Supernatural: A New Generation
By: Kaitlin Sewell
2 Years Ago
“Hey, what’s down here?” Miles cringed at the creaking of the old door as it swung open. He wasn’t supposed to be down here, and his dad would have his head if he found him down there. However, his curiosity was a bit stronger than his fear, so there he was, sneaking into the basement at midnight.
“What are you doing down here?” Miles whipped around, a split second of fear flashing across his face, until he realized it was only Riley. Maggie was also there, but she was barely visible as she clutched onto Riley’s sweatshirt, hiding behind her with just a sliver of her face peaking out.
“You know you’re going to get yourself in trouble if you’re caught.” Miles rolled his eyes, and looked back at the two of them, an annoyed expression on his face.
“I was doing just fine until you came down here with your snarky, know it all attitude. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to continue exploring the basement. I would invite you, but I know you’re too scared to follow me.” Before he could even turn back around, Riley was running down the basement stairs, disappearing into the darkness.
Works every time. What a -
Maggie let out a little whimper from where she stood at the doorway, looking like she had seen a ghost. Miles looked down at her, and gave her a rare, genuine smile.
“You know, you don’t have to go down if you don’t want to, but me and Riley will be right beside you. Plus, don’t you want to see what’s inside? There could be gold, or a treasure map, or giant stuffed animals bigger than you.” Maggie let out a little giggle at that as her face and body relaxed, the fear slowly melting away as the though of giant stuffed animals filled her head.
“So, what do you say? You want to help me find the treasure?” Miles held out his hand for Maggie, and she looked a little hesitant at first, but it was Miles, her cool, older cousin, and what could go wrong when he was around?
Maggie grabbed his hand, and they both made their way down the stairs.
Miles reached into his pocket, grabbed a flashlight, and toggled the light switch on. A bright beam appeared, and shined right into Riley’s eyes.
“Be careful with that! You almost blinded me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I can turn it off if -“
“No! No - I mean, you probably shouldn’t. Maggie might get scared.”
“No I won’t. I’m brave. Right, Miles?”
“You’re probably the bravest person in this room. It’s Riley who’s afraid of the dark.” Miles laughed at Riley’s small scoff as he continued to walk through the room, sweeping the flashlight’s beam across the room. It was mostly empty, except for a few boxes and a few pieces of furniture.
“I don’t get it. What’s so important about this room? Why would we be forbidden from coming down here?”
“I don’t know. It’s just a bunch of old junk.” Riley’s voice came up from behind him, and Miles whirled around to try to find her. Once again, the flashlight beam hit her face, and she winced.
“Again, seriously?! Be careful with that, you’re gonna blind me if you keep shining that in my eyes.” Miles stifled a laugh as Riley’s angry face glowed in the light of the flashlight like a pumpkin. Miles was about to retort when Maggie’s voice came from the other side of the room.
“Hey guys, there’s another door over here.”
“Could we maybe find a light switch instead? I’m tired of tripping over things in the dark.”
“Riley, would you just shut up? I don’t think the lights even work on here.”
“How would you know that.”
“Do you see how old this room is? I would be surprised if the lightbulbs had been switched in the past 20 years.”
“Yeah, well -“
“GUYS! The door?” Both of the bickering teens turned towards her voice, and with the flashlight lighting the way, made their way over to the door. It was an old wooden door, with a giant doorknob and a lock under it. Riley tried the doorknob, but the door was locked, and therefore did not budge when she pulled.
“Great, it’s locked.” Riley backed away from the door, and jabbed Miles in the side to get his attention.
“Ow! What was that for? You could have just talked to me instead of injuring me?”
“Oh, get over it you big baby. I barely tapped you. I was just thinking we should get out of here. The door’s locked, and there’s nothing in here, so let’s just go before someone finds us.” Riley continued her rant as she tried to make her way to the other door, but something about the door caught Miles’s attention.
“Hey, does anyone see that?”
“If you’ve forgotten, the room is pitch black, and I can’t see a thing.”
“No, look at the door.” Miles walked over to the door, and just as he had though, a dim glow was coming from underneath the door. Maggie leaned down next to him, and peered underneath the door.
“You’re right, there is something. Come here Riley, look at this.” With a sigh, Riley leaned down between the two and peered underneath the door.
“Okay, so someone left a light on in there. Big deal. We still can’t get in.” Riley stood up again, and started to make her way in the opposite direction, but Miles spoke up.
“Wait, I might be able to do something.”
“What now? You going to open the door up with your secret powers?” Miles could have played her little game, but he p just let it slide.
“No, not exactly.” Miles pulled a paper lip out of his pocket, and with the flashlight in one hand, he aimed it at the lock and started to pick the lock. Maggie kneeled down next to him, and watched him move the key around in the lock.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m picking the lock to try and get inside the room?”
“When did you learn how to pick a lock?”
“I thought it might be useful to know, so I taught myself.”
“Wow, that’s so cool. Can you teach me?” Riley cleared her throat, and placed her hand on Maggie’s shoulder.
“Trust me, Maggie. You don’t want Miles teaching you anything. He’ll mess with your head.”
“No he won’t. Miles is the best. He’s so cool, and he knows all these tricks.” Miles beamed at his little cousin, and although he’d never admit it to anyone, especially Riley, he loved how much Maggie looked up to him.
“Thank you Maggie. That’s why you’re my favorite cousin.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Although he couldn’t see her, Miles could practically feel Riley roll her eyes. When he knew Riley was finally done, he turned his attention back to the lock and continued the job. With a few more twists of the paper clip, there was a small click. Miles drew back, grasped the doorknob, and turned it. The door swung open, and the dim glow from underneath the door grew as the door opened further and further. It cast the other room in an orange glow as the light flooded out. However, the light was the least interesting thing in the room. It was filled from floor to ceiling with books and papers and strange boxes that covered practically every inch of the room. The light came from a single lightbulb flickering in the middle of the room.
Miles stepped into the room first, being careful not to step on the loose papers scattered on the floor. Riley and Maggie followed closely behind, just as intrigued as Miles. Riley picked up a book off the floor and started to flip through some of the pages.
“What is all this stuff? I can’t even read all this stuff. It’s like in another language.” Miles’s interest piqued when he heard Riley’s comments. He walked over to where she was and peered over her shoulder.
“What is that?”
“That’s what I was wondering. Why do our dads have all this stuff?”
“I don’t know, but you’ve got to admit, it’s kind of cool.” Miles continued to explore the room, picking up books and papers, all covered with thick layers of dust that made him want to sneeze really badly. He brushed it off, and found the same writing as the book Riley had picked up before. Most of it looked like words, but some of it was symbols, written like hieroglyphics. He wanted to read it, but it was all just too foreign to him. He sighed and placed it all back down on the ground, but then something caught his eye. A large podium sat in the middle of the room, directly underneath the lightbulb, and it was completely empty except for an empty bottle and a small black notebook. Miles wandered over to it and picked up the notebook. It was pretty old, the yellowing pages and tears giving that away, and it was covered in coffee and ink stains, but unlike the rest of the room, it wasn’t covered in dust.
This must have been what the person who left the light on was looking at. Maybe this is what was locked away. Well, guess there’s only one way to find out...
Miles opened up the book, and was surprised to see English words on the page instead of the other strange language.
“Hey, guys, check this out. This one’s in English.” Riley and Maggie both came over and the three of them stared down at the notebook.
“What is all of this?” Maggie’s voice was the first to break the silence, and she pointed to the top of the page, where a word was written out in the strange writing. Miles saw what she was pointing at, and read the translation underneath it.
“Woah. This means vampire.”
“No way. Why would they have a book on vampires? Dad doesn’t seem like the type to be into that stuff.” Miles flipped through the pages, looking at the different drawings and writings on each page.
“This isn’t just about vampires, Riley. Look at all of these. Angels, Demons, curses, ghosts, hellhounds, changelings, the list goes on. There’s so many different supernatural creatures in here, and I don’t even know what half of them are. I mean, what is a changeling?”
“It’s a creature that can shapeshifter into another being and feeds off of children for food.” Riley glanced back at Miles and Maggie, who were giving her bewildered expressions. Riley just shrugged her shoulders.
“What? My friends Tammy has an obsession with everything supernatural, so I’ve picked up on a few things.” Obviously done with the conversation, Riley turned back around and continued scouring the shelves. She then headed over to the boxes on the other shelves and went to open one of them when suddenly her arm was pulled back. Miles tightened his grasp on her arm and pulled her away from the boxes.
“Hey, Miles what are you - “
“It’s probably not a good idea to open those boxes. You don’t know what could be in there.”
“Oh, are you scared there’s going to be a scary ghost in the box. Come on Miles, you’re the science nerd. You of all people should know that this stuff isn’t real. What harm could come from opening up a little box.” Miles glared at Riley as she pulled her arm out of his grasp and reached for the box again.
“First of all, I am not a science nerd, I just happen to be good at it, and I still don’t think -“ Miles was interrupted by a loud screeching sound that came from the box Riley had just opened. The lid flew off and a giant black shadow filled the room, the screeching getting louder as it grew in size.
“What is that thing?!” Maggie screamed from the other side of the room, and Riley ran over and grabbed her arm, pulling her close to her and shielding her from whatever that thing was. Nothing was getting to her little sister. The shadow let out one last screech before it passed through one of the walls and disappeared from sight. With the creature gone, the room was enveloped in silence. None of the three dared to speak up, for they were completely stunned by what they had just seen. They didn’t really know what to say, because how do you explain...that? Miles was the first to speak up, his voice just barely a whisper, only loud enough to be heard in the room.
“You guys okay?” Riley and Maggie both nodded their heads, still unable to speak out of pure shock.
“Good. Good, that’s great. Ummm...” Miles was at a loss for words. He didn’t really know what to do now. He had so many questions about it, and his mind was spinning. What was it? Why did it not attack them? Why was it in the box? What should they do now? What -
“Come on, let’s get out of here. I don’t think we should be down here anymore. Miles, give me the flashlight, and we’ll head back towards the basement.” Miles may hate Riley sometimes, but her rational thinking was what he needed right now. He handed her the flashlight, now in the state of mind to argue, and with Riley in the lead, the three of them made their way to the other room. Maggie, who was clinging on to Miles’s sleeve, gave a small tug, and Miles looked down at Maggie’s wide eyes and terrified expression.
“Miles, what was that thing?”
“I...I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Maggie didn’t respond at first, as if mulling over what he had said, but then she tugged on sleeve again.
“Do you think it will come back and try to hurt us?”
“Don’t worry Maggie. You’re safe. You’ll be okay.” Again, silence. Miles wasn’t sure if Maggie believed him or not, but it was all he could say at the moment. He knew about as much as Maggie did, and all’s he could think of to do was comfort her and put her worries to rest.
“Do you think we’ll get in trouble? Do you think they’ll find out?” Riley’s voice came from in front of him, her figure just barely visible behind the flashlight. She had stopped in the middle of the room, and was turned towards Miles and Maggie.
“I hope not. If my Dad ever found out we were down here, I’d be in so much trouble.”
“If our dad found out, he’d have my head. I swear, he’s such a helicopter parents sometimes.”
“Well, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”
“You’d better hope so, or I’ll kill you before he gets the chance to.” Miles tried to feign exasperation until he remembered that Riley couldn’t see it.
“Why is it my fault? We were doing just fine until you opened the box and let out whatever that was.”
“Well, How was I supposed to know that thing was going to come out of there? I just assumed there would be papers.” Miles let out a long sigh, and simply headed towards the door.
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is, all that matters is we make sure no one finds out.”
Meanwhile, in a dark alleyway in the middle of town...
As the sun was pulled down into the horizon, a dark creature lurked in the shadows, waiting for something to happen. The Creature, having just escaped its captivity from that old box, was reveling in its freedom. It wanted to go out and wreak some havoc on the world, but it knew it’s place, and it had a job to do. So, the fun would have to wait.
As if on command, a dark vortex of purple and blue appeared in the middle of the alley, and changed formed until a shadowy face began to take form. Now, most people, if they were looking at the scene unfolding in the alley, would have no idea what was going on or who the shadowy figure was, but the creature knew. It had been waiting for him for so long, and the time had finally come.
“Hello...Master.” The creature’s voice was scratchy and weak from lack of use, after having been trapped in the Winchester’s house for so long.
“Hello. It’s good to finally see you.” The shadows’s voice echoed off the brick walls, making it seem like it was coming from different directions. The voice seemed to ooze with this vibe of darkness, enough to make even the toughest human’s skin crawl.
“I got what you asked for, Master.” The Creature picked up a book from off the ground and showed it to the shadow figure.
“Good work. Now that I have the book, my plans can finally begin.”
“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is your plan?” The shadow figure didn’t speak for a few seconds, as if contemplating whether to tell him, but he already knew that it wasn’t time. It would know soon enough. They will all know.
“Don’t worry, you will find out soon enough. You just need a little patience.”
“Of course, Master. Of course.” The Creature knew not to question the master any further. It would only result in pain. However, it had followed the Master for so long, and it trusted him. It knew that everything would go according to plan.
“Now, let’s begin. Open up the book until you find a page with a pentagram symbol on it, and start reading the incantation. That will open up the portal.”
“Wait, sir, why do you want me to do it.”
“Do you see any way possible that I would be able to?”
“Oh, of course Master. You’re right.” Knowing that that was the end of the conversation, the creature opened up the page, and flipped through the pages until it saw the page he had talked about. A large pentagram took up half the page, and below it, the other half was filled up with Latin incantations. The Creature started reading off the words, not entirely sure of what was going to happen, until a loud whooshing sound interrupted the silence and another vortex opened up, this one a deep black that looked like it held nothing but darkness. As the creature continued the incantation, the shadowy figure smiled at the sight before him, reveling in what was about to happen.
“It has begun...”
Present Day
“Hey, wake up Miles! You’re gonna get in trouble if you get caught sleeping.”
Miles groaned as a voice woke him up from his peaceful sleep. He cracked open one of his eyes to see Logan peering down at him, her eyes darting back and forth between his own and the front of the classroom where Mr. Dremar was writing something on the board.
Logan started poking him in the ribs, trying to wake him up before he got caught sleeping again, and eventually Miles open his eyes and glared at the brunette sitting next him.
“Hey, why you glaring at me? I’m the one who’s trying to help you hear. Remember what happened the last time Mr. Dremar caught you sleeping?”
Miles felt a shudder travel down his spine.
“Trust me. I’m never going to forget it. His face was so red it looked like it was going to explode. It would have been a lot funnier if his anger wasn’t channeled towards me.”
Mr. Dremar suddenly turned around, and glanced over at the two of them. They turned back around and pretended to be working on the packet in front of them, hoping that they weren’t caught. Seeming satisfied, Mr. Dremar turned back around, and Miles and Logan both let out a sigh. Knowing that talking would probably get them in trouble, they both just tried to focus on the packet. Miles’ head swam as the equations jumbled together in his exhausted brain, and his eyes become heavier as sleep tried to take hold of him again.
Damn, I should have gotten more sleep last night...
A flash of black caught his eye, and Miles peered out the window to see what it was, but there was nothing there. Thinking that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, he was about to turn back until the black flash caught his eye again, and he could just barely see a black blob in the distance. It started to move closer to the window, and as it moved forward, the blob became an actual shape, and when it became clear enough to make out, Miles felt his heart stop.
It can’t be...There’s no way...
Mikes tried to convince himself otherwise, but he knew it was the creature Riley had let out of the box 2 years ago. It was something Miles had not been able to forget no matter how hard he tried. It was ingrained in his mind, and appeared frequently in his nightmares, resulting in waking up in the middle of the night sweating so badly he left stain on the sheets.
