Page 49 of Demon's Bluff

“Heyde-hey,” a gurgling, wispy voice whispered, and I smiled, genuinely pleased as an ever-changing, water-covered face lifted from the green muck. One eye was a blind white from a past fight, telling me it was Sharps. The bridge troll had been in residence for as long as I could remember, and he pulled almost his entire upper torso from the polluted water, his blue limbs and algae-stained hair dripping. It was hard to say how big he actually was, as his size depended upon how much water he contained at any moment, but here, now, relaxed and not under threat, he was about six feet tall…and really skinny.

“Heyde-ho,” I answered back. “Hi, Sharps. Glad to see you where you belong.”

“Oh, for sweet everlasting banshee tears on a stick,” Al complained. “Is there anyone else you need to say good-bye to?”

“I didn’t recognize you in those old boots trip-trapping over my bridge,” the troll said, a long purple-hued arm rising to pluck off a piece of concrete from under the bridge and eat it. It was no wonder the I.S. continually tried to drive them out, but I was of the opinion that everyone needed to be somewhere. “You need some help?” he asked.

“No. Just keep a lookout and let me know if the I.S. or coven shows up.”

“I can do that.” Sharps sank down, becoming a part of the water itself before flowing into the deeper pond. That he was watching was actually a relief. He had saved my butt in the past, giving me warning that could have made the difference between walking away from a conflict and being dropped by a spell before I had even known there was one.

Never ignore the chance to be nice,I thought as I nodded to Al that I was ready, and he smacked the hilt of a ceremonial knife into my palm.

“Circle,” he prompted again, and I wiped my Jupiter finger cleanagainst my old jacket. Crap on toast, the thing had a rhinestone pentagram on it. What had I been thinking?

The blade was so sharp, I hardly felt the cut, and I whispered a spell to keep the blood flowing until I had the admittedly big circle drawn. Chalk would have been easier, but blood was more secure, prudent in the current situation. Everything in the circle would move seamlessly through time. Five years of winter snow and spring flooding wouldn’t wash it away.

Bis dropped down, uneasy as he landed on Trent’s shoulder while I finished my circle and stood. The kid was clearly unhappy as he whispered in Trent’s ear. Something was wrong.

“Don’t stop,” Trent said even as he turned to lurch up the embankment, Bis’s wings wide behind his head for balance. “That guy moved and Bis lost him. I’m going to check it out.” Trent hesitated. “See you in five minutes. Be safe, my love.”

“Five minutes,” I echoed. But a frown took me when I realized Ivy and Jenks, too, were gone. A trickle of unease tightened my spine. All that was left was tapping into the demon collective and reciting the words.Easy,I thought, not liking it. I’d be paying for this. I just hoped I had the street cred to cover it.

Nervous, I stepped into the circle and set my bag at my feet. I’d memorized the invocation, but I fumbled for the paper I’d written it down on.

“Rachel,” Al said as I angled the paper to the chancy light. “I would not let you do this if I thought you didn’t have a decent chance of surviving it.”

“Surviving the curse or being five years in the past with no one watching my back?” I asked, and his brow scrunched in concern. I didn’t see that very often, and it was worrisome.

“Stay clear of me,” he continued, voice stern. “If we meet with your present abilities, I will try to take you as a familiar. Do not let Newt trick you.”

I nodded as I remembered what he had been like before he had set aside his bitter hatred. Maybe not so much set aside, but replaced it with something he hadn’t dared have for over two thousand years: hope.

“These are memory curses,” he added as he dipped a hand into a pocket of his coat and withdrew three vials glinting with a hint of aura. “They were in Newt’s things, so they will be as potent as they are old and will withstand the journey. Once the deal is struck and you have the mirror, use them on her so she doesn’t remember you. She won’t mind. She’s already crazy from them.”

I exhaled in relief. “Thanks,” I said as I dropped them into my bag. I hadn’t been eager to rely upon a purchased doppelganger disguise charm to hide my identity from an all-seeing demon. One problem solved.

“I know the temptation to warn yourself or Vivian concerning Lee’s betrayal will be high, but don’t.” Again his brow furrowed, and I rubbed my thumb against my pricked finger, smearing the blood away. “Let the past be the past,” he said cryptically. “Speak truth only to the dead.”

Wise old man crap,I thought, nodding.Speak truth only to the dead.Sheesh.

“You have your return marker?” he added.

I took a stained redwood stirring rod from my pocket and broke it. The sharp snap jolted through me, and I had a flash of regret. It had been one of my dad’s and was nearly a decade old if it was a day. Even now, he was helping me survive, and I tucked it into my jeans pocket as if it was gold.

“See you in a few,” I said, and he started when I leaned out over my circle and gave him a hug. His grunt of surprise made me smile, and I let go when he patted my shoulder. Faint, so faint was the scent of burnt amber that I thought I might have imagined it.

“If you do not return, I will kill every single one of them. Children or not,” he said.

“Al…”

“Go.” Al took a symbolic step back. “Find your mirror. Find your way. And don’t forget to register the curse to move through time, so no one else can do it.”

It was sort of a “name it to bury it” kind of thing, and I nodded. Throat tight, I withdrew the coil of chain that was to be my outgoing marker.When it mended, I should be far enough in the past. Holding it in my palm, I again studied the Latin on the scrap of paper. My hands shook, and I flushed, embarrassed. It was bad enough I was going to bargain with Newt. That I had to go into the past to do it made it a hundred times worse.

I took a breath, catching it at the sudden frothing by my feet.

“Rachel…” Sharps foamed, and from the parking lot, Ivy shouted, angry.