by Cassandra
“In other words, you guys don’t know how to do them? That’s just peachy.” She sighed and flopped onto her bed and rubbed her aching forehead.
“Relax. All hope isn’t lost. You won’t be attacked by imps every day. Besides, your grandmother will know how to handle this.”
Jessica stood and grabbed her house keys. “Back to grandma’s house we go, then. Come on.”
Chapter Eleven
“Back so soon?” Grandma Ethel asked when she answered here granddaughter’s frantic knocks at her front door.
“Trouble,” a low voice murmured from behind the old lady.
Jessica lowered her gaze to where Grace sat there staring with her head tilted to the side. Though it was not the first time, it still felt bizarre to hear the cat speak.
“Oh, no,” her grandmother moaned. “Don’t tell me you little rascals managed to get in trouble on the first day of school.”
Roger held his hands up defensively as Ethel stepped aside to let them enter. “It wasn’t me. I’m merely tagging along. You need to talk to these two.”
She turned an uncharacteristically stern gaze on Jessica and Chad. “All right, let me hear it. Explain yourselves.”
After she’d flashed Roger a disgruntled look, Jessica cleared her throat. “Well, it wasn’t exactly our fault, per se. You see, it was those three girls from my history class—”
“Sticks and stones.” Ethel cut her off. “What did I tell you?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Chad interjected. “We merely had a little fun with them, but they took it way to seriously. By the way, Ms. Ethel—you could have given me a heads up that a mundane school is a lot different from what I’m used to.”
She swept one of her cats into her arms. “It’s only a bunch of annoying teenagers and teachers who barely hold it together, right? That’s not much of a difference.”
Jessica looked at Chad from the corner of her eyes. “Based on how clueless he was, I’d say it’s a lot different.”
“Hey!” he objected.
Jessica waved her hand dismissively. “Anyway, that’s not the point. What’s more important is that those girls sent an imp after me, Grandma!”
“An imp?”
“Yes.”
“Those little brats must have really been upset about something.”
Jessica shifted from one foot to the other. “Well, they were kind of jealous of Chad…”
“Of you and Chad?” Grandma Ethel raised an eyebrow. “You two are supposed to be playing the cousin angle, remember?”
Jessica sighed. “Honestly, Grandma, how are you more concerned about that than the fact that those…girls…” She paused for an instant because she so wanted to refer to them with another word but didn’t dare to use such language in front of her grandmother. “They sent an imp after me!”
The old lady placed a hand gently on the side of her granddaughter’s face. “My poor girl. Are you all right?” She looked at Chad and Roger. “My guess is that you called these two for help?”
Chad shook his head. “She didn’t exactly need our help. She killed it on her own before we even got there.”
Ethel gasped. “My grandbaby? Killed an imp? All by herself?”
“I know, right?” Chad smirked. “And she doesn’t realize at all how impressive that is.”
Jessica sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Pardon me for not being that impressed. I suppose I was too distracted by the fact that the thing flooded the bathroom and tried to pull my hair out. I only acted in self-defense. And even though I managed to kill the blasted thing, I’m not at all keen to ever have to repeat the incident.”
“Are you sure she’s had no magical training?” Roger asked Ethel as if the girl hadn’t just spoken.
“None whatsoever. But what can I say? She’s my granddaughter. She was born to be great. It’s in her DNA.”
“I don’t think any of you have noticed that I don’t exactly feel too great,” Jessica interrupted.
Chad’s expression turned serious when he finally noted Jessica’s distress. “Sorry. I know how disturbing it must have been for you.”
“Do you?” She folded her arms.
“Did you guys clean the bathroom before you left?” Grandma Ethel asked.
Jessica swore, completely forgetting not to use such language in front of her grandmother.
“All right, young lady. Speak like that again, and I’ll have your tongue,” Ethel warned, although not unkindly.
“Sorry.” She sighed. “I hadn’t thought about what my parents would say when they got back from the movies and found the second floor soaked and the bathroom flooded.” She shook her head. “They didn’t kill me before, but I know they will now.”
“Technically, it’s their fault, not yours,” Chad protested. “After all, your mom didn’t have any protective charms put over your house. As someone who grew up in the magical world, she should have known better.” He looked at Ethel. “That’s actually what we’re here about. Do you have any idea how to keep Jessica safe from imps? I wasn’t entirely sure about how to have a protective charm put over her house.”
A deep scowl formed on Grandma Ethel’s lips. “That damn mother of yours.” She turned to Jessica. “No protective charms in the house where she’s raising my grandbaby? Just wait until the next time I see her. Why, I oughta…” Her voice trailed off and seconds later, a cat screeched outside.
This time, it was Grandma Ethel who swore.
Chad, Roger, and Jessica all watched, confused, as the old lady bounded to the door and waved her fists in the air. “How many times do I have to tell you to quit kicking my cats!” she hollered.
“What in the world?” Jessica wondered and made her way to the window in time to see her grandmother storm across the front lawn and yell at the mailman.
“Ms. Libbons, how many times do I have to tell you that I don’t try to hurt your cats?” the man yelled back. “But they attack me every time I try to deliver the mail. It’s like you have them trained like guard dogs. Why don’t you keep your little furballs in the house?”
