“I had to give them something,” Nick said loudly as he pulled himself off the floor, his long pianist’s—no, thief’s—hands on his throat and his voice rough. “I’m sorry for summoning you to San Francisco, and I left so they wouldn’t force me to do it again. I risked airport security to get here in time to summon you home, if that means anything to you.”

“Yeah? You kept their money, I bet,” I said bitingly, and his eyes narrowed.

“I have to eat.” Shame, perhaps, made his voice harsh, but I doubted it. “Besides, I didn’t think it would be you who showed up that first time. I thought it would be Al and that he would tear them and me apart. End everything.”

His words hit me hard, and I looked away, sinking back down into my chair.

“You took Al’s name? Rachel, why?” he asked, his voice holding an unexpected hurt. “I thought you were smarter than that. I thought you were the good one.”

I couldn’t look up, unable to speak. I was the good one. Wasn’t I?

“Get him out of here,” Jenks said loudly. “Both of them.”

Jax’s wings clattered, and Matalina protested, but a pop of displaced air in the hallway struck me like a slap. Al? I thought with a pulse of fear-based adrenaline as I looked. But it wasn’t Al. It was Pierce and Bis. Duh. The sun was up.

The witch caught his balance, lurching to snag his hat as it fell off. “We’re back!” Bis shouted, whirling, eyes wide as he landed beside Matalina on the fridge, making her crouch at the sudden wind. He was too big to fly in the house, and as soon as his feet touched the appliance, his wings folded and his eyes blinked shut, the teenage gargoyle going somnolent in the sudden light. As an adult, he’d be able to stay awake during the daylight hours, but as it was, he fell asleep in an instant. Probably just as well. The next few minutes were going to be ugly.

“Who the hell are you?” Nick rasped, ignored.

Sometime between my truncated lesson and now, Pierce had found a trendy pair of black pants and a maroon shirt. His new, colorfully patterned vest looked like it could be the upholstery of an antique chair, but somehow it worked. Everything fit him perfectly, right down to the gold fob running to a hidden pocket watch, and I wondered if the appearance-conscious demon had sent him like this or if Pierce had learned to dress himself.