Chapter 4

Chapter

4

"Tink's titties, it's colder than a troll's toe," Jenks swore as I pushed through the narrow revolving door at the corner of Carew Tower.

"You could have made the trip in my bag," I said, and the pixy snorted, the noise loud, as he was sitting under my ear.

"I can't keep your ass above the grass from a purse," he muttered, but I thought it was more about the demon book that he'd be sharing space with than any worry he had over my safety. Once inside, I slowed, breathing in history. Carew Tower had been built during the thirties, when people lavished style and art onto their city structures. That Trent had bought it meant that the crumbling art deco building would be restored. That is, if he ever gets access to his money again.

Mood faltering, I worked my way through the general outflow of foot traffic to the elevators, stifling a shudder when Jenks plastered his wings against my neck to warm up. The pixy had insisted on coming despite the chance he might get stuck here. He couldn't fly when the temps got below forty-five degrees, and if the coven didn't let me walk out, he'd be living off French fries and pesticide-contaminated pollen from the flower shop until someone could come get him. November was too cold for pixies.

Chances were good that wouldn't happen. Not with my shoulder bag heavy with that demon book and my middle full from the Skyline chili I'd had for lunch. After dropping off the girls, I'd taken some time to prep. My boots were now scuff-free and my slacks roomy enough to kick ass in. My dark green jacket did double duty, both fashionable and spell-proof, as potions couldn't soak through the leather. I'd taken the time to wind my spell-straightened hair into a bun to hide a zip-strip clipper. As long as my hands weren't behind my back, I could get free.

"You good, Jenks?" I said, worried that he hadn't said much of anything. The sun was shining, but it was still cold.

"I need a minute," he answered, a thin dust of orange sparkles sifting down my front.

Angst flickered as I flashed Elyse's card at the security guy and was pointed to a smaller set of elevators. Thirty-third floor. Not so far up that reaching the ley lines would be hard, but not so low that you wouldn't have a view. Boots thumping, I jammed the card into a pocket and hoisted the book-heavy bag higher up my shoulder. Apart from the obvious, I had my splat gun, zip strips, and vials of salt water to break earth charms. My go-to, though, were the ley lines. That, and Jenks—soon as he warmed up.

I hit the button for the elevator, surprised when one was immediately available.

"Hold that, will you?" someone called, and I stuck my hand out and stopped the door from closing. Huffing, the woman hustled into the small, art deco–appointed lift. She had four cups of coffee in a tray, and I breathed in the scent of roasted beans as the doors closed and she hit the button for the sixteenth floor.

"Thanks so much," she said with a sigh, and I nodded and used my knuckle to light the button for the thirty-third. "Coffee run," she needlessly said, and then her nose wrinkled, and she sniffed.

I lifted my bag to explain where the faint scent of burnt amber was coming from. "Coven contraband," I said with a toothy smile.

"Oh." The woman's gaze flicked to the elevator panel, and she hit the button for the next floor. "Um, have a nice day."

The lift stopped, and she bolted when the doors opened, stumbling out to stand in the hall and stare at me until the doors closed and the lift continued on.

"Wow," I said sourly, and Jenks snickered.

"Relax, Rache." The pixy's dust was a bright silver as he took to the air, warm again. "You got this. It's a bunch of teenagers. How bad could it be?"

"Bad," I said. "My decision-making sucked until I hit twenty." I frowned, thinking. "Twenty-three. Maybe."

Jenks chuckled, wings sparkling with dust as he landed on the raised detail of the elevator's walls.

Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen… The lift eased to a halt, and the doors opened to a busy hallway. The woman at the distant reception desk didn't even notice us, and the silver doors closed and we continued up. "Do you think the coven really has a spell that can bring the undead back as a ghost?" I said, fidgeting. "A lot of everyday curses and spells are bastardized from heavy hitters, but she was so smug ."

"Elyse?" Jenks sat, feet dangling as he ate a wad of pollen he'd brought with him. "My guess is there's a reason she's trying to up your June deadline to uncurse Brad. They won't let you look at the spell unless you're coven, meaning you'd have to abdicate your subrosa position. Rachel, you don't need them. You don't need anyone. They need you . Remember that."

I nodded, wondering if he was saying I didn't need Kisten, either. No, I didn't need him, but I missed him. And if I could recover Kisten, even as a ghost, I wouldn't need to be the subrosa. Kisten had the clout and charisma to run the city. He had when Piscary had been in prison, and he'd been alive then.