“This is their yard, so it is their house,” Grandma Ethel snapped back. “And as for the mail—keep it for all I care. It’s nothing but a bunch of stupid magazines and bills that I don’t want in the first place. If coming by here is such a hassle, stop coming.”
“You know good and well I can’t do that.” He thrust a stack of letters at her. “Here.”
She snatched the mail, but not without an attempt to slap the mailman across the back of his head with it. Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it—he darted out of reach before she managed to hit him.
“Good day to you,” he yelled angrily and tripped over cats as he made his way out of the yard.
“I’ve got your good day, all right,” Grandma Ethel mumbled and made her way inside.
She slammed the door. Her three young visitors blinked at her with bemused expressions on their faces.
“Never a dull moment around here, I see,” Roger muttered.
“I hate that damn mailman.” The old lady tossed the mail aside without even bothering to see what it was. “Anywho, back to this imp business. What did you do with the body?”
Chad shrugged. “I tossed it in the alley trashcan. It actually looked like a little doll once it was dead. If anyone stumbles across it, that’s what they’ll think it is. It’s not like mundanes will ever suspect that it’s real.”
“Yeah, but that alley will stink to high heaven in a few days,” Ethel cautioned.
Roger laughed. “It’s an alley. It’s supposed to stink.”
She nodded. “Fair point.”
Jessica stood there and wondered how any of them ever actually managed to get anything done. They were all too easily distracted and seemed incapable of staying focused, even if their lives depended on it.
Or my life, she thought. I’m the one who got attacked.
“Stop your bellyaching.” Grandma Ethel looked ri
ght at her.
Jessica’s eyebrows shot upwards and she wondered if her grandmother had read her mind.
“I don’t invade your privacy like that,” the old woman explained and once again spoke to her granddaughter’s unspoken thoughts. “I don’t read minds, exactly. I merely capture the gist of what people think sometimes.”
“That’s not hard with you, Jessica,” Roger commented. “No offense, but your face is usually an open book. And I haven’t even known you for that long.”
“Can someone please deal with this imp situation,” she begged suddenly immensely tired. For some reason, total exhaustion had set in and she wished for nothing more than to be able to climb into bed and pretend the whole mess had never happened.
But, of course, she would have to go home and deal with her parents questioning her about how the stupid bathroom had flooded.
That would be an interesting conversation, to say the least.
“I know exactly how to take care of an imp problem. You all sit down for a second. Relax yourselves.”
Thoroughly exasperated and still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she had been attacked by an imp, Jessica flopped on the couch. She had to push a few cats aside in the process.
Roger settled himself on the opposite end while Chad stared out the window and whistled to himself with his hands tucked in his pockets.
I was attacked by an imp, Jessica thought and reflected on the absurdity of it. Witches exist. Demons exist. Imps exist. What else is out there in the world, hiding in plain sight?
As if to drive the point home, Grace darted past her. Jessica hoped that it was simply her imagination making her think the cat had actually winked at her.
And witch’s familiars exist too. Unbelievable.
From her position on the couch, she gazed out the window and marveled at the possibilities. What else might be out there?
Somewhere within the house, Grandma Ethel tinkered about in search of something.
Halfway hysterical, Jessica imagined her grandmother returning with a robotic imp for her to practice fighting against so that she would be better prepared the next time around—although she seriously hoped there was no next time around.
At that moment, her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She jumped, and Chad and Roger both looked at her.
“Oh no.” She groaned, and closed her eyes momentarily. She didn’t need to glance at the screen to know her parents must have made it home by now.
They must have discovered the wet hallway carpet and the even wetter bathroom.
“I guess that’s the ʼrents, huh?” Roger asked.
“Obviously,” she replied with a sigh. She retrieved her phone to see that her mother was calling. She was far too nervous to answer. “Grandma!” she called.
“What?” Ethel replied from the back of the house.
“By any chance, do you know any spells to take care of…you know, the flood the imp caused in my bathroom?”
“Oh, dear I’ll have to look that one up!”
Jessica swore under her breath.
Moments later, Grandma Ethel returned to the living room with her knitting bag. “Why? Are your parents looking for you again already?”
She nodded.
“Go figure. That means it’s only a matter of time before they call me. I’ll talk to them again. Chad is right. This is their fault.” She shook her head. “Going all these years with no protective charms over the house as if they don’t know what kind of family they belong to.”
Jessica looked quickly at her phone and sent a text message saying, I’m sorry. I’m at Grandma’s. She’ll explain! Not my fault!
She returned her phone to her pocket and stared expectantly at her grandmother.
Grandma Ethel wore a rather suspicious grin. She tossed her knitting bag onto the table. “All right. Let’s see what we have here.”
Without further ado, she opened the bag. Jessica, Chad, and Roger all waited as if she were a magician about to pull a rabbit out of a hat.
“Taa-daaa!” The old woman yelled too loudly. Jessica jumped back and startled a few nearby cats, who yowled in response. Among the cats was Grace. The girl could have sworn she heard the cat make a sound suspiciously close to a laugh.
