“A circle won’t hold him,” Trent said grimly, and I pulled myself out of the car, chalk in hand. Vivian was beside Ivy, and pixies circled, darting about in an eye-hurting mass.

“It’s the Ku’Sox Sha-Ku’Ru,” one shouted. “You brought the left hand of the sun upon us!”

“Chalk,” I said triumphantly, holding it up and turning. “Oh, crap,” I whispered. It was flying. And it had gotten even bigger—the size of a small plane, maybe.

“Rachel, duck!” Jenks shrilled as it angled for me, but I was already dropping.

I screamed as I felt talons rake my hair, and I dropped to the pavement, rolling under the car. My cheek burned from the pavement, and I held my breath as the wind shifted my hair. Then it was gone, and I looked up to see it swooping around. Holy crap, I had to do something.

“Is it a demon?” Jenks shrilled, inches from my face as I rolled out from under the car and got to my feet, squinting in the sun as I wiped the grit from my palms. Trent looked shaken as he crouched beside the car, and Ivy was helping Vivian off the ground. Pixies were a cloud over them, drawn to the very person who had caused their kinsmen’s deaths. “Well, is it?” Jenks asked again.

“I don’t know.” Dazed, I looked at the frightened pixies seeking shelter with us. A day-walking demon? It couldn’t be. But as I looked at Trent, I had a bad feeling that it was. Just trying to help, eh? Thanks a hell of a lot.

“What is that thing?” Vivian asked.

“I think it’s a demon,” Trent said, trying to wave the pixies away.

“You think!” I exclaimed, but the hard look he gave me stopped my next words cold. Ivy looked up from wiping her palms, and even Jenks turned, hovering in the hot air over the car. And as Trent slid his gaze to Vivian, then back to me, my jaw clenched, and I remained silent. I could say nothing. If the coven knew he’d summoned a demon, even to help us, his words in my defense would mean nothing. Damn it! Damn it all to the Turn and back!

“It can’t be,” Vivian scoffed, missing the hatred I directed at Trent. “It’s daylight!”

“It’s coming back!” the pixy leader exclaimed. “Scatter!”

“No, come closer!” I called out. “Jenks, get them closer!” Then immediately wished I hadn’t as he laboriously flew from the car to try to corral them.

So Trent had summoned a demon to help us. God save me from businessmen with too much money and not enough to do, I thought as I leaned against the car and tried to imagine a circle big enough to hold us all. It would be large for most witches, but I could do it. It wouldn’t hold long, either, but if I did it right, it would give me time to make a real one.

The pixies vacillated between following their leader, now flying away, and Jenks, almost browbeating them to get them to the car. Croaking three times, the huge bird came at us, talons outstretched. I quivered, remembering the time I’d been a mouse.