Page 1 of Bent Out of Shade
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Giventhe demon’s smashed-in snout, large ears sprouting dense, bristly hair, and pustules encrusting a flabby crab-shaped body, its anger issues were well warranted. That still didn’t mean I was comfortable with it attacking my kid. Even if it was a practice fight in my ex’s side of our duplex.
“Watch the pincers, Sadie.” Eli Chu, my baby daddy, sat forward on his sofa, his elbows braced on his thighs, as glued to the action as a coach during the finals of the Stanley Cup. Well, a coach who flinched at every scuff imposed on his precious house, endured thanks to this home game, but who concealed his anxiety whenever his star player looked over for encouragement.
Sadie caught her dad’s eye, and Eli flashed her a big thumbs-up.
Today’s evil crustacean foe had come courtesy of Naveen Kumar, our demon wrangler extraordinaire, who presided over the event with all the dignity he could muster, despite clenching his jaw every time Eli flinched. Thanks to a small screw-up involving an angry goth girl and her overly enthusiastic fists, the practice fiend Nav had intended for Sadie to dispatch was no longer an option, so he’d brought this awful crab instead.
Apparently, it was the least lethal one he could get on short notice. I’d tried to call the session off because neither Eli nor I had a basement or rec room in our duplex, our garages were too cramped, and our backyards too exposed for our child to face down a demon with a two-foot leg span. However, here we were, because a certain other parent had broken down in the face of Sadie’s puppy dog eyes and told her it was fine to proceed. I smirked. At least when she’d tried to guilt me into this mess, I’d protested.
The furniture in Eli’s large living room had been pushed to the side, effectively turning this event into theater in the round. Perfect for my drama club daughter.
Behind her, Sadie’s animated shadow poured out enough light to power a solar system. I winced, adjusting the sunglasses Nav had provided us with.
Nav flung the agitated demon toward the corner, wielding his staff made of solid light with the same calm awareness and infallible instincts he brought as leader of our local spawn-killing organization.
The demon skittered over the plastic sheeting on the floor, hissing and seeking an opening.
Eli dug the heels of his palms into his thighs, scrutinizing the tarps for any gap that would lead to his hardwood floor getting injured.
Nav boxed the demon in. “Deep breath, harness the magic, poppet.” His posh British accent was all kinds of charming, though it would have been better if, when he placed a hand on his abdomen in demonstration, his admirable six-pack wasn’t hidden by his shirt.
What? A woman could look.
Sadie did as instructed but her shadow oscillated.
Eli tsked. “You’re going too hard, too fast. Pace yourself.”
Nav arched an eyebrow, a muscle once more ticking in his jaw. “We agreed I was running this session.”
“You are.” Eli didn’t take his eyes off Sadie. “What did I say about tight shoulders?” He shook his out in demonstration. “The more you tense, the more you flare.”
Poor Naveen white-knuckled his weapon while I debated whether the demon or Eli had better odds of surviving.
My daughter flung a lock of lank black hair out of her face. “Daaad.” I swear she rolled her eyes, but as they were jet-black pools—including the sclera—it didn’t land.
It amused the crap out of me, though my grin turned to a gasp as the demon clicked its pincers together twice and they doubled in size, knocking a photo of Eli and Sadie off an end table.
Eli winced. “That was a nice picture.”
“Glass is replaceable.” Nav toed the broken frame closer so it wouldn’t get trampled on, and the demon shot past him, crackling with blue light.
Sadie kicked the evil crab away with a screech, narrowly avoiding having her toes smushed.
“Sades!” I jumped out of the chair, my scythe in hand. One of the many, many perks of being a Banim Shovavim was that my magic could take the form of a sharp and deadly shadow scythe. Extremely good for slicing crabs and defending my child.
Eli had shot to his feet as well, but only to yank an armchair out of demon range.
“Ew! Ew! Ew!” Sadie did a little hopping dance, almost tripping over the large carrier crate infused with magic that the demon had been transported in. “I felt its pus jigglies.”
I sank back into my seat, shooting Eli a warning look over the tops of my sunglasses. He returned it, stroking the top of his armchair entirely unrepentantly.
An electric sizzling sound was followed by the reek of cooking flesh, and Nav yanked his staff out of the demon’s eye. “Stay put, you little bugger.” He ignored the growling monstrosity flailing about with clacking claws and one blazing red eye to frown at his mentee. “Darling, what were our rules? We don’t touch it directly, am I correct?”
Sadie hung her head. “Magic or run.”
For reasons we had yet to confirm but suspected had to do with Sadie being an Ohrist baby carried to term inside her Banim Shovavim mom, my kid’s magic didn’t manifest like normal. My daughter was definitely Ohrist, albeit with rare nulling magic, yet she required an animated shadow to use her powers. That was a Banim Shovavim trick, though ours were normal where Sadie’s was pure bright light.
