He didn’t offer any further information about her ability, so I didn’t pry.

“Well, like you said, he’s a good kid. You’ll teach him to handle it fine.” I smiled, and his tightly creased eyes relaxed.

“I’m glad you like him,” he said. I wondered if that was just a casual observation, or if he sensed that I did. Before I could ask, he cracked open the second book.

“Here’s the third demon I found,” he said, going back to our shop talk as if his revelation was inconsequential. As if nothing had changed between us.

And maybe it hadn’t.

9

I flipped on my high beams as I drove out of the gates and began the trek down Lon’s rocky mountain. Despite the nice house, I really didn’t see why Amanda had fussed over the piece of property. Maybe it looked different in the daytime, but right now it was pitch black, and the seaside cliff’s steep road set my nerves on edge.

Lon had given me several decent leads. All told, I’d walked away with four possible albino demons, which was great. Problem was, to find out whether one of them was the particular demon I wanted, I’d have to summon and question each one. I really wasn’t looking forward to that. Summoning Æthyric beings made me sick as a dog. Half of the ones I’d evoked in the past were utterly uncivilized, little more than wild beasts. Some only spoke Æthyric languages, maybe Latin or some Coptic dialect. The ones that spoke English had been summoned to earth frequently by other magicians, and were pretty savvy about weaseling their way out of negotiations. Some were even strong enough to attempt to break out of my binding triangles if I didn’t charge them correctly.

Summoning was tricky business, and it took a lot of skill and smarts to do it without getting yourself killed.

As I rounded a sharp turn, a few raindrops splattered on the windshield and I hoped like hell that I could make it all the way down before a storm hit. I soon forgot about this, however, when the air around me bubbled.

“What the—”

A light flashed above the passenger seat, and half of my guardian’s body became visible. Priya’s birdlike face flashed and faded, then snapped back with static. I gasped in horror. Priya’s body was cloaked in a swarm of small, ghostly entities with grotesque bodies—each had multiple, hairy, spidery legs and two sets of bulging eyes. Their mouths were firmly suctioned on Priya, and through their transparent bodies, a steady stream of energy was being leached.

They had to be the litchen insect creatures that Priya had said were pursuing her.

“Priya!” I screamed, slamming on the brakes.

My guardian’s eyes, dazed with terror and pain, were fixed somewhere above my head. It only communicated one word to me before it vanished: Run!

The car came to a screeching stop, skidding sideways at the end of a hairpin turn.

My hands gripped the steering wheel harder. I tried to think, allowing the full weight of Priya’s warning to settle. After several deep breaths, I shakily felt for my deflector charm beneath my shirt … gone! I tucked my chin and yanked my shirt down to be sure. It must have fallen off at some point. I strained to think how or when, but it really didn’t matter.

A booming crack of thunder startled me, jerking my shoulders up. It was followed by a sudden downpour of rain that sheeted against my window.

“Keep calm,” I said out loud as I tried to make sense of my options. I couldn’t go back to Lon’s. The road wasn’t wide enough to allow me room to turn around, and it was tightly bordered by trees and cut rock. Plus I didn’t want to get him involved in this, especially not with his kid around. I had to go forward. If I could make it home, I’d erect a serious ward and hole up inside my bedroom.

For the time being, I needed to get the car back on the road, then charge one of the sigils on my arm once I could expend some attention for concentration. I needed something that would help hide me and give me a chance to escape.

I struggled to turn the steering wheel so that I could maneuver around the turn, then let my foot off the brake. Throwing the wipers on high, I had started around the curve when a heavy thump crashed down on the car roof.

For a second, I thought the storm had toppled a branch onto my car, then I looked up. Four dents the size of baseballs protruded through my inner roof.

That was no tree.

The car creaked and moaned. Whatever had landed on my car was now moving.

The cold realization of my guardian’s warning exploded inside my head like a bottle rocket. The litchen insects had done their job and hijacked Priya’s link to my Heka; their host demon had materialized from the Æthyr … and it had found me.

I rammed my foot down on the gas pedal. The car spun in place briefly, then shot across the pavement, full bore, propelling me across the brief straightaway segment of the mountain road. Whatever was on top of my car made a terrible noise, and the weight shifted to the back of the roof.

The next sharp turn came way too fast. I gritted my teeth and jammed the brakes with every bit of strength I had. As I rounded the turn, tires squealing, the weight on the roof shifted again. The unbalanced load nearly caused the car to spin out around the curve.

I straightened the wheels out and floored it to take the next straightaway. Midway down the road, the driver’s window exploded inward. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away as a spray of rain and glass flew inside.

During that moment of distraction, the car slipped off the side of the road, plowing through bushes and several small trees. I yanked it back onto the pavement, unable to see clearly. The windshield was fogging over and something wet on my face was filming over my eyes; I couldn’t tell if it was rain coming in from the busted window or my own blood.