The creature continued to move closer, at an alarmingly fast speed, and before he knew it, the creature was right up against the window, looking like it was about to break through and come right at him. Miles jumped back in his seat and ended up halfway on the floor, his legs still hanging off the seat. The entire classroom had become quiet as they all turned towards him. Mr. Dremar had stopped writing on the board and was glaring at Miles.
“Miles Winchester, is there a reason you’re disrupting the class?” A few giggles floated around the room, but for the most part, people were silent, waiting for his response.
“No, sorry. I just accidentally fell out of my chair. It won’t happen again.” Miles pulled himself off the floor, sat back in his chair, and continued to work on his packet, trying to hide the red flush on his cheeks. Mr. Dremar looked as if he wanted to continue yelling at Miles, but he just sighed and turned back towards the board to continue the lesson.
Logan turned towards Miles and poked him in the arm, trying to get his attention. Miles turned towards her and found a worried expression on her face.
“Are you okay? You practically jumped out of your seat. What happened?”
“It’s nothing. I thought I saw something, but it was just my imagination. Probably means I need to get more sleep.”
“You think? You’ve been having problems sleeping for weeks now. You should really talk to someone about it.”
“I’m fine. Stop worrying about me. I’ve just been staying up late trying to work on homework and stuff. It’s a simple fix.”
“Well, alright. I’ll stop bugging you about this if you promise to try and get more sleep.”
“I promise. Now shut up before I get yelled at again.” Logan stuck her tongue out at Miles, but turned back to the assignment and started scribbling away. Miles tried to follow suit, but he couldn’t get it out of his head. He glanced at the window again, but the creature was nowhere in sight. He tried to shake it off and tell himself it wasn’t real, but something in the back of his mind told him that it was.
“Hey kiddo. How was school?” Miles was greeted with his dad’s voice coming from the kitchen as he walked into the living room.
“Good. Well, as good as school can get.” Miles placed his bag down beside the couch and plopped down next to Riley, who was flipping through channels on the tv until she settled on an old sitcom from the 90’s. Miles pulled out his phone and they sat there in silence for about a minute until Riley turned towards him and frowned.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. Everything’s fine.” Riley raised one of her eyebrows and gave Miles that “oh really” look.
“Miles, we’ve been living with you guys ever since my dad moved in when money was tight, and that was over five years ago. I think by now I can tell when something is wrong. It’s written all over your face.” Miles let out a sigh and put down his phone before finally turning towards Riley. He glanced around to make sure they were alone, and then leaned in so that no one but Riley could hear him.
“Alright, fine. You’re right. Earlier today, I thought I saw the creature from two years ago.”
“Miles, that’s impossible. That thing was killed that same night. There’s no way it was real”
“I know it sounds impossible, but something told me that it was. Maybe it didn’t die that might, or escaped somehow, I don’t know.” Riley simply shook her head and turned her attention back towards the tv.
“I’m telling the truth. I know what I saw Riley.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Just like that you swore you saw a vampire, or you were certain that you saw a real ghost. It was two years ago, Miles. Just let it go. It’s not real.” With every word out of her mouth, Miles could feel the anger rising in him, and with those last words, he exploded.
“Maybe you can’t see it, but I know it’s real. It’s real to me.” Without letting Riley sat another word, Miles ran out of the living room and didn’t stop until he reached his bedroom. He swung open the door and slammed it shut behind him. He collapsed onto his bed and could feel the tears stinging his eyes.
Why won’t anyone believe me? Even Riley won’t, and she was there when it happened. Am I just going crazy? Is my lack of sleep starting to make me hallucinate?
Miles heard a knock on the door, and groaned, knowing it was Riley coming to apologize or to yell at him more, and neither of those options sounded like much fun.
“Go away Riley. I don’t want to hear it.”
“It’s Maggie. Can I come in?” Miles wanted to tell her to go away, but it didn’t exactly come out that way.
“Yeah, sure.” The door creaked open and Maggie slowly walked in, her short curls bouncing as she made her way over to the bed and sat down on the edge.
“Are you okay? I saw you storm into your room and slam the door. You only do that when you’re really upset.”
“Yeah, I guess I kind of am. Riley and I got into another fight, and I was tired of putting up with her, so I stormed off. Yeah, it’s immature, and I’m almost 17, so I should have handled it better, but I was just upset.”
“Hey, I’m only 12, so I’m not lecturing you on maturity. If anything, I should be high-fiving you for finally standing up to her. She thinks she knows everything.” Maggie waited for a laugh, but none came, which was unusual for Miles, since he always laughs at jokes about Riley, especially when they’re at her expense.
“What did you guys fight about this time?”
“It was nothing. Just forget about it.” Maggie scooted in on the bed, getting closer to Miles, who was still laying down in the middle.
“Miles, you know you can tell me anything.” Miles contemplated whether or not to tell her, but decided that she had a right to know, since she was there that night too.
“I saw something at school today. It was that creature from two years ago. It was outside the window in Mr. Dremar’s classroom.” Maggie let out a little gasp, and leaned in even closer.
“Really? You saw it? Did it try to attack you? Were you scared?” Miles sat up a little and stared at Maggie, who had a wide eyed expression.
“Wait, you believe me?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I wish Riley had the same mindset. When I told her, she told me I was crazy and that everything I’ve been seeing these past few weeks isn’t real, even though I know it is. Why can’t she just believe me? She was there that night. She saw the creature with her own eyes.” Miles plopped back down, and let out a long sigh, letting himself sink into the bed a little bit.
“You know how her brain works. When she can’t explain something, she uses reason to figure it out. To her, that creature was probably just some dream or her seeing things. It freaked her out, so she used what made sense or what seemed like the most logical explanation to calm herself down and get rid of the fear.” Miles turned his head towards Maggie, and raised his eyebrows when she looked down at him.
“What?”
“Has anyone ever told you how mature you sound when you talk?”
“Yeah, lots of people. I guess since I live with you guys, your intelligence kind of rubbed off on me.” Miles smiled and reached over to ruffle Maggie’s hair.
“Trust me, I don’t think we’re the reason you’re so smart.” Maggie laughed and batted his hand away. Miles let out a laugh as well, and the two of them began to swat at each other, their laughter growing and becoming louder until they were full on belly laughing. Maggie collapsed on the bed next to him, both of them still trying to catch their breath from laughing so hard.
“Hey, Maggie?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. I feel a lot better now.”
“No problem, I’m always here to make you feel better.” Maggie say up on the bed, and slid off, letting her feet hit the ground, and stood up before turning back to face Miles.
“While this was really fun, I have to go back and finish up my homework. See you at dinner.”
“Alright, you too.” Maggie turned around, and headed towards the door, and once she was out in the hallway, she closed it, and then she was gone. Miles let out a sigh, and stared up at the ceiling. Something about what Maggie had said clicked with him.
When she can’t explain something, she uses reason to figure it out
That’s right. Riley has always been that way. He knew that he had overreacted, again, and he knew that he had to go apologize at some point. He sat up on his bed and went to stand up, but for the second time that day, a black figure outside his window caught his eye, and he turned to see the same creature from before staring at him through his window. When it saw him, the creature flew away and disappeared from sight.
You’re not getting away this time
Miles jumped up and pulled open his door, his head focused on nothing but the creature as he ran down the hallway.
“Miles, what are you-“ Miles ignored Maggje’s voice as he ran down the rest of the hallway, and then took each step two at a time. He grabbed his coat, and threw open the door before disappearing outside. Riley stared after him, wondering what the hell had gotten into her cousin all of a sudden. Maggje ran down the stairs, and caught her sister’s eye from across the room.
“Maggie, what happened to Miles?”
“I don’t know. One minute he was in his room, and the next he was running down the hallway with a crazy look in his eye!” Riley was about to ask another question when Sam poked his head into the living room.
“Why did Miles just run out the front door with his coat?” Riley and Maggie looked at each other, and somehow both knew that the best option was simply to lie.
“Hey Uncle Sam. I think Miles was just heading over to Logan’s house. Something about working on a group project.” Sam looked at the clock on the wall.
“At 7:30 at night?”
“I guess it’s due tomorrow, and they still had some work to do on it. Miles told me to let you know he was going because he had to hurry over there.” Sam still looked a little wary, but that lie seemed to be enough to convince him because he sighed and shook his head.
“Alright, well can you tell Miles when he gets back that he needs to tell me where he’s going before he just runs off somewhere.” Riley made sure to make a mental note of that to use against Miles later.
“Yeah, sounds good. I’m going to head up and work on some homework, so can you call me down for dinner?”
“Yeah me too.” Maggie spoke up for the first time since she got downstairs, causing Sam and Riley to turn towards her.
“Yeah, sure. It probably won’t be done until about 8:30, since your dad forget to get eggs yesterday, and I have to wait until he gets home.”
“I guess that’s why you’re the more responsible brother.” Sam turned towards Riley and raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, he may be our dad, but we know his flaws, and he’s not the best at remembering things.” Sam let out a chuckle and turned back towards the kitchen. Once he disappeared, the two of them ran up the stairs and Riley returned to her room, with Maggie right on her heels. Riley turned around to face her little sister.
“Why are you following me into my room?”
“Well, we have to figure out a way to sneak out and go after Miles.”
“What do you mean? We’re not going after him.” Maggie looked confused as her sister turned back around and headed towards her bed, where a few papers on her laptop sat.
“We have to! It might have something to do with the creature he saw earlier, and he could be in danger.” Riley sighed and rubbed her temples in frustration.
“Not you too. Did Miles put his delusions into your head?”
“No. I believe him. He saw something, and I bet he saw it again, so now we have to go and find him.”
“No, we don’t. If he wants to go off and chase his own imagination, so be it.” Riley picked up her laptop, and started typing something out. Maggie groaned at her sister’s stubbornness, trying to figure out some way to convince her to come along.
“Please, Riley. I have a bad feeling about this. If you won’t do it for Mikes, at least do it for me. I don’t want to go out alone, but I can’t just leave him out there. He might be in real danger, even if you don’t believe it or not.” Riley closed her laptop, and looked up at Maggie, who had resorted to using the puppy dog eyes.
“Fine. I’ll go, but only to make sure neither of you get into trouble.” Maggie’s face lit up as she hurried over to Riley’s bed, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her over to the doorway.
“Hey, slow down. We can’t just run out the door like Miles did, or we’ll get questioned again.”
“Can’t you just lie like before?”
“That took a lot to lie that one time. I don’t know if I could do it again. Let’s just be smart about this. If we wait until Sam is out of view, we can quietly s dark out the front door without him knowing. Then, all we have to do is make sure we get back by 8:30 and he won’t know anything.” Riley balled up her fist and held it up in front of her. Maggie looked down at it, smiled, and returned the fist bump.
“Let’s do this.” Riley signaled for Maggie to follow her, and the two of them made their way down the hallway, and down the stairs, making sure not to let them creak, and peered out around the corner.
“Alright, it looks like Uncle Sam is in the pantry, so if we go now, we should make it outside without him noticing.” Riley whispered as quietly as she could so as not to let Sam hear them. They waited one more second to make sure he wasn’t going to walk out, and then made a run for the door. They grabbed their coats on the way out, and hurried outside, making sure to close the door quietly and not make a loud crash. Once they were outside, they both let out a breath and looked around to see if they could find Miles. Unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight.
“Yeah, we might have a slight problem. We have no idea where Miles went.” Maggie’s point was true. They had no idea where he was going, and with how long he had been gone, he could be anywhere.
“Well, this town isn’t that big, he has to be somewhere. Let’s start looking through our neighborhood and go from there.” With no other ideas, the both shrugged and started walking down the sidewalk, hoping that they would find Miles before something bad happened.
“This is impossible. We’ve been looking for over a half hour, and we’ve been all over town, but Miles is nowhere. How is that possible? Do you think he left town? Would he?” Riley was at her wits end with this futile search for Miles, and Maggie was right there on the cusp.
“I don’t think so. Let’s just keep searching. He has to be here somewhere.” Riley knew that Maggie was right, but she was just getting more and more frustrated with each second that Miles wasn’t there. If he hadn’t run off on one of his stupid adventures, they wouldn’t be out here, at night, in November, looking for him. Riley pulled her jacket tighter around her, and continued to look around, peering down alleyways and looking through windows. She was about to turn around and say something to Maggie when a big black flash caught the corner of her eye. When she turned to see what it was, she let out a small gasp. A large black blob floated about a yard away, before dashing into an alleyway.
There’s no way...
Before her mind could process what she had seen, another figure ran into the alleyway, wearing a blue puffy jacket and white vans.
“Miles!” He completely ignores Riley’s call, and disappeared into the alleyway where the black blob had gone just moments before.
“Hey, Maggie!”
“Yeah, I saw it too.” Maggie ran up to Riley’s side, saw where Riley was pointing, and ran towards the alleyway.
“Maggie stop! That could be dangerous.” Without turning around, Maggie yelled back to Riley.
“We have to do something!” Maggie reached the alleyway, then took the corner and disappeared into it, like Miles had before. Riley frowned, turned towards the brightly lit, safe town, and then glanced back at the alleyway.
Ugghhh.....Why do we always have to be in these situations?
Riley sighed, and followed after Maggie. She ran down the sidewalk, stopping right before the alleyway, and took a deep breath before turning and walking down the path that stood before her. Since there were still plenty of lights on around, the alleyway was lit pretty well, and Riley could make out two figures towards the end of it, and she ran towards them, hoping they weren’t strangers. As she got closer, Miles’s jacket and Maggie’s short hair came into view, and she let out a sigh of relief.
“Maggie! Miles! There you are!” Both of them turned towards Riley, and Miles’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Riley? You’re here too?” Riley stopped in front of them and had to take a second to catch her breath.
“Yeah. You ran off, so we had to come and make sure you wouldn’t get yourself killed.”
“While I do appreciate you guys worrying about me, you have to get out of here. It’s not safe.” Maggie pulled on Miles’s sleeve, and started to pull him back towards the street.
“Miles, we’re not leaving without you. We’re here to take you home.” Miles pulled his arm back, breaking Maggie’s grasp on his sleeve, and looked her in the eye.
“No, I can’t. This thing keeps showing up, and I have to stop it, or at least know why it’s here.”
“Stop it? With what, your brain power and your fists? So scary.” Miles glared at Riley’s smug face, and was about to respond when Maggie pulled on his sleeve again.
“Maggie, I’m not going back.”
“That’s not the problem. Look.” Maggie was pointing at something behind him, and when Riley saw it, her face went ghostly white. Miles gulped and slowly turned around to come face to face with the creature that he had been chasing all day. Being so close to it, he could clearly see it’s face, with its red beady eyes, its jagged teeth, and the black body that didn’t really have a shape, but moved around as the creature moved itself.
“Well, um, Miles, what’s your plan on how to deal with this?” Riley’s voice came out soft and shaky as she tried to keep her composure together.
“I know exactly what to do...RUN!” Miles didn’t have to say that twice before the three of them were racing out of the alleyway and down the street. None of them dared to look behind them, but they all knew the creature was right on their tails.
“Nice plan Miles!”
“I panicked. I really didn’t think I’d get that far...” Riley was about ready to explode at Miles.
“Are you kidding me? You went chasing after that....thing without a plan?”
“I was in a hurry. I didn’t exactly have time to come up with something. I thought an idea would come to me when I was chasing after it.”
