Page 67 of Demon's Bluff

“Just want to talk,” Elyse mocked, and my breath caught when my hold on the ley line sort of hiccupped. It was Scott…pulling on the line.

“Down!” I lurched for Elyse.

“Teneo!”Scott shouted, and I slammed into Elyse, the taste of tinfoil on my teeth as I invoked a protection circle over us both. It was undrawn, but I was pissed, and it held long enough for the spell crackling above our heads to dissipate.

Purple sparkles faded on the old oak floor, and my eyes rose to Elyse’s. “Go.” I pushed her to her feet. “Find the door.”

I stood, a tingle of energy gathering in my hand. Gold and black bands twined in my fingers, aching until I pushed the force to my fingertips.“Implicare!”I exclaimed, throwing the tangling lines of force not at Scott—who would know how to break them—but at the rack he was passing. Gold spun between us like fairy-tale spiderwebs…and then I yanked the spell back.

Boxes avalanched from the shelves, falling on him even as I broke the charm. But it wasn’t enough, so I grabbed the nearest rack and pulled it down as well, filling the aisle between us. Scott slid to a halt, our eyes locking.

“Door!” Elyse shouted triumphantly, and I spun.

“I said stop!” Scott exclaimed as I ran for the scrap of light, a mountain of boxes between us.

I blew through the door, skidding to a halt in the sun. Elyse was already at the street, waiting, and I put a hand on the cold metal latch.“Sub frigido,”I whispered, satisfied when an icy ache flowed from my hand and froze the lock shut. Breathless, I spun and began to jog down the alley. Scott would have the counterspell, seeing as I had used the locking curse on him just this morning, but it might give us ten more seconds.

“Hurry!” Elyse demanded, and I tugged my awkward bag higher and shook the last of the spell from my hand. “I got us a cab.” Her attention flicked behind me at the sudden banging at the door. “You should have melted the lock. Or don’t they teach you that in demon school?”

“Funny.” I tumbled into the cab and slid over to make room for Elyse. “Sylvia is already going to take a hit for this. She doesn’t need a repair bill on top of that.” I hesitated, my fingers rising to make sure my “disguise” amulet was still in place. “Can you get us out to University Commons, please?”

The driver eased the cab into motion, and I settled into the cushions only to clench my jaw in frustration. I’d left my jacket. Sure, it had been gaudy with rhinestones, but it had almost been classy. A collector’s item.

Elyse looked at my stuffed bag. “I thought you said…”

“They will be going back.” Not happy, I held out my hand. “Give me your pin.”

She stared, not understanding. Then her lips parted. “I am the lead member—”

“Not two years ago you weren’t,” I interrupted, glancing at the driver. Us running into his cab like that was going to be remembered. All Scott had to do was talk to the cabbies to find out where we were going. “How long have you had that pin?”

Elyse took it from her collar, brow furrowed. “Since I was ten. Vi gave it to me.”

“And I’m guessing two years ago, it probably had a tracker on it. Give it.”

Her lips twitched, and in a flash of defiance, she rolled the window down and tossed it out. “Satisfied?” she said, sullen, and I nodded.

But I wasn’t.

Chapter

16

“Wow.” Hands on her hipsto remind me of Jenks, Elyse stood on the sidewalk and stared at the university’s ley line as I paid the cabbie. “It’s bigger than I expected.”

The cab drove off, and I smiled as I took in the familiar old buildings. I’d gone to the local college, but I still felt a kinship here. The campus was almost deserted, probably because Al had been out roaming the city last night, causing chaos in his effort to convince me to testify for him in a demon court. The nearby ley line was hard to see, its unusually wide size and length diluting the typical red haze to a faint distortion.

“Dali made it.” I hiked my shoulder bag up, bulky with robes, sashes, and hats. “It took him a long time to punch through from the ever-after to reality. The longer it takes, the bigger the damage, the wider and longer the line.” A shudder rippled through me at a memory. “I made the one out at Loveland Castle. Or I will, rather. I couldn’t tap a line for a week.”

Elyse’s twisted her lips in a wry expression. “I was talking about the campus.”

My lips parted. Bigger than expected? What, she thought we were a little hick town?

“I thought it was propaganda that demons made the ley lines,” she continued, oblivious to my dark frown.

“No. It hurts like hell, and if you can’t manage it or your gargoyle can’t find you and pull you out, you die.”

“No kidding,” she said as if she didn’t care.