I winced with the next line. I’d forgotten just how painful these could be. The third line extended up my arm, almost to my elbow, before bending down and swirling a bit like a treble clef. Deep breath in. Long exhale. The needle pulsed in and out of my skin so rapidly that the noise sounded like a vibration.
Sharp pain in my temple told me I was clenching my teeth, so I relaxed my jaw and put the final swoop on the design. My entire body tingled. Both channeling magic and receiving it felt like the kind of adrenaline rush you’d get before skydiving. Or so I imagined. You’d never see me jumping out of a perfectly good airplane on purpose.
With the machine back on its rack, I held up my arm to admire my work. It looked exactly like the original. Time to light this baby up.
I reached into my pocket for the Zippo, but my hand met an empty pouch of fabric. I patted down my jeans, but the familiar metal rectangle didn’t protrude from any of my pockets. Crappity crap. I must’ve left it in my room.
Call me lazy, but I did not feel like traipsing all the way back upstairs to get it. Ember would tell me to use my fire magic. A little spark was all I needed to activate the sigil. If I had drawn this on anyone else, I wouldn’t dare. One little flash from me would likely go haywire and singe someone’s eyebrows.
A new sigil on myself, though… Why the hell not?
I rubbed the tips of my fingers against my thumb, charging up my magic. My palm pricked with energy, and I focused it into my index finger before pointing it at my arm. Heat rolled from my chest outward until a tiny flame shot out, lighting the design on fire.
It glowed bright crimson like it was supposed to, but as the flames subsided, it didn’t fade to cool blue. The sigil remained red, undulating like hot magma flowing through a tunnel.
Uh oh. That didn’t look good.
Nausea churned in my stomach, and my breakfast threatened to make a reappearance. My head spun. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the dizzying sensation to pass. A garbled roar sounded from somewhere outside, but I couldn’t be bothered to look out the window. I was too busy trying to keep from passing out.
“Ouch. Son of a bitch.” I clutched my head, applying pressure to counter the skull-splitting sensation.
The garbled roar grew louder. “Who dares summon Chaos?”
Seriously? Was another tour guide going off-script? Our city was so rich in history and horror, yet some tour companies always felt the need to embellish the truth for better ratings.
Wait. Did he say…chaos? The sigil on my arm pulsed. Nah, that would be too much of a coincidence. Still…
I stumbled to the window to get a look at the culprit, but the street lay empty. Not a soul in sight. The roar filled my head, nearly bursting my eardrums. “Answer me!”
My stomach lurched. I barely made it to the trash can in time to stop the partially digested fruity cereal from spilling all over the floor. I heaved again, and again the voice roared.
Holy mother of the devil himself. That raspy, roaring voice hadn’t come from outside. It had come from inside.
Inside me.
CHAPTER THREE
I swear my brain rattled in my skull; the voice shook me so hard. My stomach was finally empty, though, so that was a plus. Pressing the heels of my hands against my temples, I stumbled to my feet. A growl rumbled between my ears. What the hell had I just done?
The page of sigils lay on the counter, so I grabbed it and paced to the library. This headache was bad enough to unalive me. Hopefully it wouldn’t hinder my magic before I found a cure. I had to find the book of healing spells before I passed out from the pain. If the library was organized like it was supposed to be, I could open a drawer, find the little card for the book I needed, and know exactly where it was. Or, if it was organized like the plans I had for it, I could type spell to relieve headaches into the computer, and I’d get a list of possibilities with their locations in the stacks.
Instead, I had to use a location spell. A spell to find a freaking spell.
“Release me, witch,” the rumbling voice demanded.
“Believe me, buddy. As soon as I figure out how, I will.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, preparing for the incantation.
“Release me now! Where is my skull?” he screamed and then roared so loud my entire body shook.
“I don’t have your skull, but you’re about to crack mine.” I clutched my head, my nostrils flaring as I blew out a breath. “Listen, man…or monster. Whatever you are, if you don’t quiet down, I’m going to black out. Then I won’t be able to help either of us. I have to fix me before I can figure out how to fix you, so shut the eff up for a minute, okay?”
He growled at a tolerable level this time.
“What was lost will be found. Near or far, show me where you are.” I’d done this spell so many times I didn’t need a potion to activate it. The book tugged me toward it, and relief flooded my veins. I grabbed the volume from the shelf and returned to my desk to find headaches in the index. The pages rustled as I flipped to the spell.
“Thank the goddess.” It was a simple one. No potion required for this one, either. “May the light of the goddess lift my pain. My headache will ease like a cleansing rain.”
The splitting agony reduced to a dull ache, and I could finally think. Holy mother of magic. I had a voice inside my head, and it wasn’t the running dialog I constantly had with myself. My forearm throbbed, and I laid it on the table to find the sigil pulsing red.
“That is my mark.”
The pain in my head intensified, making me wince. “I need you to use your inside voice. You know…since you’re inside my head.”
“Why is my mark on your person?”
My person? Who talked like that? Better question… “Who are you?”
“I am Chaos—” he started to boom.
I clutched my head again. “If that’s your inside voice, then you need to whisper. Seriously.”
A soft growl rumbled between my ears. “I am Chaos, Prince of Hell. Why did you summon me?”
“Prince of…” A maniacal giggle bubbled from my throat. No way. I had not done what I thought I’d just done. “You’re…” I bit my lip. “You’re saying you’re a demon?”
“A Prince of Hell.”
“Which is a demon.” I picked up the page of sigils. Demonic sigils. Oof.
