Creatures Of Witchery

Chapter 3 - Salt And Sugar

"Oh my Hades." I breathed out. "What have I done?"

The smoke cleared to show I was the only one left in the forest. Who the hell was that? I did everything the stupid book said! What the hell could have gone wrong?

There was a dull pain sliding up my spine and the back of my skull. I'm lucky my back didn't break. My eyes stung and my breath struggled to return to a normal pace.

Everything from my set up had been thrown around, but there was no sign of any fire.

Caw!

My eyes drifted to the six birds hidden by the night. They were hopping around in the white substance that had spilled out of the container. Ones black soulless eyes stared back at me as it started caw-ing and flapping its wings. "What are you trying to tell me?" I whispered.

I crawled towards the crows that were not afraid of my approach. They picked at the ground again and looked back up at me.

Could it be?

I placed my finger onto the substance, getting a couple of specks on there. I slowly moved my finger to my mouth and tasted what should have been sweet, but was bitter.

It wasn't sugar.

It was salt.

I accidentally used salt which accidentally summoned whatever - whoever - that man was.

I'm the biggest idiot in the world. The Dark Angel is going to torture me in hell for all of eternity.

What am I going to do? I can't tell the coven, they'll just send me in a one way trip to hell. I can't tell Rina because she'll freak out and won't know what to do. But... There is a warlock I can tell. He's going to kill me.

I slowly started to stand on my shaky legs and take one last look around me. The book laid open, without a scratch at all on its surface. I scooped it up and found the dagger a couple of meters away from it. I'll fix this mess later.

I ran as fast as I could through the trees and jumped over all the roots that stuck out of the ground, tripping on a few of course. I could see the lights from my house illuminating the land around it. I was almost home and away from whatever disaster I had caused.

But there was a growl. A growl that made my feet stop as soon as they hit the dirt road. It sent chills down my spine and let fear dwell in my stomach. Because that wasn't the growl of any normal forest creature. The only time I heard a growl like that was in the videos Aunty Echo would show Kylon and me as kids to show to not mess with a certain magic.

If only I had listened.

My heavy breathing and my heartbeat were almost louder than the creatures growl. I turned around slowly, my body too scared to run or do anything other than look.

Up in a tree was a figure. It had smooth light grey hairless skin, claws that could rip through bone like it was butter, a tail at least two meters long wounded around the trees with wings protruding from its back. It's face held no nose or lips, but the mouth was open enough to see razor-sharp teeth. But its eyes were what captivated me.

Black and stormy with gold flakes.

The eyes of a demon.

It outstretched its wings and screeched before taking flight in my direction. "Shit!" I thew myself onto the ground as its claws just missed my head. It flew up high and circled, ready for a second shot. I forced my muscles to remember every physical education class I ever had and ran faster than I ever had it my life in the direction of the house, ditching the heels.

My legs burned and my feet were getting stabbed with every small stone. The house was close as the demon came down for another swoop. I tried to dodge it, but lost my balance, tumbling to the ground before I could reach the front door.

"Faroca!" Kylon yelled from the porch. He ran down to me and helped me off the floor as the demon flew away.

"What was that?"

"A demon."

"Yeah, I know that," I hissed. "I mean what spell was that? I've never heard it before."

"It sets a forcefield around the house, but only for two minutes." We walked into the lounge room and I took a seat on the couch. "Why do I get the feeling that demon has something to do with you sneaking out?"

"Because it does," I said in a quiet voice, looking at my hands.

"Are you crazy?! What the hell are you doing summoning demons? Have you lost your mind?!" He shouted, throwing his hands around. Kylon rarely gets furious at me, but I'm no stranger to be scolded by him.

"I tried summoning Hecate-"

"You tried to summon a Goddess?!" He looked at me waiting for a reply but started talking before I could get a word out. "Oh my Hades. Do you even understand what they will do to you? They won't just give you a firm slap on the wrist — you summoned a demon! They're going to kill you!"

"I didn't mean to, OK. I just mixed one ingredient up, but if I didn't I would have actually done it. Could you imagine how proud everyone would be?" I tried reasoning.

"You can't just play with the gods, Adria. It's about time you learn that you can't do everything. You need to grow up and start thinking of the consequences instead of the prize before you kill us all." He barked. I stayed quiet and started fiddling with my hands.

Maybe he's right. I screwed up big time and now I'll probably have to pay with my life.

Kylon sighed, rubbed his hands over his face then picked up his jacket. "Get changed into something less noticeable."

"Why?"

"Because we're returning that demon."

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