The Gift of the Demons

by Mette Ivie Harrison

  Even if he tried to feel something back for me, he still looked sixty.

  How could we be together? It would look bad.

  OK, it would look really bad.

  My dad would have a coronary. He’d never let it happen, no matter what evidence Nick showed. Dad would be sure it was all faked.

  So, it couldn’t happen now. Not openly, anyway.

  And second problem. Nick was going to die in a few years. That was what giving up his youth meant. The bargain with the demons still held him.

  In the end, I was going to have to make a bargain with the demons to free him. I didn’t know what I was going to offer, but it wasn’t going to be my youth. Maybe there was some way I could beat the demons at their own game and offer them something that was worthless, while they gave Nick back his life.

  The last thing I should do was talk to Nick about this. He would make me promise not to make a bargain with demons. He’d lecture me about how impossible it was to get the better of a bargain like that. And then he’d tell me I was stupid and he’d still never tell me who he was in love with.

  It made me crazy to think of all the possibilities. And I was crazy about Nick.

  Chapter 24

  I thought everything was going pretty well. I’d figured out the truth about Nick, and that was the biggest part of fixing it, wasn’t it? I talked briefly to Georgia before school started, after my workout at the gym. She seemed a little distracted, but I figured it was just about her date with Rory or something to do with school. I was too busy to ask her more than that. I had my own life to worry about.

  I was just waiting for Nick to pop into my life so I could confirm everything. And then he walked into the school. Right at lunchtime, which was convenient, to say the least. I wouldn’t even miss class to talk to him.

  I waved him over to me on the steps, but he hardly seemed to see me. And when he came by, he didn’t smile or anything.

  “Hey, Nick!” I snapped my fingers at him to get his attention.

  He didn’t alter his course, which seemed to be down the hallway toward the gym. Did he think I was there.

  I moved so that he would have to step over me if he didn’t stop and look up at me. I had a big smile on, happy to see him now that I thought I knew everything.

  “Get out of the way,” he said to me when I stood in front of him.

  “Nick, it’s me, Fallin.”

  “Fallin, get out of the way,” he said in that same gruff tone.

  He didn’t seem like the Nick I’d always seen before at all. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer, just shoved past me.

  I was so surprised I didn’t fight him, even though I probably could have. I might not be as tall as he is, but I bet I could out-press him on the bench.

  Instead, I ended up chasing after him.

  That was when I saw Georgia standing in front of a man dressed in the uniform of the lunchroom crew in the hallway between the gym and the lunchroom. She was kneeling on the ground, with her head bent.

  It took me a moment to figure out what in the world she was doing. And then I got it. It wasn’t a man at all. It was a demon.

  Nick had figured it out long before me, it seems.

  “Stop!” Nick shouted out, and ran forward, taking out a knife and slashing at the demon—or trying to.

  “You’re too late,” said the demon. “The bargain is already made!”

  I had stopped moving several feet back, as if Nick’s command had been to me. “Georgia?” I said in a hoarse whisper.

  She looked up at me. She didn’t look embarrassed or anything. She just smiled. “It’s what I want,” she said.

  That’s what she thought now. That’s what everyone who made bargains with demons thought, at first.

  Nick was fighting the demon, but the demon was moving agilely, and Nick was slow. I didn’t know what was wrong with him. I only knew that he was going to get himself killed. I couldn’t wait to figure out how I felt about this. I had to act now.

  So I jumped into the fray. I got out my knife and felt it jump a little in my hand with excitement. I guess it had been a few days since I last used it on a demon. And last night, I hadn’t used it and it had had to wait. Maybe it was impatient.

  Luckily the school didn’t have metal detectors or the knife would have had to stay outside somewhere. Or sneak in itself. After what it had done so far, I wouldn’t put that past the determined, demon-thirsty knife.

  I moved forward gingerly, trying to make sure that I didn’t get in Nick’s way. He was bouncing around this way and that, trying to get in little digs, but this demon wasn’t having any of it. He seemed to anticipate every one of Nick’s moves. Had they met before? Or had this demon watched Nick battle other demons before? He seemed to know too much.

  But I was new. This demon wouldn’t have had a chance to watch me. “Nick,” I said. “Get out of the way.”

  “Stay back,” he said to me, turning to look at me.

  That was a mistake. The demon laughed and took a swing at Nick that landed hard on his ribs.

  Nick went down on one knee and closed his eyes in pain. He gasped and in that moment I wondered if I was wrong. He seemed like an old man caught in an old man’s body, nothing young about him.

  But I had to hold to what I believed before. He was Nick Kostol. He was a freshman, and I was going to figure out a way to save him and give him back his youth. And whatever else he wanted.

  First, kill the demon. I wished Nick had fallen a little more to the side, because he was still in my way. I needed more space to put real force behind the knife and I didn’t want to have to try to get in a million little cuts. Just one big stab should do it.

  “What’s going on here?” I heard someone behind us ask. It was the vice principal, Mr. Hawkins, who was always sent out to deal with fights. He was about five foot five, short, but he made up for it in meaness and grit.

