Page 104 of Demon's Bluff
“Put your hand down before I put something you don’t want in it,” I said, hoping Elyse would stay quiet. I doubted very much that I had singed her, but if she did anything stupid, we’d both be laid out on the floor.
Boz nudged Clemt’s elbow. “I think that’s the witch Gally spent his futures on. Red hair. Clean aura.” He ran his gaze over my robe, correctly tied. “He went broke snagging you. No doubt he’s got you stealing from Kalamack instead of stirring spells.”
If they thought we belonged to someone, they wouldn’t touch us, and chin high, I showed him my wrist, the demon mark standing out like a dark beacon. “No doubt,” I echoed. “You want the charm and the book, you talk to Al, ah, Gally. Excuse us.”
I linked my arm in Elyse’s, striding importantly to the pickup counter as if I’d placed an order. There were two drinks sitting there, and I grabbed them and handed one to Elyse. “Don’t drink it,” I whispered as I angled her to the door, then louder, “Put it on Gally’s tab!”
“He’s back?” Boz said, and then we were outside. The air was slightly less stifling, but I could feel them watching as I marched Elyse across the commons toward the chattering fountain. It mimicked the one in Cincinnati’s Fountain Square. The Goddess knew why.
“You okay?” I said, knees a little wobbly. Damn. Trent’s people had torn the wall down to get us.Hence the new oak doors in the future,I thought.
Elyse stumbled on a raised paver, gasping as she caught herself. “They let us walk out,” she whispered. “Why? How do you breathe? Is it always this hot?”
“Yes, they did, and yes, it’s always this hot.” I slowed, seeing it as she was, for the first time. “They live underground where there’s nothing in reality to cause a distortion, but the air exchange isn’t that good, seeing aswhat’s on the surface is pretty bad to begin with. No one bothers with a spell to clean the air other than in their apartments.”
The scent of burnt amber was choking, and I blinked the tears away, trying to keep my breath shallow. It was easy to pick the demons out from the familiars even though they were often dressed the same, and though the workers were mostly familiars, the occasional demon sat behind a register working off a debt. No one was afraid, and no one was trying to escape. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to. There simply was no way out other than a demon line jumping them elsewhere. After a few hundred years, the fear sort of wore off.
“Why aren’t they trying to abduct us?” Elyse half hung on my arm, her wide eyes taking everything in.
“The same reason Clemt and Boz let us walk out. Everyone not a demon belongs to someone,” I said. “Body and soul.”
“Why don’t they just leave? Claw their way to the surface and escape?”
I slowed our pace even more to try to match the indolent saunter of a demon. “Because they’ve lost their soul to a demon. Once that is gone, you are theirs. Don’t ever wager your soul.” I stifled a shudder. I’d learned that little nugget of knowledge by accident. It was how I escaped Al, or would, rather. Agreeing to voluntarily become his familiar let me retain my soul. And because I had, I could say no, refuse to cross the ley lines to the ever-after. He couldn’t force me, and from there we found common ground.
Her head dropped. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Don’t you dare.” My grip on her arm tightened. “Look. Those are jump pads around the fountain. From there we can get to Newt’s apartments.” Elyse pulled from me, and I stopped. She’d gone white.
“Why? You don’t need the mirror,” she said, retreating a step. “You’re fine. I won’t put you in Alcatraz. I trust you. Vivian did. That’s enough for me. We can go home right from here. How do you get out of here? Is there a stairway?”
A stairway? Is she serious?I leaned into her space until her jaw clenched. “Simple as that, you trust me, eh?” Just as long as her butt was indanger, maybe. “I am not here to jump through your hoops to gain my freedom. I am here for Brad. I need that mirror for him, not you, and since there’s no way on this green earth that you will walk out of here alone, you’re sticking with me.”
“So you can sell me to Newt for that damned mirror?” she said hotly, and I glanced behind her at the coffee shop, worried.
“Hey! I told you to stay in the hall, remember? Coming was your idea, and now that you’re here, you’re going to ride it out. Newt will remember us.”I hope.“We’ll jump to her apartments, trade her the book you stole for the mirror and a way to the surface, and be gone.”
“I’m not giving her the book!” Elyse exclaimed, a hand going to her shirt to tell me where it was. At least I knew I hadn’t triggered the alarm. A smile quirked my lips at the thought of Quen staring at the broken wall when he got home, and then it faded. There was no feeling of triumph in besting his security. None at all.
“Well, she’s not going to want a used-up stasis charm,” I muttered, worried as I shifted my bag higher up my shoulder. I needed more than a riddle, and the book was convenient. If Trent was here now, he’d say sell it.
Elyse paced beside me, shaky and pale. “There has to be a tunnel out of here.”
“There isn’t.” I continued to the jump pads, glancing once over my shoulder to see Boz and Clemt watching us from the outside tables. “Relax, she’s not going to want your soul. That’s an overly inflated price set by pissed-off demons who don’t like to be summoned into a circle. Jumps aren’t that expensive unless they have you over a barrel. Besides, I’m going to put it on Newt’s tab. For all Pan knows, we were sent out for coffee. Here, hold this for a sec.”
“Pan? You mean that demon?” Elyse stared at the bored demon in his red robes bellowing dramatically, sparkling energy spilling from him in great, unnecessary waves as he popped package-laden familiars to their owners. “You know him?”
“I know everyone.” But they didn’t know me, and I handed my coffee to Elyse, frizzed my hair out, and put the hat back on my head. Attitude inplace, I took the coffee in hand, sneaking another glance at Boz and Clemt. Attitude would get me out of this, and lots of it. “Be quiet and sullen,” I prompted. “Can you do that?”
No one did sullen like Elyse. It was the quiet part I had doubts about.
My pace quickened as we neared the fountain. Demons could jump from anywhere to anywhere, but having designated in-out spots helped prevent accidents. Familiars, of course, couldn’t jump at all. Hence no one worrying about them escaping to the surface.
All of which meant that demons had to do the actual jumping for them. Pan had more than a flair for the dramatic. He also had a light touch and liked to take things that didn’t belong to him, which was probably why he was out here doing community service. That, and he was bored out of his mind. They all were.
“Pan!” I called, knowing he wouldn’t recognize me. I was a faceless familiar. “Get caught selling a bad curse?”
The demon turned, laughed, then looked closer, his flamboyant energy curls fading with a soft hiss as he set a pair of glasses spelled to see through charms on his nose. “Hey, hey, hey. We got us two new slabs of meat, except you aren’t new, are you, despite your lack of smut. So, Snow White, who’s been hiding you from the rest of us and for how long?”