Testing: A 13 Covens Magical World Adventure (YA)

by Cassandra

  “Oh, come on, Pastor. Live a little.” Ethel winked, but he merely laughed and shook his head.

  “I don’t feel like betting. Roll the dice already,” Chad said.

  “Cranky, much?” Jessica let the dice fall onto the table. The group fell silent as everyone peered to see what the game had in store for her this time around.

  “Coven one—nature,” Jessica announced. “And…” She paused and studied the demon she would face. The corresponding card contained a picture of what looked like a woman—one who wouldn’t have looked particularly intimidating if it weren’t for the snakes that grew from her head where her hair should have been. Her eyes widened. She vaguely remembered seeing the card before but hadn’t paid much attention to it until now. “You have to be kidding me. Is that Medusa? She’s real?”

  “Yes, unfortunately,” Pastor Norman answered. “Medusa is based on an actual demon type. Mundanes think she’s merely a mythological figure, but in reality, her breed of demon is very real and very powerful.”

  “And the challenge will be to make sure you don’t look at her,” Chad commented.

  “Right,” Grandma Ethel agreed. “Because if you look at her, you’ll turn into dust. Then the game will be over in the worst possible way. We definitely don’t want that.”

  Jessica frowned at the card. Suddenly, a two-headed dog didn’t seem as bad as a head full of snakes. On the plus side, though, she supposed, was the fact that since she didn’t like snakes, avoiding looking at them would come naturally to her. A woman with snakes growing out of her scalp sounded repulsive enough that she figured she wouldn’t even be tempted to look.

  “Don’t look at the woman with the disgusting snake-covered scalp. No problem,” she said. “It’s not like I plan to sit down with her and take selfies, that’s for sure.”

  Chad laughed.

  “Don’t be so sure, Jessica,” Pastor Norman warned. “There’s a reason people can’t seem to take their eyes off a train-wreck. It’s human nature. You’ll have to be extra careful with this one. It always presents a problem when you can’t look your enemy in the eye. All in all, it’s much easier said than done.”

  It doesn’t sound that hard to me, she thought and decided that whenever the creepy woman was around, she would likely hear her coming first. That had been the case with the other demons so far, so she presumed this one wouldn’t be any different. Hence, she simply needed to know a good nature spell to use whenever she heard or sensed the woman nearby. That way, she could close her eyes, utter the spell, and send Medusa and her snakes back to Hell where they belonged.

  So, really, it was all a matter of finding the right spell.

  “Christa…” Jessica murmured.

  “What was that?” Grandma Ethel asked.

  “Christa,” she repeated. “The girl who works at the magic shop. She’s in the nature coven. Would it be all right if I asked for her help with this one?”

  The old lady paused for a moment. “Well, I don’t see why not.”

  “Great!” she said enthusiastically and ignored the way Chad frowned. For a guy who was nearly thirty years old, he could be rather childish at times. She could tell he was still clearly intimidated by Christa—afraid that as Jessica’s peer, she would be able to sway her decision about which coven to join.

  “What?” he demanded when he saw the way she looked at him.

  Jessica laughed. “Nothing.” She gathered the demon cards and paid particular attention to the one with Medusa on it. After a moment’s thought, she decided to leave that one at the top of the deck and make sure it stayed visible so she would see when the demon left the card. She hoped that wouldn’t be for another few days, as had been the pattern with the others.

  I guess even Satan wanted to be fair, making sure there was enough time to learn the defensive spell before the demons are sprung loose, she mused to herself.

  “Are you sure you don’t want anymore to eat?” Chad asked.

  “Nope,” she replied. “I’m going to go open my packages.”

  “Well, in that case…” He reached for the morsel of food that remained.

  “Hey!” Frank objected.

  “All right, all right. We can split it,” he offered.

  Jessica laughed at their bickering over the tiny portion as she ran upstairs.

  Once she reached her room, she opened the big box eagerly and smiled at the item inside.

  It was something of a struggle, but she managed to pull the item out—a big doll house. A very cool looking one, at that. It was no Barbie house, by any means. Instead, it was more like a miniature wooden cabin, the perfect size for Frank. It had cost her a pretty penny, but she had been able to afford it with her babysitting money, so watching those little brats had been worth it.

  After she’d set the house carefully against the wall, she opened one of the smaller boxes, which contained the furniture—a little couch, a couple of tables for Frank to eat on, and most importantly, a cozy little bed for him to sleep in.

  It had taken her a long time to find furniture that would match and fit into the house. Now that she had it in her hands, though, her long hours of searching had been well worth it. She only hoped Frank would like it, especially the bed. She was desperate for him to stop sleeping in hers. Not only was she fed up with all the food crumbs he left regularly, but she was also increasingly worried that she might roll over in the middle of the night and squash him to death. By no means did she want him to ever accuse her of trying to kill him again. He still hadn’t completely forgiven her for the first few times.

  Once she’d arranged the furniture neatly in the house, she opened the last box, which was filled with the clothes she had ordered for him. Those too had been particularly difficult to find, and she’d had to do the best she could judging through her computer screen what would fit him. Now that she saw the clothes in person, she thought she’d done a reasonable job.

