between two piles of crates. The beast lashed its tail, leaving a trail of heat behind it. Evelina could smell sawdust burning. All it would take was the right spark, and the creature would set the whole warehouse on fire.
The tail lashed again, and a small crate crashed to the floor. A clay jar broke open, spraying tiny glass beads everywhere. Evelina ducked, wincing as one stung her cheek. What looked like a giant paw smashed down on the rolling spheres, curved talons emerging from the dark, glittering form. She heard the glass crunch as it was ground to powder.
The urge to flee wafted up from the cube. Run fast, run desperately, run into the jaws of the beast, but definitely
Evelina began to inch backward, thinking they could sneak out the other side of the crates. Suddenly, hot breath blasted her back. She whipped her head around to find herself staring into the creature’s glowing green eyes. They were slitted like a cat’s. The long, sinewy body was wound over the pile of crates, feet on one side, head peering in the other side.
Evelina’s pulse thundered in her mouth, coppery fear fouling her tongue.
“What do we do?” Imogen was panting, her fingers digging painfully into Evelina’s arm. “What can it do to us?”
Frozen with fear, Evelina could barely move her lips. “The only reason it would be here is because someone bespelled it into serving as a guardian. If we want to leave, we have to make sacrifice.”
“Such as?”
“I need something sharp. Something metal.”
“I have a hat pin.”
“Something more like a blade.”
“That’s more in your line.”
The next words came out in a croak. “Anything that will slice. I need blood and lots of it, so it has to be more than a poke or a scratch.”
She heard the rustle of Imogen searching. It was ironic, given the amount of gears and wheels and metal debris in the warehouse, that they would be stuck in the one spot without a scrap of anything useful. “I just have my card case.”
“Give it to me.”
Imogen did as she was told. The case was a pretty thing of gold and blue enamel forget-me-nots. Evelina peeled off her gloves, flipped it open, and emptied out the calling cards into Imogen’s hands, spilling them so Imogen had to scrabble to pick them up. Then she snapped off the lid. It was a thin sliver of metal, and the broken hinge was sharp. In one quick swipe, she dragged it deep across the meat of her palm, using all the strength she could muster. Blood welled up in a red gush, and she let it drip onto the floor.
The beast began lapping it up like a cat, the thick black tongue darting.
“Run,” Evelina said in a tight voice, her throat aching with tension.
Imogen ran. Evelina wormed her way from between the crates and followed, the cube swinging in the shawl and banging against her leg. The beast bounded after with a hungry mewl, its back humping as it half ran, half slithered on its stumpy legs.
It was fast. Evelina barely made it across the threshold before the blare of sunlight stopped it in its tracks. They kept going, putting the length of the alley between them and the warehouse before Imogen had to stop. She was wheezing, the exertion too much for her.
“That. Thing. Was a deva. Like your bird?” she gasped.
“No. It was far more powerful.” Evelina cradled her hand, feeling her heartbeat pulse in the wound. She realized her teeth were chattering, fear finally catching up to her body. “I remember Gran Cooper talking about creatures like that. Some call them demons. Some dragons. I don’t know if either is the right name, but they can be summoned and controlled if you’re strong enough and know the right spells.”
“And they can’t go into sunlight?”
“That’s not it exactly. They’re set to guard something. As long as you’re off their territory, they don’t care, unless …” Evelina looked down at the cube-shaped lump in the shawl.
“You took something.”
Evelina swore, feeling hot, wet tears trickle down her cheeks. “Oh, no.”
The strange, mewling cry echoed through the alley. The dragon was considering its options. What little noise there was in the alley went dead, as if all of London was holding its breath. There was no one and nothing in sight but the singed brick buildings.
She looked around, realizing they had run farther than she’d thought. The smell of baking perfumed the air. It seemed surreal, a homey touch that clashed with the grim, sooty space. Then, as suddenly as it had disappeared, the chatter of excited voices started up from the open door ahead. She cudgeled her brain for an idea. “Isn’t that the back of the tea shop?”
“I think so.”
Evelina grabbed Imogen and pushed her through the open door. “Go straight through the shop to the street, find the carriage, and wait for me there. Don’t argue.”
Imogen gave her a startled look. “What are you going to do?”
“I’ll be fine, and I’ll tell you all about it later.”
“Why don’t you just run?”
Evelina swore under her breath. “That thing’s not going to stop coming for me, no matter where I go. I can’t leave here without putting other people in danger.”
Evelina gave Imogen another shove, bodily moving her along as she marched through the door after her. Her hand was bleeding again, no doubt drawing the beast with the smell of her blood.
A blast of heat smacked her skin when she pushed through the door, floating tendrils of hair back from her face. Two burly bakers gawped, eyes wide, at the sight of the disheveled Society ladies. Evelina gave Imogen a last shove, sending her trotting through the curtain to the front of the shop.
Evelina stayed behind, glancing frantically around the worktables. In moments, she saw what she wanted—a bag of salt, still half full. She snatched it up. One of the bakers shouted a protest, but she was already in motion, diving back into the alley. The contents poured over the lip of the bag into her cut, stinging hard enough to make her eyes water.
It was an odd weapon, but the only one she could think of to confront the dragon. Evelina wasn’t sure how the salt worked—chemistry or magic or rules of engagement—but it seemed to nullify the energy that kept creatures like the garden devas alive. One sure way to kill earth or fire spirits was to drown them in the sea. An ocean sprite, of course, was a different problem.
She made it back to the alley in time to see the dragon’s approach. In the sunlight, it looked less distinct, like a cloud of thick smoke, but its magic was no less powerful.
The moment she formed the thought, a wave of panic roiled up from the bundle dangling from her shoulder. It wasn’t her emotion, but Evelina’s knees quivered as the terror struck through to her heart, sharp and deep.
A wave of gratitude rose up, sweet as incense. Tears stung her eyes.
And then the beast was there, rising high on its hindquarters and opening its great, black maw. Energy pounded out from it with excoriating force, as if the magic were a thousand flexible blades designed to flay the skin from her body. Evelina couldn’t breathe as its teeth—now suddenly, horribly solid—gleamed in the sunlight.
The thing’s size made her look up and up and up. She had been afraid, but had forced herself through the fear because she had a job to do. Now all that went out the window. Her legs shook like the bones were dissolving. The fingers holding the bag of salt were losing their power, the coarse cloth sliding away.
But heat from the monster’s breath lashed her face, snapping her back to herself. She had to act, and now, before it destroyed her and then anyone else it deemed guilty for violating its hoard. Evelina stuck her hand into the bag of salt, pulling out a fistful and scattering it in a line between them.
“With salt I bind you.”
Her voice shook, the words seeming to fall to the ground under the weight of her panic. Nevertheless, the