Besides, it wasn't as if raising a ghost was unheard-of. I'd done it once myself when I'd been eighteen and tried to resurrect my dad for some desperately needed advice to my younger self. I'd gotten a witch named Pierce instead, and I'd stirred the spell so well that the ghost had been solid and substantial, alive, for all intents and purposes, until the sun came up. The coven's spell couldn't be that different, and if I could do it once, I could do it again. I would do it every night if needed. Kisten could serve as a figurehead better than Constance ever could. Because unlike Constance, Kisten had loved me, and he would never do anything to betray that.

"Rache, you got everything balanced," Jenks said as he came to sit on my shoulder, distracting me from my thoughts. "You have the DC vamps by the short hairs. Constance is behaving herself—within the framework of acceptable master vampire activity. Ivy and Pike are doing the real work. David's got the Weres. Zack and Trent have the elves. And witches…"

I shrugged, glad Jenks was with me. The witches were doing what they did best, sitting back and watching. I knew Elyse wasn't happy about their entire population losing the ability to cross into the ever-after. Maybe that's what she really wants to talk about, I mused as the elevator doors opened and I took a large step forward.

But I quickly scuffed to a halt when I saw Elyse standing before the reception desk waiting for me in a black suit, her hands clasped to make her appear far too young and cheerful to be in charge of an entire demographic of people. She was twenty at the most.

"Hi," the woman said pleasantly, her straight, long black hair swinging as she came forward, hand extended as though we were the best of friends. Eyebrows high, I met her grip, needing to shove the energy in my chi down so it wouldn't spark to her. "Did you have a nice morning? Security called and told me you were on the way up."

"That's great," I said, filing that little nugget away as I pulled from her. "I had a wonderful morning," I added, sublimely confident she had nothing to do with Laker finding me. "I was able to spend some time with, uh, Trent's kids." I wasn't sure how to define our relationship. They called me Aunt Rachel, but that was for convenience.

"That must have been pleasant." Elyse gestured for us to go down the hall, and the woman behind the lobby desk returned to work. "I'm glad you were able to make it here with such short notice."

"Like you had a choice?" Jenks muttered, unnoticed on my shoulder.

"We have a lot to unpack," Elyse continued, her steps silent on the flat carpet as she led me past the closed office doors. "I think you'll be pleased at what we have to offer you. We've set up in the library."

Offer? "Ah, Elyse," I began.

"Phew-wee!" Jenks said loudly. "Good thing you brought your good boots, Rache. The troll crap is gonna get thick!"

Elyse stopped short, her flash of ire quickly hidden. "Jenks," she said, tone flat. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. I assumed it was too cold for you to be out of the church."

Jenks rose up, wings a shimmering blur. "Naw, I can ride in a purse okay," he said, his hands at his waist in his best Peter Pan pose. "If you're warm enough, I'm warm enough."

"Mmmm." Still not moving, Elyse stared at him. "Could I ask you to wait in the lobby?" She smiled without warmth. "Coven business."

"No." Jenks smiled back, his hand dropping to the hilt of his garden sword. "Where Rache goes, I go. Kind of like a curse or an STD."

I sighed. Elyse was eyeing me as if I could tell him to stay—like he was a dog or a familiar. "Is it a problem if he joins us?" I asked, and Elyse's smile faltered.

"Oh, for great green caterpillar turds," Jenks complained as he bobbed up and down, dust a bright silver. "Rache, I'll be in the lobby ."

"Great, Jenks. Thanks," I said. "I'll see you in the lobby ."

All of which meant he'd be watching me from a light fixture instead of my shoulder. On the plus side, I wouldn't have to deal with his smart-ass remarks being whispered into my ear.

"Ah…" Elyse watched him fly back the way we had come, her furrowed brow saying she knew she'd made a mistake. If she had just let him join us, she'd know where he was. Now it was a crapshoot.

"Shall we?" I said brightly, but inside I was simply wanting to get this over with. I had until June to either get Brad uncursed or show her the spell, and changing a deal once struck was not only tacky but unprofessional. "I didn't know the coven had a permanent office in Cincinnati."

"It's new." Elyse gestured to a glass-walled meeting room at the end of the hall. "We recently signed a long-term lease, and we're nearly moved in."

"We? How many of you are staying?" Worry made a knot in my gut. "I thought the coven was based out of San Francisco."

