It was just a simple candle. Unscented and black. A decoration for Halloween.
The book made no mention of any specific types of wax apart from black. She might be in trouble if it needed something abstract. Like tallow. Juliana hadn’t the slightest idea where to even acquire a tallow candle.
While waiting for enough wax to melt, Juliana turned her attention to the doll. Porcelain dolls were far harder to come by than a black candle. She had wholly expected to have to order one.
That would have caused all kinds of attention that she did not want. Especially if Eva or Arachne got wind of it. They would probably realize why she needed a porcelain doll.
Then she found The Little Shoppe That Wasn’t There Yesterday. It actually was there yesterday. And the day before. Juliana had seen it several times on her excursions into town. It wasn’t in the market or entertainment areas meant for students, but it wasn’t well hidden either.
And she fully expected it to be there the next time she passed by as well. It was just the shop’s name, after all.
It did, however, live up to expectations. All the decor was black and gray, dust and cobwebs–cobwebs she was quite sure were fake–lined every product. And all the products were suitably creepy.
Including a suitably creepy doll section.
She picked out one of the old dolls and paid for it with cash.
It wore an elegant red dress with white frills at the seams. Blue and white bows had been tied around its upper arms with a larger one on its chest. Its necklace had a large, red gemstone that might have been an actual ruby for all Juliana knew. A bonnet that matched its dress covered the top of its black hair. A red rose made from glass was pinned to the bonnet.
Deep blue, glass eyes stared back at Juliana, almost begging not to be subjected to her intentions.
Juliana had spent far too much to give in to some lifeless doll’s wishes.
After coating her fingers with metal, Juliana carefully picked up the candle. She dribbled hot wax over each of the doll’s eyes. Only one eye managed to get fully covered with the melted wax at hand. She had to wait for more wax to melt for the other.
Soon enough, both eyes were completely hidden by the black wax. Streaks dripped down the doll’s cheeks in a facsimile of tears.
Juliana tried not to think that the doll was crying as she waited for the wax to completely cool.
It didn’t take long. Juliana spent the time running through reading the book again to ensure she hadn’t missed any details. By the time she finished, the wax was cool to the touch and thoroughly covered the doll’s eyes.
Juliana placed it in the center of the circle.
She took a deep breath as she moved out of the circle. Juliana almost started channeling magic into the circle for the summoning. A quick worry brought her up short.
There were no problems. Juliana looked through everything two more times and didn’t find a single thing wrong. The idea of summoning the only demon labeled as ‘extreme danger’ had her nerves all jittery.
Before another thought of hesitation entered her mind, Juliana started channeling her magic.
The summoning circle’s innards started spinning. It pooled and bubbled like a basin of water with a faint light source just beneath the surface.
All that despite the fact that the floor was opaque. Not to mention Juliana’s sense of earth telling her that the circle was completely solid and unmoving.
The doll sat up.
Its little hands clawed at its eyes. Tiny tracks of wax peeled away with each swipe. The jaw had no hinges and could not be opened, yet its mouth opened wide in a silent scream.
Apparently giving up on trying to clear its eyes, the doll clambered to its knees. It crawled along the ground while using its hands to feel out the floor. Like a cartoon character having lost their glasses.
Or a blind person waking up in an unfamiliar environment.
Juliana suppressed a shudder. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the spectacle.
It froze as a loud crash echoed throughout the small room.
Juliana froze as well. Nothing like that, like any of this, had happened in any previous summoning. She could feel her heart pounding beneath her chest.
The doll slowly craned her neck; looking, or perhaps listening to some invisible entity behind it.
Another crash actually shook the room. Dust and dirt fell from the walls and ceiling. Juliana tried to jump up and reinforce the room.
She couldn’t.
She was stuck, watching.
Watching as the doll panicked. It scrambled to its feet and took off at a full sprint.
Its tiny legs didn’t take it very far very fast. Although it had ignored the movement while sitting or crawling, the slowly rotating summoning circle acted as a sort of treadmill. If anything, it was losing ground; every step forwards brought it two steps backwards.
Until the rotation stopped.
