He shrugged. “I don’t think you have any idea of what it’s going to be like and I, for one, don’t want to treat it like a reality show. Plus, I really do need a nap.”

“And a shower before that,” Stacia said. “I can smell you from here.”

“Hey, where’s Mack at? He’s usually knee deep in theses classes?” Britta asked. Her twin snorted and Britta turned her way. “What?”

“It should be obvious,” Erika said, looking first at her sister, then the others. Her brows went up. “Hello? He got played by the demon chick. He’s upset.”

“And you know this how?” another witch, Michelle, asked.

“Because I checked up on him earlier today,” Erika said.

“Didn’t you guys have a thing?” Tami asked.

“Exactly. We had a thing. He’s a good guy but neither of us is looking to tie ourselves down, at least right now,” the bolder of the twins said, casting a quick glance at Declan who, for once, was paying attention to the witch gossip. He didn’t react, but Stacia raised one eyebrow back at her.

“Well, if you ask me, the player got played,” Alice Morloft said, a touch snidely.

“Well, I got played too,” Declan said. “I had no idea my professor was a demon. But then again, that’s kind of a demon’s thing—deception, seduction, subversion.”

“Way I heard it, you’re lucky Jetta showed up when she did,” Tami said, watching Declan’s reaction.

“Damn right I was. But then, the Sutton kids are pretty lucky people,” Declan said without rising to the bait. “Now I’m beat. See ya, everybody, and make sure you practice the runes with no hands.”

“Erika’s good at no hands. At least that’s the rumor,” one of the witches said, but Declan couldn’t tell who, nor did he even try. Instead, he focused for a second on the carefully drawn portal gate. A sudden breeze blew all the chalk away, scouring it right off the concrete and leaving no trace of the magical construct that had taken over an hour to create. A second later, all of the paper diagrams the class had been referring to floated up into the air and flashed into nearly smokeless flame before disappearing as fine ash.

Then he turned toward Stacia, who was a few yards away, talking quietly with Tami. He joined them and all three walked to the stairwell where the last of the witches were just exiting.

Chapter 41

On the southern part of the largest land mass on the planet Fairie, deep in an almost primordial jungle, a circular disc of mirror-like quality suddenly sprang into existence, suspended about ten feet above the ground. A big silver orb shot out of the opening at a significant speed but stopped instantly and totally, three feet off the floor of the jungle.