“Trust me,” I said. “I want to go after her at least as much as you do, but so long as you don’t have the keys, and I can’t drive a motorcycle, we’re pretty darned safe. So where’d they go? Will they be gone long?”

“They’re just going to the video store, and picking up a few groceries. They should be back any moment.” He walked out of the lean-to, and peered down the driveway. “Perhaps I should call on my cell—”

“Good idea. Tell them you forgot you’re out of milk or something.”

He nodded and called. From his voice, I knew he’d phoned Savannah. I don’t think I could have made that call without betraying something, if not screaming for her to get out of the car and run back here as fast as she could. Lucas handled it as calmly as if he’d really been calling to ask her to pick up something else.

“She’s fine,” he said when he hung up. “They’re finishing up at the store now, meaning we have about ten minutes to devise a plan.”

We came up with a decent basic premise. Well, Lucas came up with most of it, but that was his thing, so I left him to it and refined as necessary. It was still impossible to plot a complete strategy like “when she comes in the house, you send her upstairs, and I’ll hide, then…”

The moment the Nix realized she’d been led into a trap, she’d jump free from Jaime’s body. So the mortal blow had to come as a surprise. Or, as we decided, maybe not as such a surprise. There was one time when we could battle the Nix without her realizing what was happening and leap clear: when she was the one who initiated the fight. In other words, we had to wait until she made her move to kill one of us. She’d expect us to fight then.

“Quickly,” he said, as the car sounded in the drive. “Get upstairs, back into Paige’s office, and close the door. I’ll tell them that a client’s Web site crashed, and you’re not to be disturbed. I’ll bring dinner up—”

“Whoa, hold on. If I hide out in the office, the Nix will probably need to change her plans.”

“That’s a chance we’ll have to take.”

“But the longer it takes her, the longer I’ll be here.”

He paused. “I’ll call you down for dinner. But say as little as possible. I’ll steer conversation in another direction. After dinner, we’ll…we’ll watch the video they picked out.” He nodded. “Yes, that’s perfect. You won’t need to talk.”

“Hey, just because I can’t fool you doesn’t mean I can’t pull off a damned good Paige impersonation.”

He looked at me.