Five: Out of the Dark by Holli Anderson

Chapter Three

Channeling rods, we’d read in our little white instruction book, were used to channel spells—to make them go where they were aimed. I carved mine out of a dowel I’d pulled out of the back of a broken chair. Johnathan carved his out of a piece of the leg of the same chair. The book said we should individualize them, make them unique to us.

We’d been together for about a month. We hadn’t run into much trouble in that time. An occasional homeless person wandered down into the Underground with us, but they were mostly harmless.

One night, when we were carving symbols into our channeling rods, Johnathan sat up from his slumped position and cocked his head to the side, listening.

“Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” I said. I wanted to finish the symbol I was working on, so I didn’t offer to go with him.

I will admit, I was a little annoyed when Johnathan returned with another teenage boy in tow. I kind of wanted to just keep Johnathan to myself.

“Paige, this is Alec. I found him wandering around down here … using a star-bright to light his way.”

I really couldn’t say I was surprised. Since visiting Madame LaForte, we’d kind of been expecting someone to show up.

“Hey, Paige.” The boy with dirty blonde hair reached out for a fist bump. I obliged with a little reluctance. He saw our star-brights in the jar and added his to the collection before plopping down next to me. “What’s that?” He pointed to my channeling rod.

“A channeling rod. Here.” I tossed the white book at him. “Read all about it.” I’m afraid I wasn’t very good at keeping the annoyance out of my voice.

Alec paged through the book. Every time he turned the page, he made some sort of annoying exclamation. “Wow! Awesome! Where’d you guys get this?”

Johnathan joined us, handing Alec an open can of beans and a bottle of water we’d filled up that afternoon. “So, what’s your story? What forced you Underground?” he asked Alec.

“I wasn’t forced. It was a choice.” He slurped a mouthful of beans out of the can. “The short version of the story is that I was in foster care and I didn’t much care for the extracurricular activities of my latest foster parents.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow. “And what were these activities?”

“Chemistry. At least that’s what the guy told me. But, I know a meth lab when I see one.” His mouth turned up in a mischievous grin. “I made sure to blow their little chemistry set to smithereens right before I left, though.”

“Why were you in foster care, if you don’t mind my asking?” I said.

“I don’t mind. My life’s an open book.” He set the now empty can on the floor and leaned back against the wall. “I don’t have any parents. Well, at least that I know of. All I know is that my mom abandoned me at the hospital right after I was born. I’ve lived in foster homes all my life.”

I had no idea what to say to that. So, I didn’t say anything.

****

Alec fell right into the routine Johnathan and I had going. We studied the white book and practiced spells for several hours every day. We exercised every day, usually by running in various parks around Seattle.

I didn’t have much time to lament the loss of one-on-one time with Johnathan. Not long after Alec joined us, we had our first run-in with a Demon—and that was when I decided having Alec around wasn’t such a bad thing. If he hadn’t been there, Johnathan and I would likely be dead. Or worse. The thought of being possessed by a Demon—having no control over my own actions, carrying out its devastating orders—that was one of the scariest things I could think of.