Riddle Of The Owl - YA Fantasy

Chapter Thirteen

"Cassel, there's something I need to tell you."

He drove them through the narrow, bumpy streets of Callivar. It was odd to see all the now-familiar places from the other side of the exam.

"I promised we'll go celebrate and I'm starving so let's go eat."

"Cassel, there's nothing to celebrate, we need to talk," Alleria said, trying to hold herself back from screaming hysterically about the fear going on in her mind. "I'm an idiot, I'm pretty sure I failed the exam and —."

"You make a brilliant idiot," said Cassel. "We'll talk all about it during dinner."

"But —"

"Do you like spicy? There's an Alaazian place —"

Alleria made a noise that was somewhere between a squeal and a whimper.

"Ok, not Alaazian then, how about —"

"Cassel, shut up for just one second and listen to me." She drew a deep breath, if she were Cassel, she wouldn't have taken herself seriously either. "I made a stupid mistake, I wrote the last question with my left hand and people saw me."

Cassel hit the brakes so suddenly Alleria nearly hurtled into the windshield. He turned to her. "Ok. Don't panic."

"I'm not panicking."

"I'm talking to myself," he said. He muttered curses under his breath. "You're left-handed?"

"Yes."

"Of course you would be." Cassel sounded bitter again, like he did when he talked about his Encounter. "Of course."

"The exorcism ritual with the incisions... it's just madness. It's murder. There can't be anything behind it."

"No, 'Leria, it's an accurate test. It reveals demonic possession. They make three incisions in specific points on the side of your neck and bleed you out until you're a thread away from death."

"Am I... am I possessed by a demon?"

"It's not like they think. For you, it was a real exchange. The demon took something from you, but it gave you something of itself. It's... mutual possession, a relationship."

"So it's true demons take your soul?"

"It's called an Encounter, and I don't know if what they take or give is your soul or... or something else." Again he looked away for a split second before looking back at her. "The demon who pulled you out of the Otherworld— your Individual — it had to Encounter you to take you back to the formed plane."

What he said, it felt like she had always known it. That night in the woods had changed everything, now she knew how. "So, if I've Encountered and they cut me like that, does the demon come out? Can that happen?"

"Yes, a demon-grotesque — it's a form the demon takes when it's forced to come into the formed-plane — will emerge, and then they bleed you out. That boy they found in Callivar... he was demon-touched like you. They try to find them when they're young because the older you get the more your demon will protect you from them."

They sat for some time in silence. There was no sound but the motor's hum. This wasn't a good place to have such a conversation. Although no other car had come down the street, they were blocking the road.

"But what are demons Cassel? What does it mean? Why Encounter? Why take children?"

"Demons are demons, just like people are people and their reasons for doing things are just as selfish."