Sixteen-year-old June Bae may very well be your typical high school student, but the Rose Cross Academy is not your typical high school. Instead of history assignments and English papers, June trudges through Alchemy mixes and Demonology homework.
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Chapter 19
Hide and Go Die
by Rissa Renae
Noel rolled to a knee to lay down a barrage of cover fire as Stella and Petra ducked past him to rush towards the Barrier. Each bullet grazed the demon in the big hat, and a couple hit true, but the demon still moved.
Dressed in a ridiculously large hat and equally ridiculous cloak, the demon was not particularly quick, but he could duck through the forest unhindered. He popped in and out of sight between the thin tree trunks as if the forest were simply making way for him.
On occasion, the demon would appear in the sparse light as if antagonizing him. Noel would lay down another line of fire, the bullets catching up to the demon only to have him dissolve into the forest and appear again somewhere else. The demon never tried to advance on the Barrier behind Noel. Always, the big hat and cloak stayed just on the edges of the pinkish light. "Come out!" Noel yelled to the forest.
"Or what?" The voice came from the trees itself, coming at Noel from all sides.
Noel let his eyes follow the voice through the trees but kept his gun trained on the demon's last known whereabouts. It was trying to distract him. But Noel knew he needed to keep the demon distracted from the Barrier long enough to rescue June. "Neat trick," he said more to himself, another glance circling through the trees. "How are you doing that, I wonder." He fired off a few more shots when a bush rustled. "You can't play hide-and-go-seek forever, you know."
"You're not taking June," the forest replied.
Noel kept his face placid. How did the demon know June's name? "Well, I've got news for you. You're definitely not keeping him. So I think we're at a bit of an impasse, here."
The forest oozed out the demon in the hat and cloak directly before Noel. His hands were at his side and he did not move. "You think I'm just going to let you walk out of this forest with June? Just who do you think you are?" The demon in the hat snorted a laugh, and the visible portions of his face contorted to a venomous snarl.
"June's coming back with me. He's coming back with his family."
The forest laughed a hearty laugh. "Family? Indeed."
"Come on out and we'll settle this."
"This is settled already."
Noel smiled. He would be the judge of who took June where. "That sounds like a challenge." He fired off a few more shots, and the hat-and-cloak demon darted back into the trees.
"You're a lousy shot," the forest snarled back.
"It's your big, stupid hat. It's throwing me off." Noel knew for a fact he'd hit the demon with half a dozen shots. So why was the damn thing not dying, or at least smoking from the taint of the bullets? He checked the cuff at his wrist. One rose winked back at him. "I don't get it." He did a double take, his hand wrapping around the cuff. "And why is the Compass not reacting?"