“You are the most reckless person I have ever met. You could have gotten yourself killed out there.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t, and-“
“Would you two just SHUT UP! Besides, I think we lost it.” Riley and Miles looked behind the, to see that Maggie was right. The creature was nowhere to be seen. They both came to a stop and leaned up against a nearby wall to catch their breath. Miles turned towards Riley and continued his previous thought.
“What I was going to say was that while I was chasing after it, I actually noticed some things about it that might be important. Like, it can’t go near light or else it will get burned, and it has the ability to transport, but you can see a bit of black appear in the spot where it’s about to teleport. You know, things that might actually help us next time.” Riley, who had been looking down at her feet, whipped her head up to stare at Miles.
“Next time? What do you mean next time? There’s no way we’re going after it again.”
“That’s fine. You don’t have to, but I am.”
“Miles, are you crazy? We just barely got away from that thing! Next time, it could kill you.”
“Exactly. It’s dangerous. If it doesn’t kill me, then it could kill one of you guys, or one of our dads, or anyone in this town. Someone’s got to do something about it, and it might as well be me.”
“Do you even know how to defeat it?”
“.......no, but I can figure that out, and I need your help with that,” he turned towards Maggie and smiled at her, “Both of you. I can’t do this alone.” Maggie smiled back at Miles, and stuck her hand out.
“I’m in.” Mikes placed his hand on top of Maggie’s, and then they both turned towards Riley, who had a bewildered look on her face.
“You guys are crazy. Crazy and stupid. There’s no way I’m going through with this.” Miles sighed and twisted his face in annoyance, before finally accepting that there was no other way.
“I hate to admit this, but you are the smartest one here. You’re intelligent, logical, and really clever, and we need all of those things. If anyone’s going to know how to correctly pronounce Latin or understand what’s written in those books, it’s you. So, what do you say?” Riley looked between the two, trying to find some way to say no, but something inside her knew that everything Miles was saying was true. They were the only ones who could do something. So, she walked over to the two, and placed her hand on top.
“Alright, fine, I’m in. With one condition: we need a plan.” Miles gave her a rare genuine smile, and then looked back at Maggie.
“On three, we yell out the supernatural squad.”
“There’s no way we’re calling ourselves that.” Miles rolled his eyes at Riley and raised an eyebrow at her.
“Where’s your sense of fun? Or do you not have one?” Riley glared at Miles, who held back a laugh before starting the countdown.
“One, two, three...”
“The Supernatural Squad.” The three of them raised their hands in the air, and Miles pumped his fist a few times before let out a whoop. Maggie let out a loud bubble of laughter, and Riley tried to hold hers back, but lost the battle when she looked at Miles’s ridiculous face.
“Alright, while this was entertaining, we really need to get back. It’s almost time for dinner, and your dad has no idea we’re gone.”
“Wait, Riley Winchester, the goody two shoes, snuck out of the house?”
“Oh, shut up. I’m not as much of a stick in the mud as you think I am.”
“Wow, I never thought I’d see the day.” Riley rolled her eyes and punched Miles in the shoulder, who faked being in pain, which only annoyed Riley further.
When their house came into view, an idea popped into Miles’s head.
“Hey, wanna race?”
“No, I’m good. I’ve had enough running for today.”
“Oh, I see. Guess you’re too chicken. Scared you’ll lose?” Miles speed up a little turned around, and started making clucking noises towards Riley.
“Alright, you’re on, but it’ll be at the expense of your pride.” Riley speed up and passed by Mikes, who laughed and caught right up to her.
“Hey, guys, wait up!” Maggie started running to catch up with them and the three of them raced home, their laughter the only sound echoing through the night.
The Next Day
“Come on Riley! We’re going to be late!” Miles yelled out the car window as Riley sauntered to the car, her bag hanging loosely off her shoulder. When she made it to the car, she walked around to the other side and climbed into the passenger seat.
“Calm down. It’s not like there’s a time limit to finding whatever this creature is.” Miles turned the key in the ignition, and the car sparked to life. He put it in drive, and took a left to get out of the school parking lot.
“I know, but the sooner we can get out there, the better. I have a feeling whatever that thing is only gets nastier at night.” He put on his left blinker, and turned onto the street, making his way back home. The two of them sat in silence for a while, Riley on her phone and Miles’s attention on the road, until Riley glanced up at Miles determined face, and sighed as she placed her phone down on her lap.
“Hey Miles? Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure. Go ahead.”
“Why are you so caught up in this thing?”
“What do you mean?”
“All of it. The creature, the books, the basement, everything. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s cool, but you’re kind of obsessed. It’s all you seem to talk about.” Miles didn’t take his eyes off the road, so Riley couldn’t see his face, but she could see his grip on the steering wall tighten.
“I don’t know. I guess....maybe it’s because people always tell me I have to do something with my life. My dad says I have to go to a good college and get a good job, my teachers tell me to put more effort into my work and actually try or I’ll never do anything with my life, my friends all have plans for their lives, and...I have nothing. Then this comes along, and I realize this is my chance to finally do something that would make a difference. Even if no one knew about it, I would still know that I did something important. That I wasn’t just....nothing.” Riley didn’t really know how to respond to that, so they just sat in the car in silence the rest of the way home. When they pulled to a stop in their driveway, Riley turned towards Miles and looked him in the eyes.
“You know, you don’t have to risk your life going after some monster just to prove that you’re worth something. I know you can do so many other amazing things.” Miles looked up at Riley, and started to open his mouth to say something, but then decided against it and climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Riley watched him walk up to the front door, and slowly pull it open before stepping inside. She let out a long sigh before climbing out of the car herself and following him inside.
She found Maggie sitting on the couch, her face serious and focused, but her eyes sparkling with excitement. She wanted to smile at what she saw, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She knew that no matter what she said, she wouldn’t change either of their minds about doing this, so all she could do is go along and make sure neither of them got hurt. Sure, she could easily stay home, because what could she do if they got in trouble, but she couldn’t just let them go. It was her sister and her cousin who felt like a brother after all.
“Hey, Riley, look what I found!” Maggie held up a large brown book with some writing on the front that was most likely Latin. Riley headed over to the couch and sat down next to Maggie, and Miles followed and sat on Maggie’s other side.
“Where did you get that?”
“From the basement. You guys were taking forever to get home, so I decided to go ahead and search through the basement and find some stuff that we could use. This looked useful.”
“How did you get in there? I thought the door locked behind us?”
“I may or may not have figured out how to pick a lock.” Riley immediately turned her attention to Miles and glared at him.
“Seriously Miles?”
“Hey, none of that was me. I didn’t teach her how to pick a lock.”
“He’s telling the truth. I figured it out myself, since Miles refused to show me. Anyways, what I wanted to show you was this.” Maggie opened up the book to a page in the middle of the book, a certain familiar looking drawing sat in the middle of it.
“That’s the creature we keep seeing.” Maggie smiled up at Miles, and handed him the book so he could take a closer look.
“You’re the supernatural expert hear? Know what this means?”
“How do you expect me to know what any of this means? I’ve just been seeing some of these creatures around, not taking a lesson in Latin.” Riley groaned and ripped the book out of his hands.
“Just give it to me. Let me take a look.”
“Oh, and you just happen to know Latin.”
“No, but after what you said last night, I decided to do a little research, so I’m just going to see if any of this triggers something in my memory.” Riley began to scour the page, looking for anything that seemed familiar, and Maggie leaned over to look at it as well. Miles couldn’t see the page anymore since it was so rudely ripped out of his hands, so he stood up and leaned over the couch to get a better view of it.
“Here. Lux means light, which probably refers to what you were saying before about how the creature can’t get near light. Also, this word means travel, which is probably talking about how it can teleport, but that’s all I really recognize.”
“Great, so no new information.”
“Well, I tried my best. I’m not exactly a Latin expert. Isn’t there something down there that‘s not in Latin.” Miles’s face lit up, and he bolted away and down the stairs towards the basement. Maggie looked over at Riley and she simply just shrugged her shoulders. A minute later, I,es cane racing back up the stairs with the black book in hand.
“I remember that. It was that book on the podium from 2 years ago.” Miles sat back down next to Maggie, and flipped through some of the pages, looking for a certain one.
“When we were down there, I remember briefly glancing through this book, and it was written in English instead of Latin, so we might be able to get something out of here.” He let out a quiet yes when he finally found the page he was looking for. The three of them leaned over the book and stared down at the page with the same picture as the other book, but the surrounding text was in English, although the handwriting was kind of messy.
“What kind of name is that?” Maggie was pointing towards the top of the name, where a word in Latin was written.
“I’m guessing it’s probably the name of the creature, but I have no idea what it says.” Miles read down the rest of the page, and something in the middle stood out to her.
“Hey guys, look at that. It’s apparently a type of demon.”
“Really? It doesn’t look like one.”
“It says it’s really rare, but it’s classified here as a demon, so who are we to judge.”
“Okay, but how does that help us?”
“Well, you see, I know how to kill a demon.”
“What exactly is a pentagram?”
“Well, it’s a symbol that you draw on the ground, and then put salt around it in a circle, and once you get the demon inside it, you can trap it. Then, you recite a Latin incantation from this book, and boom, the demon’s dead. Or at least I think it is. I’m not really sure what happens to it after that.”
“Hey, guys, shouldn’t we have a plan? You know, a way so that we don’t die.”
“We do have a plan. We’ll draw the circle, put down the salt, trap it, and kill it.”
“Alright, that’s an idea, but how do you plan to execute it.”
“Well, I guess we’re going to improvise.” Riley groaned and dropped her head to her chest.
“Yeah, we’re going to die.” Maggie dropped back a bit to walk beside Riley, and nudged her in the arm.
“Have a little faith in him. It might not sound like much, but he knows more about this than either of us do, and I’m sure he wouldn’t go after it unless he knew what he was doing.”
“I sure hope you’re right.” The two of them caught back up to Miles, who had stopped to sit down on a bench.
“Miles, what are you doing?” Mikes looked up, and motioned for the two of them to come over.
“Riley, I need your help in reading this.”
“Are you kidding me?! You don’t even know how to read the Latin? Isn’t that like most of your plan?”
“Well, we’re here know, so just help me figure this out.” Riley sighed, but sat down next to him and the two of them tried their best in how to pronounce the Latin.
“Wait, why don’t we use Google translate?”
“If our whole plan depends on the accuracy of Google translate, I know we’re doomed.” Maggie, who was standing behind the bench, listening to the two of them argue, heard a cry come from behind her. She turned around to see a young boy in a hoodie limp into an alleyway, crying out for help. Maggie glanced back at the two, who were still buried in the book, and decided it was the right thing to do. She quietly snuck away and ran towards the young boy.
There’s no harm in helping him. I can’t just leave him alone when he seems to be in pain...
Maggie followed the boy into the alleyway, and saw him standing in front of her. She cleared her throat, but he didn’t turn around.
“Ummm, hello? Are you okay? I came to help. Are you hurt?” He finally started to turn around, but what she found wasn’t exactly a young boy. His skin was tan like a human’s, but his eyes were bright red, and his hair was our white. He smiled at Maggie, and took off his hood to reveal two giant horns, one on either side of his head.
“Hello little girl. Thank you so much for coming to my rescue, but I’m not the one who needs it.” He started to come closer, and Maggie started to back away as fast as she could, but bumped into something else behind her. She turned to see another being standing in front of her. Like the other one, she had fair skin, like a human, but her eyes were bright blue, and her hair was our white. Two horns sat on either side of her head as well, but they were much smaller. Maggie gulped and knew this was where her life ended. There was no way to escape, since she was completely blocking the exit, and the other one was closing in on her. Maggie closed her eyes and waited for it to be over, but instead she heard a voice.
“Dante, leave her alone.” Maggie opened her eyes to see the girl staring the down the boy, who had stopped midway in his attack.”
“Oh, come on Isa, it was just a snack.”
“Come on, you’re smarter than that. If we kill any humans, we’ll just be signaling for hunters to come looking for us. It’d be better to just leave her alone.”
“....but she‘s seen us now. We can’t just let her go.” Isa glanced down at Maggie, and raised an eyebrow.
“She’s like 10. Who’s going to believe her if she’s talking about seeing people with horns?” Dante glared at Isa, but evidently scoffed at her, and walked out of the alleyway, making sure to throw a glare at Isa before he turned and left. Isa went to follow him, but Maggie yelled out to her before she could leave.
“Thank you.” Isa looked back at Maggie, and looked as if she was contemplating something, but turned her back towards Maggie and motioned for her to follow her.
“Come on, I’ll show you the way out.” Isa continued walking out of the alleyway, and turned the corner, leaving Maggie standing alone in the darkness of the alleyway. Although she wasn’t sure it was the safest thing to do, she didn’t want to be stuck there all alone. So, she hurried after Isa. However, what she saw made her jaw drop. What used to be regular pave streets lined with small shops was now a vast, open landscape, filled with sharp rocks and deep ravines as far as the eye could see. They stood on top of a cliff, looking down at the land below them which was crawling with different creatures that Maggie could never have even dreamed of.
“I don’t understand. What is this place? How did we get here?”
“Well, in order to get to your world, we had to open a portal, and when you walked into the alleyway, you must have accidentally crossed through it.” Maggie whipped around to face Isa, her eyes widened in horror.
“Wait, are you saying that I’m in hell?!”
“Well, technically it’s not hell, that’s just what you humans call it, but yes. I know this probably isn’t where you want to be, so I’ll show you the way out.”
“Why couldn’t we just go back through the portal we came through?”
“Unfortunately, every portal closes up once we come back, in order to keep the world safe from any unwanted visitors. I would open up another one here, but my magic is drained, so I’ll bring you to someone who can. He controls the magic and portals here, so we should be able to get his help in opening up another one to get you home.” Isa started to walk away from the cliff’s edge, and down towards the ground, and Maggie stayed as close to her as she could. No matter how scary a demon may sound, she was probably a lot friendlier than the other creatures lurking on the ground. When they got down towards the ground, Isa began walking through the open land, each step bring her closer to those other creatures, and Maggie refused to take another step. When Isa realized Maggie wasn’t behind her, she turned around to see that Maggie hadn’t moved an inch.
“What’s the problem?”
“Don’t you see those creatures over there?” Maggie pointed towards them, and Isa’s eyes followed until they landed on the creatures in the distance.
“Oh, those are harmless. Sure, they look menacing, but they won’t attack you as long as I’m with you.” With those words, Maggie clutched onto Isa’s arm, and Isa sighed and mumbled under her breath before continuing on their trek
As they passed by the creatures, Maggie realized that Isa was right. The creatures simply ignored them and continued on their way. Maggie eventually let go of Isa’s arm and marveled at the sight all around her. A gigantic creature flew above her head, it’s body green and blue, and transparent, shining in the light as it passed overhead. Maggie glanced over at Isa to see her smiling at her, but when Isa caught her gaze, she quickly turned away.
“Hey, I just want to say thanks.”
“For what?”
“For saving me back there, and for helping me get out of here. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Well, it’s not like you’re a threat, so what is the harm. Plus, I guess sometimes it’s nice to help people.” Isa looked over at Maggie, who had a confused look on her face.
“Yeah, I get it, who would think that a demon might be something other than pure evil.”
“No, that’s not it.” Isa raised an eyebrow at Maggie, not believing her at all.
“Okay, so maybe, but in our world, demons aren’t exactly kind creatures. No offense.”
“No, it’s fine. We don’t exactly have the best reputation. Especially with how my dad’s running things.
“You’re dad?”
“Yeah, he’s like the king here. Actually, he’s more like a leader, but you know what I mean. He basically runs the place.”
“Wow. That must be a lot to live up to.”
