I had a lot of energy this morning. I woke up at 6 and couldn’t fall back asleep. I ended up going on a jog for two miles and still found myself excited and nervous for the day. Adram wanted me at the address at 11. Of course I couldn’t resist looking it up on a map. I assumed he lived nearby since he referred to the place as an ‘eldery neighbor’. It was a historic part of the city, which seemed fitting for Adram.

The house we were meeting at was especially old. It looked creepy but that was mainly in context of what we were going to do there. A small house, made to last and with a lot of love. Something you don’t see anymore.

My parents were gone for the weekend traveling to Mexico so I could have the family driver take me today.

I figured out what to wear. I wanted something practical in case we ended up someplace dangerous. I wore fit pants and a light blue long sleeve blouse. I kept my hair down. It wasn’t so long that it would get in the way, I figured. I brought a hair tie just in case.

I put on a vinyl record while I waited the rest of time. With an hour to kill I’d get through the full album. I hated leaving an album unfinished.

I was restless and I reluctantly admitting to myself, anxious too. The anticipation of a new thrill inspires both trepidation and exhilaration.

At last the time came. I called my driver and we navigated through the lackadaisical traffic of the Saturday morning.

I thanked my driver and stepped out, double checking the address in the torn note page Adram gave me at the end of the school day yesterday. I knew this was the house from when I looked it up but I checked the numbers anyway.

I saw Adram walking half a block away. Pretty good timing.

He waved when he saw me and I waved back. His attire was black pants and a black shirt with a dark gray jacket.

“Ready?” He asked. Adram was not one for small talk.

“After you,” I gestured.

We went up the five steps to the front patio and Adram knocked on the door. The small yard was overgrown with bushes and vines and old wildflowers. The welcome mat was dirty and faded and at least several decades old.

The door was brown, stained with lots of black specs of dirt. I could see a platoon of ants marching through a crack in the window. The smell of baking pie escaping the house.

“She’s a bit strange.” Adram warned.

“How long have you known her?” I asked.

“Since I was born, she used to frequent my dad’s bookstore back when he had one. We’re not close, just acquainted. She’s quite the loner.”

At last we heard the scuffling of feet and a loud meow followed by some words of beratement. The lady opened the door, her voice worn by age and smoking. “Welcome dear.” She gave Adram a cursory hug and then gave one to me for consistency. “Do come in.” She invited us.

“And what’s your name, pretty one?”

“Ms. Gallahan, this is Jienne. She’ll be helping me today.” Adram answered.

The house was cluttered with old things and junk. It smelled like eucalyptus, that typical old person scent and obviously the pie.

“I’ve fresh pie cooling off in the kitchen and a brew of tea steeping. I’ll bring it when it’s done. Youngsters like yourselves should eat lots of pie.” I could tell she was a terribly isolated old lady. Her skin was wrinkled and looked more like leather than human skin.

“This is Pischiel. Say hi to our guests mister Pischiel.” Pischiel was her black cat. It hissed at us.

She berated the cat. She told us to have a seat on her couch. We did.

“He was the first to start acting up.” Ms. Gallahan explained. “That’s when I knew something went wrong.”

“Went wrong?” Adram inquired. “Did you try something?”

“Oh it was a little spell. I needed help cleaning around the house, you see.”

“You should hire a maid. Or pay some college kid to clean it.” Adram scolded.

Ms. Gallahan looked at me and laughed. “Looks like I’m in trouble.”

There was something off about her. Probably just old age and the lack of human contact progressing symptoms of mental degradation. She behaves more like a child than an old woman.

“You should know better than to summon a house spirit. What were you going for, a tomtenisse?”

She bowed her head and shook it. “A domovoi.”

My head was darting back and forth trying to comprehend these unfamiliar words.

“Domovoi are ancestor spirits. Do you have ancestors from this house?”

Ms. Gallahan looked upset. “No. I bought this place forty years ago.”

“What made you think you could summon an ancestor spirit without any ancestors here?” Adram was perhaps being a little harsh.

Ms. Gallahan’s cat came up to me and I put my hand down so he could sniff me. Pischiel decided he liked me and hopped up on the couch to rest on a pillow sitting next to me. I started to pet him and he began to purr.

“I must’ve not been thinking!” she argued.

Adram tsked. “You should always summon a tomtenisse. They are much nicer and safer.”

