Nodding absently, Ku’Sox poked at Trent’s circle, evaluating the dimple he made as Bis continued to hiss and Jenks landed on my shoulder in solidarity. The demon was in a three-piece suit, and it looked dumb out here in the weedy garden at the foot of a homemade castle, whereas Al’s crushed green velvet had somehow seemed right at home. The light coming from the spell that had hit the wall supplemented the lantern, showing his silvery-gray hair slicked back and reflecting off his shiny shoes. His expression was smug as he eyed me, running his eyes up and down my silhouette in a way I decidedly didn’t like. “This body I’m in remembers what you feel like. Inside and out.”

Trent stiffened, and the psychotic demon turned to him. “Your whore and child are alive. Come with me now, and they will stay that way.”

I gripped Trent’s arm, but he shrugged me off, the rising scent of cinnamon nearly overpowering the stench of ever-after Ku’Sox reeked of. “If you go with him, nothing will stop him,” I said, and Trent’s frustration grew until his circle hummed with it.

“Don’t you think I know that?”

I wondered if he was wishing he’d never freed Ku’Sox. I knew I was.

Sighing dramatically, Ku’Sox rolled his eyes. “As entertaining as this is, would you mind if we flipped to the last page? I want that curse lifted you put on me, Rachel. I want Trenton Aloysius Kalamack to make me a brand-new generation of demons to play with, and I want the ancient demons dead. I want the ever-after dead so I may never be trapped there again, and I want it all in that order. Notice you are not on the list . . . yet.”

His gaze traveled over the lines of my tattoo, and I stifled a tremor. Feeling it, Jenks lifted from my shoulder. “Are you fairy-farting kidding me?” Jenks said, and Bis’s tail lashed through my bubble. “Rache, you don’t actually believe this freak, do you?”

Ku’Sox almost snarled at the insult, but then his eyes lifted from Bis to Trent. “Working with elves . . . Really, Rachel. I think you should be commended for stretching your abilities, but Newt would be most displeased with you.”

I pushed to the front of Trent’s bubble. “Here’s my list. We fix the line,” I said as I carefully siphoned energy off the discordant line and filled my chi. “Then the ancient demons grow a pair and we all shove you in a little hole in St. Louis again. That’s my list. I don’t care if it’s in that order, either.”

Ku’Sox dramatically rolled his eyes. “My God, you are so like a woman.”

“That’s because I am one.”

“Oh, this is tiresome,” Ku’Sox moaned, and then he gestured, his hand glowing.