Several turns had come and gone before I pulled my first prize; five, to be exact. If anything I knew about claw games was transferable to this towering carnival show of a cabinet, then I had just acquired something far more valuable than the overstuffed black sheep plush that just appeared in my arms. I just had to play smart and take my time and I could walk away from this with my soul intact… maybe. I closed my eyes and did my best to reset my composure to something resembling confidence.

“That makes it my question! Now, let me see…” I tapped my finger against my cheek as I thought about what to ask the bitchy demoness with all the answers.

“Congratulations on your toy, summoner. She looks just like you! Now, what’s your devastating first question?” Mara’s grin was just wide enough to let her sizable fangs hang over her bottom lip. I smiled and squeezed the sheep.

“What’s your favorite food?”

“What’s my…” Mara paused for a moment, soaking in my words before erupting into a throaty cackle. “That’s your question? Oh, sweetie.”

“It’s the first question! I’m allowed to ask what I want!” I didn’t know how things were done down in Hell, but up here we had standards. I wasn’t about to out-demon Mara; I was going to out-play her. “Now answer the question: what’s your favorite food?”

“I don’t know? Grapes? Strawberries? We have a lot of fruit…” A loud buzzing sound tore through the gymnasium and Mara’s collar blinked into a bright red glow. I flinched a bit as her eyes went wide and her face contorted into uncomfortable shapes. She was obviously straining to stop whatever was building, but a few moments later, the dam broke and out came her real answer.

“I WOULD LITERALLY KILL A MAN FOR A NUMBER NINE WITH CURLY FRIES FROM PICKLE DOG ON FOURTH STREET.”

The demoness gasped and flung her hand up to cover her mouth. A long, sad squeal drifted from the plush dolphin she now held in one hand, giving away just how hard she had been squeezing the poor thing. When the surprise passed, I couldn’t help but let a snicker escape. She glared in my direction and stomped up to the controls in a huff.

“So, can demons just go get food in town? I guess I just kind of assumed…” A clawed finger pressed softly against my lips cut my thought short.

“One prize, one question, Holly. Keep your giggles and your bonus round bullshit to yourself.” 

God, she really liked touch, didn’t she? A finger trailing here and a tail brushing there, making contact whenever she was able. Mara knew how to throw her weight around to get her way; the appearance of control was the greatest weapon in her arsenal. My head went fuzzy when she twisted me up, but every now and again it felt like I could see cracks forming in her confident facade. Something was off with the picture she was trying to sell me, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to figure it out.

Mara set her eyes a little more intensely on the pile of capsules and plushes, her tail flitting erratically behind her tipping me off to just how irritated she was. The heart tipped appendage stopped dead in the air as she finally pressed her finger down the button, dropping the claw on a large, smooth capsule with my letter on it. Everything looked promising until the claw arm just barely bumped against the ceiling of the machine, causing the featherlight grip of the claw to release the large plastic bauble.

“Bitch!” My demon swore under her breath as her treasure settled into a new position closer to the prize chute. Mara growled and stepped aside from the machine. “Alright, Summoner Holly - let’s see you do better.”

If she was looking for better, she was going to be waiting a little while; I had my own plans to test out. I took a deep breath in and let it go slowly, trying my best to calm my still fluttering heart rate. I could endure plenty to make it through this, but shaking hands absolutely didn’t need to be part of that package deal. I opened my eyes and scanned the pile for the nearest skull to the prize chute, locking on to one that was nearly teetering on its edge.

Bingo.

If I was right about this machine grabbing for real once every five times, then there’s no way I could count the four grabs in-between them to be anything but half-hearted nudging. My finger found the button and released the claw, its weak grasp catching enough of the skull to roll it off the edge and into the chute. A loud buzzer echoed from wall to wall, bright red letters spelling “PENALTY,” running across the marquee of the cabinet.

“Oooooh, too bad, sweetie! Looks like your next turn is mine.” There she was; this was the Mara that felt like she was in control. Her eyes looked ravenous as she pressed her body into mine, an adorable plush skull appearing only to be squished in-between us. “You can keep the toy, though, babe.” She was practically purring at this point, her words oozing from her mouth like molten sugar. Mara was inches from my face and getting closer, and my cheeks were on fire. “Anyway, I’ll be taking my two turns now.” With a single finger she pushed me out of the way and sauntered up to the control panel.

The next two turns went quickly and predictably.

“THIS THING’S RIGGED!” My demon let loose an absolutely hellish groan, her tail shooting straight out behind her, her fingers curled into fists at her sides. 

“A lot of people think that, but they’re not actually rigged! At least, like, not in the way you would think they are? Once we’re done with… you know, everything… I could totally tell you all about-” Mara whipped around and smirked at me, her brows furrowed in frustration.

“I don’t need your pity, princess.”

“Princess?” When I repeated the words, it was out of shock; it was absent minded, spoken into space to nobody in particular. The word escaped me as if I had had the wind knocked out of me, but it was too late. Even with my face glued to the floor, I could feel her eyes hot on my neck.

“That one hit home, did it? You like that idea?” I felt the warm touch of her fingers as she tilted my chin up and dragged my eyes upwards towards hers. Her grin was positively venomous. "Or would you rather I be your ruler, summoner?"

