trigger a flash of expanding air before it could hit me, but the kid’s white spell fizzled before mine could act on it, and with a boom, the church’s door slammed open instead.
“Sorry,” I said as Zack yelped, his ears red as he yanked his zipper back up, but I didn’t know if it was because his spell failed to act, or because I’d inadvertently unzipped his pants. For being Landon’s student, he wasn’t doing very well: his circle had been flimsy and what should have been an easy, powerful charm had failed to act.
“Perhaps I should leave . . . ,” Hodin said.
“Will you help me catch him?” I said, exasperated when Zack ran for the open door.
“If only to see what you will do with him.” Hodin gestured, and Zack stumbled, going down with a haze about his feet. He hit the floor with a muffled “Ooof,” taking it on the chin in the effort to keep his plate level.
“Semper apertus,” Zack gasped from the floor, his eyes on the light past the open door as he half-crawled to it. The spell, if it worked, would prevent another charm from closing it again. This was just sad, and I waved a hand with a whispered word to break Hodin’s binding.
“Zack. Relax,” I said, but the instant Hodin’s hold on him vanished, he scrambled up, that plate somehow still level as he backed away. “I won’t take you to Landon. Why do you want to talk to Trent?”
“Landon said your pixy would kill me if he found me in your church.” Zack’s eyes darted between Hodin and me.
“Jenks?” Bis said with a laugh, and Zack paled. I could understand why, seeing as Bis’s laugh sounded like rocks in a blender.
“Only if you tried to hurt me,” I said, then stopped when Zack put up a warning hand. I was eight feet back, and I didn’t like that that hole in the floor was right behind him, the plywood having slid halfway across the room thanks to my “open” spell. “Are you trying to hurt me?” I asked, and Zack’s gaze flicked to Hodin, who was clearly interested in his answer as well.
“I’m not,” Zack said, implying that someone was. He turned to leave, and I gasped a warning, but it was too late and Zack dropped right into the hole in the floor with a little shriek.
“Not very bright, is he?” Hodin came over and together all three of us looked down into the crawl space. Elegant swearing in the elven tongue was rising up, the unending flow enough to impress even Bis.
“Ah, are you okay?” I called into the depths, then stumbled when Hodin jerked me back. A green-tinted bolt of energy boiled up from the crawl space, hitting the underside of the roof and rolling like purple clouds.
“Curious.” Hodin reached a hand into the fading stream of power, rubbing his fingers together to rate it. “That should’ve been a rather nasty but white curse to blind you for three days.” His thin lips quirked. “It was twisted correctly, but the Goddess isn’t listening and it fizzled.”
“Like everything else he tried,” I said, pity rising up. It sucked when you reached for your tools and they didn’t work. “I can’t leave him down there,” I said, venturing a peek over the edge.
“Why not?” Hodin snapped his fingers and the basket on his arm vanished. “I could fix the floor right now, and no one would know. Every demon needs an oubliette with someone in it.”
Bis’s grip on me eased, his wings spreading behind my head to inadvertently focus the faint sounds of misery coming from the hole. Apparently Zack hadn’t been able to save his dinner. “I’ll get him,” Bis said as he jumped from me. “I’m coming down,” he said loudly as he landed at the edge of the hole. “If you hit me with anything, I’m going to slam my fist into your skull and it’s going to hurt. Got it?”
Silence rose, and taking that as a yes, Bis gave me a black-toothed smile and dropped into the dark.
“Stay back!” Zack shouted. “I said stay away from me!”
“What the lily-white fairy shit is wrong with you?” Bis yelled back, and I blinked, never having heard that particular one from him before. “You came to us, beetle brain. All she’s done is ask what you want, and you keep throwing shit at her? And it’s not even good shit. Knock it off!”