"It is." Elyse seemed to have recovered most of her aplomb. "We maintain offices in many major cities in case of need. I doubt we will all be here by the end of the year, but chances are good one of us will stay." Mood lightening, she gestured at the frosted-glass door. "Here we are."

The glass-walled room was clearly a library, as books took up two walls and much of the third overlooking Cincy. Elyse opened the door, and the three young people and the one old guy waiting turned to us. They were standing between a circle of chairs and a low table holding an untouched tray of cheese and crackers. Napkins with the tower's logo in gold foil were arranged neatly beside little black paper plates. Four glass quart containers of what was probably cider were nestled in ice nests. Business-casual attire aside, it was obvious they were all coven, and their expressions ranged from wary acceptance to mistrustful.

A crow perched on a bird stand at the floor-to-ceiling window between two bookracks, the animal chortling when we entered, wings lifting as if to take to the air. The plaque screwed to the stand said that his name was Slick and that he would bite if he felt like it. I caught Elyse shaking her head, and the bird settled down. Her familiar? I wondered. Better than the cat that I had assumed. Crows were wickedly smart, and the better you were at magic, the smarter your familiar had to be—hence the logic behind demons stealing people. Smart, clever people.

"Hello," I said, managing to stop myself from making a stupid wave, but it was close.

No one said anything and Elyse pushed past me, all smiles. "Rachel, you didn't get to meet the team last time," she said, and my brow furrowed. Meet the team? Perhaps because they had just tried to curse an entire demographic from reality.

"I'm Scott," the old guy said, smiling as he leaned over the cheese, hand extended. "I'm the supporting ley line practitioner."

"Supporting?" I blurted, as I took in his gray hair, wrinkled eyes, and loose, unassuming clothes. Supporting meant he wasn't the junior member or lead, but the middle—not necessarily in power but in rank.

Scott grinned, flashing me his coffee-stained teeth. "You can't retire from the coven, but you can go out on disability. I'm filling in for Lee until June."

"Nice to meet you," I said, feeling my ergs rise to my skin where we touched. He was running low—or I was running high—and I let go when I felt him draw on the ley line and our balances came to a pinging match. He was probably over a hundred, but seeing as witches averaged a hundred and sixty, it wasn't out of the question for him to be called back to duty.

"Ah, and this is Adan," Elyse continued, awkward as she took control of the introductions. "He's our junior earth magic practitioner."

"Hi," I said, remembering the gawky, slim blond boy from Fountain Square as I met his smooth, uncalloused hand.

"Rachel," the kid said as he quickly let go, a worried slant to his blue eyes.

"And Yaz," Elyse continued, looking at the only other woman in the room. She had the fresh face of a sixteen-year-old, with brown skin, wide shoulders, and a powerful build. "Yaz is our supporting earth witch."

"Nice to meet you." I extended my hand again, impressed by her firm grip. The scent of lilac drifted from her, and her nails were stained from chlorophyll.

"Rachel," she said, head bobbing. Her voice was higher than I would have expected from her large frame.

"Orion is our leading earth magic practitioner," Elyse said, and a young man, probably late teens by his sparse, razor-burned stubble, rocked forward and extended his fist.

"Hey," I said, remembering him as I bumped my fist against his.

"Nice to officially meet you." His gaze dropped to the bag still on my shoulder.

"Same here." I rocked back, one hand on my shoulder strap. The scent of redwood was growing, and all five of them were tapped into the same ley line I was. Even an earth witch knew how to set a circle. "We were kind of busy the last time for introductions."

The heartbeat of silence was telling.

"This isn't awkward at all," Elyse said sourly. "Rachel, help yourself to the cheese and crackers. Can I get you a drink? We've got a cider-tasting flight. Apparently they go from sweet to tart."

I glanced at the four decorative glass containers of cider with a new understanding. "Some tart cider would be nice," I said faintly, and the five of them began to move a little. It wasn't stuffy in here, but I felt trapped, as if I was one of the books they wanted to put on the shelves. Adan, the youngest earth witch, was wrinkling his nose, and I wondered if it was from the scent of burnt amber coming from my bag.

Elyse made a point to crack the seal as if to prove that the cider hadn't been tampered with. "I've been wanting to try this since it was delivered," she said as she filled two small sampling cups. "Anyone else?"

My lips quirked at the sudden rush. Everyone wanted something to do with their fingers, and I took a tiny black paper plate, putting three crackers and a couple slices of cheese on it. Heads were down and no one said much…but they were sneaking glances at my bag. Jenks hadn't shown up yet, and I scanned the freestanding bookracks behind them for a hint of pixy dust.

