Chiara Marino and the Demons of Darkness

Chapter 7: Self-Defense For the Soul

Chiara stepped out of her shower on Monday morning and stopped in her tracks at the sight of a message written in the steam on her mirror:

"We will kill you."

Drops of condensation trailed from the bottom tips of the letters, down the mirror. Chiara felt dead within her and – despite the steam – gooseflesh prickled her arms and neck. Fear locked her feet in place, as if the slightest movement would doom her.

She took a deep breath then hollered, "In the Name of Jesus, get out of my room!"

Her heart pounded back to life as she scanned her room, finding no signs of the familiar family demon.

She caught her breath and scolded herself. It was probably just Adrian, trying to scare me, she decided, trying to reason it away.

But when she turned back to the mirror, she saw a new message under the first:

"We are invited."

She froze again.

Chiara got dressed in a flash and spent a few moments outside her room collecting herself. She was more than ready for answers and an end to this. She would find a way to talk to Peter today. She had to.

***

Mac, Chiara, and Riya met early that morning to write anonymous inspirational messages on post-it notes in order to leave positive thoughts all over the school.

Chiara scribbled a famous quote by St. Teresa of Avila, "The smallest thing, when done for the love of God, is priceless." She slapped it onto a locker as Riya chatted:

"Since my lessons with Zeke and Peter, I'm way more confident. I feel like I conquered more than just Sydney. I might have to take self-defense classes regularly."

"Fun," Mac said. "We should take them together."

Chiara started wondering about Peter's use of martial arts. Maybe that was part of the reason why he could fight demons. She had to find out.

Now that Riya's problem was solved, she was free again to focus on learning his secrets. But she knew that meant she had to get him alone.

***

"Hey, what you did for Riya was amazing," Peter told Chiara in Chemistry that morning as he poured a liquid into a beaker.

"What? Pssh. It was nothing," she dismissed the compliment.

"No, really." He studied her. "It's like there's this light inside you."

Chiara stopped and met his eyes seriously. "You mean I have it, too? Am I also blue?"

He gave her a sideways look. "Wait, what? Blue?" He laughed. "I meant metaphorically. That is a common saying, right?"

She laughed awkwardly. "Oh. Right. I thought you were saying... something else."

"I just meant you're really positive. It's inspiring."

She was struck by how honest and genuine his compliment had been.

"Thank you," she said softly, holding his gaze as she absently poured another chemical into the beaker.

FSSSH!

They both jumped back as the bubbling experiment overflowed onto their desk.

"Geez, what now?" Peter asked quickly. "Can we touch it? Is it safe?"

"It's only a mild skin irritant," Chiara explained as she poured another liquid onto the solution, stopping the reaction. She then handed him a pair of rubber gloves. "Now we can clean it up."

"How did you know what to do?" he asked.

"We're pretty consistent at this sort of thing," she said with a laugh, "so I looked ahead earlier to see what to do if something went wrong."

"Planning for our failure?" he joked. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Chiara pulled a piece of paper from her binder. "So speaking of failing, I think we should do this."

"The extra credit assignments?" he asked.

"Yeah, there's a cupcake one. I'm kind of good at baking, and at least if we mess up, there's minimal risk to life and limb."

"Hm. I don't know," Peter said as he grasped his chin in serious thought. "Do we get to eat the cupcakes?"

***

"St. Padre Pio was allegedly attacked almost nightly in frightening apparitions and physical beatings," Sister Theresa explained later in theology class. "He used to call the rosary his weapon because he knew that nothing hurt the devils more than prayer."

Chiara was zealously taking notes while Zeke sat in the next desk, mechanically blinking to keep his eyelids from drooping.

"St. Teresa of Avila," Sister continued, "who was also accosted physically by demons, said that she found solace in prayer during their attacks. She would pray or sing while they beat her, but she would also use holy water to bless herself or to throw at her adversaries. So even the saints who have encountered the worst experiences, agree that sacramentals are powerful weapons against evil. It's like self-defense for the soul."

The bell rang and Chiara reluctantly gathered her things.

"Weird class," Zeke commented with a yawn as they passed into the hallway.

Chiara bit her thumbnail in thought. "I know. Fascinating, right?"

"Right, fascinating," Zeke said. "That's what I meant."

The class had brought up many questions for Chiara. She had used holy water, the rosary, and other sacramentals many times to repel the spirit from her home. While it usually worked, it only worked temporarily. The demon always returned.

The message on her mirror that morning had confirmed her suspicions. She was only one member of her family. She could shoo the demon away, but if others were inviting it back in, it would return.

She prayed that Peter would be able to offer her a solution.

"'Self-defense for the soul,'" Zeke chuckled to himself. "Sounds like the title of some trendy self-help book."

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