“Oooookay, that’s enough of that. Just gonna…” I turned my red hot face away from her, locked my eyes to the floor and forced myself towards the machine. Laying hands on the controls was a welcome relief from the head games behind me, and it was all of sixty seconds before I had another prize materializing in my hands. I held in my hands a capsule the size of my head, but otherwise just like the ones I had spent the majority of the last year combing my way through the town’s machines to collect. Without thinking, I pushed my hands together and popped the capsule’s seal open.

“What’s the matter, summoner? Your toy come up empty this time?”

For a second, I thought she was right. I don’t think either of us noticed the piece of notebook paper fluttering down from the plastic casing at first. It only caught my eye as it landed gently at my feet - a handwritten note in purple ink, the kind that might come from one of those brightly colored gel pens in a pack of twenty. I lifted the note to eye level and began to read.

“Jessica,

I love you and I’m so sorry for what happened in gym yesterday. I never meant for them to find out, or for you to get dragged into it. I understand if you don’t want to speak to me again, but I-”

That was as far as I got before the paper got ripped from my hands by one exasperated demon. Mara’s violet cheeks were stained red and she was breathing heavily, the note crumpled in her hand.

“Who gave you the right?” She was seething, moving slowly towards me with fangs bared. Suddenly, in my hands there appeared a piece of paper. “What the…” I blinked. It was the same note from just a moment ago, now pristine and untouched. Mara searched herself and came up empty, the paper she just snatched nowhere to be found. “How?”

“I think…” I held the paper up and eyed her with caution. “I think this is my prize? I think the game knows.” I took a step backwards, but held the paper close to my chest. The noises escaping Mara’s throat were strained and squealing. Her wings shook in frustration, fully extended behind her almost like an animal trying to make itself look bigger than it was. The girl was panicking. What was in this note that had her so worked up?

“This… This isn’t fair! This has never been part of it!” Her eyes darted back and forth, her breaths short and hurried. There was a moment where everything stopped and realization washed over her face, and suddenly she was still as stone. “...You!” She stomped forward and into my personal space. “YOU!” Her fingers trembled as she flexed her claws and glared down at me. I shrunk in place, clutching the paper for dear life. “YOU TRICKED ME. YOU BROKE THE DEAL.” I was backed against the railing of the platform, her body trapping mine in place. I don’t know what came over me at that moment, but suddenly I was shouting too.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS!” My hand met her chest and I pushed her backwards with more ease than I expected.

“BULL SHIT.”

“You made the game! How the hell would I know what the prizes were, Mara?” I was gaining ground, reclaiming the space I’d been forced out of.

“THIS HAS NEVER-”

“You already know I don’t know anything! I answered you!” My finger was pushing into her chest. “But you keep knowing things you shouldn’t!”

A flash of fear bled through her demeanor, and I knew the momentum had shifted.

“That’s not…” She grabbed my hand and pushed it away.

“You knew I reused the circle!”

“Your runes are garbage, it was-”

“You’ve eaten at Pickle Dog down the road from my apartment!”

“Fuck you, Holly!” 

I was ready to launch into another volley when I saw something I didn’t expect. Mara cowered and wrung her tail in her hands, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Her breath was shaking, her stance unsteady. I felt my anger leave me as quickly as it had come. With her words she was still in this verbal sparring match, but the only thing I could see in front of me was a scared girl with someone shouting in her face.

I backed off, allowing my body to unclench and fall backwards down onto the platform. I could tell she couldn’t figure out what to make of me there with my head in my hands. She leaned forward slightly, but still shook, her breath still uneasy.

Fuck it.

“You…” It took me more than one try to get the words out. It was the first time I’d ever spoken them aloud to anybody. “You know I want to be a girl.”

The lights from the machine played on the platform, but our breathing was the only sound in the vacuum of the summoning circle. I fiddled with the note in my hands, trying hard to focus myself somewhere, anywhere else.

Then, a small, dull thud.

Mara had dropped to her knees there on the platform with me. Her breath had steadied a bit. She inched towards me.

“Holly… what?”

I couldn’t face her. My face was hot, the note crinkling back and forth in my hands. I tried to read. It was something about bullies and hurt feelings, some fight between school kids. I didn’t have the presence of mind to focus, but it gave me something to look at. I rocked back and forth there on the platform, desperate not to be seen. It was then that my eyes landed on the signature at the end of the page. I blinked. I lifted my eyes for the first time, and they found their mark on the half of the capsule with Mara’s tag on it. I stared at the symbol in silence, my brain connecting an invisible trail of dots.

When I looked back at Mara, she was looking away, her tail nervously batting at the platform floor. In that moment, it was hard to see us as so different, both of us hiding from uncomfortable truths; both of us anxious wrecks. I scooted forward and managed to make myself speak.

“Mara.” 

She still stared off into the emptiness of the school gymnasium.

“What?”

“Is… Was your name ever Whitney Valeo?”

originalzin

So, I just want to say: thank you all so much for the response to this stupid story. I'll appreciate it more than you'll ever know. It's been so encouraging to make something that people seem to want to read, and when I see y'all interact with and enjoy it, it makes me want to make more.

P.S. - To the few of you who I've been torturing with cliffhangers, from the bottom of my heart - I am not sorry. >:D