Demons Don't Grant Wishes

 

We stood at the basement door, the key rested in the lock. I had been hoping that it would be wrong key, but it had unlocked the door with only the slightest resistance.

“All right,” I said, looking at my watch, my free hand trapped in Lily’s fingers. “We’ve got to be out of there by four-thirty-five at the latest, before Aunt Chloe gets home.”

“Right,” Tyler said, but I could tell he wasn’t listening. He reached out and eagerly pushed the door open, revealing a narrow wooden staircase that led down into the darkness of the basement. He quickly found a light switch just inside the door and flipped it up.

I was startled when the lights worked, wondering about the last time anyone had been down there. Lily didn’t seem fazed, leading the way silently down the stairs. My heart was pounding against my ribs at every creak of the stairs. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew it couldn’t be anything good, and I certainly wasn’t expecting what we found.

The basement consisted of one small room of concrete walls and floor. A single bare light bulb hung from the ceiling, bathing the room in a dim glow. A wide bookshelf dominated most of one wall, stuffed with thick books. A wooden table made up the centerpiece, covered with paper, rolls of parchment, what looked like a computer torn to pieces, an odd metal band about as wide and long as my forearm, and a thick book. Everything was coated in a thick layer of dust.

“What is all this?” Tyler wondered, examining the papers on the table. “It’s all in gibberish.”

“Of course,” I said dully. “This all isn’t weird enough, why would it be in English?” I peered at the books on the shelves, most of the titles written in a language I couldn’t understand. Or several different languages; some of them looked like nothing more than random lines and dots.

“It’s is weird.” Tyler picked up the metal band, observing it curiously. There was a small patch of blue against the silver metal, and what looked like a keypad.

I grimaced. “Don’t touch anything!” I said quickly. “We can’t touch any of it, we don’t know what it is.”

“What’s it going to do, bite?” he asked, but put it down anyway, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets.

“It might,” I said warily, and looked at Lily. She stood at the table, gazing fixedly at the book. “What’s up, Lily?” I moved to stand beside her, eyeing the book. It was bound in black leather, the title written across the front in strange red symbols. A metal clasp once held the book closed, but it had been broken and almost completely rusted away.

Lily reached for the book, and I watched her uneasily. “I don’t think that’s your kind of book,” I commented. “Looks boring.”

She hesitated, curling her fingers slightly, before reaching out fully. The tips of her fingers brushed across the cover.

I gently took her wrist. “Lily, don’t touch. Come on, let’s-”

The book suddenly flew open, making me gasp. The old, yellowed pages turned rapidly as though caught in a wind, eventually coming to rest in the middle of the book, on a page covered with symbols drawn in red ink.

“What the hell?” I grabbed Lily’s shoulders and pulled her back, eyeing the book warily. Lily came without much protest, eyes fixed on the letters.

“What’s going on?” Tyler came to my side protectively.

“I don’t know. Something’s up with that book.”

A low hissing filled the room. The red symbols on the page burned gold, emitting tendrils of smoke that gradually grew thicker until the room was full of the foul-smelling fog. There was a sudden crack that made us jump, and Tyler swore.

The room quieted, and the smoke began to clear. For a moment, I thought it was over. Then I realized that we weren’t alone.

When the smoke dissipated, it revealed an older man, perched on the table. He was tall, easily passing seven feet, his arms and legs longer than they should have been. His skin was white as paper, his hair shaggy and red, and his eyes were scarlet with only a thin black ring where the iris should have been. He stared at us, and though he looked human, something told me that he wasn’t.

“Who’re you?” Tyler asked suddenly, eyes wide as he gripped my arm. “Where did you come from?”

The person stirred, and his thin lips pulled into a smile that was too wide. “Forgive me for startling you, lovelies,” he murmured in a smooth, low voice. He slid off the table and stood straight, smoothing down his black clothes. A gold ring glinted on the middle finger of his right hand. “I was not expecting to be taken here so abruptly.”

“Sorry for disturbing you,” I said, holding Lily’s shoulders tightly. She didn’t seem bothered by the man’s sudden arrival, simply staring at him with dull eyes.

