good news, I hope.” Chad smirked and leaned in.

  “Yes, I hope so too,” Pastor Norman agreed.

  “Don’t pressure her. You guys leave her alone and let her say what she’s going to say,” Theresa intoned in a very motherly fashion. She motioned to Jessica as if giving her permission to continue.

  “Right.” She hesitated, then decided to dive right in. “After much consideration, I’ve decided that I want to officially study witchcraft. I want to go to the academy.”

  “Yes!” Chad cheered and leapt up from his seat. He leaned across the table to give her a high-five.

  “Congratulations, sweetheart.” Theresa smiled at her daughter.

  “You’ll do well there, Jessica,” Pastor Norman concluded.

  Ethel smiled proudly. “Of course she will.”

  Mark sat at the table silently with a somewhat pained look on his face. “No Berkeley, then?”