  She placed them in the room that contained his bed and took a step back to admire her work, feeling quite pleased with herself.

  Unable to resist, Jessica raced down the stairs and poked her head into the dining room to see if Frank had finally finished eating. “Hey, Frank—come here for a second. I have something for you.”

  The imp looked up at her from the dining room table. He appeared to have finished his meal and had merely sat around and listened in on Grandma Ethel, Pastor Norman, and Chad’s conversation.

  He raised his eyebrows and eyed her suspiciously. “Something for me? Oh yeah? What is it?”

  “I’ll show you. But come on,” she said impatiently.

  Frank stood and immediately disappeared into a poof a smoke. A loud popping sound accompanied his reappearance at the top of the stairs.

  Jessica raced up the steps to join him. She guided him to her room. “Ta-daa!” she said cheerfully and pointed out the house.

  Frank froze for a long moment and uttered not a single word.

  She blinked uncertainly. “What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?”

  Still, he gave no response. Slowly, he approached the house, stepped inside, and wandered from room to room to touch the furniture and examine the clothes.

  Jessica sighed, dejected. “Well, if you don’t like it, I can always send it back. I thought you might want a space to call your own, that’s all.”

  “Jessica,” he finally said after what felt like an eternity.

  She stared at him, confused. Were his eyes watery? Did he really hate the little house that much?

  In the short silence that followed, she tried to consider things from his perspective and wondered if she had made a terrible mistake.

  Maybe he saw the house as an indicator that she was tired of him hanging around and wanted to banish him to his own little place so that she wouldn’t have to deal with him as much. The thought made her feel horrible because that hadn’t been her intention at all.

  “Look, Frank,” she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

  “Sor
ry? Sorry for what?” He cut her off. “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

  “Oh…” Jessica paused. “So…you like it?”

  “Like it? I love it.” Frank paused, and this time, there was no doubting the tears in his eyes. “Thank you!” he said, his voice somewhat shaky.

  Jessica smiled, her cheeks wobbly as she fought back tears of her own. She watched the imp wander around his house again, an awed expression on his tiny face. He looked through the clothes, sat on the couch for a moment, and made his way to the bed, which he wasted no time climbing into. Before long, he bounced on it as if it were a trampoline.

  After a moment, he turned to her. “Okay, I have something for you too.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

  Frank nodded. “I know a spell that can help you with cleaning. It might make things easier for you, being grounded and all.”

  Jessica leaned down to him, eager to hear more. “Frank, there is nothing more that I could ask for. Yes. Please teach it to me.”

  “No problem. It’s really quite simple,” he said with a grin. “All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine everything exactly where you want it to be. Basically, clean up everything in your mind. Imagine yourself hanging up loose clothes, vacuuming the floor, wiping the windows…all of it. Then hold your hands out, palms facing upward like this.” He demonstrated for her. “Then, imagine the finished product. When you feel a tingling in your hands, you know you’re doing it right. After that, open your eyes. That should do the trick.”

  “Okay.” She squeezed her eyes shut eagerly and thought about the clothes in front of her closet and imagined herself actually hanging them up in neat rows. After that, she then thought about swiping the crumbs off her sheets and sweeping them away and into the garbage can. She saw herself straighten her desk and stack her school books into a neat pile. She thought about tidying up the bathroom, sweeping the hair from the floor, changing the roll of toilet paper, and wiping down the mirror and sink.

  The images all clearly envisaged, she held her hands out, the palms facing upward as Frank had shown her. In her mind’s eye, she saw her room, spick and span. Exactly as he said, her hands began to tingle. She held still until the tingling stopped and then she opened her eyes.

  “Oh, my God, it worked,” she gasped.

  “Told ya,” Frank said with a nod.

  “And for that, I think you deserve another reward.” Jessica grabbed her television remote control, turned the TV on and went through the DVR to turn on the episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians that she had recorded for him.

  “Yessss!” he cheered and angled the couch in his house into the perfect position where he could see the TV. “I’ve been dying to see the next episodes. I’ve forgiven Kourtney, now that she and Scott are back together.”

  “Well, have fun,” Jessica said and deciding to keep it to herself that things wouldn’t end well for Kourtney and Scott. “I’ll stop by the magic shop to see if Christa is still in. Hopefully, she has pointers on nature spells.”

  “Cool,” Frank said and waved goodbye with his gaze glued to the TV.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Her anticipation helped her to ignore the usual chilliness inside her truck and Jessica cranked the engine and immediately headed for the magic shop. Once she was halfway there, it occurred to her that it was late and she probably should have called Christa first to check if she was there.

  She pulled into the parking lot, worried by how dark the shop’s windows looked. But, as she peered at the shop for a little longer, she was sure she saw a light on inside somewhere.

  Good. Someone is still here, at least. Maybe. Well, I’ve come this far.

  The thought encouraged her to leave her truck. She decided that even if it turned out that Christa wasn’t there, she could at least ask whoever was inside whether it would be all right for her to take a look around to see if there were any books on nature spells that might be helpful.

  Fortunately, when she reached the front door and pushed, it swung open easily and the bell over it chimed.

