Page 78 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

“Here’s what I do know: this place is running on magical fumes.” Kell jabbed her screen, pointing to a bunch of codes, numbers, letters, and symbols I couldn’t make the slightest sense of. “Despite connecting Bez’s body—well, his old body—to the network, the ship isn’t funneling essence from him, which means there are bound to be outages since a bunch of Diabolics have been released from their orbs.”

She pointed to the shattered glass from the six orbs stationed at the edge of the railing that were littered about, catching the light of blood dripping through the grates of the metal walkway. The blood was glittery and must’ve belonged to the Faes Eligos used as host offerings to the Diabolics he’d released.

“Hence, why I choose to believe it’s a coincidence until I have more info to formulate a sound plan. Right now, I can fix glitches.”

The click, tick, and clatter of Kell’s typing created a rhythmic echo in the near-silent engine room. A few machines hummed, but nothing with the roaring bustle like my last visit, meaning the dimensional capabilities had lost functionality or, at the very least, were limited.

“So, instead of trying to predict every possible outcome, why don’t you prioritize what you can control?”

Right. I peered over the edge, taking in the hundreds of orbs still placed on pillared mantles in large groups, positioned throughout the lower end of the engine room. None of themwere shattered, at least from what I could glimpse. Which meant Eligos probably just released the six demons up here on the railing that were trapped inside those Diabolic orbs.

“It doesn’t look like any of the orbs below have been disturbed, which makes sense considering they’re the only thing keeping the basic life support and magic of the ship intact, so I guess we don’t have to worry about him releasing more.”

“Doubtful,” Kell said. “Only half the pillars are wired into the systems. I mean, they’re all connected, but according to the diagnostics, they’re not doing much of anything. My guess? The knight in tacky armor lacked enough host bodies to free the others, so he’s just keeping the others on ice. Figurative ice. Do you think the orbs have a temperature? I wonder if I could find out.”

“Focus.” I said it to Kell but honestly needed to take my own advice and figure out what was going on and how I could help. Could I help?

“Heh-heh-heh.” An unsettling, deep laughter rained from above, accompanied by a wheezing exhale.

I looked up, unable to see anything other than the starry black temporal void that kept the engine room contained within the villa yet separated by dimensional magics.

“Kell,” I whispered, panicky and not-at-all paranoid. “I was fucking right.”

“Yeah, yeah, untwist your panties, Wally.” Kell hopped up. “Of course there’s a demon here, but I had to wait for him to reveal himself before making a move.”

“There might be others,” I thought, replying through the telepathic link Kell had created.

“No. Six shattered orbs. We killed one; Bez and Mora killed a second.” Kell clamped her jaw. “And from the brief glimpse I caught before losing contact, Mora’s dealing with three others.”

“What?”

“That makes five, meaning this one is the final demon that asshole knight released.”

“You should’ve said something,” I snapped, unable to stifle the words into a thought because if I’d known, I could’ve planned for it.

“While you were spiraling, all woe is me? Couldn’t risk tipping the demon off.”

She’s using psychic perception right now; she could’ve easily told me without alerting the demon.

“Believe it or not, my magic is a finite source,” Kell thought, proving even my internal musings linked to her active telepathy. “And I’m using a lot to keep from passing out every minute.”

I reached for my sheathed dagger since it was the only thing I had which stood any chance of harming Diabolic essence.

“Keep it concealed. It’s best not to tip our hand until we know what we’re up against,” Kell thought, and I felt the snap as the link between us went silent.

That meant she wouldn’t be able to call on the Four Corners. I wondered if she’d lost access to any of the others, prioritizing her magic and essence to heal her substantial wounds, injuries I’d made light of because she shrugged off everything she’d endured playing it cool. I had to do better.

She stared at the ceiling before moving her gaze toward the empty white wall where we entered.

Maybe she’d figured out a way to open the portal.

“If you need me to stall”—I swallowed the lump of insecurity tightening my throat—“I can buy you time to hack the doors.”

“Unless you can buy me an hour, I think we’re going to have to move to plan B.” She nodded to the white wall. “The shroud is solid, almost impossible to see, but it’s there.”

Shit. If Kell could barely register the presence with Mora’s essence coursing through her, what was I going to do? I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“Heh-heh-heh.” The taunting laughter came from the other side of the engine room.

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