Juliana reinforced the walls and ceiling as she moved along a downwards sloping path. There were no supports in the walls. As much as she believed in her earth magic prowess, she couldn’t account for any settling of the earth in her absence.
She did not want any sort of collapse.
The path led to a larger room. Using her flashlight, Juliana went around to all the jars laying on the floor. She picked each one up and gave them a shake. The contents started glowing as the liquefied magic mixed.
Slowly, the room brightened to manageable levels. Juliana flicked her flashlight off and went around reinforcing the walls where needed.
She actually spent some time on it while initially creating it. The dirt floor had been compressed and hardened to the point where it was more of a smooth stone than actual dirt. The walls received a similar treatment, though not to the same degree.
Convinced nothing was amiss, Juliana set to work.
“You know what they say,” Juliana mumbled to herself, “twenty-forth time is the charm.”
Drawing out the summoning circle every time was tedious. Annoying. A pain.
Mostly in her back. Being hunched over wasn’t the natural state of being for humans.
But if she wanted to continue looking through demons, she’d make sure to do it properly.
After the imp somehow escaped her shackles over summer, Juliana wasn’t going to take any chances. She still wasn’t sure if the demons that attacked Zoe had come from her summoning circle or not. Juliana didn’t summon them, but she didn’t know if they could have used her circle.
Juliana vowed to erase it completely after she finished. Just in case. Until she knew more about demons and especially about how summoning circles worked, she would take every precaution with the creatures.
It didn’t help that most of the ‘benign’ ones were anything but. Few of them could actually speak. Most tried to break out of the shackles the moment they were summoned. Juliana didn’t have time to try forming a contract before she had to banish them.
And she was going to banish them. Every time.
The author clearly did not know the meaning of benign. Juliana actually doubted her own memory and had to look up the definition just to be sure. Maybe the meaning changed over time, but she would never have labeled any of those demons as benign.
She wasn’t going to give up. Juliana
Her ferrokinesis was top-notch. The rest of her earth magic didn’t fall far behind. Yet Zoe could beat her every time. Professor Lurcher likely could as well.
Both had been gravely injured.
Even Eva hadn’t done much to help, according to her story.
Juliana would stand no chance on her own.
That was why she couldn’t give up.
No. Finding a demon on the level of Arachne might be hard, but it was worth it. A protective companion that, most importantly, would not lock up at the sight of dead bodies.
After the zombies, the flesh golems–she still could barely remember what happened during that encounter–and the nun, Juliana had recognized a major issue with herself.
She could fight. She would fight. She wanted to fight. Not only to call herself a friend and peer to Eva, but to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
Juliana doubted she would get very far if the sight of blood was enough to send her to her knees.
Oddly enough, she didn’t have that issue with the skeletons in the necromancer’s crypt. Juliana thought long and hard on why and came to the conclusion that they were far enough removed from a human being that it didn’t ‘count’ in her mind.
Juliana shook her head. She was getting distracted by her thoughts. The summoning circle was almost complete and she did not want to mess it up.
She double, triple, and quadruple checked her drawing once finished. Especially the shackles.
Allowing what she planned to summon to escape would be unacceptable.
Not to mention deadly.
She didn’t want to jump into the deep end so soon–the deep end of her book–but she was out of time.
Juliana didn’t know how much attention Eva paid to the books in her possession. With Eva having eyes back, she’d have to stealthily return the book before she realized it was gone. Luckily for Juliana, Eva seemed fairly preoccupied over the last week and a half with cataloging and reading the books she stole from the necromancers.
That would buy enough time for today’s events at the very least.
Juliana flipped through the book. Past all the crossed out ‘benign’ demons and crossed out ‘easy-going’ demons. Straight to the back of the book.
She’d already read the entry. Memorized it, even. Preparations had been made. The enticement, a children’s doll, sat in a jar to her side along with a single candle. She wasn’t a pyrokinetic, but she would be able to light a candle.
Juliana ignited the wick and waited.
