Sleepovers were the bane of Julia’s existence. A bunch of girls gossiping about boys or celebrities and then there were the projects that all the good Pinterest moms had tried to set up. This time, they had to make their own salads and salad dressing. Actually, the fact that Britney’s mom had also made a watchlist of appropriate movies for their age group and made them party favors was worse than the salad tossing part of the party.
Maybe it would’ve been better with friends, but Julia didn’t know either of the two girls who were here. Britney was her sister's friend, and Mio was… Julia didn’t know. She knew that she was often bullied at their school, and that was about it. What was certain was that Mio wasn’t comfortable here, probably because Britney had bullied her into coming, and her saddened face was making Britney’s mother try all the harder to breathe life into the party.
“Holy shit, mom! When are you leaving?!” Britney stamped her foot on the ground.
Her mother flustered over the details. “When you said that you were having friends over, I thought there would be more of them. Now I worry that you’ll be inviting boys over after I leave.”
“... Oh my god.” Britney covered her face with her hands.
“I just don’t want to come back to some sort of,” she lowered her voice, “orgy…”
“Oh my god! Mom!” Britney began to flail her arms about. “Just go!”
Her mother flustered again. “And you have Aunt Mimi’s cell number in case I don’t answer my phone? I put all of the emergency numbers on the fridge, and you have to order pizza by nine-thirty if you want to get it on time.”
“Mom!” Britney inhaled sharply between her teeth in order to calm herself down. “Let’s go to the basement,” she said to the other two.
Julia was torn between not wanting to be trapped in the basement with these two or watching Britney argue with her mom more. She chose to silently follow, with Mio lagging behind her. They headed down the stairs and were greeted by an overdose of color. Britney’s mom had put up decorations, and it was like a holographic unicorn had vomited over the room.
Britney began to toss sleeping bags aside and tear down anything that was in the way. “Just get everything together already, Mio!”
Mio set down a bag that she had been carrying down by the base of the stairs. She began to dig through it and pulled out a jar of red liquid and a paintbrush. “Do you have the paper?”
“Yeah, somewhere.” Britney began to look through an old desk that had been abandoned down here ages ago. She retrieved a piece of paper and handed it to Mio. It was of an arcane circle with a three-pointed star at the center.
Mio took this and began to draw on the floor. While she did that, Britney went upstairs, and Julia lingered nearby. She was watching Britney as she worked. “That doesn’t look like blood.” The substance was opaque and the shade of red that comically red rather than blood red.
“They didn’t have pig blood at the market,” muttered Mio. “I think it will work fine. I read everything, and I think I can make it work.”
“Okay, good.” Julia nodded a few times to herself before she sat down in a nearby bean bag chair.
She was the mellow one of the trio. Her sister, Kara, was the one who was outgoing and likable. Julia wore plaid and didn’t bother to wear makeup or contacts, while Kara was a cheerleader with bright and bubbly Britney. Kara drowned her hair with chemicals and dye to keep it straight and colorful, and Julia kept hers natural.
Mio was similar to how she was. Tiny, mouse-like, and didn’t stand out all that much. While Julia wasn’t someone people wanted to deal with Mio was the type who got ordered about. Black Bear High didn’t have many students, and Roosevelt, Oregon was a small town near the Cascade Mountains. While there were few people of color, there were even fewer Asians. She tended to get bossed about by stereotypes often because of it.
A thumping down the stairs signaled Britney’s return. She had changed into an old sweatshirt because she didn’t want to make make a mess of her good clothes. “That doesn’t look like blood,” she said in a harsh tone.
“She said that it’ll work,” replied Julia in an equally harsh tone.
Mio nodded in order to confirm Julia’s words. She pulled out a bag of bonito flakes and began to sprinkle them along the lines of the arcane circle. The papery texture and pink coloration made the incantation appear unreasonably festive.
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“... There is no way in hell that that is going to work,” quipped Britney.
“It’s fine,” hissed back Julia.
Mio rubbed her fingers together to get rid of the last of the bonito flake does. “I’m done,” she muttered quietly.
“Thank god,” said Britney with a roll of her eyes. “Let’s get into position and get this over with.” They each stood near a point of the star and held out their hands towards the center. “Sar resh warhi. Bel tamu.”
Nothing happened. Britney shot a glare to Mio, who took a step back away from the circle. “It really should have worked!” She put her hands to her mouth as she looked upward.