“No kidding. Everybody expects me to be exactly like my dad, to be a fierce, merciless leader, but I’m not sure if I’m cut out for it. I don’t want to be merciless, or kill humans, or lead an attack against humanity and envelop it in darkness, which isn’t really normal here. Other demons see me as weak. Maybe I am.” Maggie, who had been walking beside her quietly, frowned a bit at the last words.
“I don’t think it makes you weak. I think it makes you good. You kind of sound like a normal human being, which I guess can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. I guess what I’m trying to say is, no matter who or what you are, or what legacy you may have, there’s no rules that say you have to follow it. Al, you can do is go with what you know and what you believe in. That’s always been my motto.” Isa stared at the young girl beside her, dumbfounded by the words that came out of her mouth.
“Wow, that’s actually really good advice.”
“Surprised That It ca e from a 12 year old, right?”
“I’d be lying if I said no.” Maggie giggled, and it was the most pure sound that Isa had ever heard. Never in her life had she ever had a soft spot for anyone, but when it came to Maggie, she would protect her at all costs. The thought took her a back a bit, being so foreign in her mind, but she didn’t exactly hate it.
“Is this what you were looking for?” Maggie had stopped in front of a large castle, it’s tall, black towers looming over them.
“Yup, this is the place. Welcome to my home.”
“THIS is where you live?”
“Well, there’s got to be some perks to be the daughter of the demon king. Who, speaking of, I’d really like to avoid right now, so let’s sneak around the back.” Isa motioned for Maggie to follow as they made their way around the castle until they reached a secret door towards the back. Isa quietly opened it, and the two of them snuck inside. In front of them loomed a long hallway, darkness filling most of it except for the torches lining the wall that cast out faint beams of light.
“This is the basement of the castle. No one really uses it anymore, since there’s nothing down here, except for the one person we need to see.” Isa pried one of the torches off the wall and used it to light their way through the tunnel. They passed by a dozen different wooden door before Isa stopped in one toward the end of the hallway. She knocked on it a few times before it was opened a sliver. A pair of yellow eyes peered out at them through the crack, and when they landed on Isa, the door was pulled open wider, revealing who the eyes belonged to. A young demon stood in the middle of the doorway, beaming at Isa. His hair was pitch black, and very messy. His eyes seemed to glow even brighter than before, the yellow piercing and bright, and his skin was much paler than Isa’s. Two horns stuck out from his wild hair and curled a bit inwards, creating almost a halo look.
“Hello Isa. What brings you here?”
“I have a favor to ask of you. I need you to create a portal for me to the human world.”
“Hey Ralvik. Oh, why do you need one? I though you had just opened one not that long ago.”
“Well, I kind of brought someone back with me by accident.” Ralvik looked out around a Isa and saw Maggie standing behind her.
“Are you crazy? Did you seriously bring a human here? If you had gotten caught, you would be in so much trouble, and she probably would have been killed.”
“I know. I didn’t mean to. I just need to get her back, which is why I need your help.”
“Well, Alright, come inside. I can open up a portal for her to get home.” Ralvik turned back into the room, and Isa was about to before Maggie pulled in her arm.
“Are you sure we can trust him? I thought you said demons like to kill humans?”
“Trust me, he’s harmless. Helps one of the good ones.” Maggie was still a little wary, but nonetheless, she wanted to get home, so she followed Isa inside. The room was pretty cluttered, books and cauldrons and papers scattered everywhere.
“Alright, I know that book is somewhere around here....Aha!” Ralvik pulled a book from off a table in the corner and opened it up to one of the pages in the middle. He looked down at the page and started reading off some Latin words. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then a large black portal appeared in the middle of the room.
“This should lead you back to where you were before, but we’ll hope for the best.” Maggie made her way over to the portal,Manx was about to step through, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Isa smiling down at her.
“Wait, why are you coming with me?”
“Portals are tricky things to navigate through. One wrong turn and you’ll end up somewhere completely different. I’m just seeing you through to make sure you get back in one piece.” So, with that, the two of them stepped through together.
When they stepped out of the portal, they were back in the same alleyway where she had first met Isa. Maggie turned towards her and smiled.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. Just go find your family.”
“MAGGIE!” Maggie looked behind her to see Miles and Riley running into the alleyway, panic written all over their faces. They came racing towards her, and Riley practically pushed Mikes out of the way to get to Maggie. She kneeled down and wrapped her arms around Maggie in a hug so tight that she couldn’t breath. Miles kneeled down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Maggie, you can’t run off like that. We were so scared that you were hurt, or in trouble.”
“Guys, I’m fine. I had help from my friend.” Maggie motioned towards Isa, and when Miles caught sight of her, he suddenly jumped up and stood in front of Maggie and Riley.
“Maggie, get away from here. She’s dangerous.” Maggie broke free from Riley’s death grip, and tugged on Miles’s sleeve.
“No, it’s okay. She helped me out. She’s not dangerous.” Mikes leaned down to be eye level with Maggie and gripped her arms.
“Maggie, I know she might not look dangerous, but she’s one of those creatures. She’s not like us, which makes her dangerous.” Miles glared at Isa, who glared right back, and Maggie pulled her arms out of Miles’s grip.
“If you would just give her a chance, you’d see-“
“No. We’re leaving, before she can attack us.”
“Well then ask yourself this: why hasn’t she attacked us yet? We’ve given her plenty of time, plenty of opportunities, but she hasn’t, and she’s not going to.”
“You don’t know that. She could be waiting for something, or...I don’t know. Let’s just get out of here, before you make friends with more “friendly” creatures.” Miles grabbed Maggie’s arm and pulled her out of the alleyway, with Riley right on their heels. Once they were out on the street, Maggie pulled away from Miles’s grasp and sulked away. Mikes was about to go after her when Riley pulled him aside.
“Let her go. She’s not happy with you.”
“I’m sorry that I had to upset her, but it was for her own safety.”
“I get where you were coming from, I was worried to, but don’t you think you were a bit too harsh on her?” A guilty look came over Miles’s face, and he glanced over at Maggie, who had walked over to the bench they were sitting on earlier, her legs dangling off the edge.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled at her...” He trailed off on his though when he saw Isa come running towards them. When she got closer, Miles faced towards her and stared her down.
“What are you doing here? We left you alone, now leave us alone.”
“Listen, I know you don’t trust me, and quite frankly, I don’t trust you. However, I like Maggie enough that it overthrows how I feel about you. So, I came to warn you.” Mikes scoffed at her, his stance tense and ready to attack at the slightest movement.
“Why would we trust you?” Isa just shrugged her shoulders.
“You can’t. Believe me or not, that’s your decision, but this is my way of thanking Maggie for being so kind to me.” At this point, Maggie had walked over from the bench to see what was going on, and when she heard what Isa said, a small smile creeped onto her face.
“Listen, my father opened up a portal here about 2 years ago-“
“2 years ago?”
“Yeah, does than have any importance to you?”
“Kind of...”
“Well, anyways, my father opened up the portal, and now he’s finally ready to use it to bring over his army to attack this world.” Maggie, who was still upset at Miles, looked over at Riley and frowned.
“Does that mean this is our fault? Since we let out that creature 2 years ago?”
“Wait, you guys are the Winchester kids?”
“Yeah, why? Have you heard of us?”
“Of course I have. Both of your dads are the notorious Winchester brothers. Super famous supernatural hunters. Everybody knows about them, and about you three. Oh, wow, if my dad got you guys-“
“See, I knew it, you were planning to turn us over to your father this whole time. You were just waiting for an opportunity.”
“If I was planning to capture you guys, wouldn’t I have done it by know, instead of wasting time talking to you?”
“Ummmm....is anyone else going to talk about how our fathers are supernatural hunters?” Miles ignored Riley as he went charging towards Isa. She was able to stop him just in time by blocking his fists and trying to push him back.
“Hey, I don’t want to fight you?”
“Yeah, well I do. I’m not going to let you hurt my family.” While she was distracted, Miles picked up his leg and gave a swift kick to Isa’s stomach, sending her flying backwards. Miles caught his breath as Isa picked herself off the ground. Her eyes landed on Miles, and her face twisted into something filled with nothing but pure anger.
“Fine. If you want a fight, I’ll give you the fight of your life. Hope you’ve got a resurrection spell in that little book of yours, because you’re not coming out of this alive.” Isa launched herself at Miles, her eyes filled with determination focused one one goal. She landed a good punch to his stomach, sending him flying backwards with her superhuman strength, and crashing into the hard paved road. Miles let out a loud hiss as his arm scraped against the pavement, and blood trickled down his arm, creating a small pool of blood on the ground. When he was vulnerable, Isa went for another attack, but Miles knew it was coming this time, and picked himself off the ground and blocked it. He swooped beneath her punch and wrapped his arms around her waist, surprising her and throwing her off balance, giving Mikes the ground to get some force to push her back against a nearby brick wall. He let go of her with one hand and used it to grab hold of her shirt as he pushed her back against the wall. Isa struggled against his grasp, but she couldn’t get any traction on the ground. Mikes pulled his other fist back and punched her right in the face, as hard as he could, and a sickening crack echoed through the air. When he pulled his fist back, blood started trickling down from her nose, and it was all red and puffed, which meant it was most likely broken. Something inside him told him to stop, that this wasn’t him, but he pushed that voice away and went in for another swing. However, his arm was stopped midway, and he looked back to see Maggie pulling his arm back, tears streaming down her face.
“Miles, please stop. I can’t...watch this anymore. Just....please.” Her words were caught between sobs as the tears ran down her face faster and faster. Miles felt something in his heart break a little at seeing his little cousin so distraught over something he had done.
“Maggie, I....” Miles loosened his grip on Isa’s shirt, which was enough for her to get loose and go after him again, knocking him to the ground, and pinning him down with her body weight. Maggie jumped out of the way, and tried to cry out to Isa.
“Isa, no! He just doesn’t understand. It was all a misunderstanding. Just stop fighting.”
“No, Maggie...I can’t...fight it....the dark urges.....in me.” Between her words, she landed blow after blow on Miles, her punches become more sloppy the angrier she got. Bruises started blooming all over his face, and his will to struggle started slipping away as he began to lose consciousness.
“It doesn’t have to be like this. You were telling me earlier that you couldn’t change, but I don’t believe that. Nobody is born evil, no matter who they are or where they grow up. Everyone has the ability to change, including you, so don’t give in to it.” Isa stopped her punch midway, Maggie’s words finally making it to her ears, and they hit her hard. Maggie walked over to Isa, and grabbed onto her wrist, looking her straight in the eyes.
“You can fight it.” Isa stared at this little girl kneeling in front of her with so much more kindness and wisdom than she would ever have, and something in her broke, like a dam finally letting the water flow out, and she let Maggie pull her fist down to her side. Isa stood up and walked away from Miles, leaving him laying on the ground, blood dripping off his head and landing on the ground around him.
“I’ll let you guys go, but please just leave. I don’t want any of you to get hurt, especially knowing how my father is. Just get out of here.” Miles, who had finally regained consciousness, heard Isa’s words, but whatever kindness he had in his heart had been clouded over with his hatred and anger, and none of it mattered to him. Not her words, not her actions, nothing. The only thing was his disillusion that she had evil intentions, and this was all part of some evil plan. Fighting her wasn’t going to do anything, so he had no other choice. Miles pulled a gun out of his coat pocket, and fired it at Isa. However, Maggie had seen it in time, and launched her self at Miles, pushing him to the ground and causing the bullet to go off course. While it missed its intended target of Isa’s head, it did hit her arm. Isa yelled out in pain, and fell to her knees, clutching her arm.
“I...I don’t understand. How can a man made weapon hurt me? It’s just a gun, I should be healing right now.”
“The thing is, this isn’t just any gun. It was my grandfather’s gun. It’s called the Colt, and it’s bullets can kill any creature, no matter how strong or powerful they may be.” Miles got ready to fire another bullet, but Maggie jumped in front of him before he could pull the trigger.
“Miles, stop. What happened to you? What is wrong with you? She has done nothing but help me and try to defend herself from you, and you can’t seem to get that through your thick skull. You can’t just kill people without giving them a chance to prove themselves, but you’ve become so obsessed with this twisted sense of justice you have that you’ve lost all ration thought or logic.” Riley, who had been standing off to the sidelines, walked over next to Maggie and looked Miles dead straight in the eye.
“Miles, listen to Maggie. This isn’t right. I don’t really trust her either, but you can’t kill her. What happened to the kid who was so fascinated by life, who wanted to help others, who would have done anything to protect people, no matter who they were. Where did that Miles go, because he’s not here.”
“Just shut up, both of you. You don’t understand, I’m still here. It’s still the same Miles. I would do anything to protect you guys, and all of humanity, but she’s not part of humanity. She!s the enemy. All of those supernatural creatures are. They are nothing but evil beings that want to go around killing all their enemies with no sense of mercy.”
“No Miles, that’s you.” Riley’s words hit Miles like an arrow in the chest, and his eyes widened in horror. His hands started shaking so badly that he dropped the gun, the clattering of it on the ground the only sound in the empty street. Miles collapsed onto the ground, the realization of his actions finally hitting him full force.
What have I done....What have I become?
“Well, what do we have here?” Miles pulled himself out of his mental breakdown and turned around to see what was probably the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. Thousands upon thousands of demons stood in front of him, so many that they created a barrier that blocked the setting sun in the distance. Their black bodies seemed to meld together, with the only thing separating them glowing eyes of red, yellow and blue, and menacing smiles that seemed to loom down over them. Out from the wall came the most terrifying looking demon of all. His long white hair had been s hot he’d in several places, creating black rimmed holes throughout it.
His skin was sickly pale, and a long scar ran through his right eye, going from his forehead to the side of his nose, sand his eye was mangled. His other eye was piercing blue, and looked as cold as the icy blue that they glowed. His horns were pure black, but on of the end had been broken off, making them look a little uneven. He stared down at the three kids in front of him, and his smile sent shivers down all three of their backs. Miles quickly scrambled backwards until he bumped into Riley and Maggie, who held him steady and they all cowards together as the demon moved closer, his smile growing bigger with each step.
“My, my, what lovely children you are. It’s such a shame that you’ll have to be the first to go, but alas, I’m afraid I can’t let you three go.”
“Dad...” The demon looked over to see Isa laying on the ground, having collapsed from the amount of pain coursing through her body. The demon pushed the three children aside to hurry over to his daughter’s side.
“Isa, what happened?” He leaned down beside her, and saw where she was clutching her arm. The bullet was still lodged in there, and it was starting to bleed really badly.
“Who did this to you?” That’s when he spotted the gun laying a few feet away, and it all clicked in. He turned back towards the three children, his eyes having grown even colder than before, and started charging towards them so fast that in the blink of an eye, he was right in front of them, grabbing Miles by the shirt and pulling him up until they were eye level.
“You did this to her, didn’t you? You hurt Isa, didn’t you?” His voice seethed with so much anger that it made Miles want to cry on the inside from fear.
“Dad, no, please, it was a misunderstanding. It’s not...”
“Not what? Not their fault? Oh, Isa, you will soon learn that it is always their fault, their intention, to harm and kill us. There is not a single one of them that is good. They will pay dearly for how they have treated you.” The demon threw Miles down onto the ground, but the pain of hitting the pavement didn’t matter to him at the moment.
Was that really what I sounded like? Does that mean....I’m just like him?
“However, you three deserve more than what I could do to you. So, I’ll let the rest of them decide what to do with you.” The demon looked around at the rest of the army, and pointed at the three kids huddled on the ground.
“Soldiers....attack.” The entire army launched towards them at once, and the three of them let out blood curdling screams.
