He made a one-word comment to my mom under his breath that I didn’t quite catch as she moved out of the way. He was wearing black dress pants and a white shirt with the sleeves folded up to the elbows. He smiled, offering me a gleaming white mouthful of teeth. It was his used-car-salesman smile. I always used to tease him about that. It was worse in photos.

We hugged, briefly, and he pushed me back to look at me before I was ready to end it. Brown eyes darted over my face. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have much time, and I need to know a few things.”

“Okay, but I have some good news …”

He gripped my shoulders. “Have you experienced any change in your magical ability?”

Oh, thank God. They knew about the moon kindling. “Two nights ago, I was able to banish an incubus and his mate back to the Æthyr. I didn’t summon them.”

“Tell me exactly what happened,” my father instructed. “It is important.”

I told them about the room darkening to black, about the blue light that drew the symbols in the air. My mother cried out, then covered her face with her hands and tilted her head to the night sky.

“What’s wrong? Is that bad? Is something wrong with me?” I asked.

She raised both arms up and said something in French, while my dad grinned his funny grin and patted my back with enthusiasm. “No, no. It’s wonderful. Perfect. It is exactly as the old books said it should be. On your twenty-fifth birthday, your powers will manifest.” He grabbed my mother and embraced her as her eyes teared with joy. “We did it, my love. They doubted us, but we did it!” He laughed into her hair and kissed her head several times.

I suddenly felt left out. Hello? Haven’t seen me in years? And weren’t there more pressing concerns? Annoyance flared up inside me. “So what is this power? And how could it be more important than the Luxe council? You do know that they’re planning to kill you, right? They tried to kidnap me.” I pointed at Riley’s snoozing figure in the car. “That’s Magus Zorn’s girl—the Luxe leader sent his own daughter after me.”

My mother squinted into the car. “Mmm. She might be useful later.”

“No time for that, Enola.” My dad tapped his watch. “We need to get going.”

“Wait!” I protested. “I have big news. I found the white demon. We can call it to prove your innocence.” My irritation faded, replaced by a surge of excitement as I waited for their reaction.

My dad smiled, and I for a moment I was ten again, being praised for acing a test. But while he was grinning, something slipped out under his breath. “Merde.” His mouth barely moved when he said it. My mother poked him on his hip with one finger, admonishing him. His grin got bigger. “That’s wonderful. Good job. Well-done. Come here.”

I shook away my confusion and stepped forward to hug him. As my arms went around his neck, a gleam of metal moved in his hand. I barely felt the warmth of his palm against my back when something jabbed the side of my neck. I cried out, drawing away and reaching over my shoulder. As I did, he pulled back a syringe.

“What—what are you doing?” My fingers found the tiny stinging wound. I shuffled away from them in horror as my vision blurred and doubled. “Dad?” My feet stumbled. A rush of pinpricks slid down my arms. I reached for the open car door to brace myself. Just as I did, my knees quivered.

Numb. Frozen. I was able to see and hear when my face hit the pavement, I just couldn’t feel anything. Not my legs or my arms. I wasn’t sure I was breathing anymore. That worried me, but I couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Confusion clouded my thoughts.

The ground spun and glimmered with light. In the distance, dark shapes bounded out of the Luxe temple, running toward us. Animals, maybe. No, people.

I was surrounded by strong hands. My parents. Another man. They picked me up off the ground and carried me to the limo. The dark figures kept running toward me, but I was inside a tornado and they’d never breach it in time. If I can’t breathe, will I die? I thought in a druggy haze.

As hands pushed my head down into the limo, I tried to call back to people running toward us, but I just couldn’t. I had no voice.

It didn’t matter. It was too late anyway.

The swirling, black vortex drew me up and away.

36

A slow bead of sweat trickled down the nape of my neck. When it ran down my back, I realized that my nose was cold. Actually, cold on one side, hot on the other. That was strange. Strange enough to speed my ascent into consciousness. My eyes opened.

I was outdoors. A clearing in the woods that was bare of grass. A rocky hill lay in front of me, several dozen yards in the distance. A single man clothed in ritual robes stood at the base. His head was bowed, as if in prayer or meditation.

My vision was tinted red. Blurry. Obstructed, perhaps?

A ring of luminaries circled the surrounding area, but they weren’t projecting as much light as the Æthyric glow that brightened three points around me like compass markings. Small binding triangles were carved into the ground. One was directly in front of me, some distance away—ten yards, maybe. Two on either side of me. When I realized what was inside the triangles, I felt certain one lay behind me as well.

All were pulsing with light and flickered with movement; translucent entities were trapped within each one. Metaphysical holograms, just like my guardian Priya. But these weren’t friendly messenger spirits, they were Æthyric demons.

The first, ensnared in the circle straight ahead of me, was built like a rock, twice the size of a human, with massive legs and feet. His skin was the texture of tree bark.