Chapter Text
Grace woke up just before her alarm, and nearly screamed when she saw the man crouching at the end of her bed like a green gargoyle. She only didn’t because he’d moved supernaturally fast from his previous perch, and had put his hand over her mouth, staring her in the eye as he slowly reached over and shut her alarm off for her.
“Hello, Gracie. Looks like my pally-wal was very busy last night, how was the dancy wance?” he asked knowingly, moving away from her once she’d calmed, wiping his hand on his jacket as he returned to sitting at the end of the bed, this time cross-legged.
She sat up, leaning against her headboard, not bothering to cover herself with her blankets like she would normally with anyone else, even though she was in full long sleeved pajamas. He wasn’t actually human, he didn't have any of the same disgusting actions as her male classmates. Even if he was pretending to look like one. “It was terrible, and my date was disgusting, but I dealt with him.” she said.
“Hmm.” Wiggog hummed, in a voice that was multi-layered and kind of hurt her ears to hear, “Oh, you certainly did, well done Gracie! You use that book quite well, it’s been so long since we’ve had anyone use it. It’s in good hands, isn’t it Grace?”
He smiled at her, but it stretched farther than a human one should, and looked overly stiff like he wasn’t used to the motion, compared to his body’s subtle movements. Not the same as when he moved his hands during the summoning, but a barely there rigid rocking motion side to side where he sat.
It took her a little bit longer to respond, still waking up and calming down from the scare, but when she did she had remembered something important, “My house isn’t a black altar, how are you here?” she asked, suspicious and concerned that all three of them had possibly messed up, and had accidentally released some powerful demons.
He cocked his head, eyes narrowed like he knew what she was thinking and thought she was silly, then jerked his head in an unnatural and sudden motion towards the book she left on her desk, hands doing the weird wiggling motion again while he straightened and seemed to almost flicker, “I’m not. The Black Book is connected to us. I am just simply... visiting. Using the dregs of power left lingering in the book we had not consumed to talk with my new friendy-wend about the fun that was had!”
She rubbed her head, feeling the bedhead she’d need to brush out later, something about what he said at least explained why she was so tired, when she’d been so energized before bed, “You took the power from me? It doesn’t build in the book for me to use or anything?”
He laughed, and something about it made her skin crawl momentarily before she shook it off. It was just a weird wheezing laugh that sounded like it should make him be out of breath when he was done, but he wasn't, it wasn’t a big deal, “The book borrows from us, Gracie, what you gain belongs to us. You keep some for yourself, of course, but you're playing our game, it’s only fair you share fairly isn’t it? Even if one of us does get more than his fair share.” he muttered the last part, looking put out and almost pouting, if not for the annoyance radiating off him, making Grace refuse to see any sort of pouting happening.
“I uh, I guess, yeah. I don’t know how this works yet anyway, I’m... glad I know where my power has gone. Yeah, thanks, for that, Wiggog Y’rath, The Lord in Black.” Grace said, deciding to use the full title she’d found for him in the book, to avoid him getting upset at her.
He smiled overwide again, head tilted too far to one side as he observed her, “No need for being so formal dear little buddy-wud, call me Wiggly. Friends use nicknames, after all, don’t they Gracie?” he asked, eyes glowing greener for a moment.
Grace nodded without thinking, “Yeah, totally. But um, is there a reason you decided to visit me when I just woke up, were you watching me sleep?” she asked, unsure how mortified by the idea she should be, but figuring getting angry and yelling at him for it would go badly for her, as some sort of powerful ungodly entity.
Wiggly didn’t say anything, just tilting his head the other way, before he turned to be sitting facing her closed door, just as a knock sounded on the other side of it, her dad’s voice coming muffled behind the door, “Honey, are you awake, we heard your alarm. You’re usually up and at ‘em by now!”
Grace finally leaned forward, worried as she whispered urgently to the green clad creature, “You need to go, or hide, he’ll freak out, boys aren’t allowed in my room!” she hissed, trying to be as quiet as possible.
