“S’okay,” I managed to croak. “Rather be broken than summoned.”
Eilahn’s lips pressed together as she ran her hands over me. A moment later some of the concern in her face cleared, and she sat back on her heels. “Nothing appears to be broken, though you will be bruised.” Then a whisper of a smile touched her lips. “It is good that I have been teaching you to fall, yes?”
I let out a strangled noise and cautiously pushed myself up to a sitting position, absurdly glad that the rocking chairs I’d purchased a few weeks ago with the grand intention of creating a “picturesque” front porch were still sitting in the shed out behind the house waiting to be assembled and painted. Being thrown into those would have sucked the big one. Who the hell was I trying to be picturesque for anyway? No one ever came to my house, and that was usually more than fine with me.
“You have no idea how much it kills me to admit this,” I said, “but, yeah. That whole tuck and roll crap paid off.” Oh, the joy of being thrown to the ground by a demon. Over and over and over.
The demon chuckled low in her throat. “Your praise brings me great joy.” Then she suddenly turned with a cry of dismay and scooped the cat up from the steps. As I watched, she cradled it to her chest, murmuring in an unfamiliar language, though I was pretty sure she was saying the demon equivalent of, “Oh, my poor widdle fuzzywuzzykins! Were you scared by that silly flying lady? You poor baby. Mommy will protect you and make it all better! Oh yes, she will!”
After a few seconds of reassurance she set the cat down, then turned to gaze down the driveway, a mixture of unease and anger in her expression. “The danger to you grows. Yet I am not convinced this attempt is connected to the attack from earlier this morning.”
“It’s fucked up, no matter what,” I said, leaning back against my house. This was the fourth time I’d barely escaped being summoned. Two weeks ago I’d been walking to my car after getting groceries when I’d felt that blast of icy wind. Eilahn had appeared out of nowhere, tossed me into the backseat of my car, and taken off like a bat out of hell—leaving behind a grocery cart filled with a week’s worth of food. “Am I wrong, or does it seem like whoever’s doing this is getting better at it? I used to be able to just run away from it. This one felt like it was right on top of me no matter what.”
She turned to me, worry darkening her eyes. “You are not wrong. With each attempt they refine the summoning. I do not think it will be possible to simply run from them anymore. It would not have worked this time, save that I was able to quickly get you within strong wards. Soon it will take only seconds to lock onto you and bring you through.”
The words were like a punch in the gut. “So, basically, if I step outside the safety of wards, I risk being summoned?” I heard the anger in my voice, and I hoped she knew it wasn’t directed at her.
Eilahn shook her head. “No, they will not be able to attempt another summoning for a while. It is not a constant threat.”
“Define ‘a while.’?”
“A dozen hours at least.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Okay, that’s not the cheery news it could have been. I was really hoping for several days at the very minimum. Or years.”
Eilahn’s expression remained grave. “I truly wish I had more encouraging news for you. But it is not a completely hopeless situation. The house is warded, and I will complete the warding on your place of work tonight.” She reached down and helped me to my feet. I was glad of the assistance as I discovered all the places that were going to have impressive bruises by tomorrow. “There are also other…options,” she said.
“Such as?”
She released me as soon as she was certain I wasn’t going to topple right back over. “There may be certain physical artifacts that can aid in shielding you. Plus, you can continue to work on the mental exercises I showed you.”
I made a face as I hobbled my way inside and down the hall to the kitchen. “Those are more unpleasant than your lessons in falling.” Eilahn had been trying to teach me a way to turn my othersight inward in order to cloak my arcane signature, but all I’d managed to do so far was give myself spectacular headaches. It was like the “imagine a white wall” trick to the nth degree, and I had a feeling it was something that came far more easily to demon minds than my own.
“I will attempt to locate an artifact,” Eilahn said. “But the best hope is that Lord Rhyzkahl will be able to determine who is seeking to interfere.”