"Minias maybe?" Ivy suggested, and Ceri shook her head.
"Minias is trying to get back into Newt's good graces. Rachel may as well wear a big bow and sing 'Happy Birthday.'"
I flipped the maps closed. "Why?" I asked, eating another cracker. "They fired him."
Ceri's gaze went serious. "Because Newt is the only female demon left. And just like everyone else, he would risk his life for the chance to engender a child. That was his job. They took a vote and he lost. I told you this before."
Her voice had gotten sharp, but her temper was her way of hiding her fear. Excising it, maybe. "You didn't tell me he was trying to seduce her," I said tartly, egging her on for some inane reason. Perhaps I needed the release of yelling at someone, too. "You told me he was babysitting her."
Jenks's wings brushed my neck, tangling in my hair. "He's been with her, what? A few hundred years? What's his problem? Can't get it up?"
Ceri's eyebrows went high, and she replied dryly, "She killed the last six demons she became intimate with. Pulled an entire line through them and - "
"Fried their little kitty brains," Jenks finished.
I looked for Rex in the threshold, but the cat had yet to come out from under my bed.
"Minias is understandably cautious," Ceri said, and Ivy snorted as she pushed her forearms up from the counter and went to the coffeemaker.
"If it's just a matter of getting there, can't Rachel just stand in a line and...move?" Ivy asked, her unusual look of ignorance hinting at her fright.
Ceri shook her head, and I dropped the pad of paper onto the table. I remembered the time I had stood in Trent's office, one foot in the here and now, and one in the ever-after. I had been entirely safe, unless Al had got a grip on me and pulled me through. "Not unless there's a demon to pull you through," I said, rubbing the goose bumps from my arms. "And I'm the only one going in. Not you, not you, and not you."
I looked at them in turn, reading Ceri's relief, Jenks's ire, and Ivy's annoyance.
"I don't mind a little demon smut," Ivy said defensively.
"Me either," Jenks chimed in, and Ceri shook her head with a soft no. That Jenks had popped back to reality when the sun had come up didn't bode well. "I'm going with you, Rache," he said loudly. "Even if I have to ride in your armpit!"
Ooh, that's a pretty picture. "You don't get it," I said, trying to burn the image from my consciousness. "There is no reason for you to go!"
Jenks rose up, his wings clattering. "Like hell there isn't!" he yelled, shooting nervous glances at Ivy. "You need backup."
Frustrated, I slammed my hand down on the table, and two pixies shot out of my charm cupboard, shrieking. I hesitated as they flew down the hall and into the night. Great, now Matalina would know Jenks was trying to come with me. The woman wouldn't stop him, but I'd be damned before I took him away from her again.
"I'm not going in there to kick some demon ass," I said softly, trying to be reasonable. "Even with your help, I can't beat off more than one demon at a time with magic, and as soon as they realize I'm there, it's going to be a bunch of demons." I glanced at Ceri, and the pale woman nodded. "I've thought it over, and I can't do it with muscle or magic. I have to do it with trickery, and I'm sorry, but much as I'd like one or both of you there, you can't help me." I looked at Ivy by the fridge, feeling the frustration coming off her in a wave. "You can do more good by staying here and summoning me home." My face burned with shame that I had a demon name, and fear made my voice soft. "Once I've got him."
"This is crap!" Jenks shouted. "Green fairy crap."
Ivy rubbed her temples. "I have a headache," she breathed, one of the few times she had ever admitted to me that she hurt. "Can you at least take Ceri?"
Ceri's rasp of incoming breath was harsh and quick. "No," I said, touching the woman's shoulder in support. "I'm going alone." Jenks bristled, and I leaned over him. "I'm going alone!" I exclaimed. "I couldn't have gotten the sample without you, Jenks, but this is different. And you taking on a bucket of smut so you can hold my hand while I do this isn't going to happen. Don't you get it!" I almost shouted, starting to shake. "Until I met the two of you, I worked alone, even when I did have backup. I'm damn good at it, and I'm not going to put you in danger if I don't need to, so drop it!"
For a moment, Jenks said nothing, his fists on his hips as he pressed his lips together and frowned up at me. From the window came a high-pitched hush for someone to be quiet. "So how much is your life worth, Rache?" he asked.