  But he had no idea what to do with a demon, especially a demon who looked like any one of us. I had to deal with it first or there was no hope for Georgia. I wasn’t sure of the rules and I didn’t know what Georgia had bargained for, but I figured if I killed the demon before he could record the bargain in hell or whoever it was made official with, then Georgia couldn’t be held to it. Plus I couldn’t see what he’d given her anyway, so when he died it had to go back to him, right?

  “Mr. Hawkins, excuse me,” I said. Then I jumped on Nick, actually using his back as a launching pad, and threw myself at the demon, knife held out straight and singing with happiness.

  That moment was when I was glad I had done all that extra work in the gym. They might tell you that you should be doing more cardio instead of weights, but it isn’t true. Cardio is great if you want to run a marathon, but in hand to hand combat situations, or anything where fast muscle work is required, you want big muscles, not a big heart. You’ll be dead before you can last long enough for your cardio to matter.

  I got the demon in the eye with the knife. Then the rest of me hit him and both of us fell onto the floor. I heard the sound of the demon’s impact like smashing a watermelon to the ground.

  When I stood up again and looked at the demon, I could see it started to sag. If I was willing to wait, he might have died anyway. But just to be sure, I slashed at the demon’s chest. The knife sang again. It had a funny baritone, and it liked songs like “Old Man River.”

  I was trying to concentrate on the demon, but the knife was distracting me.

  “Shut up,” I whispered to it.

  It sang more softly then, at least.

  I stabbed hard into the demon’s chest, heard the hissing sound of gas coming out of his chest.

  “Stop that! You’re going to hurt someone!” shouted Mr. Hawkins.

  A bit late for him to notice that.

  The demon opened his mouth, but he didn’t have a chance to get a word out before he lost all shape. Soon he was melting like the witch in The Wizard of Oz. I guess that was what they r
eally meant her to be, a demon. In a moment, he was just a puddle on the carpet of the hallway, his eyes and hair remaining on top like bits of costume.

  “What is going on here?” demanded Mr. Hawkins, as he stared at the remains of the demon. “Was this some kind of joke? Someone could have been seriously hurt.”

  I held out my knife and laughed. It sounded false and tinny in my own ears, but I did it anyway. “It’s not a real knife,” I said. “It’s a rubber theater knife. It couldn’t hurt anyone.”

  Mr. Hawkins did not take the knife, which was still singing faintly. I think the knife had its own defenses against being taken. He didn’t even seem to see the knife anymore.

  “And you? Are you part of this?” Mr. Hawkins asked Nick, who was the only grown-up as far as he could see.

  “I—I don’t know what I’m part of anymore,” said Nick, who was swaying dangerously on his feet, but biting his lip and refusing to ask for help.

  Mr. Hawkins turned around and spoke to the audience we now had, almost half of the student body, everyone who had been ready to leave the lunchroom for their next class. “Well, that’s the end of this spectacle. All of you, back to your lockers or to your classes.” He made sure it happened, too.

  But when I held the knife up at him, his eyes glazed over and he ledt me and Nick and Georgia alone.

  Chapter 25

  I turned to Georgia. “What did you do?” I asked.

  “I made a bargain with a demon, obviously,” she said.

  “But why?”

  “Because only a demon could give me what I wanted.”

  I kept staring at her. I thought I knew Georgia. I thought she was my best friend, that we would talk about anything serious. What in the world could she want so badly that she couldn’t tell me, that she would ask a demon to give her?

  The demon remains were starting to stick and Nick was hanging onto the wall and doing a pretty good impression of someone who wished he was dead.

  “How could you?” I asked Georgia.

  “You were thinking about it. I know you were.”

  “But I didn’t do it,” I said.

  “And she isn’t going to,” Nick put in, his tone gritty and pained.

  “Yet,” said Georgia. “So I beat you to the punch. Is that what you’re mad about? I finally did something before you?”

  “You don’t decide what I do and don’t do,” I said to Nick. Then I turned back to Georgia. “Are you trying to win some award for stupid?” I asked her.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I want. I want to be even stupider than I am now,” she said.

  That stung. “OK. Tell me what you wanted so much that you were willing to make a bargain with a demon.”

  Georgia folded her arms over her chest. “So you can get it for me?” she asked.

  “Maybe I can,” I said.

  “Trust me. You can’t.”

  “Trust me enough to let me try,” I said.

  “She’s ashamed of it,” said Nick. “They’re always ashamed. That’s why they ask help from demons instead of anyone else.”

  “And also, demons don’t ask questions or make judgments,” said Georgia with a flash of anger.

  “Oh, they make judgments all right,” said Nick. “I know that as well as anyone. It’s just the judgment is permanent, and it comes a little later.”

  “Wait a minute. Let’s get back to what you wanted. To win some kind of contest? I thought we were friends. I didn’t think we had to compete with each other.”

  “Oh, come on. You with your perfect grades and never dating anyone because they aren’t good enough for you. And you work out and have the perfect body.”

  She thought I had the perfect body? She was the one who had the perfect body. I was way too muscular. She was the one who could end up modeling, with her creamy white skin and her red hair, and her long legs. She might not be as buff as I was, but that wasn’t what people wanted for a model. They wanted someone who looked pretty and feminine, with an absolutely flat stomach and zero body fat that came from practically starving yourself. Definitely not me.

