“He could have learned it from any of the demons he summoned,” Eilahn spoke up.
“Well, either way, he’s shit out of luck,” I said, “because I have no intention of going to wherever it is this drug is wanting me to go until he’s out of the way, and I can take care of whatever’s there safely.” Standing, I reached for my coat. “I’m going to go home and summon a kehza. They can assess, right?” I asked with a glance to Eilahn. At her nod I continued, “Then I say we go to his house, sic the demon on him—which will have the combined effect of neutralizing him and making sure he’s our guy. Then we take it from there.”
Ryan cocked an eyebrow at me. “And what if he’s not a summoner? We’re oh-for-two right now.”
“Then we’ll get to figure out a way to convince him that the big scary creature that grabbed him wasn’t real,” I said.
Jill let out a snort of laughter. “Has anyone ever told you that your plans suck?”
“Constantly!” I grinned. “It’s either this, or Eilahn and I go in, throw the cat on him, and then take him down ourselves.”
“I think I prefer plan A,” Ryan said, his voice dry. He eyed me. “And what would the rest of us be doing in this oh-so-complex plan of yours?”
“You’d be standing by to snag him if he rabbits, or for when things go to shit.”
“When?” Zack asked.
I gave Zack a look. “How long have you known me? Do you really expect any of this to work the way we want it to?”
Zack blew out his breath. “True.” His gaze swept the room, taking in our meager army. “Good thing we have the cat.”
While the others set up a command center in my aunt’s living room, Eilahn and I returned to my house.
My thoughts raced as I trotted up my steps and entered. A kehza would work, right? I probably didn’t have quite enough power for a reyza or even a zhurn. A kehza would be the perfect combo of muscle and ability to assess, even though they had a tendency to be slightly twitchy and unpredictable. One had to be very clear in instructions with the seventh-level demons.
Pulling the basement door open I flicked on the light switch. Two steps down the stairs I paused. What’s wrong with the floor?
“Oh no…?.”
My heart slammed as I skittered down the rest of the stairs. The sound of trickling water came from one corner of the basement, and a thin sheen of water covered over two thirds of the floor, including nearly half of my carefully reconstructed summoning circle. But that wasn’t the most disastrous part. My gaze fell on the swirls of chalk in the water beside my summoning circle—what remained of the storage diagram.
I heard Eilahn’s cat-like footfalls on the stairs behind me. “This is not good,” she breathed.
“I have no power for a summoning,” I said grimly. “Or