Then everything was dark.
By: Kaitlin Sewell
2 Years Ago
“Hey, what’s down here?” Miles cringed at the creaking of the old door as it swung open. He wasn’t supposed to be down here, and his dad would have his head if he found him down there. However, his curiosity was a bit stronger than his fear, so there he was, sneaking into the basement at midnight.
“What are you doing down here?” Miles whipped around, a split second of fear flashing across his face, until he realized it was only Riley. Maggie was also there, but she was barely visible as she clutched onto Riley’s sweatshirt, hiding behind her with just a sliver of her face peaking out.
“You know you’re going to get yourself in trouble if you’re caught.” Miles rolled his eyes, and looked back at the two of them, an annoyed expression on his face.
“I was doing just fine until you came down here with your snarky, know it all attitude. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to continue exploring the basement. I would invite you, but I know you’re too scared to follow me.” Before he could even turn back around, Riley was running down the basement stairs, disappearing into the darkness.
Works every time. What a -
Maggie let out a little whimper from where she stood at the doorway, looking like she had seen a ghost. Miles looked down at her, and gave her a rare, genuine smile.
“You know, you don’t have to go down if you don’t want to, but me and Riley will be right beside you. Plus, don’t you want to see what’s inside? There could be gold, or a treasure map, or giant stuffed animals bigger than you.” Maggie let out a little giggle at that as her face and body relaxed, the fear slowly melting away as the though of giant stuffed animals filled her head.
“So, what do you say? You want to help me find the treasure?” Miles held out his hand for Maggie, and she looked a little hesitant at first, but it was Miles, her cool, older cousin, and what could go wrong when he was around?
Maggie grabbed his hand, and they both made their way down the stairs.
Miles reached into his pocket, grabbed a flashlight, and toggled the light switch on. A bright beam appeared, and shined right into Riley’s eyes.
“Be careful with that! You almost blinded me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I can turn it off if -“
“No! No - I mean, you probably shouldn’t. Maggie might get scared.”
“No I won’t. I’m brave. Right, Miles?”
“You’re probably the bravest person in this room. It’s Riley who’s afraid of the dark.” Miles laughed at Riley’s small scoff as he continued to walk through the room, sweeping the flashlight’s beam across the room. It was mostly empty, except for a few boxes and a few pieces of furniture.
“I don’t get it. What’s so important about this room? Why would we be forbidden from coming down here?”
“I don’t know. It’s just a bunch of old junk.” Riley’s voice came up from behind him, and Miles whirled around to try to find her. Once again, the flashlight beam hit her face, and she winced.
“Again, seriously?! Be careful with that, you’re gonna blind me if you keep shining that in my eyes.” Miles stifled a laugh as Riley’s angry face glowed in the light of the flashlight like a pumpkin. Miles was about to retort when Maggie’s voice came from the other side of the room.
“Hey guys, there’s another door over here.”
“Could we maybe find a light switch instead? I’m tired of tripping over things in the dark.”
“Riley, would you just shut up? I don’t think the lights even work on here.”
“How would you know that.”
“Do you see how old this room is? I would be surprised if the lightbulbs had been switched in the past 20 years.”
“Yeah, well -“
“GUYS! The door?” Both of the bickering teens turned towards her voice, and with the flashlight lighting the way, made their way over to the door. It was an old wooden door, with a giant doorknob and a lock under it. Riley tried the doorknob, but the door was locked, and therefore did not budge when she pulled.
“Great, it’s locked.” Riley backed away from the door, and jabbed Miles in the side to get his attention.
“Ow! What was that for? You could have just talked to me instead of injuring me?”
“Oh, get over it you big baby. I barely tapped you. I was just thinking we should get out of here. The door’s locked, and there’s nothing in here, so let’s just go before someone finds us.” Riley continued her rant as she tried to make her way to the other door, but something about the door caught Miles’s attention.
“Hey, does anyone see that?”
“If you’ve forgotten, the room is pitch black, and I can’t see a thing.”
“No, look at the door.” Miles walked over to the door, and just as he had though, a dim glow was coming from underneath the door. Maggie leaned down next to him, and peered underneath the door.
“You’re right, there is something. Come here Riley, look at this.” With a sigh, Riley leaned down between the two and peered underneath the door.
“Okay, so someone left a light on in there. Big deal. We still can’t get in.” Riley stood up again, and started to make her way in the opposite direction, but Miles spoke up.
“Wait, I might be able to do something.”
“What now? You going to open the door up with your secret powers?” Miles could have played her little game, but he p just let it slide.
“No, not exactly.” Miles pulled a paper lip out of his pocket, and with the flashlight in one hand, he aimed it at the lock and started to pick the lock. Maggie kneeled down next to him, and watched him move the key around in the lock.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m picking the lock to try and get inside the room?”
“When did you learn how to pick a lock?”
“I thought it might be useful to know, so I taught myself.”
“Wow, that’s so cool. Can you teach me?” Riley cleared her throat, and placed her hand on Maggie’s shoulder.
“Trust me, Maggie. You don’t want Miles teaching you anything. He’ll mess with your head.”
“No he won’t. Miles is the best. He’s so cool, and he knows all these tricks.” Miles beamed at his little cousin, and although he’d never admit it to anyone, especially Riley, he loved how much Maggie looked up to him.
“Thank you Maggie. That’s why you’re my favorite cousin.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Although he couldn’t see her, Miles could practically feel Riley roll her eyes. When he knew Riley was finally done, he turned his attention back to the lock and continued the job. With a few more twists of the paper clip, there was a small click. Miles drew back, grasped the doorknob, and turned it. The door swung open, and the dim glow from underneath the door grew as the door opened further and further. It cast the other room in an orange glow as the light flooded out. However, the light was the least interesting thing in the room. It was filled from floor to ceiling with books and papers and strange boxes that covered practically every inch of the room. The light came from a single lightbulb flickering in the middle of the room.
Miles stepped into the room first, being careful not to step on the loose papers scattered on the floor. Riley and Maggie followed closely behind, just as intrigued as Miles. Riley picked up a book off the floor and started to flip through some of the pages.
“What is all this stuff? I can’t even read all this stuff. It’s like in another language.” Miles’s interest piqued when he heard Riley’s comments. He walked over to where she was and peered over her shoulder.
“What is that?”
“That’s what I was wondering. Why do our dads have all this stuff?”
“I don’t know, but you’ve got to admit, it’s kind of cool.” Miles continued to explore the room, picking up books and papers, all covered with thick layers of dust that made him want to sneeze really badly. He brushed it off, and found the same writing as the book Riley had picked up before. Most of it looked like words, but some of it was symbols, written like hieroglyphics. He wanted to read it, but it was all just too foreign to him. He sighed and placed it all back down on the ground, but then something caught his eye. A large podium sat in the middle of the room, directly underneath the lightbulb, and it was completely empty except for an empty bottle and a small black notebook. Miles wandered over to it and picked up the notebook. It was pretty old, the yellowing pages and tears giving that away, and it was covered in coffee and ink stains, but unlike the rest of the room, it wasn’t covered in dust.
This must have been what the person who left the light on was looking at. Maybe this is what was locked away. Well, guess there’s only one way to find out...
Miles opened up the book, and was surprised to see English words on the page instead of the other strange language.
“Hey, guys, check this out. This one’s in English.” Riley and Maggie both came over and the three of them stared down at the notebook.
“What is all of this?” Maggie’s voice was the first to break the silence, and she pointed to the top of the page, where a word was written out in the strange writing. Miles saw what she was pointing at, and read the translation underneath it.
“Woah. This means vampire.”
“No way. Why would they have a book on vampires? Dad doesn’t seem like the type to be into that stuff.” Miles flipped through the pages, looking at the different drawings and writings on each page.
“This isn’t just about vampires, Riley. Look at all of these. Angels, Demons, curses, ghosts, hellhounds, changelings, the list goes on. There’s so many different supernatural creatures in here, and I don’t even know what half of them are. I mean, what is a changeling?”
“It’s a creature that can shapeshifter into another being and feeds off of children for food.” Riley glanced back at Miles and Maggie, who were giving her bewildered expressions. Riley just shrugged her shoulders.
“What? My friends Tammy has an obsession with everything supernatural, so I’ve picked up on a few things.” Obviously done with the conversation, Riley turned back around and continued scouring the shelves. She then headed over to the boxes on the other shelves and went to open one of them when suddenly her arm was pulled back. Miles tightened his grasp on her arm and pulled her away from the boxes.
“Hey, Miles what are you - “
“It’s probably not a good idea to open those boxes. You don’t know what could be in there.”
“Oh, are you scared there’s going to be a scary ghost in the box. Come on Miles, you’re the science nerd. You of all people should know that this stuff isn’t real. What harm could come from opening up a little box.” Miles glared at Riley as she pulled her arm out of his grasp and reached for the box again.
“First of all, I am not a science nerd, I just happen to be good at it, and I still don’t think -“ Miles was interrupted by a loud screeching sound that came from the box Riley had just opened. The lid flew off and a giant black shadow filled the room, the screeching getting louder as it grew in size.
“What is that thing?!” Maggie screamed from the other side of the room, and Riley ran over and grabbed her arm, pulling her close to her and shielding her from whatever that thing was. Nothing was getting to her little sister. The shadow let out one last screech before it passed through one of the walls and disappeared from sight. With the creature gone, the room was enveloped in silence. None of the three dared to speak up, for they were completely stunned by what they had just seen. They didn’t really know what to say, because how do you explain...that? Miles was the first to speak up, his voice just barely a whisper, only loud enough to be heard in the room.
“You guys okay?” Riley and Maggie both nodded their heads, still unable to speak out of pure shock.
“Good. Good, that’s great. Ummm...” Miles was at a loss for words. He didn’t really know what to do now. He had so many questions about it, and his mind was spinning. What was it? Why did it not attack them? Why was it in the box? What should they do now? What -
“Come on, let’s get out of here. I don’t think we should be down here anymore. Miles, give me the flashlight, and we’ll head back towards the basement.” Miles may hate Riley sometimes, but her rational thinking was what he needed right now. He handed her the flashlight, now in the state of mind to argue, and with Riley in the lead, the three of them made their way to the other room. Maggie, who was clinging on to Miles’s sleeve, gave a small tug, and Miles looked down at Maggie’s wide eyes and terrified expression.
“Miles, what was that thing?”
“I...I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Maggie didn’t respond at first, as if mulling over what he had said, but then she tugged on sleeve again.
“Do you think it will come back and try to hurt us?”
“Don’t worry Maggie. You’re safe. You’ll be okay.” Again, silence. Miles wasn’t sure if Maggie believed him or not, but it was all he could say at the moment. He knew about as much as Maggie did, and all’s he could think of to do was comfort her and put her worries to rest.
“Do you think we’ll get in trouble? Do you think they’ll find out?” Riley’s voice came from in front of him, her figure just barely visible behind the flashlight. She had stopped in the middle of the room, and was turned towards Miles and Maggie.
“I hope not. If my Dad ever found out we were down here, I’d be in so much trouble.”
“If our dad found out, he’d have my head. I swear, he’s such a helicopter parents sometimes.”
“Well, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”
“You’d better hope so, or I’ll kill you before he gets the chance to.” Miles tried to feign exasperation until he remembered that Riley couldn’t see it.
“Why is it my fault? We were doing just fine until you opened the box and let out whatever that was.”
“Well, How was I supposed to know that thing was going to come out of there? I just assumed there would be papers.” Miles let out a long sigh, and simply headed towards the door.
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is, all that matters is we make sure no one finds out.”
Meanwhile, in a dark alleyway in the middle of town...
As the sun was pulled down into the horizon, a dark creature lurked in the shadows, waiting for something to happen. The Creature, having just escaped its captivity from that old box, was reveling in its freedom. It wanted to go out and wreak some havoc on the world, but it knew it’s place, and it had a job to do. So, the fun would have to wait.
As if on command, a dark vortex of purple and blue appeared in the middle of the alley, and changed formed until a shadowy face began to take form. Now, most people, if they were looking at the scene unfolding in the alley, would have no idea what was going on or who the shadowy figure was, but the creature knew. It had been waiting for him for so long, and the time had finally come.
“Hello...Master.” The creature’s voice was scratchy and weak from lack of use, after having been trapped in the Winchester’s house for so long.
“Hello. It’s good to finally see you.” The shadows’s voice echoed off the brick walls, making it seem like it was coming from different directions. The voice seemed to ooze with this vibe of darkness, enough to make even the toughest human’s skin crawl.
“I got what you asked for, Master.” The Creature picked up a book from off the ground and showed it to the shadow figure.
“Good work. Now that I have the book, my plans can finally begin.”
“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is your plan?” The shadow figure didn’t speak for a few seconds, as if contemplating whether to tell him, but he already knew that it wasn’t time. It would know soon enough. They will all know.
“Don’t worry, you will find out soon enough. You just need a little patience.”
“Of course, Master. Of course.” The Creature knew not to question the master any further. It would only result in pain. However, it had followed the Master for so long, and it trusted him. It knew that everything would go according to plan.
“Now, let’s begin. Open up the book until you find a page with a pentagram symbol on it, and start reading the incantation. That will open up the portal.”
“Wait, sir, why do you want me to do it.”
“Do you see any way possible that I would be able to?”
“Oh, of course Master. You’re right.” Knowing that that was the end of the conversation, the creature opened up the page, and flipped through the pages until it saw the page he had talked about. A large pentagram took up half the page, and below it, the other half was filled up with Latin incantations. The Creature started reading off the words, not entirely sure of what was going to happen, until a loud whooshing sound interrupted the silence and another vortex opened up, this one a deep black that looked like it held nothing but darkness. As the creature continued the incantation, the shadowy figure smiled at the sight before him, reveling in what was about to happen.
“It has begun...”
Present Day
“Hey, wake up Miles! You’re gonna get in trouble if you get caught sleeping.”
Miles groaned as a voice woke him up from his peaceful sleep. He cracked open one of his eyes to see Logan peering down at him, her eyes darting back and forth between his own and the front of the classroom where Mr. Dremar was writing something on the board.
Logan started poking him in the ribs, trying to wake him up before he got caught sleeping again, and eventually Miles open his eyes and glared at the brunette sitting next him.
“Hey, why you glaring at me? I’m the one who’s trying to help you hear. Remember what happened the last time Mr. Dremar caught you sleeping?”
Miles felt a shudder travel down his spine.
“Trust me. I’m never going to forget it. His face was so red it looked like it was going to explode. It would have been a lot funnier if his anger wasn’t channeled towards me.”
Mr. Dremar suddenly turned around, and glanced over at the two of them. They turned back around and pretended to be working on the packet in front of them, hoping that they weren’t caught. Seeming satisfied, Mr. Dremar turned back around, and Miles and Logan both let out a sigh. Knowing that talking would probably get them in trouble, they both just tried to focus on the packet. Miles’ head swam as the equations jumbled together in his exhausted brain, and his eyes become heavier as sleep tried to take hold of him again.
Damn, I should have gotten more sleep last night...
A flash of black caught his eye, and Miles peered out the window to see what it was, but there was nothing there. Thinking that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, he was about to turn back until the black flash caught his eye again, and he could just barely see a black blob in the distance. It started to move closer to the window, and as it moved forward, the blob became an actual shape, and when it became clear enough to make out, Miles felt his heart stop.
It can’t be...There’s no way...
Mikes tried to convince himself otherwise, but he knew it was the creature Riley had let out of the box 2 years ago. It was something Miles had not been able to forget no matter how hard he tried. It was ingrained in his mind, and appeared frequently in his nightmares, resulting in waking up in the middle of the night sweating so badly he left stain on the sheets.
