by Cassandra
Crap! The last thing she needed was for him to see the imp. Doing the only thing she could think of, she flung her bowling ball down the lane, aimed directly for the imp, and hoped he would squish and splatter from the impact.
Granted, she would have some explaining to do if her ball rolled back with a dead imp on it. She envisioned it looking like the most bizarre roadkill anyone had ever seen and then shook the image from her mind. It was another one of those things she would have to worry about later.
After all, she could always claim it was an exceptionally ugly rat or something. That would cause quite a stir, though. She could imagine the bowling alley hiring exterminators, believing the demon to be some sort of vermin that pest-control could handle. Maybe they would end up on an episode of Detectives.
“Uh…what the heck was that?” Kacey asked.
Jessica’s heart dropped to her toes. “W-what was w-what?” she stammered. She closed her eyes for a second. Had he actually seen the damned thing? Crap!
“No offense, but that has to be the most terrible shot I’ve ever seen!” he said.
From the tone of his voice, she relaxed a little. It was evident that he was merely teasing her again. Still, she had hardly heard a word he’d said.
Unable to stop herself, she raised her fists victoriously in the air. Her ball might have missed the majority of the pins, but it hadn’t missed the imp, at least. He was knocked clean off his feet and out of view in the nick of time. And he’d been swept away with the one pin that had fallen with him.
Jessica’s heart pounded and she wondered—hoped—the bowling ball was enough to send the imp back into the card.
A little too late, she noticed the way Kacey looked at her. She forced a grin onto her face and cleared her throat. “All part of my plan,” she said with a wink. She desperately wanted to make him think she had intentionally meant to only knock one pin over.
He laughed. “If you say so.”
The game continued and Jessica constantly kept an eye out for the imp. Fortunately, he never returned, which enabled her to enjoy the rest of her date with Kacey undisturbed.
After a while, her spirits were thoroughly lifted, and she suspected that she had actually managed to kill the imp with the bowling ball. She grinned occasionally to herself and grew more and more convinced that by the time she got back to Grandma Ethel’s, she would find Frank lounging in his house, watching the Kardashians as if nothing had happened.
“I hate to say it, but I think it’s about time for me to get home,” Kacey said a couple of hours later. “You know, before my parents get suspicious. I haven’t been able to wiggle my way out of being grounded like you.”
“Well, you were able to wiggle yourself into a date, so you didn’t do too badly.”
He laughed. “True. I guess you have a point there.”
They went to return their bowling balls and shoes, and then to get their coats. “Well, thank you again for helping me out this morning,” Jessica said. “And for…this. I had a lot of fun.”
“Me too. Hopefully, we can do this more often once I’m officially free again.”
They exited the bowling alley and Jessica was about to say goodbye when she realized Kacey had followed her rather than part ways to go to his own car.
“I thought I’d walk you to your car. You don’t mind, do you?”
Jessica shook her head. “No, not at all.”
They continued across the parking lot and a somewhat awkward silence ensued. Beside her rusty truck, he stood before her and swayed back and forth on his feet for a moment. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Well, until next time then,” he said and suddenly leaned forward.
Jessica’s heart fluttered as he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her. She wound her arms around his neck and returned the embrace. Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, he kissed her, his lips gentle and soft against hers. They sent goosebumps prickling all over her body.
“See you later, Jess,” he said, released her, and walked away to his own car.
“Yeah…bye…” she said to his retreating back, a little stunned. She climbed into her Jeep and felt completely giddy for reasons she could hardly even understand. It wasn’t like it was the first time she and Kacey had kissed. It was, however, the first time they had done so while sober. It made all the difference when alcohol couldn’t be blamed.
In a happy daze, she pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to Grandma Ethel’s. The kiss had warmed her to the point where she didn’t even need to pull out her extra layers from the glove compartment.
After such an awkward and disastrous morning, she could never have predicted her afternoon would end so wonderfully. She had killed the imp and kissed Kacey. In that moment, it didn’t seem like there was much else she could possibly ask for.
Except perhaps Frank’s and Roger’s safe return. She had faith, though, that Frank should at least be back by now.
“Grandma, I’m back!” Jessica called as she made her way through the front door. “See! I told you I wouldn’t be gone long.”
“Good for you. No need for you to make a billboard about it.” The old lady’s voice came from somewhere in the back of the house. She emerged as Jessica hung her coat up. “What are you looking so happy about?” Ethel raised her eyebrows.
“Nothing,” she answered quickly. “I’m glad to not be grounded anymore, that’s all. I mean, from you, at least.”
“Mm-hm. A likely story.” She narrowed her eyes for a second before she retreated to the back of the house again.
Jessica stared after her. She had the impression that her grandma was likely hiding something too, but she couldn’t bring herself to be concerned about it.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Chad and Pastor Norman weren’t lurking around—at least she didn’t think so—and she didn’t have any chores to do. She wanted to simply take a moment to herself, lay in bed, watch TV with Frank, and privately daydream and reminisce about her kiss with Kacey.
With this in mind, she jogged up the stairs and hummed to herself, then turned into her room and grinned when she heard that the TV was on.
