The Summoning

A loud whirring came from outside the kitchen door. Gabby looked up from her phone. She could see the drone, black and looking like some sort of weird dragonfly, slowly lower to the porch to deposit a package.

Probably for Mom, she thought, rolling her eyes.

The drone hovered for a moment outside of the window, it’s four rotors seeming to regard her, before it took off rapidly and flew towards the north. Gabby put her headphones back on and started listening to her study jam as she prepped for the SATs. She felt ready but like she always did before a test, nervous. She looked up at the family picture and felt a twinge of sadness. Even though it had been more than a year since Dad had been declared missing in action, she still felt like he had just left. His face, so serious, regarded her from the family portrait. Even in the picture, he wore his uniform, an overt reminder that he was a military man as well as a father. She missed him. And it was making things worse. She was having a hard time concentrating as it was.

She could hear some sort of annoying tune playing. She paused playback on her Spotify, but she could still hear it, faintly. It couldn’t be coming from the TV. It was dark, with a bit of dust that she’d have to clear off later. Mom was teaching art at CSULB, so her laptop was with her. Gabby’s own laptop was on the counter, but it was on Word and there weren’t any browser tabs open. It was very faint, and somehow both enticing and unnerving.

As Gabby opened the door, the music became a little louder. The package that the drone had dropped off sat on the porch. The outside of the box was ornately illustrated, with an almost anime like female figure with a mysterious smile. Her tresses and robes encircled the box in an elaborate graphic design. The box was a big square, about three feet on each side. Gabby leaned closer. The woman’s face on the box seemed to know her. The package was addressed to Erin Spencer in florid script. So, Mom.

“Called it,” she said out loud.

Gabby picked up the box. It was heavy, and a cloying scent seemed to come from it. The tune continued to play, as if it was on endless loop. As she carried the box back to her mom’s home office, something inside the box pricked her thumbs.

“Ow.”

Gabby put the box down and rinsed off her hands in the sink. Her thumbs looked like she had just trimmed the bougainvillea in the front yard. She put a Band-Aid on both. She closed Mom’s office door and texted her. Gabby tried to study some more, but the music that she could still hear was ever present. She turned up Spotify, but she could still hear it. One moment it was as loud as a rock concert, the next quiet and pervasive, just a whisper.

Her head pounding, Gabby rummaged through the junk drawer in the kitchen until she found the box cutter. As she opened the door to her mom’s office, the cloying smell grew stronger, but different with a coppery smell fused into it.

What the hell is it? Gabby thought as she tore through the package sealing tape to open the box.

When she opened it, sitting openly in the nest of grayish white tissue paper was a mirror. It was circular, convex, and looked like a sun, but with dozens of pointed black tendrils radiating from it. Surreally, Gabby could see two of them with red stains on the end. Gabby leaned over the mirror looking it all over for whatever switch could turn off the music as well as that smell.

The convex surface of the mirror distorted Gabby’s face in it. Gabby froze, her eyes wide. The mirror lifted out of the box and floated in front of her, glowing with a pale greenish white light, almost like a negative penumbra from an eclipse. Gabby gave a strangled cry and fell catatonic to the carpet, her face frozen in shock, her eyes wide. From somewhere both near and far, a woman’s tinkling laugh could be heard. The mirror floated in midair, slowly revolving.

Erin was stuck in traffic on the 405 as usual, and there appeared to be a wreck. Traffic was crawling. She was in that maddening in-between place of being close to her exit, but miles away from being able to pull off. She finally got on the off-ramp, which was also backed up. She rolled her windows down and checked her phone absently. Gabby had texted her but for some reason there was no notification that she had received a message.

“You got a package. It’s stinky and it stabbed me.”

Erin’s blood went cold.

“No,” she said softly, “It can’t be.”

A homeless old woman was shuffling up to each of the cars lined up to get off the exit. No one else seemed to notice her. She came to Erin’s window. She waved at her. Erin’s mind was racing, so while she was aware of her, she didn’t acknowledge her.

The old lady gave a throaty laugh. Her breath was foul and sickly-sweet.

“Surprise waiting for you at home.”

Erin looked at her then.

The old lady’s face wasn’t right. It was gray. Her eyes were greenish white and shimmered.

The light changed, and Erin floored it to get away from the offramp. Her heart was racing. When she pulled into the driveway, she practically sprinted into the house. Her office door was open, and a vile smell assailed her. Gabby was laying on her side, her face scared. Her mouth was moving, and an eerie double voice was speaking. A mirror that looked like a sun floated in midair. Erin didn’t look at it, and focused solely on Gabby.

“I must say I am very disappointed, daughter. It was very easy to catch this mongrel child of yours. I have her blood and her soul. Her mind is fighting me, but soon it will be mine as well.”

Gabby vanished, and suddenly Erin felt hands touch her arms from behind. Erin pulled away. The last person she wanted to see was standing there. Fiery red curls, pointed ears, feral eyes and a beautiful though gaunt face. Gossamer wings iridescently shimmered. And on her head an elaborate crown that looked like gold branches and shimmering stones.

“Mother,” Erin spat, “let her go.”

The woman walked around the room, her face disdainful.

“You gave up your place at court…for this. For him. That filthy mortal.”

“And I’d do it again,” Erin said, her eyes flashing.

The faerie queen looked at her. Her face was impassive, and she didn’t blink.

“I have him too, you know.”

Erin stared at her in shock. Suddenly the queen shifted. She was right by Erin’s ear. Her voice was low, and Erin flinched.

“And if you want to see either of them alive again, that is where you must come.”

The queen gave a tinkling laugh and vanished. The mirror spun around rapidly and fell into the box. Erin grabbed the small gym bag from the back of the hall closet. She’d need everything in it before she was done if she was to even stand a chance in her mother’s twisted game. Erin stepped back into the hallway and jumped headfirst towards the box. With a flash of light, she vanished, and so did the box.