The old guy, Scott, sat down with a heavy sigh. As if it was a signal, we all found seats, the table between us as they held their little plates of cheese and crackers. I took the chair nearest the door, but I still felt trapped.

Frowning, I set my plate on the table and crossed my ankles. "Elyse, why am I here?" I said, my shoulders relaxing when I spotted a faint stream of pixy dust sift from a book-laden corner. "You gave me until June to get Brad uncursed," I added, not liking that that crow had spotted Jenks, too, the bird's head cocked and a questioning rattle escaping him. "I understand your impatience, but I'm working on it. I'm not comfortable showing you the curse until I have the cure." Yet there it was, stinking up the entire room from the bag at my feet as requested.

Elyse wiped a cracker crumb from the corner of her mouth with a forced casualness. "You brought it, right? Yes? Good."

I tugged my bag possessively closer, my next words lost when Orion pushed to the edge of his seat, the leading earth magic practitioner's dark eyes fixed on mine. "We've been over the ley line practitioners available to fill our vacant position," he said, his ring-decked fingers playing with the amulets around his neck. "Either they are too old—"

"Or too young," Scott said with a chuckle, his attention on the cracker-cheese-cracker-cheese-cracker sandwich he was making.

"Or too bossy," Elyse said, staring at Scott as that crow chortled from his perch.

"To be suitable candidates," Orion finished.

"As you said." Elyse firmly resumed control of the conversation. "We see no reason to wait until June when everyone's choices are obvious. Scott gives us a quorum, so we took a vote and I am pleased to offer the position of junior ley line practitioner to you with immediate induction. Here and now." She hesitated. "We can do it today."

Junior? I thought sourly as Jenks's warning trickled through my thoughts.

"Elyse," I began, my words choking off when Elyse leaned forward and stuck a M?bius strip pin on my leather jacket's lapel. "Um," I added as I pulled my coat away so I could see it. The stones weren't the clear purity of traditional diamonds. No, she'd gone for rubies, and the bloodred gems glistened from a band of bright gold. It matched my aura.

Annoyed, I tried to take it off, my gaze going from Elyse's satisfaction to Scott, his old face wrinkled in amusement. If I said yes, he'd be my boss. Junior, my ass.

"Uh, this is all very overwhelming," I said as I continued to try to get the pin off. "I thought I made my position clear weeks ago."

"You did." Elyse smiled, but I could tell this hadn't been a unanimous decision. Yaz and Orion were clearly unhappy. "Which is why we are offering it to you today regardless if the curse you used on Brad Welroe is deemed illicit or not." Her gaze dropped to the bag on my lap. "Once a coven member, you will enjoy a far greater leeway in what is deemed acceptable."

Scott snorted, and I gave up trying to get the pin off, my thoughts going to Brice. I had a lot of leeway right now, apparently. "Why did I bring it if you don't want to see it?" I said, touching the book through my bag, and Adan flicked his blond hair from his eyes.

"Oh, we still want to see it," he said.

"And any other demon tomes you have," Yaz added as she set her plate aside.

"As time permits, of course," Elyse said when I frowned. "Suffice to say that your team inclusion doesn't hinge on the legality of the curse you put upon Brad Welroe anymore." Her head tilted. "Just your willingness to show us your library."

My library? Not even if a second Turn was coming. "And my subrosa position?" I said as the thin trail of dust coming from the top of the bookcase brightened to a dull silver. Jenks, keep your tiny little white butt up there, I thought as I made the subtle finger gesture for "hold."

Elyse took a sip of her cider. "You'd have to let that go, of course," she said, and I bristled, wondering if the DC vamps were subsidizing this sudden generosity. "We have already agreed that you can remain permanently stationed here in these very offices, but Cincinnati will resume a more traditional power structure."

I'd be both under their thumb and out of San Francisco and their business. Interesting.

Elyse shifted, clearly not trusting my bland reaction. "You'd be the coven's plumber."

Scott smirked, the old guy saluting me with his cider before downing it like a shot of whiskey. It was probably his position, and he would clearly be glad to let it go as there was travel involved. Since being coven was a lifetime appointment and everyone here but Scott was younger than me, it would be nearly a hundred years before I could give it to someone else. Providing they didn't die early, which, actually, they had a pretty good chance of doing.