Her smile widened. “Frank!” she said excitedly and fully anticipated seeing her familiar now that she had killed his evil cousin with a bowling ball.
When she stepped into her room, it was not Frank who greeted her.
It was his cousin, who was very definitely not dead after all.
Jessica froze and simply stared at the creature for a long moment, thoroughly dumbfounded. The little demon had the nerve to sit on her bed with the remote control beside him, flip through the channels, and ignore her completely. It was as if he either didn’t see her or simply didn’t care that she was there.
She cleared her throat, her fists clenched at her sides. “I ran you over with a bowling ball,” she said, her voice angry and clipped. “How the hell did you get back out of the card?”
The imp turned his head, his sneer still very much in evidence. “Magic,” he answered, and resumed flipping through the channels as if thoroughly unconcerned about her presence. He flipped right past the Kardashians, which made Jessica think about Frank and sent a pang through her chest.
She had to do something and quickly before the little creep got away from her again. Of all the demons she’d faced since the demon card game had started, it was absurd that this little shrimp was the one who gave her the most trouble.
“Turn back to the Kardashians,” she said and a plot brewed in her head. “I need a good laugh right about now because I know you aren’t simply sitting here chilling in my room like you’re supposed to be here.”
“I will not,” the imp replied stubbornly. “Why on earth would I watch such junk?”
“How do you know it’s junk?” Jessica asked. She wanted to keep him talking for a while so she could figure out what to do. Her first instinct was to the cast the rain spell, but she didn’t want her bed to get all wet. “Have you even watche
d it before?”
“Of course not. My taste is much more refined than my idiot cousin’s.”
“That’s harsh to say about your own family.”
“Harsh? Did you see what he did to me earlier?” the imp demanded. He rolled his eyes. “Then again, you are his witch. It explains where he got such a violent attitude.” He rubbed his head, and Jessica noticed for the first time that he was considerably worse for wear. The bowling ball had left bruises all over his body.
For an instant, she felt sorry for him. Then she reminded herself that he was evil. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be a part of a game literally designed by Satan. Deep down, she knew he only lounged on her bed and pretended to watch TV because he planned to wreak some sort of havoc. This was all an act, an effort to make her let her guard down.
She knew by now that imps were sneaky, though, so she wouldn’t fall for it.
It really was very simple. She had to outsmart him.
“Well, Frank isn’t as harsh as you think he is,” she continued. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left a present for you in his house.”
The imp looked back at her and his black bulbous eyes scrutinized her expression.
“I’m serious.” She pointed to Frank’s dollhouse. “Take a look for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“Why would he leave me a present after holding such a childish grudge against me after so many decades?”
Jessica shrugged her shoulders. “As an apology, I guess. He wants to call a truce between the two of you.”
She held her breath as the imp muttered in a low tone but was relieved when he got off her bed and moved toward the dollhouse despite his obvious disbelief.
“Well,” Jessica said and headed toward the bathroom, “go ahead and make yourself at home in there. Any family member of Frank’s is welcome.” In the bathroom, she quickly grabbed a cup, turned on the facet slowly, and prayed the imp wouldn’t hear the water running.
“I don’t see anything in here for me!” his voice grumbled a moment later.
Now or never, Jessica thought and ran out of the bathroom with the cup of water in her hand. She took advantage of the creature’s distraction and threw the water at him to soak both him and Frank’s tiny couch.
The imp screeched and glared at her with hate-filled eyes. With a pop and puff of smoke, he disappeared.
She stood motionless for a moment and hoped it wasn’t merely another trick. When nearly a full minute had passed, she went to look at the demon cards on her desk. There he was, back in the card where he belonged.
“Thank goodness.” She sighed and flopped down onto her bed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
For several minutes, Jessica continued to lay on her bed and waited for Frank to return. Finally, she realized something must have gone wrong. She frowned and stood to check the imp’s dollhouse, just to be sure. The couch was wet and she felt bad about that, but even worse, Frank still wasn’t there to fuss at her about it.
Confused, she returned to her desk and looked at the cards again.
“Dammit,” she muttered. She had been so focused on his evil cousin that when she first checked to see whether he had returned to his card, she had failed to realize that behind him was Frank.
Her familiar was still trapped.
She sighed and decided that it was time to tell her grandma what was going on. It would be a disaster if the old lady snuck out of the house and left her at a time like this.
Also, it was time to finish the game—once and for all—if she could.
On her way down the stairs, she thought about one of the last conversations she’d had with Frank, late one night right before they had drifted off to sleep.
She remembered something he had told her about the game.
When she got downstairs, Grandma Ethel was dozing on the couch, cats on her lap and on each side of her, while her soap operas played on the TV.
“Grandma?” she said. She hated to wake her, but suddenly felt a sense of urgency. When the old woman didn’t even stir at the sound of her voice, she crept toward her and poked her gently on the shoulder. “Grandma? Grandma!”
Ethel woke with a start and her hand darted out so quickly that Jessica barely dodged it in time.
The cats screeched and leapt off the couch, affronted.