“I didn’t want it stealing all my things!” Ms. Gallahan said triumphantly, remembering why she summoned the domvoy-whatever over the tomte-whatever.

“You’ve got plenty of things.” Adram shot back. He was so harsh I wanted to laugh and cringe at the same time.

I gave him a look to try to calm him down but I don’t think he understood.

“What have you noticed?” Adram continued his questioning.

“I’ve been having these hot flashes and Pischiel will spend hours staring at the ceiling and meowing. Then he’ll start scratching at the floor like he’s trying to put a crack in the house. I’ve been waking up with red lines and been so clumsy recently. I fell and hurt my ankle last week.”

The cat went on his back so I started to scratch his belly.

“You should have called me sooner. This is starting to sound like a serious case.” Adram said.

“Oh I didn’t want to bother you!” A timer dinged from the kitchen. “Oh that would be the pie. I’ll bring out some plates and the tea. Once we’ve had our snack we can get to the bottom of this.”

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Adram just smiled and waited for her to go to the kitchen.

“She’s stalling.” Adram whispered to me.

“For what?” I whispered back.

“Something has been alerted and is compelling her now. Probably doesn't want us here so she’ll start to evade my questions from here on out. Things might get nasty.” Adram informed me.

Ms. Gallahan was walking back and forth from the kitchen setting plates down on the coffee table in front of us.

Adram got up and started to have a look around, inspecting her various oddities.

I went back to playing with the cat when I noticed his collar had the word ‘Pascal’ written on it. Ms. Gallahan said her cat’s name was Pischiel. Odd.

I was about to tell Adram when she came back. “Pie’s done! It’s an old apple pie recipe. The tea is chamomile, it pairs perfectly together.”

I smiled at her and decided to try a bite to be polite.

“Don’t eat that.” Adram warned. “Could be poisoned.”

Ms. Gallahan looked taken aback. I can’t believe Adram said that aloud!

“Now you listen here young man!”

Adram cut her off. “You’ve been sleeping walking right? Blacking out for random hours at a time during the day. Right? You could have poisoned it without knowing. You have the herbs for it.”

Ms. Gallahan looked defeated. It must be true that she has blackouts then.

If Adram can say the pie is poisoned I can bring up that her memory of her cat’s name is wrong.

“Adram,” I called. He turned to me. “She said his name is Pischiel but his collar says Pascal.”

Adram immediately came over to me and inspected the cat who jumped away before he could get a good look at the collar.

“Ah, damn. Good catch. Of course I know its name is Pascal.” Adram looked like he was about to slap himself in the face. I felt proud that I could help, though I have no idea what the significance of this was.

Adram stood on top of the coffee table. Ms. Gallahan looked aghast. “Very clever of you,” putting extra emphasis on this next word. “Icosiel!”

The candles, lights, and curtains all shut off. The house was dark and Pischiel or Pascal’s eyes were green.

From the shadows in the corner of the living room, obstructed from view but just barely discernible was a shape of a being, tall and formally dressed.

Adram stayed standing on the table. “Using Pascal’s name to hide your duke Pischiel, very subtle. You had me fooled. Too bad I brought Jienne along.”

“An uninitiated? You even thought of that?” The voice, coming from what I assumed was the demon Adram named, was surprisingly melodic and full of intelligence.

Adram shrugged, “Happenstance, which I tend to not get in the way of. So tell me, Icosiel, what are you doing in an old lady’s house?”

“She was mis-performing a summon spell and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I am a demon of opportunity as you probably know.”

“You’re not the type to settle down, why go through the effort of full infestation and possession?” Adram asked. He spoke more conversionatally to this demon than he did to Ms. Gallahan.

“That, little human, is not your concern.”

“It is if you don’t want to get banished.” Adram threatened.

“You haven’t the means.” The demon challenged. “Pischiel here will unleash a thousand servants on you and drag you to my castle. The uninitiated girl here too.”

“Do you really want to try me? I have your name and Pischiel’s name. I can complete a summoning ritual before you call your servants. Since you came here on your own terms uninvited, Ms. Gallahan has no control, which means you're free for the summoning. You follow my logic?” Icosiel might have, I certainly did not.

The demon chuckled. “I like you. Do you have a pact? I think we could grow into a mutually beneficial partnership.”

“Tempting, but I do have a pact already.” He has a what?

“A pity.” Icosiel said.

“Tell me what you want here and perhaps we can come to an arrangement.”