I turned away so he couldn't see my eyes. "I killed Kisten," I said. "I'm not going to risk either of you." My jaw clenched, and the hurt swelled. I had killed Kisten - maybe not directly, but it had been my fault.
Ivy's feet scuffed the linoleum, and Jenks went silent. I couldn't love anyone without putting them in danger. Maybe this is why Dad told me to work alone.
Ceri touched my arm, and I sniffed back the misery. "It wasn't your fault," she said, but Ivy's and Jenks's silence said different.
"I know how to do this," I said, shoving the pain down. "I was summoned out - like a demon. I can kindle demon magic - like a demon. I have a name registered in their database - like they all are. Why can't I just claim Trent as mine and bring him home? I know he'd go along with it."
"Oh for the sweet humpin' love of Tink!" Jenks shouted, and even Ivy looked discomfited. Ceri, though, put her elbows on the table and dropped her chin into her cupped palm with a thoughtful look on her face. It was the first hint of hope, and my hands grew damp.
"You can't jump through the lines," she said, as if that were the deciding factor. "How will you get there?"
I fiddled with the bowl of crackers, nervous. I had to make a deal with a demon. Damn it, I had to make another deal with a demon. The difference this time was that I was making this choice with a clear head, not being forced into it with death as the only other option. So I dealt in demons. So the hell what. It didn't make me a bad person. Or stupid. Or rash. It made me dangerous to everyone around me is all. "So I buy a trip," I said softly, knowing I'd never look at demon summoners the same way again. Maybe I'd take them seriously now, instead of writing them off as idiots. Maybe I'd been really wrong to accuse Ceri of not knowing what she was doing.
Ceri sighed, oblivious to my thoughts. "Back to the beginning," she muttered to her legal pad. I looked down at it to see a second pair of eyes, decidedly masculine this time.
"So I buy a trip from Al," I finished.
Ivy jerked, and Jenks took to the air. "No," Jenks said. "He will kill you. He will lie and kill you. He has nothing to lose, Rache."
Which is exactly why it will work, I thought, but didn't say it. Al had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
"Jenks is right," Ivy said. Somehow she had crossed the kitchen without me seeing and was right over me.
Ceri's expression was thick with alarm. "You said Al is in jail."
I nodded. "They incarcerated him again when they realized I can spindle line energy. But he can still bargain. And I know his summoning name. I can summon him out."
Her pretty little mouth open, Ceri looked at Ivy and then Jenks. "He might kill you!"
"And he might not." Discouraged but seeing no other options, I pushed the legal pad of sketched maps away from me. "I have something he wants, and holding on to it will not do me any good. Giving it to him might get Trent free...."
Ceri gave Ivy a pleading look, and the vampire dragged her chair to the other side of me and sat down. "Rachel," Ivy said, her voice soft and full of pity, "there's nothing you can do. I don't want Trent stuck there any more than you do, but there's no shame in not waging a battle that can't be won."
Jenks stood before me with his head bobbing, but his relief made me even more angry. They weren't listening, and I really didn't blame them. My tension rose, and I scrubbed a hand across my face. "Okay," I said shortly, and Jenks flew backward as I stood. "You're right. Bad idea." I have to get out of here. "Just forget the entire thing," I said, looking over the kitchen for my coat. The foyer...I think.
I headed for the front door with no bag, no wallet, and nothing but my spare keys, which I had stashed in the safe with Ivy's living-will papers. Someone had brought my car home, but I had yet to find my bag.
"Hey!" Jenks said from the table. "Where are you going?"
My pulse hammered, and my steps jarred all the way up my spine. "Eden Park. Alone. I'll be back after sunrise. Unless I'm dragged into the ever-after," I added, sounding dry, sarcastic, and bitter. The clatter of pixy wings following made me tense.
"Rachel - "
"Let her go," Ivy said softly, and he dropped back. "She's never had to deal with a situation there was no way to win. I better call Rynn," she said as she headed down the hall. "Then go to the store to stock up. The shops might be closing for a while. There might be riots if the city has to reorganize the lower power structure. This is going to be a rough week. The I.S. is going to be too busy to pick its collective nose."
I passed through the bat-filled sanctuary thinking I wasn't going to be around to see it.