Josh didn’t know where that fragment of sentence came from—maybe from the evening prayer or a biblical story he’d read with Mummy—but he took a deep breath, and he shouted towards the ugliness, “In the name of the Lord, get out!”
The bird demon spread its wings, its feathers looming like a black wooden headboard. Its face was no longer emotionless—it was furious, and hissing noises came from its throat. Fire rolled along its almond-shaped eyes like thousands of inflamed volcanoes. In spite of this, Josh felt the creature was afraid.
It jumped down from the bed and ran at Josh. His clawed, bony fingers scratched the floor with sharp, screeching sounds.
Josh made a desperate effort with a last deep breath to shout the saving, victorious sentence into the beast’s face …
… when he lost con
