Two Snarky Goth Seniors

Luna dragged Mary into the resource room supply closet immediately after the dismissal bell rang, her crystal blue eyes bright with excitement. Mary, recognizing this manic look, began to feel a dull ache in her stomach. There was never peace when Luna had that look.

As she flipped on the light, Mary saw the crowded stacks of school supplies and old SGA forms. The room smelled like fresh printer paper and dust.

Luna brushed past her and pulled something out of her black backpack. Looking closely, Mary realized it was a book.

The book was old and ornate, its pages yellowed with time and it's cover bound in an odd, purple leather that shimmered in the harsh light of the closet. The second Mary's eyes fell on it, she started to feel uneasy.

"You wanted to show me a book?" Mary asked.

Luna swept her long black hair out of her face and flashed Mary a manic grin.

"Not just a book. A spell book!" She said.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope! So I was having another one of my fits of pure senioritis during study hall and decided to just wander the library and see what I could find. Mostly boring crap. An old dictionary, a book on sex-ed from the seventies."

"Ew," Mary said.

"Right? Anyways, eventually, after a lot of searching, I found this."

Luna held up the book and Mary recoiled slightly. Something about the aura of the ancient tome raised alarm bells in her head.

"Okay, you found spell book. Sure. So why are we in a closet?"

Luna cracked open the book and flipped through the pages, wrinkling her nose in frustration as she struggled to find a particular section. When she found the section, her eyes blazed.

"Here, take a look!"

Luna shoved the book into Mary's hands. The sudden touch of the soft leather sent a shiver through the young woman's body. Seeing the book was one thing. Holding it was another.

Mary felt an overwhelming sense of danger holding the book. It was if she had been handed a deadly spider and it was now crawling all over her body.

"Well read it, goofus!"

Looking down, Mary read the text.

Ritual 43: Summoning and Binding an Infernal Host

"What does it mean?" Mary asked.

"Always the innocent," Luna grinned. "It's for summoning a demon!"

Mary rolled her eyes. She supposed this kind of thing came with being one of two resident goths at Cornfield High in bum-fuck-nowhereville, but sometimes Luna took it too far.

It wasn't that Mary really believed in demons. She didn't believe in God, so she had no real reason to believe in his opposite. It just felt tacky to do this kind of thing.

"You know we have to try it out!" Luna said.

"Won't we need a bucket of pigs blood or some kind of ritual blade? That's how these things work in the movies. You ready to be a virgin sacrifice?"

"Hey! You're just as good of a candidate!" Luna said. "Besides, if you read the full ritual, it's just a chant. Pretty low pressure!"

Mary considered it. The book was obviously some kind of prank or fabrication - a Halloween prop shoved into the school library for fun. Besides, demons weren't real. It couldn't hurt to try.

"Fine, you wore me down. What do we say?"

"Well," Luna said. "Grab my hands."

They locked fingers, Mary feeling the soft, warm skin of her best friend. It was a pleasant feeling that made the ridiculousness of this ritual more palatable. Luna was a scrawny, slightly gangling girl, but she had a beautiful face filled with life and sometimes Mary found herself lost in that face. She shook the thoughts away and herself to focus on Luna's words.

"_Oozet Malefecum Corrundum," _Luna intoned.

Mary repeated the words.

"Sooryet Nictum Destra."

After speaking the second phrase, the temperature inside the closet started to plummet. Mary continued to speak the words, finding herself unable to stop. Within her, a great compulsion drove her to continue the spell with her friend.

Gooseflesh rose up on her pale skin and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. The light flickered, distorting the shadows in the closet, making the room seem much larger.

Luna reached the final incantation. Mary knew it was the last on instinct and found it strange that she could sense such a thing. Her best friend shrieked the words and all of a sudden, the room snapped back to normal.

The temperate was the average, air-conditioned blandness the girls were used to. The light did not flicker. Mary felt fine. No goosebumps. No hair standing on end.