I shook my head. "It isn't my choice. It just happens."

Georgia frowned. "I'm not an expert on magic, Harry, but from what I've learned that kind of power doesn't come for free."

"No. It doesn't."

"Then what was the price?" she asked.

I drew in a deep breath. Then I started peeling the leather glove off my scarred hand. "I wondered that too," I said. I slid the glove off and turned my hand over.

The scarring was the worst on the insides of my fingers and over my palm. It looked more like melted wax than human flesh, all white with flares of blue where some of the veins still survived—all except for the exact center of my palm. There, three lines of pink, healthy flesh formed a sigil vaguely suggestive of an hourglass.

"I found this there when I got burned," I said. "It's an ancient script. It's the symbol for the name of Lasciel."

Georgia drew in a slow breath and said, "Oh."

Billy looked back and forth between us. "Oh? What, oh?"

Georgia gave me a be-patient look and turned to Billy. "It's a demon mark. Like a brand, yes?" She looked at me for confirmation.

I nodded.

"He's worried that this demon, Lasciel, might be exerting some kind of control on him in ways that he cannot detect."

"Right," I said. "Everything I know tells me that I should be cut off from Lasciel. That I should be safe. But the power is still there somehow. And if the demon is influencing my thoughts, pulling my strings, I might not even be able to feel it happening."

Georgia frowned. "Do you believe that to be a probability?"

"It's too dangerous to assume anything else," I said. I held up a hand. "That's not hubris. It's just a fact. I have power. If I use it unwisely or recklessly, people could get hurt. They could die. And if Lasciel is somehow influencing me…"

"Who knows what could happen," Billy finished, his tone sober.

"Yeah."

"Damn," Billy said.

We all took a sip of beer.

"I'm worried," I said. "I haven't been able to find any answers. I've gone through spell after spell. Rites, ceremonies, I've tried everything. It won't go away."

"Jesus," Billy breathed.

"An influence like this is detectable, and against the Laws of Magic. If the Wardens found out and pushed a trial on me, it might be enough to get me executed. And if I get near the Knight of the Cross I told you about, he'll be able to feel it on me. I don't know how he'd react. What he would think."

I swallowed.

"I'm scared."

Georgia touched my arm briefly, then said, "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Harry. I know you well enough to know that you would never want that kind of power, much less abuse it."