Okay, I’d done it. Now we’d see if I was as smart as we all hoped I was.
“Holy crap!” the pixy said as the liquid started to spontaneously steam. My pulse quickened, and I picked up my splat gun. Al was going to be pissed. If this didn’t get his attention, nothing would.
“Let me know when you smell burnt amber, okay?” I muttered, but Jenks was fascinated, hovering between me and the rising mist, unseen but for the faint dust slipping from him.
“Here he comes!” the pixy said excitedly, and I got behind one of the chairs. Somewhere in the spell, the dust was being used to give Pierce material to form his temporary body around. The mist started to take on a more human silhouette in the faint ambient light. Every second he looked more there. I didn’t know what kind of shape he was going to be in. Al could’ve beaten him badly by now. I was going to have my hands full with Al and wouldn’t be able to help Pierce.
“Jenks, get back,” I demanded, and the pixy zipped to me and away again. The mist was thickening, and Jenks swore as the misty shape seemed to shrink an inch all around-and suddenly, Pierce was there, his bare feet standing on the brocade fabric with his head near the ceiling facing away from me. Naked as a jaybird.
The man spun, holding on to the back of the chair as he turned. His eyes lit on me, and he let go of the chair, wobbling as he covered himself. “Holy manure,” he said, tossing his head to get the black tangle of hair out of his eyes, his face creased in what looked like anger. “I’d be of a mind to know, what the devil are you doing, mistress witch?”
Jenks rose up, his sword bared. “You scrawny ungrateful piece of crap!”
“Jenks!” I shouted, breathing deep for any sign of Al as I leaned over the chair and tossed Pierce the clothes. He caught them with one hand, and in a smooth motion, he jumped to the floor, putting his back to me as he fumbled to put the pants on.
I was scanning the dark, cluttered floor for demon-sign, but Jenks was more interested in Pierce, shocking the man as he flew to face him, shedding bright sparkles. “We’re saving your ass, that’s what we’re doing,” he said. “And the correct vernacular is holy shit.”
Adrenaline spiked when I caught a whiff of burnt amber, but it was coming from Pierce.
The solid ghost was shoving his legs into the pants, not bothering with the underwear. I couldn’t help but notice-even in the dark-that they were nice legs. Strongly muscled. Used to work.
As if feeling my eyes on him, he turned, trying to get the zipper up. “What are you doing?” he said, clearly aghast. “I opine that it’s not your responsibility to save me. I can take care of myself.”
Still no Al. “Good,” I said, anxious, “because in about three seconds, Al is going to show up, and you need to take care of your own ass. I’m going to be busy. Get behind me and stay out of the way, okay?”
Pierce gave up on the zipper and snatched a white, collared shirt up from the floor. “You rescued me without a plan?” he said, his old-world accent making him sound exotic as he shoved his arms into the sleeves and started buttoning it up. “This is a powerful fix. Nohow around it.”
“Of course I have a plan, but rescuing you wasn’t the point,” I said, affronted. “It’s the catalyst. Get behind me!”
Pierce grabbed the shoes and half-hopped beside me as he put one on. His shirt was untucked to hide his open zipper. The socks, too, he had ignored. “You didn’t rescue me, then?”
“Not really.”
“Do tell,” he said, sounding almost unhappy. His angular, thin face was wearing disappointment as he got his last shoe on and looked up. In the dim light, I could see his dark hair was mussed, and his narrow chin smooth. Though his blue eyes looked innocent, I knew behind them was a devious mind, clever and wicked. And he was looking at me. Damn it to the Turn and back. Stop it, Rachel.
“Pierce. I’m sorry. Can we talk about this after I take care of Al?”
He stood, matching my height. “After?” he questioned.
I looked over the dark storage room, gripping my gun tighter as I started to sweat. “Al wouldn’t talk to me, and pulling you out from under him was the only way I could think of to force the issue. Will you get behind me? I can’t tap a line or set a circle. My aura is too thin.”
