Page 105 of Demon's Bluff
Smiling with a comfortable familiarity, I twined a finger in a curl of his visible aura, not letting his energy mix cleanly with mine but keeping them separate, like oil and water. It was a practiced move, and one I hoped would give me the street cred I needed to pull this off. “Maybe the question should bewhy,” I said as I let his energy swamp mine in a tingling wash. “I’m Newt’s latest indulgence. You mind?” I lifted the coffee in explanation and stepped up onto the jump pad.
Elyse pushed up onto it with me, white-faced.
Pan’s goat-slitted eyes narrowed. “Since when?”
“Since Gally did something uncommonly stupid.” I gave Elyse a nudge to get off. “One at a time.”
Elyse shook her head, arms wrapped around her middle as she stared at the coffeehouse.
Crap on toast…It was Boz and Clemt, both headed this way. “Fine. You first.” I stepped down, and the woman froze in indecision. “I’ll be right behind you. Get off the circle when you arrive so I don’t land on you.”
“Ah, Rach—” she started.
My skin tingled as Pan shifted her aura to match the line, bellowing an utterly needless“Vade!”There was no spell here, just simple physics, and yet as Pan’s wildly swinging arm ended its sweep in a fisted hand, she was gone, jumped to Newt’s apartments by Pan.
Get off the jump pad,I thought as I stepped into her place and handed Pan my coffee. “Tell them we went to see Dali, will you?” I said, giving a nod to Boz and Clemt.
Pan took it, his lips quirked in disbelief. “For a coffee? Oh, Snow White, you gotta do better than that.”
I tapped the top knowingly. “Think of it as a placeholder. Next time I’m in reality, I’ll bring you a real one.”
Thinking I was joking, he laughed. “Deal. You get that much for making me laugh,” he said. “I haven’t laughed in twenty-seven days, eight hours, forty-nine minutes—”
And then he dramatically flung a hand and I was gone with his shouted“Vade!”nothing more than a thought echoing in mine as Pan shifted my aura to pop me out at Newt’s apartments.
Blinking, I took a breath as I found myself standing on a flat gray disk set within a gray tiled floor. The ceilings were high and the walls were draped with white gauze. Soft, indulgent cushions covered the multitude of chairs and couches, and a low, green slate table the size of Kisten’s pool table nestled between them. There were no windows, but a curtained spell frame showed an image of a flat pond circled by big trees. One entire wall was nothing but shelves and lighted nooks holding knickknacks from various ages. Nearby was a spell bar with vials of potions arranged like pill bottles. It looked spacious and beautiful, but the air still stank of burnt amber and I could sense the hard rock behind everything.
“Elyse?” My skin prickled, and I breathed deep.Is someone baking cookies?
“Circle!” Elyse shrieked, and I rolled, my shoulder bag slamming into my gut as I fell.
“Rhombus!”I exclaimed, and my circle rose up, crackling as a black haze hit it, skating over its entirety to try to find a way in. Only now did I see Elyse in the corner, flat out and under what was probably astabilscurse, as she could talk but not move.
“Who are you! Get out of my rooms!” Newt shrilled at us both. The demon had apparently forgotten who we were.Crap on toast. Why can’t I catch a break?
“Newt!” Immediately I stood up and broke my circle as if unafraid. But I was, and I kept a light thought within the ley lines, finding strength in the faint tickle of power. “Hey, ah, we brought you a coffee,” I said, wincing when I saw it spilled on the floor. “Ah, we can get another one if you want.”
With a twitch of her robe, Newt halted between Elyse and myself. Her chin was high, and it was obvious she was embarrassed, possibly thinking that she’d forgotten something important. Again. “Coffee?” she said, eyeing the brown puddle. “No.”
“Okay.” My pulse hammered and I forced my hands to unclench. “Where’s, ah, Minias?”
“Hiding.” Newt almost spat the word. “I think I know you. Is your name Futility?”
She was talking. We had a chance, and I eased my grip on the lines. “Elyse, you okay?”
“I spilled the coffee,” she said, unmoving on the floor, and I began to inch toward her.
Newt cocked her head. “Or perhaps it’s Ignorance.”
“Ignorance will work,” I said sourly. “You can call me Iggy.”
Newt made a small sound. “Iggy, did I kill Minias?” she asked, arms going over her middle to drum her fingers atop her arm. “Bartholomew’s balls, I hate bringing up a new familiar. You don’t have enough smut to be of any use.” She smiled, her black eyes fixed on mine as I moved around the edges of the room. “Yet.”
“Minias is fine. I’m not a familiar. I have my soul, and so does Elyse. You and I were making a deal and were interrupted so I tracked you down so we could finish. Minias dosed you with a forget spell.” Yes, it was a lie, but only one of timing. Minias spelled her at will.
“So I surmised.” Scowling, Newt dropped into the couch where she could see both of us, almost disappearing in the indulgent cushions. “It may be time to retire him. Who owns you? That’s Gally’s mark. I can smell it from here.” She hesitated. “And mine. On your foot. Perhaps I shouldn’t have tried to kill you.”
My gaze flicked to my boots and back. “I don’t belong to anyone until I have three strikes,” I said, suddenly worried.