Page 46 of Demon's Bluff

But his hands were empty when he came back out. “What is it?” I said when he quickly slipped into the warm water, exhaling as if he’d been holding his breath. One of his hands was clenched into a fist, and I sat up, scooting closer when he opened it.

“It’s for you,” he said as I looked at the small, child-size ring lying in his wet palm. “I want you to take it with you.”

“Oh!” I glanced between the rings. “It’s tiny,” I said as I picked the newone up, smiling at the red stone and the whisper of hidden magic prickling my fingers. “What does it do?”

A smile quirked his lips. “I have no idea. I want you to trade it for the mirror.”

My hand closed around it. “I’m not going to give it to Newt. Especially if I don’t know what it does.”

“If she wants it, give it to her.” His hand took mine, opening it to take the ring and put it on my pinky, where it fit perfectly. “It was my mom’s. I know it will last the trip.”

The tiny red stone glinted wetly on my finger. “You think Newt might know what it does?”

He shrugged. “It’s possible. I have a sneaking suspicion that my mother knew Al. There have never been many demons who let their summoning name be known. And, ah, if you run into me, seeing it on your hand might slow me down enough for you to escape.”

I reached to tug it off. “Right after you accuse me of stealing it. Trent, I’m not trading your mother’s ring for a mirror.”

But his hand curved about mine, stopping me. “Yes, you will. If I don’t know what it does, it’s just a pretty ring.” He paused. “And I like seeing it on your hand.”

I angled it until the light made it shine. “Your mom had tiny fingers.”

“Not really. She wore it on her pinky, too.” He hesitated. “I could resize it if you want.”

A flash of worry spiked through me. “No, pinky is fine,” I said, and he tugged me closer and gave me a kiss.

“You’re funny,” he whispered. “If I was going to propose, I wouldn’t do it naked in the middle of a forest.”

“Trent…” I started, and he leaned in to give me another kiss.

“Give it to Newt,” he whispered when our lips parted. “I can’t sit here and watch you leave without trying to help. You wearing my mother’s ring doesn’t mean anything is changing.”

But that’s not what it felt like. Change was inevitable, especially if I couldn’t fix things with the coven, and I forced myself to smile as I easedback into his arms and stared up at the stars. What he had here was wonderful. I knew Al wanted me to abandon reality, exchanging my chancy existence and the stress of balancing a city’s wants for the pleasant expansion of knowledge. The coven would forget about me, and Ivy would be okay. Jenks, too.

But as I sat beside Trent and traced glyphs of protection on the palm of his hand, I knew that wasn’t my path. I wasn’t going into the past to keep the coven off my case. I was going because I had cursed someone, and it was my responsibility to uncurse him even if I lost everything in the process.

Full stop.

Chapter

11

“Perhaps if we could havethe air on?” Al mused from the back seat, and I met his pained expression through the rearview mirror before glancing at Ivy riding shotgun.

“We’re almost there,” I said, and Al made a rude noise. If I put the air on, Jenks would be cold. Same with opening the window. But when Al began to fuss with the driver-locked window switch, I compromised and cracked the windows, then turned up the heat.

Al made a neutral huff, and Ivy twitched in annoyance. It wasn’t cool air the demon wanted but filtered or fresh. The anxious vampire was filling the car with the scent of sex and candy, her bloodred manicure making a steady, silent staccato on her knee as I drove a sedate thirty-five miles per hour through Cincy’s night-emptied streets to Eden Park.

My long good-bye with Trent might have been a mistake as Jenks and I had returned home to find Al, Ivy, and Bis waiting for me, Al with a demon book in hand, Ivy with the couch covered in things from five years ago that I might need, and Bis tense and worried as he silently followed me around the church while I went over the last of the prep. Jenks, though, had been worse than all three of them combined, angry as Getty tearfully put layer after layer on him as he told me to shut up and go with it. It was too cold for him, especially with the blustery wind, but I couldn’t stop him. The pixy still wasn’t happy with me, currently sitting on Ivy’s shoulder for warmth, bundled up so tightly that he could hardly fly.

I had decided to do the spell at Eden Park, not, as Al pointed out, because it would make it easy for Trent to attend my send-off but because the ley line there meant I wouldn’t have to spend any time in reality before popping over to the ever-after. I could be home in an hour if all went well.

Please, God. Let this go well.

The scent of anxious vampire slowly dissipated in the odd mix of warm and cool air buffeting my face as I drove up the long drive to the overlook. My five-year-old underwear was riding up, and I squirmed, trying to get comfortable.

“Where did you get the ring?” Al asked suddenly, and I started, my gaze going to my new pinky ring snuggled up to the pearl ring, both glittering in the lot’s lights.

“Trent. He thinks Newt might want it. It belonged to his mom.” I paused. “She didn’t get it from you, did she?”

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