  “Hello?” Jessica said as she entered and immediately saw that the front desk was empty. She walked farther inside and her gaze darting around for any signs of life. “Is anyone here?”

  Jessica halted as she heard footsteps from somewhere farther back in the store.

  “Jessica? Is that you?” Shortly thereafter, Christa appeared, smiling and carrying a broom. “Hi!”

  “Hi,” Jessica said, relieved to see the girl. “I was hoping you were still here.”

  Christa stored the broom behind a cabinet. “Yeah. I’m always in late. It’s my duty to clean up at closing time. I live upstairs. So, what’s going on?”

  Jessica moved forward and stopped at the front desk. “Actually, I wondered if I could get your help on something.”

  Intrigued, the girl moved forward and eyed her in silence. Her expression shifted into one of curiosity mixed with a little worry. “Sure. What is it?”

  “Well, you know those cards you sold me?”

  “The ones your grandma threw a fit over? Yeah, I remember.” Christa leaned in. “Will you finally tell me what’s so special about those cards? I tried asking my mom about them, but she didn’t know what I was talking about. She didn’t know we had any such cards here and doesn’t even know how they got here in the first place. It’s so weird.”

  “They’re demon cards.”

  “They’re…what?” the girl said after a stunned silence. “Did you say…demon cards?”

  Jessica nodded. “Yeah. A really demented game, reportedly designed by Satan himself.”

  “Oh, my God,” Christa exclaimed, her eyes wide. “I’m so sorry, Jess. I…I don’t even know what to say. We’re not about dark magic here, I swear.”

  She waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t blame you or your mom. Like you said, you guys don’t even know how the cards got here in the first place, so of course you’re not to blame. The cards are evil. Maybe they showed up by themselves. Who knows? Anyway, the problem is…” She paused and sighed. “I unknowingly started a game, and now, I have to finish it.”

  Christa swore.

  “Yeah. My thoughts exactly,” Jessica huffed.

  “So…has the game been…dangerous?” her companion asked.

  “Yes, I guess you can say that.”

  “How does it work?”

  “Well, long story short—you roll the dice. One tells you what kind of demon you have to fight, and the other tells you what kind of coven spell you’ll need to defeat it. That’s why I’m here, actually. I hope you can help me with the latest demon that I’ll face soon. According to the cards, I need to use a nature spell against it.”

  Christa’s eyes widened with simultaneous fear and excitement. She nodded her head vigorously. “Nature spells. Yes. Right. Well, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve done good in the nature coven. Uh…so…what kind of um…”

  “Demon am I facing?”

  The girl swallowed and glanced around as if she expected the demon to pop up at any second.

  “Don’t worry. They seem to take their time before coming out. I think that’s part of how the game works. It gives you a fair amount of time to learn the spell before the demon comes out.”

  “Well, that’s good to know. How thoughtful of Satan.” Christa paused before she broke into a laugh and covered her mouth. “Wow. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear myself say. So…what kind of demon again?”

  “Right. Um, basically…” Jessica scratched the back of her head. “It’s Medusa.”

  Her companion blinked. “Medusa? Like, Medusa Medusa? Snakes on her head, Medusa?”

  “Bingo. That’s the one.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Not at all. I wish I was. Anyway, I’ve been thoroughly warned that I should never look at the snakes on her head, which doesn’t seem very hard to do. It’s not like I’m keen to see
a bunch of snakes growing out of someone’s scalp. The thing is, I understand it’ll be a lot harder to kill her if I can’t actually look at her, you know?”

  Christa ran both hands through her hair. “Sorry,” she said. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. This is really real? Like seriously? This game is making you fight—kill—actual demons? Living breathing demons from Hell?”

  “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

  The girl grimaced and glanced around the shop again, although this time, not in a way that suggested she was looking for a demon. Instead, it seemed that she no longer trusted a place that she had previously thought she knew so well. She shook her head as if to shake away any personal feelings of offense that she felt regarding her mother’s shop having contained such a problematic game. “Well,” she said, “my first thought is that obviously, you have to tell the snakes to look away. Then you could take care of Medusa without making eye-contact with the snakes.”

  Jessica blinked. “That is…brilliant. And so simple. God, I never would have thought of that.”

  “Of course, the main trick will be learning how to do that. You know, talk to snakes.” Christa grinned.

  Jessica nodded. “Yes, that may be a bit of a problem for me.”

  “Well, you’re in luck then. Talking to animals has come naturally to me. I’m sure I can give you some pointers.”

  Her eyes lit up. “So, is talking to all animals the same? Like, can I practice on any random animal? Because my grandma has a house full of cats I could use.”

  Christa shook her head. “No. You’ll need an actual snake to practice on. Each animal has their own voice, so to speak. Talking to one won’t be the same as talking to another.”

  “Ah, okay. I see.” She frowned when she realized that snakes weren’t something she encountered on a daily basis. It wasn’t even usual to find garden snakes around, especially not in the winter months. She sighed. “Well, I guess the problem now is where do I get a snake? You don’t happen to have any lying around here, do you?” She glanced around hopefully and wondered if witch shops contained animals typically affiliated with magic and witchcraft.