Inner Demons Read Free Page B

tattoo.”
    I studied her face. She seemed to be truly concerned about me. “So what happens next?”
    “It's a bit unusual to have a girl coming onto the squad mid-season, so you've got a lot of catching up to do. Plus, you're already a sophomore and most girls start their freshman year.” Mrs. King stood and I followed her toward the locker room. “What you're about to see might come as a shock.”
    Curious, my footsteps quickened. As we walked into the locker room, I stared open-mouthed at the empty space. Where did everyone go? I hadn't seen them pass by us to go outside or anything.
    “Come with me,” Mrs. King said. She stood on the far side of the room at the edge of a long row of lockers.
    We walked together to the back corner of the locker room where a large demon was painted onto the wall. Mrs. King stepped up and touched the demon's face. Her hand passed completely through.
    My eyes grew wide and I placed my hand over my mouth. A secret passage-way in the girl's locker room? Mrs. King walked straight through it. Cautiously, I followed her, my hands out in front of me just in case. I giggled as I passed through. A sort of invisible force-field tickled when I crossed over it.
    “Only girls with the tattoo and official members of the Order can pass through this doorway,” she said.
    “Does that mean you still have a tattoo?”
    “Not exactly,” she said. She didn't explain what she meant by that. Instead, she led me down a flight of stone stairs and into a candle-lit room below. All of the other cheerleaders were seated at stone workbenches.
    A seat next to Allison was empty and Mrs. King motioned for me to take it. I sat down and waited with anticipation. I had expected to be practicing cheers all afternoon in the gym, not learning magic down in some secret dungeon training room. Given a choice, I'd much rather be doing magic. Maybe joining the squad would turn out to be the best decision I'd ever made.
    “Today we're going to practice creating our own light sources.” Mrs. King held out her palm and created a spark of light similar to the orb Brooke made the night before. The only difference was that Mrs. King's light was a shimmery purple. Also, I noticed she didn't have to say a magic word to create it. “For those of you who are new, you can start with a simple candle.”
    Mrs. King snapped her fingers and tall white candles appeared on the tables in front of all of the Freshman. One also appeared in front of me. I tried to hide my joy and fascination. I didn't want to look too much like a noob. On the other hand, I really was amazed. I knew being a part of the cheerleading team would mean being let in on some of their secrets, but I never dreamed it would be like this.
    “Second and third level trainees can work on creating the spark. And Brooke and the other seniors will walk around and help anyone who is having trouble.”
    Everyone turned to their individual tasks. I stared at the white candle on the table, then looked to the girl across from me. Her candle was already giving off a smoke, but hadn't actually produced any light. I watched to see what she was doing so I could copy her.
    “Illuminate,” she said. The wick of her candle sparked slightly, then went dim. She bit her lip, then looked up and saw me watching her. “Hey.”
    “Hi.”
    “Aren't you going to try it?
    “I don't really know what to do,” I said.
    “Just concentrate on what you want to happen. Like with the candle, try to imagine that it's lit up with a nice, big glowing flame. Then, you say 'illuminate', and send your energy into the flame.”
    She made it sound easy. “Do you have to use the word?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Mrs. King made her orb without saying any kind of magic spell word. So why do we need one?”
    I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Mrs. King standing beside me, listening to our conversation.
    “The magic doesn't come from the words,” she said. “It comes from deep inside of