To Summon Nightmares Read Free

lines like I told you?"
    "I did actually."
    "All right, stand here, Jacky." Niall took Jacky's hands in his and kissed him. "I love you."
    Jacky's lip was trembling. "I love you too, Niall, and I'm sorry about this."
    Niall shook his head and reached down to grab the book. "Don't be sorry," he said. "I'm doing this for you because I want to. It'll make everything better."
    Jacky nodded in agreement.
    "All right." Niall looked down at the summoning ritual on the page. "Now, here and here's where you say Khireneth. You must pronounce it properly. Khireneth ."
    "Khireneth," repeated Jacky. "Got it. Here and here."
    "Good," said Niall. "All right, on the count of three." He took a deep breath. "One. Two. Three."
    They began to read. Perhaps it was only because they were concentrating on the book, but it seemed that the light dimmed and the candles flickered, despite the lack of wind. At first their reading was clumsy and awkward, but soon they began to pick up speed, their voices merging together effortlessly. They spoke faster and faster, until Niall was sure that the words were forming themselves, forcing themselves out of his mouth. There was no going back now.
    A darkness was forming in the centre of the circle, a darkness that was not simply a shadow or an absence of light, but a darkness that banished light in the way light normally did darkness. The candles underneath it seemed to shimmer and dim, until they were all but non-existent, like blind spots in the corner of Niall's vision.
    His tongue slid over the word Khireneth, like the slicing of a sharp knife, and then again, and it felt as if a thick powder was working its way up from his lungs to fill his mouth. Like chalk. He resisted the urge to cough and kept going. Jacky's voice was strong beside him, but he could hear him choking a little, too. As they reached the bottom of the page and the end of the incantation, it became almost impossible to talk, to breathe, to think. His mouth was filling with chalk, his vision with darkness. He could no longer see the words, he was reciting from memory, or from desperation. At last they came to the end and he spat out the last three words "Khireneth, Khireneth, Khireneth."
    With the last sound, his mouth became unstopped like a bottle, and it was as if all sound hissed from the room. The candles blew out, the darkness expanded to envelop all. And then the darkness receded. The candles flickered back to light, and the sound came back into the room.
    In the middle of the circle stood a man.
    Niall wasn't surprised. He hadn't been expecting a hell beast or horns or anything of the sort. He knew that demons liked to appear as humans. To humans, at least.
    He heard Jacky cough beside him and quickly turned to help him. Jacky hunched over, coughing until his voice became hoarse, while Niall held him. At last he straightened up, his eyes watering. Niall felt the need to cough too, but he forced it down.
    The man was watching them patiently. It was difficult to look at him, somehow. As if it felt disrespectful. But that was probably just his demon's influence. They were in control here.
    "Hello," said the demon in a bland, English accent. His voice was surprisingly normal. He sounded like a BBC newscaster, or a politician. "My name is Khireneth. What's yours? And where, might I ask, am I?"
    "Don't tell him your name," said Niall to Jacky, who nodded.
    The demon looked pleased. "Good decision," he said. "But I deduce by your accent that we are," he looked around. "Somewhere in Ireland? Go on, say something else."
    Niall gritted his teeth. "We're not gonna tell you where we are."
    "Somewhere near Cork, I'd say, but not quite that urban." He looked around again. "The countryside?"
    "You don't know that," said Jacky, speaking up, although his voice wavered. "We could be anywhere, and just from Ireland."
    "Ah, but you both have the same accent."
    "We might be brothers," said Niall desperately.
    "Oh, don't try that," said the demon. "You're