“Whoa. Dudes,” I said. “Ivy, you’re not going to believe this. It’s a mall.” It was times like this that made me glad demons couldn’t pop over to reality whenever they felt like it but had to be summoned. Nothing could stop them from looking, though.

Nick grunted, and I turned from the juxtaposed views of the wall and coffeehouse to see him, seemingly standing in the mall, oblivious to demons going past. Nick’s aura was a lot darker than the last time I’d seen him. Jax, on his shoulder, was a spot of rainbows. “Can you get in?” Nick asked.

Feeling ill and disoriented from holding two visions of reality, I blinked, deciding that his black smut was a lot thicker. The mark that Al had given him was like a black hole, sucking in all the light around it, twin to the new one on his shoulder. Seeing him waiting for an answer, I nodded. “Probably.” Witches couldn’t shift realities by standing in a ley line, but I wasn’t a witch. Shit.

Nick bobbed his head. “There should be a panel on the other side. Just hit open. You’ve probably got thirty seconds to get me in so I can enter the code to disable the alarm.”

“Alarm?” Ivy said, probably thinking that’s why I looked sick. “You didn’t say anything about that before.”

He turned to her. “And you thought the vault was being hidden in a magnetic resonator. Roll with it, vamp. Or can’t you function without a plan to blow your nose?”

“Uh, Rache?” Jenks interrupted, looking worried. Rainbows spilled from him, his aura falling like pixy dust. He knew what it might mean if I could do this, and I hoped he’d keep quiet about it.

“Just … let me see,” I said, then faced the blank wall, shaking out my hands and trying to find a sense of calm. This wasn’t like trying to jump from one line to another. I simply wanted to slip into the ever-after through a ley line. Just go into the ever-after, walk three paces, then get out of the line. Right into a demon coffeehouse. Great. And hope that when I reappear in reality, I’m in an open room and not buried in dirt. If Trent could do it, maybe I could. I’d never be trapped in the ever-after again, either, provided I could find a ley line.

“Rachel,” Nick said, bending close. “There is a room behind the wall. Why have a lock on an empty room? I trust you. You can do this.”

I eyed him and his smutty aura, and he took his hand off me. How come he knew I was different? This didn’t smell good at all.