“Not quite.” He shut off the engine.
Harvey and Cooper stepped out of the SUV, pulling their coats tighter in the cold breeze. They waited for us as Doc grabbed the mirror from the back seat. When we joined them, Cooper handed Doc two keys.
“For the padlock and the door?” Doc asked.
Cooper nodded. “Is that thing still stuck in the mirror?” He aimed his flashlight directly at my eyes.
I winced and blocked the bright beam. “Yes, dammit. Lower your light before I jam it so far up your ass that your nostrils light up like a jack-o’-lantern.”
He chuckled at my threat, clearly not taking me seriously. “I’m just making sure your eyes aren’t creepy black holes again, Parker.”
“I’m gonna cram my foot in your creepy black hole,” I shot back, and then ruined my menacing glare by grinning.
Doc laughed. “Let him have it, Tiger.”
“Careful, Coop.” Harvey patted me on the back. “Sparky might cough up somethin’ worse than that smoky devil and sic it on you.”
I frowned at Harvey. “You saw me cough that up?”
“Sure did. I told you, I saw it all, just couldn’t do a dagburn thing about it.”
I still didn’t understand how Prudence had done that whole head-hopping, body puppet trick.
Doc led the way toward the iron steps that climbed to the second floor of the building.
I hurried to catch him. “Did you hear that?”
“Yeah.” He looked back at Cooper and Harvey. “You two wait down here. I don’t trust this mirror. When I open the channel again to let the lidérc out, things could go crooked.” He started up the steps, taking them two at a time with his long legs.
I rushed after him. “Where’s the fire?” I asked, slightly winded when we reached the top.
“You heard Prudence back there.” He unlocked the padlock and then the door before pocketing the keys. “I don’t want this devil escaping and getting any ideas about latching onto you again.”
He opened the door, looking down at me with a puckered brow. “How do you feel about waiting out here for me?”
I scowled at that notion and bumped him aside, stepping into the old building. “Dominick fixed the window, like he said.” I walked over to check out the new pane. Crumbs of broken glass still littered the floor along the wood molding.
I ran my fingers down over the ward on the wall next to it. I needed some schooling on these wards. Aunt Zoe had several around her house, but these were different. Who came up with them? Was it some kind of witch? Was ward-making a special skill like clock-making?
Doc cleared his throat.
I glanced back. He was still standing just this side of the threshold.
“How about we get the hell out of here before something else gets out?” He shined his flashlight around the room. “Who knows what all Masterson is keeping in this place.”
I returned to his side. “So, how’s this release business going to go?”
He tipped his head toward the door. “You get on the other side of that ward, for starters.”
“I’m not leaving you alone with that bastard, Doc.”
“I’ll be right there with you.” His frown deepened as he unwrapped the paper from the mirror. “Cross your fingers that when I open the channel, nothing else crawls out.”
I moved to the doorway, thinking about the other entities in the mirror that Doc had mentioned earlier. “What if something does?’
He laid the frame flat on the floor, mirror up. “Then we’ll have bigger problems than a rowdy imp.”
“And the Nachzehrer.” I stepped outside onto the iron landing.
He followed me out. “Them, too.”
“And the other bone cruncher.”
His frown deepened.
“And don’t forget the caper-sus Mr. Black told me about.”
“You’re not letting me.”
“Oh, and whatever it was that got its ear caught in Harvey’s trap last summer.”
“Killer.” He covered my mouth with his gloved hand. “You’re not helping me focus here.”
My “sorry” came out muffled through his fingers.
“What’s the holdup?” Harvey called up from the bottom of the steps, his stage whisper bordering on a stage shout. “I’m sufferin’ from missed-meal cramps down here.”
I looked down at him and held my index finger to my lips. “Shh. Doc has to focus.” I searched the area for his nephew, not seeing him. “Where’s Cooper?”
“He’s circlin’ the building, doin’ his cop thing.”
Back up on the landing, Doc took off his gloves and used them as padding when he dropped down onto his knees. He faced the open door, handing his flashlight to me. “Violet, stand behind me, but don’t touch me.”
I did as told, shining the light inside the doorway, lighting up the mirror. “Now what?”
“I’m going to use you as bait to lure the lidérc out.”
“How about we drag Cooper up here to use as bait instead?”
“Good try, sweetheart.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “Now, remember, no touching.”
I kept a foot of space between us. “Ready.”
Down on the main road into Lead, a snowplow growled up the hill. I glanced at Harvey, who was rubbing his stomach while staring toward Homestake Mine’s Yates Shaft headframe. Cooper rounded the front of the building and returned to his SUV, leaning against the hood as he stared up at us.
Something thumped inside the open doorway. Returning my attention to the mirror, I watched as it vibrated, moving a little across the floor. It stopped, inert for a couple of beats. Then it started shaking again.
I leaned back, gripping the railing behind me just in case something came flying out and tried to knock me off the landing.
The mirror rattled harder against the floor. In the flashlight beam, I saw what looked like fingers of smoke reaching up and out of the mirror. My heart pitter-pattered faster. The wrenching pain that son of a bitch had caused still echoed inside of me. I tightened my hold on the railing.
A whoosh of swirling smoke erupted from the mirror.
I could swear I smelled the devil’s breath from out here.
As if it heard my thoughts, it billowed toward the open doorway. Clomping footfalls clunked
