For a Few Demons More(70)

My head came up, and I stared, sick with dread. Damn. Was that why he had agreed to wear the mark in the first place? Minias’s eyes glittered with success, and I dropped my head into my cupped hand. Double damn. “How do I register?” I said flatly, and he snickered.

“You need a password. Connect to your calling circle as if you’re going to contact me, and while connected to a line, think your given name, and then follow it with your password. QED.”

Simple enough. “Get a password,” I said, feeling weary. “Okay. I can do that.”

Minias was eyeing me from under some curls that had escaped from his hat. He was silent for a moment, and then, as if he didn’t really want to, he crossed his arms over his chest and said, “You have a common name that everyone calls you and a password that you keep to yourself. Pick it carefully. That’s how people pull demons over the lines.”

Horrified, I looked from Jenks to Ceri, who was now holding her stomach. “A summoning name?” I stammered, figuring it out. “Your password is a summoning name?”

The demon grimaced. “If it gets out, yes, it can be used to force someone across the lines. That’s why you pick a password that no one can piece together.”

I backed up until I bumped into Ceri’s circle. “I don’t want a password.”

“Fine with me,” Minias said snidely. “But if I can’t contact you, I’m going to come over when it’s convenient for me, not you. And seeing as I don’t care, it’s going to be right before sunrise when you’re trying to sleep, or making dinner, or screwing your boyfriend.” His eyes drifted over the kitchen. “Or is it girlfriend?”

“Shut up!” I exclaimed, worried and embarrassed. But I was stuck, and stuck tight.

“Make it impossible to guess,” Minias said. “Nonsense syllables.”

My mouth opened in an O of realization. “That’s why demon names are so weird,” I said, and from behind him Ceri nodded. Her face was white, and she looked as shaky as I felt.

“Demon names aren’t weird,” Minias said indignantly. “They serve a purpose.”

Jenks landed on my shoulder. “How about your name backward? Nagromanairamlehcar.”

I felt my face twist. It sounded like a demon name.

“Terrible,” Minias said, and I moved back when he picked up my chalkboard and set it on the counter. “Your names backward will be the first one Al tries, and if he figures it out, he can do untold mischief under your name. And nix on the birthdates, hobbies, favorite ice cream, movie stars, or old boyfriends. No numbers or weird characters that can’t be pronounced. Stay away from the backward theme. It’s too easy to run through the dictionary and find you.”

“That would take forever,” I scoffed, then blanched when Minias set his red eyes on me.

“Forever is just about what we have.”

I felt something shift, and I watched him, ready to move if he did. But he turned away, glancing at my kitchen clock above the sink.

“You need to leave,” I said, hearing my voice shake, and Jenks’s wings clattered as he took flight to hover between us.

“Mmmm.” Minias inclined his head. “I agree. We’re done now, but with this mark between us to settle up, I will be talking to you. It’s my God-given right to try to pay it off.” Touching the side of his hat, he vanished in a cascading sheet of ever-after.

I tightened my grip on my line as I felt him use it to cross into the ever-after. Numb, I stared at where he had been. What in hell have I just done?

Immediately Ceri broke her circle, almost knocking me over as she gave me a hug to be sure I was still alive. “Rachel.”

Crap. What have I done?

“Rachel!”

Ceri was shaking me, and I blearily looked at her. Seeing my awareness return, she sighed in relief, and her hands fell from my shoulders. “Rachel,” she said again, softer. “I don’t think you should do demon magic anymore.”

Jenks lit on her shoulder where he could see me; he was scared. “You think?” I said bitterly, wiping a hand under my eye. It came away wet, but I wasn’t crying. Not really.

“Actually…” Ceri dropped her head, clearly worried. “I don’t think you should do any ley line magic either.”

Sliding down from the counter, I looked past Ceri to the dark garden lit with the occasional flicker of pixy dust. My dad hadn’t wanted me to have anything to do with ley line magic. Maybe…maybe I should have a talk with Trent as to why.





THIRTEEN


“Rachel, hand me the hammer, will you?” Ivy said, her voice raised so she could be heard over the pixies yammering in the corner loud enough to make my eyeballs ache. “I’ve got another popped nail,” she added as I puffed to blow a curl that had escaped my ponytail out of my eyes.