The Last Swordmaster

Playing With Fire

(Edited)

I sat in the orphanage, playing with the disgusting, green excuse for macaroni on the plate in front of me. The other kids whispered around me, making sure to be quiet as they gossiped. They mumbled things about where the food came from, or why Miss Tivisky, the orphanage owner, was so vile. I wasn't interested in silly gossip, anymore. I was listening for something very particular.

Something that would help me get my sweet revenge.

I threw my trash away and leaned against the brick wall, near the kids that had the information I needed. Zach, one of the kids, looked over at me. "I found what you wanted," he whispered, handing me a small piece of paper.

I took the paper, put it in my pocket as swiftly as I could, and glanced back at him. "You're sure it will do the job?"

Zach nodded. "I do my homework, Elle. People say the last time this summoning worked was in the nineteen hundreds, though. Apparently, the guy did this little ditty and he was gone later that night. It might be true. Might not. If it isn't, take it up with those weirdos who collect butterfly wings across the street, not me."

Elle. That's what I told everyone to call me. I couldn't stand the name Elaine. The memories that came with that name were memories that I wanted to leave in behind. I nodded at Zach and gave him the payment he wanted, one stolen ruby necklace from that witch of a woman, Miss Tivisky. The boy slipped the necklace into his pocket and casually went back to his friends, acting as if nothing even happened. I sighed and reached for the crumpled paper in my pocket. To sum it up, I needed a strand of my own hair, a claw from a black cat, the blood of someone I loathed, and one dead black widow spider.

After that, I'd be able to summon a demon. Well, hopefully, I'd be able to summon a demon. If not, at least I tried.

I slipped out of the orphanage and into the street. No one cared. If we were fifteen or older, we were allowed to go off on our own for parts of the day. I began my sinister scavenger hunt by looking in the alleyways for a black cat. I remembered seeing a few around, but on that day I only found some gray, brown, and white cats prowling around. After searching for almost two hours, I gave up and trekked back to the orphanage. Slamming the door shut, I stomped up to my room and let the usual creaky sound the floor made calm me down. I wanted to summon this thing, and I wanted to summon it now. At this rate, I'd never find everything in time. On the bright side, I had access to one item on the list, my dull blond hair. I plucked a shorter strand out and put it in a jar that sat on my vanity. The rest would be much hard to get.

I had a plan, though, and there was no way it could fail. Well, it could've, but optimism or failure were my only two options, it seemed.

*****

I walked into the sewing room, where Miss Tivisky and a few other girls sat. That hag looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Elle. I didn't think you'd join us. You never... how do I say this? You never act like a proper young lady. Ever since you've come here, you've been a little beast. "

I smiled, bubbly and bright. It was almost painful to smile at someone like her, and I'm not kidding. She was the definition of a witch. "I just wanted to do something relaxing," I replied politely, doing my best to fake a cheerful tone.

"Alright, Miss Bipolar, we're making mittens today, so grab a needle, some thread, fabric, and try not to hurt anyone," she ordered bossily, looping her needle through the almost finished mitten. "Don't make a mess of things like you usually do, either, or you won't be eating dinner. Or breakfast tomorrow."

I nodded happily and sat in the rickety chair next to her. At the same time, a little brunette girl poked her needle into her hand, which would have been almost comically convenient if I hated her. Anyways, Miss Tivisky got up to take care of the crying child, which gave me the perfect opportunity. I quickly grabbed the needle she left sitting next to her burgundy, cushioned chair before anyone could look my way. Everyone was too concerned with the other girl, who's wound was barely worth looking at, but her young age made her worth fussing over. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed the small dollop of butter I had stolen from the kitchen. I lathered as much butter as I could onto the needle and placed it where I found it. Miss Tivisky came back when the girl's hand was okay, and she settled back down. I anxiously watched the whole time, practically willing the needle to slip out of her hand and stab her enough for just a bit of blood... She picked up the needle, which, thankfully, slipped. It fell and stabbed her other arm.

 Now, normally needles don't poke people that hard, but Miss Tivisky had grabbed one of the biggest needles she owned, claiming that it was perfect for the design she had in mind. That, and it fell at an angle, ripping the skin as it fell. She winced and pulled it out, mumbling under her breath as blood already started to collect on her old, wrinkled skin. I stood up, faking worry, and quickly responded to the tragic incident. "Let me go get some of the alcohol and bandages out of the cupboard for you!"

I ran to retrieve the kit, along with a jar. When I got back, I slyly put the jar under her arm, letting the blood drip into it. I treated her arm, which, to no one's surprise, she didn't thank me for, and told her I would be leaving, taking the jar up to my room. I put it on my desk, dropping my single strand of pale hair with it.

Things were already going perfectly.          

*****

The black widow was easy to get. My science teacher at the school a few blocks away had a collection of dead spider in her classroom, which was a little creepy when I was younger, but it ended up benefiting me. I broke in through the only window in the room, which had a broken lock, and added the curled up spider to the jar, watching it to see if anything happened. I noticed the small amount of fluid was moving a bit, and right before my eyes, my hair and the spider melted into the blood. At least I knew it was working. With a grin, I swished the deep, almost black fluid around. There was now only one thing I needed.

I walked outside and looked around. Not a single person was outside, of course. It was just a little too early in the morning for that. I began walking towards an alley, holding my nail trimmers, which I figured would work for a cat claw, too. After an hour of searching, I growled and sat down on a bench. It was hopeless. There were simply no black cats around. How was I ever going to finish this? I had to hurry.

I needed the demon to help me, and I was running out of options. How could it ever help me if I couldn't even summon the stupid thing?

A flash of black appeared in the corner of my eyes, and I turned to face a trash can. Walking slowly towards it, I pulled out the silver nail trimmers. Moving as fast as I humanly could, triumphantly grabbing the black thing and picked it up. I was right. It was a cat. "Finally," I muttered as I clipped one of its claws off, despite the cat's meows, hisses, and scratches of protest. It caught my arm pretty well, giving me a long gash, but I ignored my bleeding for just a few minutes.

I put the cat back down and turned around to go back to my room in the orphanage. "I wouldn't summon that demon, Miss Gray," a voice said.

I whipped around to see that the cat was the only living being in sight. He was looking at me, as if he was waiting for a reply. I shook my head and looked back at him with a glare, deciding to speak to him, even if cats couldn't actually talk. I was already doing something I never thought I would do, why not do another? "I will summon him, even if it's one of the last things I ever do. Besides, you're just a random, unlucky cat on the street. Who in the right mind would trust a black cat?" I spun on my heel and walked away from where the street cat was sitting.

 I didn't care if a black cat spoke and warned me. It was a cat. What could it possibly know? Besides, I had a wound to attend to. I didn't want to leave a blood trail everywhere I went.