“Goodness, Grandma!” she exclaimed and her heart pounded over having narrowly missed being karate chopped in the throat.
“Girl, don’t sneak up on me like that. I was dreaming about a demon I fought back in the seventies,” her grandmother said and adjusted the glasses that had fallen askew on her face. She looked at her granddaughter. “What is it?”
Jessica sighed and flopped down on the couch beside her. “Grandma…this morning, the imp came out the card.”
Ethel sat up and now gave the girl her undivided attention. “Okay. That shouldn’t be much of a problem for you. You were able to defeat imps before you even knew how to cast any spells. Now, you can do rain spells, so this should be a piece of cake. So what’s the problem?”
“There’s a little more to it than that.”
“No there isn’t. It’s only an imp! All I ask is that you please don’t do any more rain spells in my house again. That stupid little creature is only a few inches tall. When he shows up, grab him and get him outside before you cast rain clouds.”
She shook her head and sighed. “Grandma, I took care of the imp already. Just recently, actually. He was upstairs in my room watching TV. I tricked him into going into the dollhouse I got for Frank, and I simply poured some water on him. He’s already back in the card.”
Ethel pounded her on the back. “That’s my girl. Now, tell me—why the glum face?”
Jessica sighed. “The thing is, the imp first showed up this morning while I was doing the garden work. He appeared in my room, where Frank was sleeping.”
“Uh oh.”
“Yeah. He and Frank started fighting. And…Frank was sucked into the card, of course. I guess when he fought his cousin, the game interpreted it as him helping me. But even though his stupid cousin is back in his card, Frank is still trapped. So now, I’m ready to get this whole game over with right now. I want it to end. I’m tired of it.”
Grandma Ethel nodded. “I don’t blame you, honeybunch. Well, let’s get to it, then. I’ll call the good ol’ Pastor back, and Chad, of course. You go get those damn cards. We’ll put an end to this tonight if we can. You roll those dice, fight the next demon, and keep going until it’s all over. We’ll be right here with you the whole time. Granted, we can’t help, but we can be here for emotional support and to give you any pointers you may need.”
She nodded, momentarily unable to speak because she suddenly felt sentimental and tearful as she leaned over to hug Ethel. “Thanks, Grandma.”
The old lady kissed the top of her head and wandered off to get her phone.
No more than a half hour later, Pastor Norman and Chad were at the door. Jessica took a break from spreading the cards out on the dining room table and went to open it.
Chad held a bag up. “With as much time as we’ve spent over here, I decided to bring an overnight bag for the hell of it. I hear we’re on a mission to finish the game, so who knows how long that might take.”
She nodded and stepped aside. “Right. Well, come on in.”
“Don’t worry, Jessica. You can beat this game. You’ll get Roger and your imp back, and one day, this will be something we all look back at and laugh,” Pastor Norman said as he stepped over the threshold and followed Chad into the house.
“I sure hope so,” she muttered as she closed and locked the door behind them.
The younger man raised his nose in the air. “Mmm. It smells good in here, Ms. Ethel.”
Ethel emerged from the kitchen with an apron tied around her. “I thought that since we were about to pull a demon-fighting all-nighter, we might as well have enough food available to keep us energized. I’ve prepared all kinds of snacks, so help yourselve
s. They’re in the kitchen.”
Chad grinned. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
“Trust me, we all know that,” the old lady said as he dumped his overnight bag onto the couch, removed his coat, and made a beeline for the kitchen.
Pastor Norman took a seat at the dining room table, and once Chad returned from the kitchen with snacks, Grandma Ethel made her way over as well.
“Oh, wait!” Ethel said and scurried off to the living room. She approached the fireplace and retrieved Roger’s framed card.
“I hadn’t realized you moved it over there,” Jessica commented. “I suppose I’ve been too preoccupied.” She glanced from Chad to Pastor Norman. “My grandma told you guys what happened to Frank, right?”
“Yes,” they said in unison.
She nodded while Ethel placed Roger’s card on the table beside the one that contained Frank and his cousin. “Good. I can go ahead and get started then because I am officially over this game.”
Without wasting another second, Jessica grabbed the dice, rattled them in her hand for a few seconds, and dropped them onto the table. She held her breath the whole time. When the dice finished rolling on the surface, she simply stood in shock for a few seconds.
Rather than landing on numbers that corresponded to the cards, the dice now displayed two symbols.
“Hmm,” Chad said. “What does that mean? Do you have the instructions somewhere handy, Jess?”
She swallowed. “I don’t need the instructions. I know exactly what this means.” She paused for an instant and looked at all the others around the table before she continued. “Frank and I discussed the game one night. He told me that when the dice land like this, it means that the last of the demons will all come out at once. If I can manage to defeat them all, game over. If I don’t…well…”
“So in other words,” Chad said and broke the intense silence that had fallen over the group, “the shit just got real. Sorry, Pastor.”
“No apology necessary.” Pastor Norman’s face had paled considerably. “All the remaining demons at once, huh? I can only assume the game thinks you’re ready to handle that.”
