One side of his mouth twitched. “It was all the little marks you left on your door or your desk,” he said. “I realized you could sense it, too.”
Little marks. Wards. Aversions to deter coworkers from raiding my chocolate drawer. An alarm on the door to warn me if anyone went into my office. In a million billion years, I never would’ve imagined that Pellini, of all people, could see them.
“Why is everything stronger now?” he asked. “Why can’t I shut it out?”
“A lot of shit is happening,” I said remaining vague for the moment. “How long have you been able to move potency?”
Pellini exhaled. “Since my senior year in high school.”
“What happened then? Did someone start teaching you?”
He cleared his throat. “Never talked to anyone about this stuff before,” he confessed, then added, “I mean, no people.”
Idris and I both tensed. “What non-people have you talked to about this?” I asked, doing my best to remain outwardly composed.
Pellini licked his lips before speaking. “Shit. I had an imaginary friend when I was little.” A flush darkened his face. “I called him . . .” He hesitated then took a deep breath and plunged on. “I called him Mr. Sparkly because that’s what he looked like. For as long as I can remember, until I was in second grade, he’d find me when I was in the sandpit in my backyard and take me away.”
“Wait. Away?” I asked. “Where to?” Maybe Mr. Sparkly was just an ordinary creeper?
He chewed his lower lip. “The place I saw him wasn’t like Earth,” he said. “It was like that.” To my shock he gestured toward the nexus. “Energy and colors and light.”
So much for my Ordinary Creeper theory. Idris remained perfectly still, but the intensity of his gaze could have drilled a hole through Pellini’s head.
“And it was always in your backyard?” I asked, suspicion forming as he nodded. I was willing to bet Fuzzykins’ non-existent tail that Pellini’s sandpit had contained a valve. “Can you describe this Mr. Sparkly?”
Pellini’s eyes went distant in memory. “Like a man made out of a billion pieces of crystal. Long hair. Purple eyes.”
Shit. Fuck. Son of a bitch. Purple eyes. Violet eyes. Kadir fit the description of Mr. Sparkly right down to the Creepy part. Hostility rolled off Idris. Holy shit, was I ever glad I had the kehza standing by as physical backup in case the situation went tits up. Not that I was sure it could get much more screwy after Pellini’s revelation of a lifelong association with the shrewdest of the Mraztur.
I took a few seconds to keep my composure intact. “What happened to Mr. Sparkly?”
Pellini shrugged. “He stopped showing up to take me away the summer after I turned seven. The last few times didn’t last very long, and everything was more, um, transparent, I guess.” He frowned. “He said it was harder for him to reach me, but I didn’t understand why. He didn’t come back for ages.”
I itched to ask Pellini when Kadir returned and to where, but first we needed to get him assessed so that we knew what we were up against. “And you’re hoping I can do what?” I asked. Under the table I sent a quick text asking Eilahn to bring the kehza out. “Explain all this? Partner up with you? Teach you more?”
“Partner up? No. No!” He shook his head. “I don’t understand what’s happening. Why can’t I stop seeing and feeling?” He gave me a look full of pleading. “I just want everything to get back to normal where I can shut it off.”
A rustling of leaves was the only warning before the kehza bounded across the lawn toward Pellini with great sweeps of its wings.
“Shit!” He jerked to his feet, eyes locked on the creature headed straight for him. The kehza’s claws dug furrows in the grass as it stopped at the base of the steps. Growl-hissing, it leaped to the porch, broad nostrils flaring as it took in Pellini’s scent.
Pellini stood motionless, eyes wide as dinner plates. He didn’t appear scared though.
“It needs to touch you,” I told him. “That’s all.”
The kehza moved closer, but to my shock Pellini stepped forward to rub the edge of its wing—the equivalent of scratching a dog behind the ears.
“Chu,” he murmured, doubling my shock. “Chu” was a demon greeting.
“Needs to touch me?” Pellini said without taking his eyes from the kehza. “Why?”
I stared at the kehza and then at Pellini. A kid meeting up with Kadir in interdimensional space was one thing. Familiarity with physical demons took it to a new level. And this was Pellini! Asshole. Rude and obnoxious. Ordinary. “How the hell do you know how to interact with demons?”
“Demons?” He glanced at me with a frown even as the demon placed its clawed hand on his forearm. “You mean—” He nodded toward the kehza.
“Yes, creatures like this one,” I began, but Idris had reached his limit. He took a step forward, hands clenched at his sides.