She didn’t have much time to think about it, because she was too distracted by the object her grandmother had produced.
Jessica had only been joking with herself when she imagined Grandma Ethel returning with a fake imp for her to practice fighting. But lo and behold, she actually had pulled an imp from her bag.
It wasn’t even a robotic one, merely something she had knitted. In fact, it practically looked like a Raggedy Ann doll. Grandma Ethel held it up proudly.
“Um… What’s that, Grandma?”
Chad whistled, clearly impressed. “Ms. Ethel, you are brilliant, you know that?”
Jessica blinked. Clearly, she had missed something important. She glanced at Roger and saw that he too, looked impressed.
“Jessica, this is all you need to keep yourself safe from imps,” Grandma Ethel purred.
Her face crinkled in confusion. “A knitted imp doll?”
“A voodoo imp doll,” the old lady corrected. She handed the doll to her granddaughter. “You see, this is a lot easier to fight than the real thing. Whenever you suspect an imp is nearby, you pull that little sucker out”—she pointed to the doll—“and you rip it to shreds. Set fire to it if you have to. And then, poof! The imp will be gone before you know it.”
Jessica looked at the doll cautiously. She had much greater respect for it now. “Wow. Thanks, Grandma.” She turned it over in her hands and observed it more closely. “But how will I know when an imp is nearby before it’s too late?”
“That should be easy.” Roger sat beside her. “Whenever there’s something strange going on in your house—something that doesn’t quite make sense—you can basically suspect an imp is on the premises. You know, things like the bathroom suddenly flooding for no reason. That ought to tip you off.”
She nodded. “Okay. Got it.”
“Well, is there anything else I can help you fine young people with?” Ethel asked.
Before they could answer, Chad’s phone rang. He glanced at it. “It’s Pastor Norman.”
Grandma Ethel smiled widely and winked. “Well, tell the good pastor little Miss Ethel said hello.”
Jessica pinched the bridge of her nose and forced herself to not make gagging sounds.
“Hello, Pastor.” Chad greeted the man and listened for a moment. Immediately, his expression grew stern.
His companion stared at him, their attention focused. All three could sense that something was wrong.
“Whoa, whoa,” Chad cried. “Slow down. Tell me what happened.” He paused and listened intently for a moment before he swore. “Sorry, Pastor,” he said in apology for the word that had left his mouth. “Tell me where.”
Jessica strained nervously to hear Pastor Norman’s voice on the other end and startled when Grace leaped onto the couch and sat beside her. She too, stared at Chad although she no doubt listened in on the whole conversation.
“Okay, thank you for letting me know, Pastor. I’ll see what I can do.”
“What is it?” the others all asked at the same time.
Chad shook his head and frowned. “There’s been another demon attack.”
“Are you serious?” wailed Roger.
He nodded grimly. “Demons are already crazy, but they’re particularly beside themselves right now.”
Jessica shuddered and the hairs on her arms stood on end. Suddenly, she felt silly to be so distressed over a stupid imp. The creature had been scary in its own right, but she knew it had to be nothing compared to actual demons.
She didn’t know what she would have done if demons had shown up at her house to attack her.
Roger sighed and leaned back, sinking into the couch. “I guess we have a long night ahead of us again.” He shook his head. “What’s causing them to ac
t like this all of a sudden?”
“I have no idea,” said Chad.
They both turned to look at Ethel.
She stared directly ahead with a faraway look in her eyes. “Sorry, fellas. I don’t have any insight on that,” she admitted. “Every now and then, it seems like the world crumbles apart with no rhyme or reason.”
“Well, I guess we should get going.” Chad gestured for Roger to come with him.
With a groan, the other young man stood from the couch.
All the while, a furious battle raged in Jessica’s head.
She thought about how all of them had been so impressed with her ability to handle an imp on her own, even though she hadn’t had the faintest idea what she was doing.
Was it really a sign that she was somehow special? That she had more power and strength than she realized?
And if so, did that mean she should possibly do more to help?
Suddenly, simply helping Chad around at school didn’t feel like anywhere near enough.
She stood abruptly from the couch and interrupted whatever Chad and Roger were saying to her grandmother. “Let me come with you.”
At her words, everyone froze. Even some of the cats looked at her like she was crazy.
“No,” both Chad and Grandma Ethel barked at the same time.
“But what if I can help?” Jessica argued. “I fought an imp—”
“An imp is a teeny bit different from a demon, doll,” Roger responded.
Jessica glared at him. “Oh yeah? Well, before you were properly trained, were you able to take an imp down on your own?”
He opened his mouth to retort, but Grandma Ethel cut him off. “You’re not ready yet, Jessica. In due time.”
She sighed. “How am I ever supposed to actually help you guys if you don’t let me do anything?”
“Jessica,” Chad warned, about to argue. But like Roger, he was cut off by Grandma Ethel.
She put an arm around her granddaughter. “Nobody jumps into demon hunting a day after finding out demons exist in the first place, honey. So hold your horses. Stay here with me. I’m having some friends over. It’ll be a riot.”
