A short story written for a Discord acquaintance. Cross-posted from my tumblr
It felt like there should be rain.
There was a degree of gravitas you expected from a ritual like this. And a ritual it certainly was: Candles, salt, runes, the whole nine yards. All that was missing was the thunder and the castle.
Instead of a Castle, June had a shoebox apartment in Astoria. Instead of thunder, the roar of the BQE was a dull rumble outside the closed window. An air conditioner worked pitifully against the New York City summer.
Still, even if her candles were probably intended for a menorah and the chalk said Crayola, she’d followed the instructions down to the letter. The intent was the important thing, she kept telling herself. As long as she was committed, it would work.
It had to work.
With one last glance over her work, an eye for detail honed by pages of calculus and AP Lit essays, she lifted her chalice. A quick slice of her palm, before she lost her nerve. A muttered prayer, then all the candles instantly went out.
It was probably supposed to be dark. She’d waited for midnight, as per the instructions, but the city never slept and the twilight never dimmed. There wasn’t a single star in the sky.
She got a full view, then, when a curvy woman with smooth black hair rose out of the floor like she was on a car lift. Hopefully she hadn’t actually come up through the apartment below, that was where her super lived.
“Who has summoned me?”
Her voice felt like a silk scarf draping around June’s neck. If she had second thoughts before, they were the last thing on her mind.
She took a breath, and recited her speech.
“Great Eris, I kneel before you in supplication. I offer you my eternal soul, that you may grant my earthly wishes.”
“Well spoken, human. May I have your name?”
“M- My nameis my own, and it is June. Ma’am.”
“Calm yourself, I’m not fae. What use is a name when compared to a soul? Come closer, that I might get a good look at you.”
June spared a quick glance at the markings of the pentacle. They were unmarred, so it should be safe to approach. Eris could not harm her. Would not harm her. Not until…
“You’re shaking like a leaf.”
Eris was looking at her, eyes lacking their earlier sharpness.
“I… I am not afraid.”
“Bravery is no requirement for a contract, dear. You ought to be frightened of me.”
“No. I’m… this will work. This has to work.”
Eris frowned. “Who are you trying to convince?”
“I…”
“That was rhetorical. You’re no warlock, June. But you managed to summon me just the same. That takes a very powerful will.”
“I wish to…” June swallowed. “I wish to trade my soul for wealth and fame.”
“No you don’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t actually want those things.”
“I… of course I do. Everyone does.”
“I don’t.”
June frowned at that. Surely that didn’t count. She opened her mouth to say as much, but Eris cut her off.
“What would you do with wealth, anyway? A bigger apartment? Maybe move out to Westchester? Maybe Connecticut?”
“I don’t need to justify myself to you!”
“You don’t. I don’t really need your soul, though, so we’re both going to need to indulge each other a little. Listen.”
Eris sat down next to June, just close enough to feel the warmth radiating from her.
“You say this has to work. Why?”
“I… I wish to trade my eternal…”
“You don’t need that.”
Eris snapped her fingers, and the instruction sheet June was working off of burst into flames. They didn’t burn, but she yelped anyway.
“What brought you here, June?”
“I… I…”
June looked at the shapely demon in front of her. She saw, impossibly, kind eyes and a welcoming smile. She couldn’t have looked less like a demon, if you ignored the horns and the tail.
“I don’t. I need to… something isn’t working. This can’t be it.”
“It?” Eris raised an eyebrow.
“I got good grades. I have a good job. I go for runs in the morning, I’m a local at my coffee shop. But it doesn’t help. I can’t figure out what’s wrong. It’s all so empty.”
Eris sighed, slouching a bit. “I don’t think fame is going to help you, June.”
“No. Probably not,” she agreed.
“And I don’t think a place in White Plains is going to make you any happier.”
June tried to imagine herself in the suburbs, driving a big SUV and taking the train into work every day. She imagined herself at a country club, and the image was so ridiculous she chuckled.
“Yeah, no.”
“But I have a pretty good idea what actually will help. I’ve seen this kind of thing before, and there’s only one thing for it.”
June figured she probably wasn’t using her soul. It had to be better than this. “I’m ready.”
“Bagels.”
“…”
“Montreal talks a big game, but they’re just not the same. Come on, dry those tears. I’ll buy you a mocha.”
June hadn’t realised she’d been crying. She certainly hadn’t noticed Eris had walked straight out of the ‘containment circle.’ She knew this ritual wasn’t going the way it was supposed to.
Eris offered her hand, and June took it. It was warm, and it felt like coming home.
June got to her feet, and looked at the mess on her apartment floor. The ashes from the contract were in a fine powder on the floor.
“So… when do you take my soul?”
“Give it time,” Eris laughed. “This is just our first date.”