Almost Demon (The Sigil Cycle) by AJ Salem Read Free Book Online Page B

powers of a certain being or energy or one can summon the actual entity. To summon the actual demon, you need to know its true name.”
    “But why summon them at all if you can just draw its power?”
    “For any number of reasons. The main one being etiquette.”
     “Seriously?” I was flabbergasted. “I must have misplaced my copy of Emily Post’s Guide to Demonic Encounters .”
    His nostrils flared. “This is serious and I am only going to tell you this once. Otherwise, you cannot be trusted and I am wasting my time.” He raised his voice. “When you create a sigil without purpose, there are severe repercussions. Energy is not created. It’s all there but everything has its source and essentially any power you are using is channeled from elsewhere. You will under no circumstances draw power from unknown sources, is that clear?”
    “Yeah, sure.” I wasn’t sure what I was agreeing to but I thought it prudent to keep things calm. “Can I ask a question?”
    “Go ahead.”
    “What’s your first name?”
    “Thom.” His curt reply filled me with a mixture of hope and doubt. I was fascinated by this energetic man who, in one fell swoop, had turned my world upside down with this forbidden knowledge. “Are you ready to continue?” he said.
    “I think so.”
    “I hope I’m not keeping you from something more important.”
    “Like what? If you haven’t noticed, there isn’t much to do around here, and my after-school job is kind of on indefinite hiatus.”
    “Very well. Where was I?”
    “Summoning demons,” I reminded him.
    “The next step is what is referred to as charging. The summoner focuses on these symbols until the power is drawn into them.”
    “So what exactly are these symbols?” I asked, excited by the knowledge that there was more to this world and comforted by the belief that Brian might be somewhere better. Not just gone.
    “Yes. Let’s first move a step back. The power of the written word is infinite. Letters have the capacity to affect our surroundings, aside from magic. Letters form words that in turn form ideas that every person projects into the universe. Once spoken. they carry the burden of returning to their source.”
    “Like karma.”
    “Exactly. You say something positive it boomerangs backs. Unfortunately, negativity accrues compound interest and returns threefold.”
    “So how does using this magic not rebound on the user?”
    “That is where names come in to play. Using a demon’s true name creates a conduit for the energy. The sorcerer knows where it’s coming from and can funnel it back to its source. We’ll get into the details another time. For now, I just want you to learn how sigils are drawn.”
    He ripped out a blank sheet from my binder and set it before me. Using the back of a pencil, he pointed to the rosette on the cover page of the book.
    “This is a template.” He placed the paper over the book and started circling letters and connecting them together with lines. “You start with the first letter of the name and draw a circle. From there you draw a line to each consecutive letter until you reach the end, where you close the sigil with a perpendicular line. Try one.”
    I scanned the list for anything familiar. I recognized one of the first ones from a cheesy horror movie I had seen once and placed my paper on top of Mr. Flynn’s. Our fingers touched briefly and I noticed the warmth emanating from him. Pushing those thoughts away, I started at the A in the center ring, went back and forth between it and the Z, next was the E and finally the L.
    “Azazel,” I said and put the pen back on the table.
     He picked it up and circled the symbol. “Good. After you have created the designated sigil, you encircle it and add a pentacle within. This will activate its ritual function.”
    “That’s it?”
    “Simply put, yes. But in time you will learn that when done with more finesse, sigils become more powerful and easier to control. That, however,