obscuris,” Hodin said in a commanding voice, his hands coming together in a pop of sound that made Zack jump.
“Black magic!” His eyes wide, Zack pushed back into the chair as the pentagon opened into the more familiar pentagram, the five points holding a ghostly image of a flame without a candle.
“Hang on, Rachel. It’s working,” Trent whispered, and Hodin shot him an annoyed look.
“I worked a quick fix into the boilerplate,” Hodin said. “But I never expected . . . this. Rachel, I apologize. I thought you were exaggerating your claim. If I’d known, I never would have let you jump out like that.”
“Just fix it,” I ground out, light-headed and dizzy with latent power I hadn’t called.
Eyes on flames that weren’t really there, Hodin began muttering. I blinked fast as he untwisted the curse, feeling something in me shift and change as the red dulled, and the purple in my aura turned silver again. My hands shook as my cheerful green muddied with a dull yellow to brown, and once more, my soul reflected Al’s aura.
“Bis?” Hodin asked, but the kid was crying, and thumbnail-size tears were falling heavy and warm on my shoulder. I hadn’t even known he’d moved to it, and I touched his feet gripping me. “Goyle!” Hodin shouted, and Bis jumped. “Is it the same?”
“What does it matter?” Bis sniffed. “If it’s different enough that I can’t reach her, then it’s different enough for the mystics to not see her.”
Hodin nodded sharply. “Just so.” He looked at me, his goat-slitted eyes holding what would have been pity in anyone else. “Ut omnes unum sint,” the demon said to seal the curse, and breath shaking, I leaned to blow my sputtering candle out.
With a pop that I felt deep in my gut, something seemed to twist and break off.
“Rachel?” It was Trent, tentatively taking my elbow as he crouched to put his eyes even with mine. “Did it work?”
“I think so.” I blinked, trying not to cry. I was a runner. I was a demon. Neither one cried. But my throat was closing up and I felt if I took a breath, it would come out weepy. The tingling was beginning to dissipate, but I’d never be able to travel the lines alone. Always, I’d have to rely on someone else.
“I wanted you to have this, Rachel,” Bis said, sobbing. “I’m sorry. It’s not fair. I can break the world and open one anew, but I can’t sing the lines to you.”
“We’ll find another way,” I said, but I wasn’t sure I believed it.
“Come this way.” Trent stood, drawing me to a stand. “Let’s see if they follow.”
But I knew they wouldn’t. Bis was on my shoulder, and I couldn’t feel the lines through him, couldn’t hear them sing, couldn’t swim among them like silken dark water. I could still feel them if I reached for one, but all I saw were the shadows they cast. All I felt was the dross they shed.
Numb, I followed Trent across the sunken living room, shivering as I felt the mystics peel from me, leaving their warmth behind as if I’d walked from sunshine to shade. “That’s better,” Hodin said as the bells on my sash jingled to a stop. “They don’t see you anymore.”
“Rachel?” Bis warbled, his nails pinching me. “I gotta go. I need a minute. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Bis,” I said, and he vanished, right from my shoulder. He had gone, and I was left behind. I took a slow breath, finding it easier. “Thank you,” I said, feeling flat as I met Hodin’s eyes. “I owe you.”
Hodin’s lip twitched as something passed through his thoughts. “No, you don’t.” He tugged his robe tighter, hiding his bare feet. “Excuse me. I was in the middle of something.” Then he hesitated, giving Trent a hard stare. “If you value her life, tell no one about me.”
And then Hodin vanished with hardly a pop of air. Behind him, Zack started. Trent was still cupping my elbow, and I felt miserable. The lines of the pentagram seemed to blur. It didn’t matter how fast I blinked, the tears were going to come. “I need some air,” I whispered as I looked at the main stairway. No wonder Bis had left. This was miserable.
“Rachel, I’m sorry,” Trent said, and I pulled from him.
“Will you all stop saying that!” I shouted, and Zack’s eyes widened. My breath trembled in my chest, and I locked my knees. “I just need to