it be a false warning with a deceitful purpose?
Perhaps I will discover the answers our brilliant and recondite foremother withheld when, tomorrow, I summon a son of the Twelfth House for myself. Should the warning be true, this will be my only addition to Anthea’s legacy, and I pray you will forgive my foolish hope, sister.
– Myrrine Athanas
Breath held, I read over my translation again. Myrrine had tried to summon a Vh’alyir! She must’ve survived the attempt since my mom’s notes said Myrrine had left at least five entries in the grimoire. Had she succeeded in her summoning?
I swiveled on my stool. “Zylas!”
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he was pondering the five-thousand-piece puzzle I’d brought home for him yesterday. I’d hidden the box in my dresser, and without knowing what the finished puzzle was supposed to look like, it’d kept him occupied for the better part of the day—his slow progress helped by Socks, who was walking all over everything and batting the pieces around.
Uncoiling from the floor, he strode to me. I almost managed not to blush as he stopped beside my stool.
I pointed at my translation. “I found Myrrine’s first entry, and she says she planned to summon a Vh’alyir demon.”
“We are never summoned.”
“It sounds like she tried, but maybe it didn’t work.” I studied my neat printing. “Myrrine wondered if the warning not to summon from the Twelfth House is deceitful. But in what way … and why?”
His tail snapped against the floor. “Find her next entry so we will know.”
I rolled my eyes and closed my notebook. “I can’t right now. I need to be at the guild in a few hours to meet with Tori, and—”
His head turned sharply toward the apartment’s door, then red light blazed over him. His power streaked into the infernus hanging from my neck.
A rap on the wood.
My stomach shriveled with anxiety. I minced to the door and put my eye to the peephole.
Waiting in the hall was a petite woman with short blond hair, a leather jacket, and a long, thin zippered bag hooked over her shoulder—which no doubt contained a very large sword.
I gulped. Unbolting the door, I swung it open. “Hi, Zora.”
She slashed a mistrustful glare over me, then pushed into the apartment. My jaw tightened as I closed the door. Folding my arms, I watched her assess my home—my books spread on the breakfast bar and Zylas’s half-completed puzzle. Socks cautiously stuck her nose out from under the coffee table.
Zora turned on me. “Why are you going to Odin’s Eye with Tori?”
On Wednesday, when I’d messaged the sorceress that I was at the guild, she hadn’t been pleased. For my planned outing with Tori this evening, I had let Zora know several hours ago—but it seemed that much warning wasn’t good enough either.
“What reason do you have to go to that guild?” she demanded suspiciously. “How is Tori involved?”
I returned to my stool. “We’re going to talk to an ex-summoner who’s a member. Tori has a Demonica question, and I’m researching something from my family’s grimoire.”
Zora opened her mouth, then closed it. She strode to the counter and scrutinized the ancient grimoire. “This belongs to your family?”
“Yes. I’m working on translating it.”
She glanced around. “Where’s your demon?”
“In the infernus.”
“And Amalia?”
“Shopping. Her favorite fabric store is having a flash sale on cotton blends.”
“You haven’t been out aside from visiting the guild on Wednesday, then? What were you doing there?”
“I was looking up some stuff from this grimoire in the Arcana Atrium books. That’s when I ran into Tori and we made our plans for tonight.”
The sorceress thought a moment, but couldn’t come up with anything to complain about. “I want to know everything you do while you’re with Tori tonight. I’ll be checking with her too, so leave nothing out.”
My gut tightened with anger and dismay, but I squashed it down. Getting angry wouldn’t help me win her trust back.
“I have to go …” she muttered. “My team is waiting downstairs.”
“Are you doing a job tonight?” I asked, thinking wistfully of my lone experience as a combat mythic on a job with her—not that I’d enjoyed it, but at least she’d liked me back then.
“We’re helping with the SeaDevils investigation.” At my blank look, she frowned. “You didn’t hear?”
“Hear what?”
“About the guild attacks.”
My eyes widened.
“I guess not,” she said dryly. “Two nights ago, a group of rogues attacked the Pandora Knights. You’ve heard of them, right?”
“The mage guild?”
“That’s the one.” She tucked a short lock of hair