Wiggly snorted out a louder laugh, but otherwise completely ignored her warning, while her dad cracked the door open slightly and peeked in curiously, eyes sweeping over her room in confusion before settling on Grace, "Sweetheart, are you talking to yourself?" he asked, not reacting at all to the very noticeable Lord in Black sitting cross-legged on the end of her bed, staring unconcerned right at him the whole time.
"Um," Grace said, glancing between him and Wiggly too obviously, his own eyes followed where she was looking and opened the door finally to properly walk through, "Wait Dad no, I can explain this!"
He wasn't looking at Wiggly though, but to the stuffed animal the being had resting in his lap suddenly, head cocked as he watched her dad come close and inspect it, "When did you get a new stuffed animal darling, I dont think I've ever seen... something like this before?"
Wiggly turned his head to grin at her, ignoring her father now as he picked up the doll, "It isn't very... well. You usually like the cute ones, this doesn't look very nice honey." though that did get Wiggly to roll his eyes and look faintly insulted.
"Pet my belly-well!" Wiggly said, voice coming from him but her dad seemed to only hear it from the doll, as he made a startled noise and dropped it back onto the bed. Then he and the doll both giggled his wheezing laugh.
Her dad laughed nervously, taking a step back as he crossed himself subconsciously. Grace caught the exaggerated eye roll Wiggly did at the motion, then he stood up a bit woodenly, so still as if he were frozen, staring down someone who couldn’t even see him, while her dad cleared his throat and composed himself.
“Did one of your school friends make this for you, I’m not sure I’ve seen any advertisements on television for this new toy?” he asked, eyeing the abandoned toy on the bed wearily.
Wiggly sneered at him, “Not this time.” he huffed, though her dad didn’t react to it, so maybe the doll didn’t repeat what he had said. He looked expectantly at her.
Grace took the excuse readily, nodding fast, “Yeah! Yeah uh, Stephenie Lauter, you know the old mayor's daughter, she’s taken up sewing, and learned to make stuffed dolls! She’s really good at it, as you can see, obviously! She likes making creepy things instead of anything cute, since she got past all of the advanced sewing forms!” she said, louder than was probably appropriate for the time of day.
Wiggly stuck his tongue out at the excuse, eyes glowing brighter for a moment when her dad didn't seem fully convinced. A green sheen came over her fathers eyes briefly, and the unsure look melted out of his expression to something relaxed and unnaturally calm, “Oh, that’s nice of her Gracie. I’ll leave you to get dressed then, see you down for breakfast!”
He turned stiffly and walked out the door, closing it behind him, Wiggly watching his movement the whole time and then listening until he couldn’t be heard in the hallway anymore. Then his attention returned to Grace and her new dilemma.
As soon as her dad had left she curled in on herself, hiding her head in the comforter as she whined guiltily, “Now I’m lying to my daddy! This is the worst thing I’ve ever done!” she lamented into the sheets.
She heard Wiggly laugh, and felt him put a hand on her back in what could have been comfort, if the patting wasn't strong enough to make her wince. It hurt and pushed her more into her sheets, but she couldn't do much when his other arm came around and forced her to sit up properly again. He didn’t look sympathetic either, just kind of bored, as he caught her eye and gave her a wide smile.
“We both know that isn’t true Gracie, and that’s okay. Lying can be good to do, it kept you and our pally-wals out of trouble a while ago, didn't it?” he asked, voice gentle and dripping honey.
Grace sniffled, nodding as she looked at him, “Sorry I said your toy isn’t cute, it really isn’t, but I could have been kinder in choosing my words when you’re right there, even if dad couldn’t see you. Also, about that, what did you do to him, and why couldn't he see you if I could?”
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard that.” Wiggly said dryly, face twisted in mild annoyance, as he scooped the toy up into his arms and held it to his chest loosely, “As for why he can't see me, well, I did say I’m not really here, you see me because you're connected to the book. Anyone else just sees you talking to no one, or this toy of mine, it makes a wonderful cover for chats, it’s quite a good conduit.”
Grace could see how that would make sense, on some level, but still, “What did you do to him?” she repeated, unable to hide the worry from her voice.