"Mmmm, yeah," I said as I tried to work the pin off again. "As before, I truly appreciate the opportunity, but due to time constraints and previous commitments, I will have to continue to decline your gracious offer." Grimacing, I tugged at the pin. She'd spelled it on, and it wasn't budging.

They were all fidgeting—that is, except for Scott, who slammed his empty glass onto the table, startling the crow. "Rachel," he said, and Elyse shot him a look to shut up. "It was a mistake trying to curse the demons into being unable to cross into reality at will. The coven is in real danger of falling apart."

"It is not," Elyse said, cheeks reddening.

"Scott," Orion warned, and the wizened guy's expression flickered with an old anger.

"I may be temporary, but I was a member before you were even born," he said. "And if none of you have the guts to say it, I will. The coven made a mistake." Scott turned to me in the awkward silence. "And it's not hard to see why. None of them were ready for the responsibility apart from maybe Orion and Elyse, and if they won't say it, I will. Please. We need you."

My lips parted in surprise. I would've said they had asked him to play Good Cop to their Bad Cop, but Elyse was staring at him as if she was about to drop live coals from her fingertips. The tension in the room had risen, and the unfocused energy they were dumping into the air was threatening to bust my topknot apart. From his perch, the crow flapped his wings, agitated and feeling it, too.

"You want my help?" I said as I gave up trying to take that pin off. "What if it came with an opinion you don't like?"

"Decisions are made by vote." Elyse glared at Scott. "That won't change."

"Well, I don't work by committee," I said, and Scott gestured as if I had confirmed something he already knew. "Seems to me you want what I can give you but on your terms. Kind of one-sided, isn't it?"

"Keeping you out of Alcatraz is not one-sided," Orion said. I had this all figured out, though, and was ready to walk out the door.

"Alcatraz is not the certainty you think it is." I took my plate of cheese and crackers in hand and reclined deeper into the chair to show them how unworried I was—even as my stomach knotted. I had polished my boots for this? "Scott is right. You made a mistake trying to curse the demons into exile, giving them the fuel to curse you out of the ever-after instead." I took a bite of cracker, fuming. "Do you have any idea what it cost to get them back in reality? The benefits to all of you of that? The crap I'm going to have to put up with from them if I join your little club?"

"Little club?" Orion's face flushed, stark against his black mane.

"Benefits?" Elyse practically barked, and her crow cawed. "For who? Not us."

I brushed the crumbs from my front, embarrassed. "It's not all about you, Elyse, or the witches, or even the demons. It's not an us and them world anymore. It's one. Big. Us. And a large chunk of us was hurting." I set my plate aside, done. Done with it all. "You seriously think you can bully me into signing a contract with you after what you pulled? Frankly, you all deserve to be excluded from the ever-after until you grow up."

Scott stifled a guffaw, and I wondered if I had gone too far as the pleasantry fell away from the rest to leave only a hard anger—and a little fear.

"You'd let the demons do what they want," Yaz said bitterly.

I leaned forward to take a sip of good, tart Cincinnati cider. "The demons aren't doing what they want. They are playing by our rules."

Elyse huffed. "Only because they want to."

"Only because she's making them," Orion added.

I bobbed my head. "And that is different from everyone else, how? No. Your collective problem is the same as Vivian's. You have been told for so long that you are the alpha to omega that you don't know how to handle it when you aren't. You have no ability to trust that someone will do what's right because that's how we all get our lattes and Friday nights out." I felt a faint flush creep up my neck. "And I will not be your reluctant muscle that you stuff in a closet halfway across the continent until you want something. Elyse, it's been lovely, but I will see you in June as we agreed."

I stood, tugging at that damned pin until the leather tore. Jaw clenched, I set the pin on the table, a long rip of leather dangling from it. Son of a moss-wipe troll turd.

"Elyse," someone hissed, and I yanked hard on the ley line until my aura sparked. Elyse had stood, and four wary faces watched me as the woman moved to one of the locked glass cabinets. Jenks stood on the light fixture, unnoticed by all but me and that crow, his garden sword in his hand.

"I'm glad you brought the book," Elyse said tightly, her back to us. "I have the one you are interested in right here. Perhaps we can trade."

I jerked, my gut seeming to fall to my ankles. "It's real?" I said, incredulous. "I thought you were lying."

"I don't lie." Elyse murmured a few words of Latin and the glass case unlocked. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? I thought, memorizing the simple magic. Who guards the guards?