The creature continued to move closer, at an alarmingly fast speed, and before he knew it, the creature was right up against the window, looking like it was about to break through and come right at him. Miles jumped back in his seat and ended up halfway on the floor, his legs still hanging off the seat. The entire classroom had become quiet as they all turned towards him. Mr. Dremar had stopped writing on the board and was glaring at Miles.
“Miles Winchester, is there a reason you’re disrupting the class?” A few giggles floated around the room, but for the most part, people were silent, waiting for his response.
“No, sorry. I just accidentally fell out of my chair. It won’t happen again.” Miles pulled himself off the floor, sat back in his chair, and continued to work on his packet, trying to hide the red flush on his cheeks. Mr. Dremar looked as if he wanted to continue yelling at Miles, but he just sighed and turned back towards the board to continue the lesson.
Logan turned towards Miles and poked him in the arm, trying to get his attention. Miles turned towards her and found a worried expression on her face.
“Are you okay? You practically jumped out of your seat. What happened?”
“It’s nothing. I thought I saw something, but it was just my imagination. Probably means I need to get more sleep.”
“You think? You’ve been having problems sleeping for weeks now. You should really talk to someone about it.”
“I’m fine. Stop worrying about me. I’ve just been staying up late trying to work on homework and stuff. It’s a simple fix.”
“Well, alright. I’ll stop bugging you about this if you promise to try and get more sleep.”
“I promise. Now shut up before I get yelled at again.” Logan stuck her tongue out at Miles, but turned back to the assignment and started scribbling away. Miles tried to follow suit, but he couldn’t get it out of his head. He glanced at the window again, but the creature was nowhere in sight. He tried to shake it off and tell himself it wasn’t real, but something in the back of his mind told him that it was.
“Hey kiddo. How was school?” Miles was greeted with his dad’s voice coming from the kitchen as he walked into the living room.
“Good. Well, as good as school can get.” Miles placed his bag down beside the couch and plopped down next to Riley, who was flipping through channels on the tv until she settled on an old sitcom from the 90’s. Miles pulled out his phone and they sat there in silence for about a minute until Riley turned towards him and frowned.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. Everything’s fine.” Riley raised one of her eyebrows and gave Miles that “oh really” look.
“Miles, we’ve been living with you guys ever since my dad moved in when money was tight, and that was over five years ago. I think by now I can tell when something is wrong. It’s written all over your face.” Miles let out a sigh and put down his phone before finally turning towards Riley. He glanced around to make sure they were alone, and then leaned in so that no one but Riley could hear him.
“Alright, fine. You’re right. Earlier today, I thought I saw the creature from two years ago.”
“Miles, that’s impossible. That thing was killed that same night. There’s no way it was real”
“I know it sounds impossible, but something told me that it was. Maybe it didn’t die that might, or escaped somehow, I don’t know.” Riley simply shook her head and turned her attention back towards the tv.
“I’m telling the truth. I know what I saw Riley.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Just like that you swore you saw a vampire, or you were certain that you saw a real ghost. It was two years ago, Miles. Just let it go. It’s not real.” With every word out of her mouth, Miles could feel the anger rising in him, and with those last words, he exploded.
“Maybe you can’t see it, but I know it’s real. It’s real to me.” Without letting Riley sat another word, Miles ran out of the living room and didn’t stop until he reached his bedroom. He swung open the door and slammed it shut behind him. He collapsed onto his bed and could feel the tears stinging his eyes.
Why won’t anyone believe me? Even Riley won’t, and she was there when it happened. Am I just going crazy? Is my lack of sleep starting to make me hallucinate?
Miles heard a knock on the door, and groaned, knowing it was Riley coming to apologize or to yell at him more, and neither of those options sounded like much fun.
“Go away Riley. I don’t want to hear it.”
“It’s Maggie. Can I come in?” Miles wanted to tell her to go away, but it didn’t exactly come out that way.
“Yeah, sure.” The door creaked open and Maggie slowly walked in, her short curls bouncing as she made her way over to the bed and sat down on the edge.
“Are you okay? I saw you storm into your room and slam the door. You only do that when you’re really upset.”
“Yeah, I guess I kind of am. Riley and I got into another fight, and I was tired of putting up with her, so I stormed off. Yeah, it’s immature, and I’m almost 17, so I should have handled it better, but I was just upset.”
“Hey, I’m only 12, so I’m not lecturing you on maturity. If anything, I should be high-fiving you for finally standing up to her. She thinks she knows everything.” Maggie waited for a laugh, but none came, which was unusual for Miles, since he always laughs at jokes about Riley, especially when they’re at her expense.
“What did you guys fight about this time?”
“It was nothing. Just forget about it.” Maggie scooted in on the bed, getting closer to Miles, who was still laying down in the middle.
“Miles, you know you can tell me anything.” Miles contemplated whether or not to tell her, but decided that she had a right to know, since she was there that night too.
“I saw something at school today. It was that creature from two years ago. It was outside the window in Mr. Dremar’s classroom.” Maggie let out a little gasp, and leaned in even closer.
“Really? You saw it? Did it try to attack you? Were you scared?” Miles sat up a little and stared at Maggie, who had a wide eyed expression.
“Wait, you believe me?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I wish Riley had the same mindset. When I told her, she told me I was crazy and that everything I’ve been seeing these past few weeks isn’t real, even though I know it is. Why can’t she just believe me? She was there that night. She saw the creature with her own eyes.” Miles plopped back down, and let out a long sigh, letting himself sink into the bed a little bit.
“You know how her brain works. When she can’t explain something, she uses reason to figure it out. To her, that creature was probably just some dream or her seeing things. It freaked her out, so she used what made sense or what seemed like the most logical explanation to calm herself down and get rid of the fear.” Miles turned his head towards Maggie, and raised his eyebrows when she looked down at him.
“What?”
“Has anyone ever told you how mature you sound when you talk?”
“Yeah, lots of people. I guess since I live with you guys, your intelligence kind of rubbed off on me.” Miles smiled and reached over to ruffle Maggie’s hair.
“Trust me, I don’t think we’re the reason you’re so smart.” Maggie laughed and batted his hand away. Miles let out a laugh as well, and the two of them began to swat at each other, their laughter growing and becoming louder until they were full on belly laughing. Maggie collapsed on the bed next to him, both of them still trying to catch their breath from laughing so hard.
“Hey, Maggie?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. I feel a lot better now.”
“No problem, I’m always here to make you feel better.” Maggie say up on the bed, and slid off, letting her feet hit the ground, and stood up before turning back to face Miles.
“While this was really fun, I have to go back and finish up my homework. See you at dinner.”
“Alright, you too.” Maggie turned around, and headed towards the door, and once she was out in the hallway, she closed it, and then she was gone. Miles let out a sigh, and stared up at the ceiling. Something about what Maggie had said clicked with him.
When she can’t explain something, she uses reason to figure it out
That’s right. Riley has always been that way. He knew that he had overreacted, again, and he knew that he had to go apologize at some point. He sat up on his bed and went to stand up, but for the second time that day, a black figure outside his window caught his eye, and he turned to see the same creature from before staring at him through his window. When it saw him, the creature flew away and disappeared from sight.
You’re not getting away this time
Miles jumped up and pulled open his door, his head focused on nothing but the creature as he ran down the hallway.
“Miles, what are you-“ Miles ignored Maggje’s voice as he ran down the rest of the hallway, and then took each step two at a time. He grabbed his coat, and threw open the door before disappearing outside. Riley stared after him, wondering what the hell had gotten into her cousin all of a sudden. Maggje ran down the stairs, and caught her sister’s eye from across the room.
“Maggie, what happened to Miles?”
“I don’t know. One minute he was in his room, and the next he was running down the hallway with a crazy look in his eye!” Riley was about to ask another question when Sam poked his head into the living room.
“Why did Miles just run out the front door with his coat?” Riley and Maggie looked at each other, and somehow both knew that the best option was simply to lie.
“Hey Uncle Sam. I think Miles was just heading over to Logan’s house. Something about working on a group project.” Sam looked at the clock on the wall.
“At 7:30 at night?”
“I guess it’s due tomorrow, and they still had some work to do on it. Miles told me to let you know he was going because he had to hurry over there.” Sam still looked a little wary, but that lie seemed to be enough to convince him because he sighed and shook his head.
“Alright, well can you tell Miles when he gets back that he needs to tell me where he’s going before he just runs off somewhere.” Riley made sure to make a mental note of that to use against Miles later.
“Yeah, sounds good. I’m going to head up and work on some homework, so can you call me down for dinner?”
“Yeah me too.” Maggie spoke up for the first time since she got downstairs, causing Sam and Riley to turn towards her.
“Yeah, sure. It probably won’t be done until about 8:30, since your dad forget to get eggs yesterday, and I have to wait until he gets home.”
“I guess that’s why you’re the more responsible brother.” Sam turned towards Riley and raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, he may be our dad, but we know his flaws, and he’s not the best at remembering things.” Sam let out a chuckle and turned back towards the kitchen. Once he disappeared, the two of them ran up the stairs and Riley returned to her room, with Maggie right on her heels. Riley turned around to face her little sister.
“Why are you following me into my room?”
“Well, we have to figure out a way to sneak out and go after Miles.”
“What do you mean? We’re not going after him.” Maggie looked confused as her sister turned back around and headed towards her bed, where a few papers on her laptop sat.
“We have to! It might have something to do with the creature he saw earlier, and he could be in danger.” Riley sighed and rubbed her temples in frustration.
“Not you too. Did Miles put his delusions into your head?”
“No. I believe him. He saw something, and I bet he saw it again, so now we have to go and find him.”
“No, we don’t. If he wants to go off and chase his own imagination, so be it.” Riley picked up her laptop, and started typing something out. Maggie groaned at her sister’s stubbornness, trying to figure out some way to convince her to come along.
“Please, Riley. I have a bad feeling about this. If you won’t do it for Mikes, at least do it for me. I don’t want to go out alone, but I can’t just leave him out there. He might be in real danger, even if you don’t believe it or not.” Riley closed her laptop, and looked up at Maggie, who had resorted to using the puppy dog eyes.
“Fine. I’ll go, but only to make sure neither of you get into trouble.” Maggie’s face lit up as she hurried over to Riley’s bed, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her over to the doorway.
“Hey, slow down. We can’t just run out the door like Miles did, or we’ll get questioned again.”
“Can’t you just lie like before?”
“That took a lot to lie that one time. I don’t know if I could do it again. Let’s just be smart about this. If we wait until Sam is out of view, we can quietly s dark out the front door without him knowing. Then, all we have to do is make sure we get back by 8:30 and he won’t know anything.” Riley balled up her fist and held it up in front of her. Maggie looked down at it, smiled, and returned the fist bump.
“Let’s do this.” Riley signaled for Maggie to follow her, and the two of them made their way down the hallway, and down the stairs, making sure not to let them creak, and peered out around the corner.
“Alright, it looks like Uncle Sam is in the pantry, so if we go now, we should make it outside without him noticing.” Riley whispered as quietly as she could so as not to let Sam hear them. They waited one more second to make sure he wasn’t going to walk out, and then made a run for the door. They grabbed their coats on the way out, and hurried outside, making sure to close the door quietly and not make a loud crash. Once they were outside, they both let out a breath and looked around to see if they could find Miles. Unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight.
“Yeah, we might have a slight problem. We have no idea where Miles went.” Maggie’s point was true. They had no idea where he was going, and with how long he had been gone, he could be anywhere.
“Well, this town isn’t that big, he has to be somewhere. Let’s start looking through our neighborhood and go from there.” With no other ideas, the both shrugged and started walking down the sidewalk, hoping that they would find Miles before something bad happened.
“This is impossible. We’ve been looking for over a half hour, and we’ve been all over town, but Miles is nowhere. How is that possible? Do you think he left town? Would he?” Riley was at her wits end with this futile search for Miles, and Maggie was right there on the cusp.
“I don’t think so. Let’s just keep searching. He has to be here somewhere.” Riley knew that Maggie was right, but she was just getting more and more frustrated with each second that Miles wasn’t there. If he hadn’t run off on one of his stupid adventures, they wouldn’t be out here, at night, in November, looking for him. Riley pulled her jacket tighter around her, and continued to look around, peering down alleyways and looking through windows. She was about to turn around and say something to Maggie when a big black flash caught the corner of her eye. When she turned to see what it was, she let out a small gasp. A large black blob floated about a yard away, before dashing into an alleyway.
There’s no way...
Before her mind could process what she had seen, another figure ran into the alleyway, wearing a blue puffy jacket and white vans.
“Miles!” He completely ignores Riley’s call, and disappeared into the alleyway where the black blob had gone just moments before.
“Hey, Maggie!”
“Yeah, I saw it too.” Maggie ran up to Riley’s side, saw where Riley was pointing, and ran towards the alleyway.
“Maggie stop! That could be dangerous.” Without turning around, Maggie yelled back to Riley.
“We have to do something!” Maggie reached the alleyway, then took the corner and disappeared into it, like Miles had before. Riley frowned, turned towards the brightly lit, safe town, and then glanced back at the alleyway.
Ugghhh.....Why do we always have to be in these situations?
Riley sighed, and followed after Maggie. She ran down the sidewalk, stopping right before the alleyway, and took a deep breath before turning and walking down the path that stood before her. Since there were still plenty of lights on around, the alleyway was lit pretty well, and Riley could make out two figures towards the end of it, and she ran towards them, hoping they weren’t strangers. As she got closer, Miles’s jacket and Maggie’s short hair came into view, and she let out a sigh of relief.
“Maggie! Miles! There you are!” Both of them turned towards Riley, and Miles’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Riley? You’re here too?” Riley stopped in front of them and had to take a second to catch her breath.
“Yeah. You ran off, so we had to come and make sure you wouldn’t get yourself killed.”
“While I do appreciate you guys worrying about me, you have to get out of here. It’s not safe.” Maggie pulled on Miles’s sleeve, and started to pull him back towards the street.
“Miles, we’re not leaving without you. We’re here to take you home.” Miles pulled his arm back, breaking Maggie’s grasp on his sleeve, and looked her in the eye.
“No, I can’t. This thing keeps showing up, and I have to stop it, or at least know why it’s here.”
“Stop it? With what, your brain power and your fists? So scary.” Miles glared at Riley’s smug face, and was about to respond when Maggie pulled on his sleeve again.
“Maggie, I’m not going back.”
“That’s not the problem. Look.” Maggie was pointing at something behind him, and when Riley saw it, her face went ghostly white. Miles gulped and slowly turned around to come face to face with the creature that he had been chasing all day. Being so close to it, he could clearly see it’s face, with its red beady eyes, its jagged teeth, and the black body that didn’t really have a shape, but moved around as the creature moved itself.
“Well, um, Miles, what’s your plan on how to deal with this?” Riley’s voice came out soft and shaky as she tried to keep her composure together.
“I know exactly what to do...RUN!” Miles didn’t have to say that twice before the three of them were racing out of the alleyway and down the street. None of them dared to look behind them, but they all knew the creature was right on their tails.
“Nice plan Miles!”
“I panicked. I really didn’t think I’d get that far...” Riley was about ready to explode at Miles.
“Are you kidding me? You went chasing after that....thing without a plan?”
“I was in a hurry. I didn’t exactly have time to come up with something. I thought an idea would come to me when I was chasing after it.”
