Hugo ran a hand through his hair. “What should I do now? I mean, it’s my job to maintain the machine.”

“The machine is cordoned off while the investigation is underway,” Theo said, tapping fingers against his cast as he considered. “But there’s going to need to be repairs and cleanup.”

“There’s a fund for that,” Hugo said.

“A fund?” Theo asked.

“It’s part of the trust. The Machinist gets paid, and there are funds for repair.”

“We’re going to talk to the CPD,” Theo said, “and get you in touch with the right people so you can coordinate the repairs.” He pulled out his screen, started sending a message.

“Oh. Cool.”

Petra nodded. “We’ll need your expertise if there’s any hope of getting the ward up again.”

Hugo perked up now, straightened his shoulders. He’d been given another task, a new mission, and that eased his guilt. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you need.”

Theo nodded. “Good. I’m also going to get some guards over here now. Plainclothes so they don’t draw too much attention, but we need someone keeping an eye on this stone and making sure she doesn’t come near it.”

“Sups would be best,” I said quietly. “They’ll be able to sense her magic.”

“Yup,” he said, and tapped at his screen.

“Could I go see the machine?” Hugo said. “I don’t have to touch anything, but if there are parts that need repair, I could maybe make some sketches?” He sounded hopeful.

“We’ll see what we can do,” Theo said.

* * *

We locked up the shed, then walked Hugo to the warehouse.

“Wow,” he said, staring up at the broken building. “Wow.”

“We think it broke out the windows when the machine started,” Petra said.

Hugo looked at her, confusion in his eyes. “No, it wouldn’t have done that. It does the beam of light, but that’s only vertical, and there’s a door for it.”

Petra, Theo, and I looked at each other.

“Then it was probably due to fighting humans,” I said. “She’s a chaos demon, after all.”

“CPD is working on getting surveillance video,” Theo said.

“I can do that for you,” Hugo said brightly. “For my building, anyway. I’ve got cams, and I’m sorry I didn’t think of it.”

“We’d appreciate it,” Theo said.

Gwen emerged from the building, looked around, spotted us.

“Wow,” Hugo said quietly. “She is really pretty.”

“Yeah,” Theo said, chest puffing out a little. “She is.”

Gwen reached us, nodded. “You must be Mr. Horner. I’m Detective Robinson.” She tapped her badge. “I’ll take you inside, and you can take a look.”

“Sure, sure.”

She looked at us. “Plainclothes officers, a few Sups who keep their magic under the radar, are on their way to the spot you identified. They’ll let us know if they see anything even potentially odd.”

“Thank you,” I said, and looked at Hugo. “And thanks to you, too. You’ve been a real help, and you’re going to help us nail her.”

And maybe that would help him exorcise the guilt.