“You’re taking on a demon with a thin aura? I can’t commune with the ever-after either! Are you plum mad?”
From above us, Jenks muttered, “I ask myself that at least three times a week.”
His expression going empty, Pierce looked up at Jenks, unknown thoughts sifting behind his blue eyes, looking black in the dim light from the windows.
“I’m not taking him on,” I said as I scanned for signs of Al. “I’m talking to him.”
Thick eyebrows furrowing, Pierce took a breath to say something. My eyes narrowed, but he stopped, holding his breath, as if listening to something I couldn’t hear. Jenks’s wings hit a higher pitch, and the skin on the back of my neck crawled.
“Rache?” Jenks had his sword out as he revolved in midair. “He’s coming…”
“Make yourself scarce, Jenks. I mean it.”
With a boom of sound, the air pressure shifted. My instinctive hunch straightened, my eyes going first to the quivering windows, and then the new shadow standing before us in the open space. In one quick lurch, Pierce was beside me. Al was here. About freaking time.
“Student!” Al shouted, his red goat-slitted eyes glowing as he looked over his smoked glasses. He was poised in anger, his velvet coat and lace looking ominous against the black windows. Seeing Pierce, his jaw clenched. “There you are, you little runt. We had an agreement!”
“It wasn’t me!” Pierce shouted indignantly. “She did it!” he added, pointing as he took three steps away.
Agreement? I thought as Jenks started swearing. She did it? “Al, I can explain,” I said even as I leveled my gun at him. I wanted to talk to him, but I wasn’t going to be stupid about it.
“You slimy little slug!” Jenks was saying, hovering over us to light the scene.
Al’s growl of annoyance was loud, and his white-gloved hands clenched. “I am going to pulp one or both of you,” he said in a low voice.
Pride that I had snatched Pierce mixed with a healthy dose of fear. Adrenaline was running, and I felt alive. I thought I’d kicked this particular high, but apparently not. Al made a grab for Pierce, and I jerked him back. Jenks darted up, and the shadows grew darker.
“You’re mine, little runt,” Al intoned. “The longer it takes, the longer you’re going to suffer.”
“Mistress witch summoned me,” he said defiantly. “I have until sunrise before I am obliged to return.”
I had a bad feeling about this. It sounded as if Pierce had already made a deal with Al, and worse, that he was comfortable with it. Damn it, I did it again.
“I told you, Rache!” Jenks said as I shoved Pierce behind me and the pixy dropped down. “I’m sorry, but I told you!”
“I don’t have time for this,” Al growled. He gestured, and Pierce seized, falling to the flat carpet in convulsions at my heels.
“Hey!” I shouted, shifting to stand so Al couldn’t just scoop him up. “Do you not see this gun I’ve got? Knock it off, Al. I’m trying to talk to you.”
Al wasn’t listening, a black haze pulsing as he clenched his white-gloved hands together, and Pierce groaned, tightening into a ball. This was so not working. “Al, if you don’t knock it off and pay attention to me, I’m going to plug you!” I threatened.
His red eyes flicked to mine. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I squeezed the trigger. Al dove for the side, falling into a roll and landing on his feet, facing me. Behind me, Pierce gasped. “I missed on purpose!” I shouted. “Stop tormenting Pierce and talk to me.”
“Rachel, Rachel, Rachel,” Al said from the dark, his low voice making me shudder. “That was a mistake, my itchy witch.”
Never taking my eyes off the incensed demon, I fumbled for Pierce, helping him up. “You okay?”
“As a summer day in the meadow,” he breathed heavily, wiping his face.
Jenks hovered between Al and me, his face ugly. “Let Al have him, Rache. He’s slug slime. You heard him. He’s already got a deal going.”
Like I don’t? “This isn’t about Pierce,” I said tightly. “It’s about Al snagging people.” I turned to the demon. “And you’re going to listen to me!”
“You should listen to the pixy,” Al said, pulling the lace from his sleeves before making a backward kick to send
