Jenks darted into the back room, his swearing dropping like golden apples. Nick was gone, apparently, but I could do nothing as Newt looped an arm in mine and a pulse of magic from her lifted through my hair, shattering the sanctity of the church. Damn it, she’d done it again!

“I can give you until sunrise. Then you will be summoned and you will die,” Newt added, making me feel all warm and cozy.

“Tonight?” Jenks yelped as he flew back in, an angry red dust showing his path. “What happened to her four days?” Then he turned to me, his dust almost catching fire. “Rache, we got a problem. Nick ran off.”

Newt hesitated at the threshold of the hallway, cautiously testing the sanctity with the butt of her staff. “That little worm of a man?” she said. “He owes me a familiar. Maybe two. I don’t remember.”

She gestured, and Nick popped into existence on the table beside me. I spun as Trent’s books hit the floor, and then Ivy was on him, her eyes dark as she pulled him off and slammed him up against the wall. Dazed, Nick struggled to focus, then breathe when she gave a little squeeze, clearly enjoying herself.

Newt still had her arm in mine as she half turned to watch. Her hair was now my length, and I started. “You’re Ivy . . .” the crazy demon said, and Nick coughed violently as Ivy’s grip went slack in surprise. “I think I liked you.”

Jenks and I exchanged a panicked look, and I turned Newt back to the hallway and away from Ivy. “Ah, let me show you what I’ve got picked out,” I said, almost pulling her into the hall. Behind us, I heard Nick hit the floor with a pained grunt.

Looking over my shoulder at the stove clock, my gut clenched. Call Quen about the new deadline, pick out my clothes with Newt, keep Ivy from killing Nick. Was I forgetting anything?

“You have until sunrise,” the demon said, looking at the pixies hovering at the top of the hall in the sanctuary as she led me to my closet. “Not because I particularly like you, you understand. I simply can’t do all that you charge me with. You’re going to have to do that yourself.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

There’s-s-s a car at the curb,” Belle said as she appeared at my open bedroom door, and a jolt went through me. Quen. Finally.

“Tell Ivy to stay put. I’ll get it,” I said when six enthusiastic pixies darted into my room with the same message, all of them chattering loud enough to give me a headache. “Ivy!” I shouted before she could move. “I’ll get it. You watch Nick.”