The other two looked up and saw that a black dust had begun to trickle down from the ceiling. Each clump was progressively becoming bigger and bigger until it looked like feathers were falling down. Suddenly an explosion of blood began to fall down, and all three girls let out a scream and ducked for cover.
As it pooled upon the ground, the blood sprouted red tendrils that began to scoop up the liquid and feathers alike. They twisted together and grew upward, forming into the shape of a man. From a distance, he would look average, but the oddities grew when one drew nearer.
His hoodie was made of small black feathers, and he kept his hands within the pockets of it. On his face was a mask in the shape of a jerboa, and a long, furry tail swished behind him for a moment before he withdrew it into his hoodie and wrapped it about his waist. The large black eyes of the mask weren’t looking at the girls, but rather at the arcane circle below him.
He stooped down and pulled out a hand from his pocket. His fingers were unnaturally long and boney, and he had black talons instead of fingernails. The pad of his finger swiped at the red liquid before he took a long sniff at it.
“... Is this ketchup?”
“You used fucking ketchup?!” Britney began to flail her arms about the air. “You were supposed to go buy blood at the store!”
“They didn’t have any blood,” squeaked Mio in return. “All the paper said was that there needed to be a sacrifice of flesh, and we had some bonito flakes at home, so…”
Britney scoffed at the idea. “Like you’re going to believe whatever something you got off the internet is going to tell you, right? If it was actually correct, don’t you think everyone would have summoned their own personal demon by now?”
“Y-you’re the one who gave me the paper in the first place,” whispered Mio.
Julia looked at the demon, who was still examining the substance rubbing his index finger and thumb together. “What matters is that it did work.”
The realization of this had Britney clapping her hands as joy overtook her. “Exactly! You’re here to serve us now. That’s what the rules said. We each get one wish.”
“You do indeed,” muttered the demon. He had a strange, guttural accent. Julia couldn’t place where he could have come from, but he didn’t seem to struggle in understanding Britney’s fast-paced speech.
Britney looked to the other two. Mio had locked up from Britney yelling at her, and Julia gestured for her to go ahead. “I need someone to take care of mom. Dad’s been out of the picture for years now, and all she does is helicopter me. Something has to be done to distract her.”
The demon reached forward and wiped his hand clean on Britney’s shoulder. She recoiled from disgust but didn’t say anything. “It will be handled,” he said in a bland tone.
“Good,” muttered Britney.
Julia sidestepped towards Mio and put a hand on her shoulder. “Go ahead,” she whispered.
“You sure?” Mio looked up at her with a set of wide eyes.
“It’s fine,” replied Julia.
Mio cleared her throat, and the demon turned towards her. “U-uhm…” She began to twist her hands behind her back. “What’s… What’s your name?”
“Are you being serious right now?” Britney put her hands on her hips.
“Let her talk,” replied Julia.
The demon leaned towards Mio, and Mio leaned away. The eyes of the mask were like an endless void, and yet at this distance, they almost seemed to be full of stars. As Mio starred into them, she almost felt like she was about to fall in.
“Trill,” he replied.
His voice snapped Mio out of her trance. “I want to be more confident.”
Lifting up his hand, Trill placed his thumb on Mio’s forehead. “... Be more confident.”
Mio blinked several times out of sheer confusion. “... Is that it?”
“Indeed.”
“... Oh, okay.” Mio took a step back, not feeling all that different at all.
It was Julia’s turn next. Aside from appearing from a pool of ash and blood, she hadn’t seen Trill do anything miraculous. She stood there, contemplating if this was actually going to solve her problem or not.
“There is no harm in asking,” whispered Trill. It was almost like he had read her thoughts. The idea of that was enough to send a shiver up Julia’s spine.
Julia took a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, if only to gather her thoughts, and opened them again. “I want the people who caused my sister’s death to suffer. Not just a punishment. I don’t want everyone to acknowledge what they did and for them to be judged because of it. They need to pay with pain. Physical pain. Can you do that?”
A glimmer happened deep within the back of Trill’s eyes, as though the stars within them had begun to twinkle with mischief. He took a step towards Julia and examined her closely, but she didn’t flinch away as the others had. She stood her ground and glared at him defiantly. Her actions amused the demon, and his thin lips spread into a cracked tooth grin.
“Yes… I believe that is a boon I can grant.”