“You are the most reckless person I have ever met. You could have gotten yourself killed out there.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t, and-“
“Would you two just SHUT UP! Besides, I think we lost it.” Riley and Miles looked behind the, to see that Maggie was right. The creature was nowhere to be seen. They both came to a stop and leaned up against a nearby wall to catch their breath. Miles turned towards Riley and continued his previous thought.
“What I was going to say was that while I was chasing after it, I actually noticed some things about it that might be important. Like, it can’t go near light or else it will get burned, and it has the ability to transport, but you can see a bit of black appear in the spot where it’s about to teleport. You know, things that might actually help us next time.” Riley, who had been looking down at her feet, whipped her head up to stare at Miles.
“Next time? What do you mean next time? There’s no way we’re going after it again.”
“That’s fine. You don’t have to, but I am.”
“Miles, are you crazy? We just barely got away from that thing! Next time, it could kill you.”
“Exactly. It’s dangerous. If it doesn’t kill me, then it could kill one of you guys, or one of our dads, or anyone in this town. Someone’s got to do something about it, and it might as well be me.”
“Do you even know how to defeat it?”
“.......no, but I can figure that out, and I need your help with that,” he turned towards Maggie and smiled at her, “Both of you. I can’t do this alone.” Maggie smiled back at Miles, and stuck her hand out.
“I’m in.” Mikes placed his hand on top of Maggie’s, and then they both turned towards Riley, who had a bewildered look on her face.
“You guys are crazy. Crazy and stupid. There’s no way I’m going through with this.” Miles sighed and twisted his face in annoyance, before finally accepting that there was no other way.
“I hate to admit this, but you are the smartest one here. You’re intelligent, logical, and really clever, and we need all of those things. If anyone’s going to know how to correctly pronounce Latin or understand what’s written in those books, it’s you. So, what do you say?” Riley looked between the two, trying to find some way to say no, but something inside her knew that everything Miles was saying was true. They were the only ones who could do something. So, she walked over to the two, and placed her hand on top.
“Alright, fine, I’m in. With one condition: we need a plan.” Miles gave her a rare genuine smile, and then looked back at Maggie.
“On three, we yell out the supernatural squad.”
“There’s no way we’re calling ourselves that.” Miles rolled his eyes at Riley and raised an eyebrow at her.
“Where’s your sense of fun? Or do you not have one?” Riley glared at Miles, who held back a laugh before starting the countdown.
“One, two, three...”
“The Supernatural Squad.” The three of them raised their hands in the air, and Miles pumped his fist a few times before let out a whoop. Maggie let out a loud bubble of laughter, and Riley tried to hold hers back, but lost the battle when she looked at Miles’s ridiculous face.
“Alright, while this was entertaining, we really need to get back. It’s almost time for dinner, and your dad has no idea we’re gone.”
“Wait, Riley Winchester, the goody two shoes, snuck out of the house?”
“Oh, shut up. I’m not as much of a stick in the mud as you think I am.”
“Wow, I never thought I’d see the day.” Riley rolled her eyes and punched Miles in the shoulder, who faked being in pain, which only annoyed Riley further.
When their house came into view, an idea popped into Miles’s head.
“Hey, wanna race?”
“No, I’m good. I’ve had enough running for today.”
“Oh, I see. Guess you’re too chicken. Scared you’ll lose?” Miles speed up a little turned around, and started making clucking noises towards Riley.
“Alright, you’re on, but it’ll be at the expense of your pride.” Riley speed up and passed by Mikes, who laughed and caught right up to her.
“Hey, guys, wait up!” Maggie started running to catch up with them and the three of them raced home, their laughter the only sound echoing through the night.
The Next Day
“Come on Riley! We’re going to be late!” Miles yelled out the car window as Riley sauntered to the car, her bag hanging loosely off her shoulder. When she made it to the car, she walked around to the other side and climbed into the passenger seat.
“Calm down. It’s not like there’s a time limit to finding whatever this creature is.” Miles turned the key in the ignition, and the car sparked to life. He put it in drive, and took a left to get out of the school parking lot.
“I know, but the sooner we can get out there, the better. I have a feeling whatever that thing is only gets nastier at night.” He put on his left blinker, and turned onto the street, making his way back home. The two of them sat in silence for a while, Riley on her phone and Miles’s attention on the road, until Riley glanced up at Miles determined face, and sighed as she placed her phone down on her lap.
“Hey Miles? Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure. Go ahead.”
“Why are you so caught up in this thing?”
“What do you mean?”
“All of it. The creature, the books, the basement, everything. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s cool, but you’re kind of obsessed. It’s all you seem to talk about.” Miles didn’t take his eyes off the road, so Riley couldn’t see his face, but she could see his grip on the steering wall tighten.
“I don’t know. I guess....maybe it’s because people always tell me I have to do something with my life. My dad says I have to go to a good college and get a good job, my teachers tell me to put more effort into my work and actually try or I’ll never do anything with my life, my friends all have plans for their lives, and...I have nothing. Then this comes along, and I realize this is my chance to finally do something that would make a difference. Even if no one knew about it, I would still know that I did something important. That I wasn’t just....nothing.” Riley didn’t really know how to respond to that, so they just sat in the car in silence the rest of the way home. When they pulled to a stop in their driveway, Riley turned towards Miles and looked him in the eyes.
“You know, you don’t have to risk your life going after some monster just to prove that you’re worth something. I know you can do so many other amazing things.” Miles looked up at Riley, and started to open his mouth to say something, but then decided against it and climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Riley watched him walk up to the front door, and slowly pull it open before stepping inside. She let out a long sigh before climbing out of the car herself and following him inside.
She found Maggie sitting on the couch, her face serious and focused, but her eyes sparkling with excitement. She wanted to smile at what she saw, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She knew that no matter what she said, she wouldn’t change either of their minds about doing this, so all she could do is go along and make sure neither of them got hurt. Sure, she could easily stay home, because what could she do if they got in trouble, but she couldn’t just let them go. It was her sister and her cousin who felt like a brother after all.
“Hey, Riley, look what I found!” Maggie held up a large brown book with some writing on the front that was most likely Latin. Riley headed over to the couch and sat down next to Maggie, and Miles followed and sat on Maggie’s other side.
“Where did you get that?”
“From the basement. You guys were taking forever to get home, so I decided to go ahead and search through the basement and find some stuff that we could use. This looked useful.”
“How did you get in there? I thought the door locked behind us?”
“I may or may not have figured out how to pick a lock.” Riley immediately turned her attention to Miles and glared at him.
“Seriously Miles?”
“Hey, none of that was me. I didn’t teach her how to pick a lock.”
“He’s telling the truth. I figured it out myself, since Miles refused to show me. Anyways, what I wanted to show you was this.” Maggie opened up the book to a page in the middle of the book, a certain familiar looking drawing sat in the middle of it.
“That’s the creature we keep seeing.” Maggie smiled up at Miles, and handed him the book so he could take a closer look.
“You’re the supernatural expert hear? Know what this means?”
“How do you expect me to know what any of this means? I’ve just been seeing some of these creatures around, not taking a lesson in Latin.” Riley groaned and ripped the book out of his hands.
“Just give it to me. Let me take a look.”
“Oh, and you just happen to know Latin.”
“No, but after what you said last night, I decided to do a little research, so I’m just going to see if any of this triggers something in my memory.” Riley began to scour the page, looking for anything that seemed familiar, and Maggie leaned over to look at it as well. Miles couldn’t see the page anymore since it was so rudely ripped out of his hands, so he stood up and leaned over the couch to get a better view of it.
“Here. Lux means light, which probably refers to what you were saying before about how the creature can’t get near light. Also, this word means travel, which is probably talking about how it can teleport, but that’s all I really recognize.”
“Great, so no new information.”
“Well, I tried my best. I’m not exactly a Latin expert. Isn’t there something down there that‘s not in Latin.” Miles’s face lit up, and he bolted away and down the stairs towards the basement. Maggie looked over at Riley and she simply just shrugged her shoulders. A minute later, I,es cane racing back up the stairs with the black book in hand.
“I remember that. It was that book on the podium from 2 years ago.” Miles sat back down next to Maggie, and flipped through some of the pages, looking for a certain one.
“When we were down there, I remember briefly glancing through this book, and it was written in English instead of Latin, so we might be able to get something out of here.” He let out a quiet yes when he finally found the page he was looking for. The three of them leaned over the book and stared down at the page with the same picture as the other book, but the surrounding text was in English, although the handwriting was kind of messy.
“What kind of name is that?” Maggie was pointing towards the top of the name, where a word in Latin was written.
“I’m guessing it’s probably the name of the creature, but I have no idea what it says.” Miles read down the rest of the page, and something in the middle stood out to her.
“Hey guys, look at that. It’s apparently a type of demon.”
“Really? It doesn’t look like one.”
“It says it’s really rare, but it’s classified here as a demon, so who are we to judge.”
“Okay, but how does that help us?”
“Well, you see, I know how to kill a demon.”
“What exactly is a pentagram?”
“Well, it’s a symbol that you draw on the ground, and then put salt around it in a circle, and once you get the demon inside it, you can trap it. Then, you recite a Latin incantation from this book, and boom, the demon’s dead. Or at least I think it is. I’m not really sure what happens to it after that.”
“Hey, guys, shouldn’t we have a plan? You know, a way so that we don’t die.”
“We do have a plan. We’ll draw the circle, put down the salt, trap it, and kill it.”
“Alright, that’s an idea, but how do you plan to execute it.”
“Well, I guess we’re going to improvise.” Riley groaned and dropped her head to her chest.
“Yeah, we’re going to die.” Maggie dropped back a bit to walk beside Riley, and nudged her in the arm.
“Have a little faith in him. It might not sound like much, but he knows more about this than either of us do, and I’m sure he wouldn’t go after it unless he knew what he was doing.”
“I sure hope you’re right.” The two of them caught back up to Miles, who had stopped to sit down on a bench.
“Miles, what are you doing?” Mikes looked up, and motioned for the two of them to come over.
“Riley, I need your help in reading this.”
“Are you kidding me?! You don’t even know how to read the Latin? Isn’t that like most of your plan?”
“Well, we’re here know, so just help me figure this out.” Riley sighed, but sat down next to him and the two of them tried their best in how to pronounce the Latin.
“Wait, why don’t we use Google translate?”
“If our whole plan depends on the accuracy of Google translate, I know we’re doomed.” Maggie, who was standing behind the bench, listening to the two of them argue, heard a cry come from behind her. She turned around to see a young boy in a hoodie limp into an alleyway, crying out for help. Maggie glanced back at the two, who were still buried in the book, and decided it was the right thing to do. She quietly snuck away and ran towards the young boy.
There’s no harm in helping him. I can’t just leave him alone when he seems to be in pain...
Maggie followed the boy into the alleyway, and saw him standing in front of her. She cleared her throat, but he didn’t turn around.
“Ummm, hello? Are you okay? I came to help. Are you hurt?” He finally started to turn around, but what she found wasn’t exactly a young boy. His skin was tan like a human’s, but his eyes were bright red, and his hair was our white. He smiled at Maggie, and took off his hood to reveal two giant horns, one on either side of his head.
“Hello little girl. Thank you so much for coming to my rescue, but I’m not the one who needs it.” He started to come closer, and Maggie started to back away as fast as she could, but bumped into something else behind her. She turned to see another being standing in front of her. Like the other one, she had fair skin, like a human, but her eyes were bright blue, and her hair was our white. Two horns sat on either side of her head as well, but they were much smaller. Maggie gulped and knew this was where her life ended. There was no way to escape, since she was completely blocking the exit, and the other one was closing in on her. Maggie closed her eyes and waited for it to be over, but instead she heard a voice.
“Dante, leave her alone.” Maggie opened her eyes to see the girl staring the down the boy, who had stopped midway in his attack.”
“Oh, come on Isa, it was just a snack.”
“Come on, you’re smarter than that. If we kill any humans, we’ll just be signaling for hunters to come looking for us. It’d be better to just leave her alone.”
“....but she‘s seen us now. We can’t just let her go.” Isa glanced down at Maggie, and raised an eyebrow.
“She’s like 10. Who’s going to believe her if she’s talking about seeing people with horns?” Dante glared at Isa, but evidently scoffed at her, and walked out of the alleyway, making sure to throw a glare at Isa before he turned and left. Isa went to follow him, but Maggie yelled out to her before she could leave.
“Thank you.” Isa looked back at Maggie, and looked as if she was contemplating something, but turned her back towards Maggie and motioned for her to follow her.
“Come on, I’ll show you the way out.” Isa continued walking out of the alleyway, and turned the corner, leaving Maggie standing alone in the darkness of the alleyway. Although she wasn’t sure it was the safest thing to do, she didn’t want to be stuck there all alone. So, she hurried after Isa. However, what she saw made her jaw drop. What used to be regular pave streets lined with small shops was now a vast, open landscape, filled with sharp rocks and deep ravines as far as the eye could see. They stood on top of a cliff, looking down at the land below them which was crawling with different creatures that Maggie could never have even dreamed of.
“I don’t understand. What is this place? How did we get here?”
“Well, in order to get to your world, we had to open a portal, and when you walked into the alleyway, you must have accidentally crossed through it.” Maggie whipped around to face Isa, her eyes widened in horror.
“Wait, are you saying that I’m in hell?!”
“Well, technically it’s not hell, that’s just what you humans call it, but yes. I know this probably isn’t where you want to be, so I’ll show you the way out.”
“Why couldn’t we just go back through the portal we came through?”
“Unfortunately, every portal closes up once we come back, in order to keep the world safe from any unwanted visitors. I would open up another one here, but my magic is drained, so I’ll bring you to someone who can. He controls the magic and portals here, so we should be able to get his help in opening up another one to get you home.” Isa started to walk away from the cliff’s edge, and down towards the ground, and Maggie stayed as close to her as she could. No matter how scary a demon may sound, she was probably a lot friendlier than the other creatures lurking on the ground. When they got down towards the ground, Isa began walking through the open land, each step bring her closer to those other creatures, and Maggie refused to take another step. When Isa realized Maggie wasn’t behind her, she turned around to see that Maggie hadn’t moved an inch.
“What’s the problem?”
“Don’t you see those creatures over there?” Maggie pointed towards them, and Isa’s eyes followed until they landed on the creatures in the distance.
“Oh, those are harmless. Sure, they look menacing, but they won’t attack you as long as I’m with you.” With those words, Maggie clutched onto Isa’s arm, and Isa sighed and mumbled under her breath before continuing on their trek
As they passed by the creatures, Maggie realized that Isa was right. The creatures simply ignored them and continued on their way. Maggie eventually let go of Isa’s arm and marveled at the sight all around her. A gigantic creature flew above her head, it’s body green and blue, and transparent, shining in the light as it passed overhead. Maggie glanced over at Isa to see her smiling at her, but when Isa caught her gaze, she quickly turned away.
“Hey, I just want to say thanks.”
“For what?”
“For saving me back there, and for helping me get out of here. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Well, it’s not like you’re a threat, so what is the harm. Plus, I guess sometimes it’s nice to help people.” Isa looked over at Maggie, who had a confused look on her face.
“Yeah, I get it, who would think that a demon might be something other than pure evil.”
“No, that’s not it.” Isa raised an eyebrow at Maggie, not believing her at all.
“Okay, so maybe, but in our world, demons aren’t exactly kind creatures. No offense.”
“No, it’s fine. We don’t exactly have the best reputation. Especially with how my dad’s running things.
“You’re dad?”
“Yeah, he’s like the king here. Actually, he’s more like a leader, but you know what I mean. He basically runs the place.”
“Wow. That must be a lot to live up to.”