It looked like he was going to ignore her question again, but after staring at her for an uncomfortable few seconds, he grinned and stepped closer to her, pulling her briskly out of her bed to stand in front of him, “Nothing you need to worry about of course, just encouraged him to leave! You should do as he said Gracie, you have a busy day, and some things that you need to get done for me.”
He stared expectantly at her, waiting while she stared incredulously back at him. It lasted for what felt like minutes before she finally said, “I’m not getting dressed with you watching me! You visited, you said hi, you can go now, so I can actually get ready, please?” she pleaded, his intense stare making her incredibly unsettled, he wasn’t even blinking or pretending to breathe!
He frowned at her, finally blinking once as he mimicked what he probably thought was confusion, “Oh, whoopsie! Hmm, well I did have more reason to visit besides just to say hello. You still have much to do to repay what we did for you, but I suppose we can get into all of that later. This repayment is real quick though, then I’ll leave you to your...maintenance.” he waved a hand loosely to indicate her room, looking disdainfully at some of her posters and the homemade cross on the walls, as well as vaguely in the direction of her own clothes.
Grace sighed, deciding not to engage with any of that right now, she needed to get ready for the day, “What is it?”
His grin returned, though now it was every bit as terrifying as it had been when she had first summoned all of them, every bit the cold and dangerous ruler of a place that couldn’t be Hell but was probably not any sort of Heaven, his eyes bright as he leaned closer into her space, crown sharp and intimidating in his hair, the toy in his arms just as menacing, “Have your father undo whatever transfer he had done for the Waylon house. Better yet, if you can get rid of whoever owns it now, and have the deed placed with you instead. The Waylons and their followers are gone, but you have the book and can replace them, the altar is yours to tend to, no one else should take it and make it into something it isn’t. It’ll be so much easier to speak with you Gracie, if you have access to a proper place we can better reach for you, wouldn’t you think so?”
“But I’m only 18!” Grace said, flustered and feeling oddly as though something heavy were pushing down on her, “I can’t leave my parents so soon, I’m too young to leave home and own anything yet! That’s something you plan for and do when you're at least 30 and married.”
Wiggly leaned back, out of her space, but Grace felt cornered regardless, frozen by his cold expression, "Do it Gracie, or I can get that book off your hands and find a new pally-wal who can do what's needed. You obviously don't really want the power you wield, after all, letting your parents and youth get in the way of you doing such good deeds for the world." he said, in a tone that she nearly mistook for sarcasm but obviously was just concern.
Grace shook her head, reaching out to grab him to beg, and froze before she touched him, remembering what he was, "No, no! I'll do it, I'll move, whatever you want, but I need the book to make everything better, please don't take it from me!"
Wiggly stared at her, green eyes almost glowing despite the room being bright in the morning light from the windows, the stifling feeling in the room only lessening just slightly when he grinned coolly, reaching his own hand out to ruffle her hair a bit harder than was comfortable, “Goody! Oh it's so nice to play with you Gracie, but I really must be going now. We will see you once more once you’re where we can speak together properly.”
He flickered a bit transparent as he handed her the doll, and she took it automatically without thinking, just relieved that the rest of the pressure on her shoulders had finally left as whatever sudden anxiety she had felt relaxed, “Keep this, consider it a house gift, to keep you company while you... settle in.”
She looked down at the doll uncomfortably, looking back up with more questions that died in her throat when she saw he had already gone and left her alone with the stuffed toy. She had no idea or plan for how she was meant to do what he wanted, only that she needed to do it or risk losing her chance to make the world better. Still though...
“I really don’t want this.” Grace whispered, looking back at the toy as she turned it around in her hands so the eyes would stop staring at her, so she could at least pretend it was sort of normal looking seeing it from the back.
It laughed suddenly, the same wheezing laugh as before that echoed disturbingly around her room, “Hop to it, Gracie!”
She dropped it face down on her bed and hid it under her comforter, “Yep, okay.” she said quickly, then grabbed some clothes and ran to the bathroom to get changed for the day and figure out a good plan to do what was requested of her.