My ears pricked up. “Beg your pardon?”
He slid the Book of Beasts open a quarter of the way in and then turned a few pages until he found what he was looking for. Now that was skill. He was obviously so familiar with it that he didn’t need the index. When he pointed a scaly hand at something I had already read, I glanced at him confused.
“This is the section on supernatural contracts,” I noted.
“So?” Jem asked. “Do you think contracts are limited to our species?”
“How do you enter into a contract with a demon? They’re not bound by the same forces that we are.”
When the supernaturals made contracts with each other, their wills were subject to the contract. Demons weren’t bound by anything logical. They existed to kill us. End of story.
“You’re thinking of the lower demons. There are plenty of mages and sorceress in the fens who I bet have a contract or two with a demon. You just need to know what the right price is. But you’re right. The demons aren’t bound by the rules of actual free will. Which means at any time, they can renege. And they do.”
“How often does that happen?”
He pinned me with a serious look. “Every single time.”
Right. Those were my options then. Live the rest of my life as a weakling or make a deal with a demon with the absolute certainty that they would come after me sooner or later. And then, while I was lying in bed trying not to think of Max, another thought hit me. What was this voice in my head that always wanted me to give in to evil? And what kind of deal had my great-grandfather struck with Apollyon to become that powerful?
35
Whenever anyone said the word contract, the first thing I thought of was the nymphs. Unfortunately, they were still steadfastly against anybody unauthorised setting foot in the Grove.
“They’re concerned about people stealing the Arcana fruit,” Jacqueline informed me. I didn’t buy it. They’d handed over Arcana fruit on a regular basis as a way to help heal the supernaturals. Unpleasant as they could be, I suspected that deep down they were throwing a hissy fit because Lex was gone.
I knew better than to suggest that to them, though. The purple nymph gave me a death glare when I revealed what I was thinking of doing. Her squeal was so high-pitched I had no idea what she was saying besides the fact that she was unhappy.
“I’m sorry!” I waved my arms about and then covered my ears as her voice went sub-vocal. The yowies who had been hiding in the bushes behind me scampered away. Poor Phoenix flattened his ears and made a valiant attempt to stay by my side. That was until the red and yellow nymphs arrived.
The purple nymph shrieked something at them and then they went to town. I screamed with them when I felt something bursting behind my left eye. Blood started to drip down my nose. Phoenix latched teeth around the leg of my jeans and tried to pull me away. He was getting kind of massive as well. If he really put his strength into it, he probably could have dragged me out of there. I shooed him until he let go.
Then I curled into a ball on the ground and waited for the tantrum to subside. At this point, Lex would be screaming back at them, but I just didn’t have the energy. The only bright side was that I wasn’t technically inside the Grove, so they weren’t going to attack me just yet.
After what felt like forever, the shrieking finally ended. Their glamour had slipped amidst all the yelling. When I uncurled, I found myself looking into the furious eyes of three gruesome-looking creatures. Their apparel of sticks and leaves was in disarray. The pointed chins and hooked noses made it appear as though their faces had melted. The purple nymph was gasping audibly.
She opened her mouth that was now full of sharp teeth. “Go away,” she shrilled. “Bad. Bad.”
“But–”
She took a swipe at me. I only just dodged in time, but the edge of her claws flicked over my cheek. “Bad,” she hissed again. “Demon blood.”
After giving me another soundless shriek, they disappeared. A translucent sweep of magic rose from the ground. It tugged at my legs like the tides of the ocean before closing around the Grove.
Well, that was one more door closed in my face.
Doctor Thorne was not happy to see me in the infirmary. “I thought I told you to stay out until you’re fully recovered.”
“Okay, number one, I am fully recovered. And two, since you’re being so stubborn about number one, I’m just here to see Professor McKenna.”
He went so far as to watch me entering the room to make sure I didn’t take any detours and try to speak to any of the patients.
Speaking was just about the one thing I couldn’t do when I sat down beside Professor McKenna. “Hello, Professor,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure why I lowered my voice when I was here. If anything, the louder I spoke, the more likely it would be that she would hear me and respond. Despite everything that I had learned recently about demon possession and her condition, I took her hand in both of mine and spoke the words of light anyway.
Absolutely nothing happened.
I was beginning to see why Lex had always resorted to Angelical. Absentmindedly, I found myself tracing the Angelical words we had learned in Weaponry and Combat while I sat vigil. At least with Angelical there was a guaranteed result, even if it was destructive.
In the past few weeks, I had discovered that there was nothing worse than silence. Nothing worse than knowing someone