  “You think you’re not competing with me and every other girl at this school?” asked Georgia.

  “Competing for what?” If I didn’t care about dating any of the guys, then what was this silent contest about?

  “Competing to prove who you are and how you fit in the pecking order,” said Georgia.

  “Pecking order?” Had I missed something here?

  “Look, it’s not a mean competition. I mean, I don’t hate you or anything. But it’s there anyway, the fact that you’re better than me. It bugs me sometimes.”

  “Better than you? I have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re the one who has all the dates. You’re the one with the perfect body.” I waved at her. She was wearing cute shorts right now with this top that hugged all her perfect, soft curves. She had the perfect feminine arms and neck. “And you’re white.”

  “What?” said Georgia.

  “You’re white,” I said. “You have no idea what it’s like for me, do you? I’m never going to be able to take things for granted the way that you do. I have to fight for anything here. If I’m competing, then that’s why. Because I know you have me beat before you even begin.”

  “This is because I’m white and you’re black? I thought we were over that. I thought that wasn’t a part of our relationship. You know how many times I’ve stood up to people who bring that up. I’m not a racist.”

  I sighed. “I didn’t say that you were.”

  “Then what are you talking about?”

  “I’m saying you’re white and you’re always going to be white. No matter how nice you are to me, you always have advantages.”

  “So you admit you are always trying to compete with me?” said Georgia.

  “No! I mean, I’m trying to be who I am. I’m trying to prove that I’m as good as you or anyone else.”

  “I think you just gave the definition of competition,” said Georgia. “They should hire you to write a dictionary.”

  “But that’s different. It’s not competing. It’s just—”

  “It’s just that you never needed a demon to offer you anything to get what you wanted. You’re so strong you could do it all yourself,” said Georgia. “You see, you are better than me. I admit it. I’m never going to win.”

  I felt horrible. I had never meant this to happen between us. I thought everything was fine. How could I have been so wrong? And what was I supposed to do, not try to be my best, not work out and feel strong when I needed to feel strong?

  “A demon offered me a bargain last week,” I said softly.

  “But you oh so bravely turned him down, right?” said Georgia.

  “Eventually,” I said. “But it was tempting.”

  “So what did he offer you? World peace? Curing cancer? Making your family happy?”

  “He offered me the chance to be white,” I said.

  There was a long silence.

  “You didn’t tell me that,” said Nick.

  “I know.”

  “You didn’t tell me, either,” said Georgia.

  “I was ashamed,” I said.

  “Because you turned him down?”

  “Because I almost didn’t. Because I wanted what he was offering me. It would have made things so much easier in my life.”

  “But you’ve never been one to take the easy way out,” said Nick. “It’s what I’ve always admired about you. I mean, think about the demons. I’m fighting them because they ruined my life. You’re fighting them because you want to help other people.”

  “You want to help other people, too,” I said to Nick.

  He shrugged. “Now I do. But when I started, it was just about revenge. For you, it never was. It’s not personal, not really.”

  It was personal. I fought demons because I wanted to do something important with my life. My mom was a nurse. My dad was a legislator. It’s not that I wasn’t good at other things, but I’d n
ever felt passionate about anything but this before.

  “Are you going to tell me what you asked for from the demon or are you going to make me guess?” I asked Georgia.

  “I could guess, too,” said Nick. “You want to trade places with Fallin, is that it? Make her feel what it’s like to be you for a while, and you can be her.”

  “No,” said Georgia, her face twisting. “That is sick and twisted. I would never do that to her.”

  “Georgia?” I said. “What did you ask for, then?

  “I didn’t ask for you to be me. I didn’t ask to be you. I just wanted to be stronger. And smarter. I want to be as good at something as you are at everything, and not even care about it. Not even notice it,” she said.

  “And you thought a demon was the best way to get those things? Why not come to the gym with me? Or study more?”

  “Because that takes hard work,” said Georgia. “And because I wasn’t sure that even so, it would turn out the way I wanted.”

  :So you were going to give up your soul to a demon?”

  “Not my soul,” said Georgia. “Just my hair.”

  “What?”

  “My hair.” She pointed to it. “I have nice hair, and I figured that I could give it to the demon and it would give me what I wanted. It would be a fair deal. It wasn’t like I was trading life or death here.”

  I tried to imagine Georgia without her gorgeous red hair.

  “And were you specific about which hair you would go without?” asked Nick.

  Georgia flinched. “Who cares what hair?” she asked. “You think I’ll mind losing a few nostril hairs, too?”

  “And every hair on your skin? Your pubic hair? Your eyebrows and eyelashes?”

  Georgia shrugged defiantly.

  “Do you know why humans have hair in the first place?” asked Nick. “It’s to protect them from disease. Without hair, you would be more likely to catch everything that comes around. And more likely to die from it. It’s life or death with your bargain, too, Georgia. It always is.”

  “And now what?” asked Georgia. “Now that the demon is dead? Do I not get what I wanted? Do I not have to pay anything?”