She hurried toward me, gave me a look up and down, disapproving.

“I know. I know! I’m not after him, I promise! I didn’t—”

She swung a hand up between us, cutting me off. “Get back in that bed right now! Boss said you need to sleep, and you will sleep with him!”

I couldn’t help the smile. “You are a good friend, maybe the best I’ve had. But I have to go. Where are the chains from that demon I killed?”

Feish opened her mouth and then shook her head. “Boss uses them to make something.”

Why would he do that? “Do you know what kind of metal it is?”

She motioned for me to follow her to his workstation which included a huge coal forge, two different anvils, piles of hammers, tongs, and other tools I could only guess at. He’d added that second anvil since I’d been here last. Feish pointed to a knife that was on the anvil. There was no handle on it, just a bare tang that had yet to be fitted to something worth holding.

“Yeah, great, but what kind of metal is it? Steel?” I picked up the knife by the not-sharp end, turning it over. There was nothing special about it, but it had been made from the chains that a demon had wielded as a weapon. I frowned and set it on the anvil.

“It’s special steel,” Feish whispered. “Magic. Nothing that has a name.”

Of course, it was so special there was no name. But still, if I took it to Gran, maybe she’d know what it was. “Can I borrow it?”

She shook her head. “No, Boss is still working on it. He doesn’t like to send out unfinished work.”

I did a quick tally in my head of how long it would take me to get to Gran’s place and back. “When will he wake up?”

Feish tipped her head at me, her eyes saying it all despite their strangeness. “He would be very mad if he found it gone.”

“But if he doesn’t wake up until after we bring it back . . . then wouldn’t that be okay?” Right then, I made a choice that I hoped I wouldn’t regret. I scooped the knife and slid it into the sheath with one of mine. “You come with me; we’ll hurry.”

I grabbed her by the arm, and she didn’t resist me, at least not much. “Oh, he is going to be mad if he catches us.”

“Yes, but I’ll take the blame,” I said.

And just like that we were out of Crash’s place and rushing back through the streets, dodging tourists and cars, weaving our way through parks. As we neared Gran’s place, a buzzing sounded from inside my purse. I flipped it open and grabbed my phone.

I didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”