“No kidding. Everybody expects me to be exactly like my dad, to be a fierce, merciless leader, but I’m not sure if I’m cut out for it. I don’t want to be merciless, or kill humans, or lead an attack against humanity and envelop it in darkness, which isn’t really normal here. Other demons see me as weak. Maybe I am.” Maggie, who had been walking beside her quietly, frowned a bit at the last words.
“I don’t think it makes you weak. I think it makes you good. You kind of sound like a normal human being, which I guess can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. I guess what I’m trying to say is, no matter who or what you are, or what legacy you may have, there’s no rules that say you have to follow it. Al, you can do is go with what you know and what you believe in. That’s always been my motto.” Isa stared at the young girl beside her, dumbfounded by the words that came out of her mouth.
“Wow, that’s actually really good advice.”
“Surprised That It ca e from a 12 year old, right?”
“I’d be lying if I said no.” Maggie giggled, and it was the most pure sound that Isa had ever heard. Never in her life had she ever had a soft spot for anyone, but when it came to Maggie, she would protect her at all costs. The thought took her a back a bit, being so foreign in her mind, but she didn’t exactly hate it.
“Is this what you were looking for?” Maggie had stopped in front of a large castle, it’s tall, black towers looming over them.
“Yup, this is the place. Welcome to my home.”
“THIS is where you live?”
“Well, there’s got to be some perks to be the daughter of the demon king. Who, speaking of, I’d really like to avoid right now, so let’s sneak around the back.” Isa motioned for Maggie to follow as they made their way around the castle until they reached a secret door towards the back. Isa quietly opened it, and the two of them snuck inside. In front of them loomed a long hallway, darkness filling most of it except for the torches lining the wall that cast out faint beams of light.
“This is the basement of the castle. No one really uses it anymore, since there’s nothing down here, except for the one person we need to see.” Isa pried one of the torches off the wall and used it to light their way through the tunnel. They passed by a dozen different wooden door before Isa stopped in one toward the end of the hallway. She knocked on it a few times before it was opened a sliver. A pair of yellow eyes peered out at them through the crack, and when they landed on Isa, the door was pulled open wider, revealing who the eyes belonged to. A young demon stood in the middle of the doorway, beaming at Isa. His hair was pitch black, and very messy. His eyes seemed to glow even brighter than before, the yellow piercing and bright, and his skin was much paler than Isa’s. Two horns stuck out from his wild hair and curled a bit inwards, creating almost a halo look.
“Hello Isa. What brings you here?”
“I have a favor to ask of you. I need you to create a portal for me to the human world.”
“Hey Ralvik. Oh, why do you need one? I though you had just opened one not that long ago.”
“Well, I kind of brought someone back with me by accident.” Ralvik looked out around a Isa and saw Maggie standing behind her.
“Are you crazy? Did you seriously bring a human here? If you had gotten caught, you would be in so much trouble, and she probably would have been killed.”
“I know. I didn’t mean to. I just need to get her back, which is why I need your help.”
“Well, Alright, come inside. I can open up a portal for her to get home.” Ralvik turned back into the room, and Isa was about to before Maggie pulled in her arm.
“Are you sure we can trust him? I thought you said demons like to kill humans?”
“Trust me, he’s harmless. Helps one of the good ones.” Maggie was still a little wary, but nonetheless, she wanted to get home, so she followed Isa inside. The room was pretty cluttered, books and cauldrons and papers scattered everywhere.
“Alright, I know that book is somewhere around here....Aha!” Ralvik pulled a book from off a table in the corner and opened it up to one of the pages in the middle. He looked down at the page and started reading off some Latin words. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then a large black portal appeared in the middle of the room.
“This should lead you back to where you were before, but we’ll hope for the best.” Maggie made her way over to the portal,Manx was about to step through, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Isa smiling down at her.
“Wait, why are you coming with me?”
“Portals are tricky things to navigate through. One wrong turn and you’ll end up somewhere completely different. I’m just seeing you through to make sure you get back in one piece.” So, with that, the two of them stepped through together.
When they stepped out of the portal, they were back in the same alleyway where she had first met Isa. Maggie turned towards her and smiled.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. Just go find your family.”
“MAGGIE!” Maggie looked behind her to see Miles and Riley running into the alleyway, panic written all over their faces. They came racing towards her, and Riley practically pushed Mikes out of the way to get to Maggie. She kneeled down and wrapped her arms around Maggie in a hug so tight that she couldn’t breath. Miles kneeled down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Maggie, you can’t run off like that. We were so scared that you were hurt, or in trouble.”
“Guys, I’m fine. I had help from my friend.” Maggie motioned towards Isa, and when Miles caught sight of her, he suddenly jumped up and stood in front of Maggie and Riley.
“Maggie, get away from here. She’s dangerous.” Maggie broke free from Riley’s death grip, and tugged on Miles’s sleeve.
“No, it’s okay. She helped me out. She’s not dangerous.” Mikes leaned down to be eye level with Maggie and gripped her arms.
“Maggie, I know she might not look dangerous, but she’s one of those creatures. She’s not like us, which makes her dangerous.” Miles glared at Isa, who glared right back, and Maggie pulled her arms out of Miles’s grip.
“If you would just give her a chance, you’d see-“
“No. We’re leaving, before she can attack us.”
“Well then ask yourself this: why hasn’t she attacked us yet? We’ve given her plenty of time, plenty of opportunities, but she hasn’t, and she’s not going to.”
“You don’t know that. She could be waiting for something, or...I don’t know. Let’s just get out of here, before you make friends with more “friendly” creatures.” Miles grabbed Maggie’s arm and pulled her out of the alleyway, with Riley right on their heels. Once they were out on the street, Maggie pulled away from Miles’s grasp and sulked away. Mikes was about to go after her when Riley pulled him aside.
“Let her go. She’s not happy with you.”
“I’m sorry that I had to upset her, but it was for her own safety.”
“I get where you were coming from, I was worried to, but don’t you think you were a bit too harsh on her?” A guilty look came over Miles’s face, and he glanced over at Maggie, who had walked over to the bench they were sitting on earlier, her legs dangling off the edge.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled at her...” He trailed off on his though when he saw Isa come running towards them. When she got closer, Miles faced towards her and stared her down.
“What are you doing here? We left you alone, now leave us alone.”
“Listen, I know you don’t trust me, and quite frankly, I don’t trust you. However, I like Maggie enough that it overthrows how I feel about you. So, I came to warn you.” Mikes scoffed at her, his stance tense and ready to attack at the slightest movement.
“Why would we trust you?” Isa just shrugged her shoulders.
“You can’t. Believe me or not, that’s your decision, but this is my way of thanking Maggie for being so kind to me.” At this point, Maggie had walked over from the bench to see what was going on, and when she heard what Isa said, a small smile creeped onto her face.
“Listen, my father opened up a portal here about 2 years ago-“
“2 years ago?”
“Yeah, does than have any importance to you?”
“Kind of...”
“Well, anyways, my father opened up the portal, and now he’s finally ready to use it to bring over his army to attack this world.” Maggie, who was still upset at Miles, looked over at Riley and frowned.
“Does that mean this is our fault? Since we let out that creature 2 years ago?”
“Wait, you guys are the Winchester kids?”
“Yeah, why? Have you heard of us?”
“Of course I have. Both of your dads are the notorious Winchester brothers. Super famous supernatural hunters. Everybody knows about them, and about you three. Oh, wow, if my dad got you guys-“
“See, I knew it, you were planning to turn us over to your father this whole time. You were just waiting for an opportunity.”
“If I was planning to capture you guys, wouldn’t I have done it by know, instead of wasting time talking to you?”
“Ummmm....is anyone else going to talk about how our fathers are supernatural hunters?” Miles ignored Riley as he went charging towards Isa. She was able to stop him just in time by blocking his fists and trying to push him back.
“Hey, I don’t want to fight you?”
“Yeah, well I do. I’m not going to let you hurt my family.” While she was distracted, Miles picked up his leg and gave a swift kick to Isa’s stomach, sending her flying backwards. Miles caught his breath as Isa picked herself off the ground. Her eyes landed on Miles, and her face twisted into something filled with nothing but pure anger.
“Fine. If you want a fight, I’ll give you the fight of your life. Hope you’ve got a resurrection spell in that little book of yours, because you’re not coming out of this alive.” Isa launched herself at Miles, her eyes filled with determination focused one one goal. She landed a good punch to his stomach, sending him flying backwards with her superhuman strength, and crashing into the hard paved road. Miles let out a loud hiss as his arm scraped against the pavement, and blood trickled down his arm, creating a small pool of blood on the ground. When he was vulnerable, Isa went for another attack, but Miles knew it was coming this time, and picked himself off the ground and blocked it. He swooped beneath her punch and wrapped his arms around her waist, surprising her and throwing her off balance, giving Mikes the ground to get some force to push her back against a nearby brick wall. He let go of her with one hand and used it to grab hold of her shirt as he pushed her back against the wall. Isa struggled against his grasp, but she couldn’t get any traction on the ground. Mikes pulled his other fist back and punched her right in the face, as hard as he could, and a sickening crack echoed through the air. When he pulled his fist back, blood started trickling down from her nose, and it was all red and puffed, which meant it was most likely broken. Something inside him told him to stop, that this wasn’t him, but he pushed that voice away and went in for another swing. However, his arm was stopped midway, and he looked back to see Maggie pulling his arm back, tears streaming down her face.
“Miles, please stop. I can’t...watch this anymore. Just....please.” Her words were caught between sobs as the tears ran down her face faster and faster. Miles felt something in his heart break a little at seeing his little cousin so distraught over something he had done.
“Maggie, I....” Miles loosened his grip on Isa’s shirt, which was enough for her to get loose and go after him again, knocking him to the ground, and pinning him down with her body weight. Maggie jumped out of the way, and tried to cry out to Isa.
“Isa, no! He just doesn’t understand. It was all a misunderstanding. Just stop fighting.”
“No, Maggie...I can’t...fight it....the dark urges.....in me.” Between her words, she landed blow after blow on Miles, her punches become more sloppy the angrier she got. Bruises started blooming all over his face, and his will to struggle started slipping away as he began to lose consciousness.
“It doesn’t have to be like this. You were telling me earlier that you couldn’t change, but I don’t believe that. Nobody is born evil, no matter who they are or where they grow up. Everyone has the ability to change, including you, so don’t give in to it.” Isa stopped her punch midway, Maggie’s words finally making it to her ears, and they hit her hard. Maggie walked over to Isa, and grabbed onto her wrist, looking her straight in the eyes.
“You can fight it.” Isa stared at this little girl kneeling in front of her with so much more kindness and wisdom than she would ever have, and something in her broke, like a dam finally letting the water flow out, and she let Maggie pull her fist down to her side. Isa stood up and walked away from Miles, leaving him laying on the ground, blood dripping off his head and landing on the ground around him.
“I’ll let you guys go, but please just leave. I don’t want any of you to get hurt, especially knowing how my father is. Just get out of here.” Miles, who had finally regained consciousness, heard Isa’s words, but whatever kindness he had in his heart had been clouded over with his hatred and anger, and none of it mattered to him. Not her words, not her actions, nothing. The only thing was his disillusion that she had evil intentions, and this was all part of some evil plan. Fighting her wasn’t going to do anything, so he had no other choice. Miles pulled a gun out of his coat pocket, and fired it at Isa. However, Maggie had seen it in time, and launched her self at Miles, pushing him to the ground and causing the bullet to go off course. While it missed its intended target of Isa’s head, it did hit her arm. Isa yelled out in pain, and fell to her knees, clutching her arm.
“I...I don’t understand. How can a man made weapon hurt me? It’s just a gun, I should be healing right now.”
“The thing is, this isn’t just any gun. It was my grandfather’s gun. It’s called the Colt, and it’s bullets can kill any creature, no matter how strong or powerful they may be.” Miles got ready to fire another bullet, but Maggie jumped in front of him before he could pull the trigger.
“Miles, stop. What happened to you? What is wrong with you? She has done nothing but help me and try to defend herself from you, and you can’t seem to get that through your thick skull. You can’t just kill people without giving them a chance to prove themselves, but you’ve become so obsessed with this twisted sense of justice you have that you’ve lost all ration thought or logic.” Riley, who had been standing off to the sidelines, walked over next to Maggie and looked Miles dead straight in the eye.
“Miles, listen to Maggie. This isn’t right. I don’t really trust her either, but you can’t kill her. What happened to the kid who was so fascinated by life, who wanted to help others, who would have done anything to protect people, no matter who they were. Where did that Miles go, because he’s not here.”
“Just shut up, both of you. You don’t understand, I’m still here. It’s still the same Miles. I would do anything to protect you guys, and all of humanity, but she’s not part of humanity. She!s the enemy. All of those supernatural creatures are. They are nothing but evil beings that want to go around killing all their enemies with no sense of mercy.”
“No Miles, that’s you.” Riley’s words hit Miles like an arrow in the chest, and his eyes widened in horror. His hands started shaking so badly that he dropped the gun, the clattering of it on the ground the only sound in the empty street. Miles collapsed onto the ground, the realization of his actions finally hitting him full force.
What have I done....What have I become?
“Well, what do we have here?” Miles pulled himself out of his mental breakdown and turned around to see what was probably the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. Thousands upon thousands of demons stood in front of him, so many that they created a barrier that blocked the setting sun in the distance. Their black bodies seemed to meld together, with the only thing separating them glowing eyes of red, yellow and blue, and menacing smiles that seemed to loom down over them. Out from the wall came the most terrifying looking demon of all. His long white hair had been s hot he’d in several places, creating black rimmed holes throughout it.
His skin was sickly pale, and a long scar ran through his right eye, going from his forehead to the side of his nose, sand his eye was mangled. His other eye was piercing blue, and looked as cold as the icy blue that they glowed. His horns were pure black, but on of the end had been broken off, making them look a little uneven. He stared down at the three kids in front of him, and his smile sent shivers down all three of their backs. Miles quickly scrambled backwards until he bumped into Riley and Maggie, who held him steady and they all cowards together as the demon moved closer, his smile growing bigger with each step.
“My, my, what lovely children you are. It’s such a shame that you’ll have to be the first to go, but alas, I’m afraid I can’t let you three go.”
“Dad...” The demon looked over to see Isa laying on the ground, having collapsed from the amount of pain coursing through her body. The demon pushed the three children aside to hurry over to his daughter’s side.
“Isa, what happened?” He leaned down beside her, and saw where she was clutching her arm. The bullet was still lodged in there, and it was starting to bleed really badly.
“Who did this to you?” That’s when he spotted the gun laying a few feet away, and it all clicked in. He turned back towards the three children, his eyes having grown even colder than before, and started charging towards them so fast that in the blink of an eye, he was right in front of them, grabbing Miles by the shirt and pulling him up until they were eye level.
“You did this to her, didn’t you? You hurt Isa, didn’t you?” His voice seethed with so much anger that it made Miles want to cry on the inside from fear.
“Dad, no, please, it was a misunderstanding. It’s not...”
“Not what? Not their fault? Oh, Isa, you will soon learn that it is always their fault, their intention, to harm and kill us. There is not a single one of them that is good. They will pay dearly for how they have treated you.” The demon threw Miles down onto the ground, but the pain of hitting the pavement didn’t matter to him at the moment.
Was that really what I sounded like? Does that mean....I’m just like him?
“However, you three deserve more than what I could do to you. So, I’ll let the rest of them decide what to do with you.” The demon looked around at the rest of the army, and pointed at the three kids huddled on the ground.
“Soldiers....attack.” The entire army launched towards them at once, and the three of them let out blood curdling screams.
Then everything was dark.