"Elyse. We haven't voted on that yet," Scott warned, and Elyse turned with a book, her eyes holding a mocking cruelty. "She wants to see it. I want to see the curse she used on Brad. We have to give her something or she's going to walk out of here. All for letting her see?"

"Aye," Orion, Yaz, and Adan all said, and Elyse dropped the book onto the table to make the cider in the cups jump.

"And with me, that makes four," Elyse said needlessly.

"That's coven wisdom," Scott protested. "We don't have a quorum. It's not a legal vote."

"Just because you lost doesn't make it an illegal vote." Elyse confidently paged through the book until she found the spell she wanted. Taking a napkin, she stuck it in like a bookmark and closed the tome. "Well? You want to see it or not?" she added, eyebrows raised mockingly high.

"You can look at it here," Orion said somewhat nervously. "As long as you show us the curse you used on Brad. Illicit or legal, you will still have until June to uncurse him."

There was something here I wasn't getting. Why the rush all of a sudden?

"Or," Elyse said, fingers sparking as they rested on the old leather, "you could agree to become a coven member right now, the legality of that curse aside."

Scott was frowning. I didn't trust this at all, but I really wanted to know how to recover Kisten. Yes, I loved Trent, but I missed Kisten's smile, his ability to say just the right word or know when to not say anything. Besides, he could run Cincy's vamps better than I ever could, a much-appreciated cushion to Constance's brutality. He'd been trained for it from birth, knew all the players through birthday parties and weddings. I was winging it.

Jenks's dust went a dismal blue as I inched forward, my hand shuffling into my bag. "Just so we're clear, I see the spell to bring the undead to life, and you see the spell I used on Brad Welroe. You don't get to keep my book, and I walk out with it whenever I feel like it. I have until June to break the curse."

"Or become coven. Refuse and you are in Alcatraz," Elyse said, and Scott stiffened at Jenks's tiny snort of derision, his eyes going wide as he spotted the pixy and Jenks shrugged. By the window, the crow bobbed his head up and down, clearly agitated.

I knew how the bird felt. I didn't trust Elyse. And I really didn't like how eager Orion and Yaz were to get their hands on my book. "You're looking only at the one curse," I said, and Elyse nodded. "I can do that," I added, and Yaz turned from Jenks, the pixy forgotten as she scooted eagerly to the edge of her seat, all grabby paws.

And still, it felt as if I was making a mistake as I sat down again, the book in hand. "Clean your hands first," I warned. "And dump the line. I don't want you stimulating it."

"I know how to handle demon texts," Orion muttered, and I quit leafing through the pages, staring at him until he dropped his eyes.

"It's three pages including the countercurse," I said. "Hodin concealed the illicit ingredients and how it worked from me until after I'd used it."

"We understand," Elyse said, but I wasn't sure they believed me. Licking my lips, I spun the book to Orion and Yaz and pushed it across the table.

"This is it," Orion said, tone muted, and only then did Elyse reopen her book and slide it across the table to me.

My pulse quickened as I drew the book close. I wouldn't lie to myself and say that I didn't miss Kisten. I'd had relationships with ghosts before, and if it took me twisting the curse every night, I would. Not to mention Pierce had eventually parlayed his ghostly existence into a real one with the help of a demon. It hadn't ended well, but that's what happens when you try to kill a demon. Perhaps I could do something like that here. I'd become quite good at modifying curses.

And yet as I set my fingers atop the cramped print, my hope turned to an annoyed confusion.

"This is ancient elven," I muttered, peeved. "I can't read this." I looked up, angry at Elyse's self-assured smile. "You are sucky. All the way through."

Scott grimaced where he sat, hunched over his widely spaced knees. He didn't seem happy. I think he had known. I think they all had.

"The deal was see, not read," she had the audacity to say, then moved to peer over Orion's shoulder. The two earth witches were whispering excitedly, flipping back and forth as they dissected the curse. They weren't appalled at all, which made me feel a little ill. It was an illicit curse. It did ugly things. And they were as excited as if they had found a way to make ponies pink.

"Elyse, she wasn't lying," Orion said as Yaz shifted the pages, his fingers hovering over the now glowing print. "The countercurse requires an Atlantean mirror." Expression holding a heavy satisfaction, he turned to me. "You can't break this."

My face warmed as I rested my hand on the spell I couldn't read. Elyse had asked me here to trick me, tempting me with something I couldn't have. And they called me a demon. "I'm trying to find a substitution," I said through my gritted teeth.

