Misplaced Magic (Book 8)

Chapter 15

"Sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all." ― Lawrence Hill

--xxxxxx--

'Do you feel sick or is it just me?' Lisa asked Christina as they were looking around the house.

'It's not just you.' Christina said. She sat down heavily on one of the chairs in the kitchen. She put her head in her hands. 'It's this place.' Lisa came and sat next to her. 'I don't even know what we're doing.' Christina said, frustrated. She let her hands fall to her lap.

'We're looking for a way out.' Lisa said.

'But it's not like there's going to be a literal door to open. Power brought us here.' Christina said, and then she had a thought. 'So what if power can send us back.'

'What are you thinking?' Lisa asked worriedly.

'Why don't we try to blast a hole in the atmosphere?'

'You think we have enough energy for that?' Lisa looked at her skeptically.

'I'd rather die trying that, than die here doing nothing.'

'Is there an option where no one dies at all?' Lisa asked. She sat up straighter and looked behind her as a cold chill ran up her back. Lisa noticed an odd look on Christina's face, she'd felt it too. 'You felt that?'

'Yeah.' Christina looked to her. 'It was a tingling, right down my spine.'

'What do you think it was?' Lisa asked.

'Might be the others, trying to call us home.' Christina suggested.

'I really hope so.' Lisa sighed. A crash echoed from above them and their heads shot up to the ceiling.

'Let's go.' Christin got up and took Lisa's hand. She led her into the living room and to the bottom of the stairs.

'I have a really bad sense of de-ja-vu right now.' Lisa complained. Just as they were about to start making their way up the stairs, a man was looking down at them.

'Jonathan?' Christina said. He looked terrified.

'Where are we?' He asked.

'Another dimension.' Lisa told him. He nodded frantically and looked around. He was in shock.

'Come down here and talk to us.' Christina said as she and Lisa backed away into the living room. He did so tentatively but made sure to stay far away from them across the room.

'We aren't going to hurt you Jonathan.' Lisa said.

'I know, but I might hurt you.' He said honestly. 'And I don't want to hurt anyone else.'

'We can help you.' Christina said. 'When we get out of here, we can take the power out of you and you can go back to your normal life.'

'I'd like that.' He smiled. 'How are we going to get out of here?'

'I have an idea.' Christina told him.

'A really risky idea.' Lisa added.

'Well, we have sisters who are trying to find us too.' Christina reminded her.

'Great, I hope they get us out before we die.'

'That's the spirit.' Christina knocked Lisa gently on the shoulder.

xxxxxx

'Are we ready for this?' Amy asked. They were standing in the attic with a spell to call Bathin to them.

'Do we have a choice?' Lauren wondered.

'It's now or never.' Katherine said. 'We have to do everything we can to get them back.'

'I agree, this is our best shot.' Dani said. Katherine took a deep breath and began the spell.

'Demon of hell we call you near, willing your body to appear. Time is running thin and we need a hand, show yourself on my command.' A swirling wind began in front of them and, after several breezy moments, the demon appeared in front of them. He stood in the middle of the room and fixed his jacket before noticing them.

'That's not my preferred method of travel, I'll have you know.' He said.

'Noted.' Katherine replied.

'What do I owe the pleasure?' He said, arms out.

'We need your help.' Dani said.

'And why would I help witches?' He said. 'Why don't I kill you right now?' He looked around the room. 'I see you're missing your best weapons.'

'They're stuck in Perdition.' Katherine told him. His eyes lit up and he smiled.

'Really? That's a fun place.' He was grinning from ear to ear. 'But not good for humans, how long have they been there?'

'A few hours.' Amy told him.

'Alright, well they still have a little while.' Bathing shrugged. 'You need me to open a portal, I assume.'

'Yeah, that's right.' Dani nodded.

'What's in it for me?' Bathin's eyes darkened. 'Because if word gets around that I'm helping witches, it won't be good for me.'

'Jonathan is in there with them. Bring all of them back and we'll give you his powers once we remove them.' Katherine said. Amy was tapping her leg nervously. Dani and Lauren both had potions hidden behind their backs just in case. Bathin looked at Katherine.

'You're really willing to give me more power?'

'That's what I said wasn't it?' Katherine replied venomously.

'What are the ground rules?' He eyed her suspiciously.

'No one gets hurt. You don't hurt us, we don't hurt you.' Katherine said.

'Alright. Anything else?'

'When you get the powers you leave, right away. And we don't want to see you ever again.'

'You want to call a truce with me?' Bathin smiled. 'I haven't agreed to a truce in hundreds of years.'

'Do we have a deal?' Amy encouraged.

'No.' He said.

'What do you mean no?' Lauren asked.

'There's another power I want to taste.' He clasped his hands in front of his stomach. 'The death beam was nice and all but that blue energy fascinated me. It'll be nice to feel Michelle again.' Dani was about to protest when he stopped her. 'I won't take the power, you have my word, I just want to taste it.'

'Creepy much.' Lauren said.

'That's my final offer girls, I agree to all other terms as long as you agree to that for me.'

'It's Christina's power, can we agree to that?' Dani whispered to her sisters.

'Like Lauren said, we don't have a choice.' Katherine sighed before turning back to the demon. 'Deal.' She said. Bathin grinned again.

'Wonderful.' He clapped his hands. 'But I can't do it here, the portal will most likely blow something up and it would be a shame to ruin your lovely house.'

'Yeah, whatever.' Dani said.

'Let's go to the forest.' Katherine said.