Icosiel considered the offer.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll summon you anyways and find out, then you’ll be banished empty-handed. Work with me or not at all.”

“You are shrewd. Very well. I accept your offer. I want the Faclone Grimiore. How this lady ever came to possession is beyond me. But you humans have a knack for moving valuable items around the world.”

I saw Adram’s expression harden. “Ms. Gallahan is an experienced caster. She’s just getting old.”

Ms. Gallahan smacked her lips together at that last bit. Adram started so nicely with that sentence too.

Adram continued to address Icosiel. “I won’t ask what you’re doing with a Faclone Grimiore. But for this trade I want you to clean Ms. Gallahan’s house. That’s all she was trying to do anyways. You’re a house demon and value cleanliness and formality. This should be feasible for you. Do that, and I’ll instruct Ms. Gallahan to leave the grimoire outside her house the following night. You won't even have to go through the trouble of entering her home again.”

“That is a steal!” Icosiel taunted. “It’d have been weeks before I got that grimoire and you’re offering it for a night’s service! Perhaps you are foolish after all.”

“I’m not your enemy, Icosiel. Don’t give me a reason to be. If I hear from you again doing something with that grimoire I’ll banish you.”

“We have a deal!” The shadows in the house erupted and thickened. Icosiel grew in size and length and extended a shady hand to Adram. They shook and Icosiel was gone and the lights flickered back on.

Pascal was resting.

Ms. Gallahan looked both horrified and relieved. “That grimoire is one of a kind. I’ll miss it.”

“Do you even know where it is?” Adram asked.

“That tongue of yours is sharp enough to send demons fleeing, for an old woman like myself it is a true terror.” Ms. Gallahan spoke with more cunning now. She had been under the influence of the demon and acting differently. The woman was now back to what I assumed was her normal self. So when she said this there was humor and wit to it.

“Welcome back, Ms. Gallahan.” Adram smiled and got down from the table.

“I’m sorry about the pie,” she apologized to me. “There is hellebore baked into it.” She took the plates away.

“Icosiel has a sense for the dramatic,” said Adram.

“Thank you Jienne.” Ms. Gallahan started. “You are a beautiful girl, what unfortunate circumstance brought you into this rogue's life?” she said with a wink.

Adram blushed. “She wanted to come and see what it was like.” he explained before I could.

“Take this.” Ms. Gallahan handed me a small necklace. “It’s a protection charm. I made it myself.”

“Ms. Gallahan sells protection jewelry to a local oddity vendor.” Adram told me.

I took it. The design on the little silver disc was a strange array of lines and curves. It was some sort of sigil. “I’m afraid if I gave it to Adram he’d catch fire.”

I let out a small laugh but I didn’t know if that was a joke or not. I accepted the charm gratefully.

“We better head out.” Adram declared.

“Thanks again. Nice to meet you Ms. Gallahan.”

“You be nice to her.” She commanded Adram. “Lovely to meet you.” She hugged me again.

“Remember to place the grimoire the night after he cleans your house. And get this window fixed, that’s how he got in and messed with your judgement when you decided to summon a domovoi!”

“Yes yes, I’m not the bumbling fool I was for the last couple weeks.”

We were out the door. “Come back for real pie next time!”

I waved back and told her I would. Adram never looked back.

“Hungry for lunch?” He asked.

“Sure.” I said sweetly. I was not in any rush to leave, not without spending more time with Adram and asking questions.

“Let’s just walk around and look for something.”

I think I would have been more freaked out or shocked at the whole situation if he didn’t make everything seem natural. And apparently he’s the guy to be around because that demon did not want to fight.

“You saved me hours of confrontation picking up on that cat’s name.”

“I’m glad I could help.”

“He used a spell trick to hide the name of his duke behind the cat’s name. It didn’t affect you because you aren’t aware of his duke’s name. Normally, if you don’t know the name of the demon, there’s nothing you’d suspect in the name, and if you do know the name of the demon, the spell will hide it from your mind. To me the name sounded like the cat’s name rather than the demon’s. Since you pointed out the inconsistency the spell wore off. I have all the names of the demons and their top dukes memorized so I knew Pischiel was Icosiel’s duke.”

I was slowly picking up on what he was saying. I’m generally a fast learner and this seems like complex and abstract stuff but just observing and experiencing it first hand is helping me comprehend everything.

I grabbed his shoulder and skipped in front of him, standing face to face, “So what’s next?”