Page 125 of Summoned
Suddenly, I want to dance with her. So I play some music. She startles at the sound but doesn’t hesitate when I offer my hand. I say, “If I stay, you’ll belong to a witcher for the rest of your life. I can be… rather possessive.”
She spins in rhythm, her hair swinging with her. “I’m pretty possessive myself, Gaetano. And I’ve got claws.”
Despite the darkness in me, I laugh.
We keep dancing until our breaths become short. Later, we lie side by side on the bed in the middle of the room. Nicole’s breath quickens as shadows gather like a canopy above us. Tension radiates from her fragile body, and I long to soothe her. Having her so close, with so little time left, and not touching her is a test of every one of my senses.
But tonight, I’ll keep my distance. I need her to focus on the shadows, to understand them as I do. To see the stolen lives within, and be completely aware that these are real people dying.
Her soft voice rises, causing the harvests to stir. “What’s the meaning of the ingredients in the ritual that summons you?”
I stare at the shadows above. “Words are energy, the most important ingredient. Blood is the seal. The sweet stuff… it works like a catalyst for the magic.”
A pause. “And the doll?”
“There’s no doll.”
“What do you mean? I still remember that one-eyed doll I placed in the middle of the circle…”
“That must’ve been your own interpretation. You probably cast a stronger kind of magic. No wonder I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“You think?!” Her tone sharpens.
A chuckle escapes me. “I’m just kidding, my baroness. The legend must’ve gotten twisted over the years. The original story didn’t mention a doll. And if I’d known you were summoning me with that thing, I’d have brought backup.”
“God, now I’m ashamed.”
We both laugh, the sound fading into the quiet of the room.
She murmurs, “You said theharvestshave to happenwithin three days. Does that mean only our contract was for three weeks?”
“The magic of the ritual sets every contract for that period. However, I can take a soul in three minutes if I want to. Over time, I started dragging it out to stay outside of the castle longer. Technically, I’m allowed to take the soul once they make their first mistake.”
Silence. Then, after a while: “And if the harvests don’t complete the trials within three weeks…is it really true both sides are condemned to Hell?”
“The only way they wouldn’t complete the trials is if I never give them in the first place. That clause exists to force me to play the game. If I refuse, I’m condemned, and I’ll drag the harvest down with me.”
A pause. “What happens in Hell? Is that worse than spending your life as a prisoner in this castle?”
“Hell is torture. Relentless and layered. Physical, psychological, spiritual. But being a prisoner here, never able to leave?” I exhale, imagining myself wandering these endless corridors, clawing at the walls with no way out, no harvests to anchor me to the world. “That would drive me insane, too,just slower. Crueler.”
She reaches for my hand, and I let her curl her fingers around mine, even though I’ve restrained from touching until now. “Hypothetically…” she says, “how would you get eleven people to summon you?”
I pause for a moment, considering. “In the past, people believed in magic. It was common to seek answers through rituals, incantations, and summonings. It wasn’t easy to manipulate a group into summoning me, but it was possible. People today…I have no idea how I’d convince them to perform a group ritual.”
42
Nicole
Day 20
Gaetano wants me to see the stolen life behind the black shadows. I do.
What I also see ishisstolen life, forever doomed to those very shadows.
“Gaetano,” I whisper, just as the sky outside brightens.“Did you ever make plans for what comes after?”
“I planned to find Madeline and kill her. And die in the process. Because no one survives a clash with her.” His answer comes without a second’s hesitation, like a fate already sealed in blood.