"There isn't one," Scott said, and Elyse looked up, brow furrowed for him to stay quiet. "The only Atlantean mirror known to exist was in the possession of a demon named Newt."

"Scott," Elyse warned, and the old man ignored her.

"Yeah? Well, that would make sense, because I think she wrote the spell," I said sullenly.

"Yeah?" Orion mocked. "Seeing as the ever-after was demolished, you have a problem."

Oh. Right. I leaned back, ticked. "Not everything was destroyed when the original ever-after fell," I said. "We got all the people out. And the demons got their books and most of their stuff." I jumped when Elyse yanked the book out from under me and closed it, bookmark still in place. "Hey, I'm not done with that. Let me get a picture of it. Trent can read ancient elven."

Smug, Elyse had handed the book to Orion, who went to put it in the cabinet and lock it with a whispered word. "The deal was see, not copy," Elyse said, practically singing the words.

You little canicula… "Al might have Newt's mirror," I all but growled. "He hasn't been through all her things yet. There's like an entire room of her stuff." Which wasn't true. A box, maybe.

"Rachel…" Elyse coaxed me mockingly as she came closer. "Why are you making this so difficult?"

I stood, done with them. "I have until June. Someone might have the mirror."

"June." Elyse stretched to flip my curse book closed, and both Orion and Yaz grimaced, annoyed. "I don't think so. Decide now."

I stared at her, forced my hands to unclench. Suddenly, I knew what it felt like to be a demon trapped in a circle. "This wasn't the deal," I said, voice low.

My breath came in smoothly as I felt Elyse and Scott pull on the ley line. Yaz and Orion were fingering charms, and one of Adan's rings was glowing a hazy red. It was five on one. The odds were not in my favor.

Wait, I have Jenks, I thought when he darted down, sword unsheathed and wings rasping as he hovered beside me, eyeing that crow. Even odds.

"And you are still making mistakes," I said, voice holding a bitter threat. "Elyse, you gave me until June. You don't want to change the deal. Trust me on this."

"Elyse," Scott whispered. "She has until June."

Elyse's lip twitched. "I didn't promise anything," she said, and Scott shook his head.

"Vivian did," Scott said, and I thought it odd he was letting Elyse run this pony show. He clearly had the most sense. "If she can't find a mirror, then I will vote with you, but until then, I don't, and confining someone to Alcatraz has to be unanimous. That curse isn't anything worse than you've done yourself and you know it."

Elyse broke eye contact with me, flushing. "Shut it!" she shouted, sounding like a kid.

Scott shook his head, grim and determined. "Rachel might have twisted the curse for selfish reasons, but I think it benefited the public greatly."

Orion winced, his sigh saying he agreed.

"She is already in service to the city," Scott said. "If she's going to be coven, I'd rather it be a real choice, not one between Alcatraz, exile, or us. And not because we reneged on a deal and forced her into it."

"We can't stop her from vanishing into the ever-after," Yaz said nervously.

Elyse cradled my book on her hip. "Which is why we are going to keep her book as collateral."

Wait. What?

Jenks shook his head as he hovered beside me, a thin trail of silver dust escaping him. "And that is your second mistake," he said. "Three strikes, and you're out."

"Don't do this, Elyse," I warned again, my thoughts resting lightly in the ley line they all had a death grip on. The air was practically sparking, and my hair was threatening to spill from my topknot even as that crow of hers cawed and flapped his wings when the woman carried my book to her shelf, sliding it into an open spot and locking the glass behind it.

My hands slowly fisted. I exhaled, pushing the line from me. If I did anything, they would react. She was being stupid, but that didn't mean I had to be. Pause, think, then beat the hell out of them. Be the demon.

"Rache?" Jenks said, and I made the finger motion for retreat. Yeah, I was going to walk out of here without my book. That didn't mean I was going to leave it here.

"Come on, Jenks," I said as I shouldered my much-lighter bag, and Yaz stupidly relaxed, apparently thinking they had me by the panties.

Jenks dropped down to stab a piece of cheese with his sword. "You guys are really dumb. The first rule of dealing with demons is never break a deal with them. Ever."

The second rule was don't piss them off—which kind of went with the first. Angry, I pushed the glass door to the library open with a stiff arm and walked out, leaving a sudden conversation in my wake. There was no way in hell I was ever going to work with these people.

And there was no way in two hells that Elyse was going to keep my book.