Yet? Head between my knees, I concentrated on breathing. I carefully reached for a line, just enough to know I could, then pulled back. I was starting to see the sense in this. Females thought up the construct, and a male lifted it from his friend’s psyche and protected her until she recovered—and I say friend because no way was I Al’s lover. But three days? Jenks and Ivy would be sick with worry. “Newt was here?” I was able to sense the mild disturbance in the energy surrounding Al that she always left the demon with.

I heard the creak of his chair as he sat back down. “After you didn’t wake up the first day, yes, I asked her a few questions. Can you tap a line?”

I looked up at the worry in his voice, feeling something shift. “Yes. Thank you. For watching me.”

“I had to force her to leave,” he said, eyes everywhere but on mine. “She said I couldn’t care for you. Bitch. I made sure you ate. Ran a brush-and-wash curse on you when you crapped yourself. Waited. Kept everything out until your aura recovered.”

My aura? “Al?” I said, really scared as I firmly tapped the line to find no headache, no pain. I was okay. “You’re kidding, right?”

His wandering eyes settled on me. “You’d rather I let you sit in your crap for three days?”

“No. I meant…Uh. Thank you. Just…Thank you.” Holy fairy farts, I hadn’t know making a construct would be so far-reaching.

Standing, Al pushed his chair back. “Damn lazy of you.”

I could tell he was relieved as he stacked the plates and cups, sending them to the food kitchen all at once. He’d been watching me for three days? “Al. Thank you. I really mean it.”

Turning, he took a breath to say something, sneezing instead.

“Bless you,” I said, and he held up a hand in annoyance as he reached for his scrying mirror, tucked in among his books. Holding it out, he grimaced. “It’s for you.”

My eyebrows rose, and I stifled a shiver as the heavy, cold glass slipped onto my lap. “How do you know?”

“Because you touched a line, and they were waiting,” he said. “You’re going to have to make a new calling glyph. I’m not your bloody secretary.”

What are you then, Al? “It wasn’t like the coven gave me time to get my luggage before they banished me,” I said, not wanting to put my hand on the more complex glyph that Al used. The lines practically glowed red, and the glass was so dark I couldn’t see any reflection at all.

“So I buy you a looking glass and you make a new one,” he said, and I smiled, glad to be back on familiar ground. “Answer it, will you?” he prompted, annoyed by my good humor.

Still smiling, I pulled my legs up to painfully sit cross-legged, resettling the heavy thing on my lap. “Couldn’t make it any bigger, could you?”