“So,” he hissed in her ear, “what would happen if we drew out a set of shackles and hid it under a mat in front of the door?”
Irene blinked. Shooting him an incredulous look, she said, “how could you
It was Randal’s turn to blink. He opened his mouth to respond.
Irene talked over him. “Shackles can’t have anything but air between them and the demon. Even covering the circle with a thin sheet of tissue paper will break the shackles.”
“It was–”
“Are you an idiot?”
“What?”
“This isn’t some normal class where the worst you’ll do is burn down a desk before the professor intervenes. These are
“In addition you, what, want to play a
Of course, if Eva had shown up, they probably wouldn’t be in this situation. Summoning a demon wasn’t supposed to happen for another month at the earliest.
“I–”
Irene snapped open her eyes, cutting him off with just a glare. She narrowed her eyes at the idiot in front of her. “You know what? Do go make your own circle. Then you can add all the flourishes you want. When you get kicked out for your disrespect and general idiocy, don’t come crying to me.”
For a moment, Irene thought he was going to object. And loudly at that. Maintaining her glare for a few moments put a stop to that.
Randal got to his feet. Hands in his pockets, he marched over to another group. One of the groups that had finished already, but that hadn’t been looked over by Catherine just yet.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Irene turned back to the task of finishing her circle.
She froze as a thought occurred to her. Now alone in her group, there was no one but her to perform the actual summoning.
With a look at the clock, Irene decided that no, they would not be summoning anything today. At least not her. She had a good quarter of the circle remaining still. If she timed it perfectly, she would only just be finishing as the doors unlocked.
Then next time, Eva could put an end to this madness.
Filled with relief and a great deal of pressure removed, Irene set to work. She still wanted to do a good job. Catherine had trusted her enough to offer her a slot in the class, despite her being the youngest person in the room. She could pay that back with a proper set of shackles and the summoning circle.
Even if one of the other groups finished their circle to Catherine’s standards and started summoning, the circles they had been directed to draw were specifically designed to call imps. A hierarchy of common demons found within the text had imps at essentially the lowest place. Non-sentient blobs of slime were apparently more dangerous than imps.
Irene was beyond relieved that Catherine hadn’t directed them to summon up cerberuses or anything.
With the circles being specifically for imps, no verbal request or tricky magic channeling was required. Only the imps’ enticement.
Honestly, what would an imp ever want with a rusted copper coin? Did they collect them? Hoard them off in some vault?
And it apparently did not matter what kind of coin it was. Anything from some ancient Greek coin to a penny. So long as it was a currency, predominantly copper, and tarnished–not necessarily
“Class,” Catherine spoke just as Irene was making the last few marks on her circle, “I am disappointed.”
She moved up to her desk, taking up a reclining pose against it. “Two hours, you’ve had to work on your summoning circles. Two hours of failure. Your shackles are lacking. Your circles couldn’t summon a demonic gnat.”
Irene quirked an eyebrow. She didn’t know there was such a thing as a demonic gnat.
“You’re here to learn proper diablery practices. You may not have known that initially, but nothing is keeping you here. Children, your contract ensures your silence, not your presence. If diablery does not appeal to you, you’re welcome to never return.
“Of the nine of you, split into four groups, only one managed to complete their circle to my standards.”
Glancing around the other circles, Irene started to get a sinking feeling in her stomach. Irene distinctly recalled Catherine moving between each circle, making disparaging comments at each. The only circle that had been left alone was hers.
Whipping her head to the clock on the wall, Irene almost groaned. She had misjudged her speed. There were still ten minutes left of class. Plenty of time to summon something.
That sinking feeling only grew as Irene turned back to find Catherine staring right at her.
One of the rusted coins spun at the tip of Catherine’s sharp fingernail. With a light flick of her finger, the coin went sailing across the room.
