The Curse ✔️

Chapter 28: How to Catch a Demon in Three Steps

The number of parties we were subjugating traumatized students to has become alarming.

Even the teachers thought so.

Professor Darth's expression when he read the invitation circling the classroom bordered somewhere between horrified and confused. He decided to ignore it, judging by the shake of his head, and put the piece of paper down. Before he turned to the board, he let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his temples. I felt sorry for the man.

"Do you think anyone's going to show?" Morta sat on my right.

"Why not?" I whispered back. "We've already had a party after those deaths. Two, actually."

"Yes, but the new students might not be up for it." Amma leaned from the left side. "They're probably not used to it."

"Parties or demons?" Morta asked.

"Silence." Professor Darth's hoarse voice reached us and we shut up. "We've got a lot of ground to cover today."

He faced the classroom, "First, I want you to have the opportunity to ask whatever you want regarding the recent events at the school. I know you must have a lot of questions, and I'm here to answer them as best as I can."

Our classmates stopped whispering amongst themselves and faced the blackboard. I imagined they had plenty of questions, but no one knew what they were allowed to ask. Fortunately, Morta had no such issues.

"Professor Darth." She raised her hand. "Do you have any new information on the black ooze?"

His thin eyebrow slowly lifted, "Black... ooze?"

"Demonic entity." I said.

Professor Darth looked thinner than the first time I saw him. The black robe he had on ate him up completely, his pale hands looking like branches sticking out of the sleeves.

"Yes." He answered. "As far as we know, it's not sentient."

The word caused silence I've witnessed in a classroom before. Amidst the chaos we've experienced, no one stopped to take in this simple, terrifying fact. We've always known it, we've always been aware of it, but we've buried it so deep it just hasn't reached our consciousness.

Demons were sentient.

They thought, felt, planned.

"Fuck." Morta cursed out loud. "I forgot demons are sentient."

Professor Darth didn't even acknowledge her cursing. Instead, he walked to his table and leaned against his, his palms gripping the sides.

"That's what makes them so terrifying, isn't it?" He spoke. "We always think of them as animals, driven by instinct, needs, impulses. When we describe them, we use words such as nesting, hunting, marking, or territorial, solitary, feral. Those are descriptors of animal behaviour, but they're not animals at all."

The feeling of being watched suddenly overwhelmed me. The idea that something hunting us wasn't a rabid animal, but a thinking, feeling entity made everything I've done so far seem... pointless.

"People have summoned them." Professor Darth continued, looking lost in his own words. "Talked to them. Asked them for favours. We're not dealing with something that wants to eat us and move on, we're dealing with something with an agenda, a plan. It wants. Strives."

"Well, shit, prof!" Leon let out a chuckle in the front row. "That's one way to make us run for our lives."

Once again, Professor Darth didn't acknowledge the swear word. He just shook his head, the haunted expression disappearing. The tension in the room somewhat eased.