Cassie was very confused. A second ago, she had been in her room, in the middle of rereading one of her favorite books. Now, in the blink of an eye, she had been transported to…
Wait. Where exactly was she?
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkened room. The area was filled with smoke that made her eyes sting and her nose itch, and the only light within it was provided by a group of thin white candles that surrounded her. And, as she looked around, she noticed that the area where she now sat was surrounded by a circle of thick white chalk interspersed with a number of messy sketched symbols and…
This was a summoning circle, wasn't it? And she had appeared right in the middle of it…
Cassie still didn't quite understand what was going on, but a pit grew in her stomach she sensed that something was very, very wrong.
In front of her stood a single hooded figure, their head bowed as they chanted a series of words too quietly murmured for her to comprehend.
"…what's going on?"
The figure raised their head and spoke more loudly, their voice booming against the walls of the small room. "Oh, great and powerful Cassie, I have summoned you to request your assistance with a most wondrous task!"
Cassie looked around the room, hoping for some small clue that would explain what was going on, but nothing presented itself, no matter how hard she looked. "I… I don't understand…"
"I have a deal to offer you, Cassie the Treater, one that I believe shall be most beneficial to the both of us!"
Cassie took a deep breath and slowly let it out, her body shaking all over. "I'm so sorry, but something must have gone wrong. I'm not a demon. I don't know how you got me here, but I can't help you."
The summoner let out a harsh laugh. "Such trickery! I should have expected no less from such a great entity. Now, if you will hear me out, oh mighty one, what I have to offer you is this. If you provide me with assistance with my baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies, I shall in exchange grant you half of what has been produced during our labor. Does this sound like an acceptable deal to you?"
Cassie blinked in surprise. "Wait. That's what this whole summoning is about? You want me to bake cookies for you?"
"Correction: I want you to bake cookies with me. And honestly, Cassie, you don't get to criticize anybody for having a trivial reason to summon a demon."
The figure threw off their dark hood, revealing somebody that Cassie knew all too well.
After her mouth hung open for a moment, Cassie ran out of the summoning circle and swatted him gently on the arm.
"Alcor, you dork!"
"Did I scare you?" The demon flashed the girl a wide, fang-filled grin.
Cassie shook her head, laughing softly to herself.
"I wasn't kidding about that deal, by the way. Now, are you going to help me bake some cookies or not?"