“Not at all,” the man said, and bowed elegantly. “I am Damaen. Thank you for freeing me from that dreadful book. I’ve been trapped in there for quite some time now. I’ve lost track of the years.”

“Trapped?” Tyler repeated.

“Oh, yes. You see, hunters bound me to the pages many years ago, and…” He paused, then slowly smiled again. “It doesn’t matter.”

I frowned, but before I could ask, Tyler tugged on my sleeve. “We have six minutes until Aunt Chloe gets home,” he said.

I nodded and looked back to Damaen, whose expression was oddly blank. “Well, uh, it was nice meeting you, and we’re glad we could help you out, but our aunt’s going to be home soon, and we aren’t supposed to be down here. So, is there… somewhere else you can go?”

Damaens’ eyes flashed. “Of course,” he said softly. “But you see, I owe you a wish.”

“A wish?” Tyler grimaced. “What are you, a genie or something?”

Damaen chuckled, an odd sound that sent a cold shiver down my spine. “A genie? Not quite. I’m a demon.”

“Demons don’t grant wishes,” I protested without thinking, and blushed when I realized how stupid that sounded.

“They do when they choose to,” Damaen replied simply, and as he picked at an imaginary piece of dust on his shirt, I noticed with a shudder that he had no fingernails. “Besides, you three lovelies did me a huge favor. I must repay your kindness. So please, wish for anything you want. No rules, no restrictions…” He gave a cool smile. “No worries.”

Tyler and I exchanged a glance. Despite Damaens’ assurances, I felt weary. My only wish was for him to go away, and for Aunt Chloe to never realize what we’d done.

Before I could say this wish aloud, however, Lily slipped from my grasp and stepped forward. Her shoulders were squared, her eyes more focused than I’d ever seen them as she looked up at the stranger. In a soft, steady murmur, she said, “I wish to go home.”

I paused, confused and uneasy. “Lily?”

“Why would you want to go home?” Tyler asked, referring to our house. Somehow, I knew that wasn’t what she meant.

Damaen seemed to know that, as well. He observed Lily thoughtfully, before petting her hair almost fondly. “Are you sure?” he asked. “You know that if you leave, it’ll be as if you never existed.”

“What?” Tyler cried. “Leave? Where is she going?”

“I know,” Lily said, ignoring our brother.

Damaen smiled softly. “You poor thing,” he said. “Very well, then.” He turned to the book on the table and waved a hand over it, murmuring under his breath. The red symbols began to glow red again.

Lily turned to Tyler and I, and smiled softly. “Bye,” she said, her smile turning sad, and turned to take Damaen’s offered hand.

Horror filled me. “Lily?” I called, reaching for her hand.

Smoke billowed from the book again, and I gasped, quickly covering my face. Another crack echoed throughout the room.

Upstairs, I could hear Aunt Chloe enter the house.

“Lily!” Tyler shouted, waving the smoke away. When it was clear, we saw that Lily and Damaen were gone.

Dread flooded my heart. “Lily!”

“Jai? Tyler?” Aunt Chloe called. There was silence, followed by a quiet curse as she found the open basement door.

I started to turn, pausing when I noticed the book was closing of it’s own accord. “Tyler!” I gasped, scrambling to catch it before it could close.

“S**t!” Tyler reached for the book at the same time I did. Somehow I knew, that if we could just catch that book, we could get Lily back from wherever Damaen had taken her. Our fingers brushed the rough cover only a second before it was shut.

A blinding light suddenly flashed, and I felt like I was being ripped from the ground, caught in a violent tornado. Aunt Chloe’s voice called out, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. I was barely aware of Tyler’s hand being yanked from my arm.

Images began to flash through my mind like a slideshow gone haywire. I saw a family, two parents and a little girl, but they were gone before I could recognize them. Then they were back, joined by a small boy, and I realized that the images were their lives. As they grew, I saw with mounting horror that it was my family; mom, dad, Tyler and me.

Without Lily.

 

Reviews

[Kristopher]

I loved this! It flows wonderfully. *bounces on to the next chapter* Keep up the good work!