“It didn’t know I was there, which is weird. It was focused on something, but before I could figure out what, the ghost sort of jerked and then disappeared.”

“Perhaps this ghost could sense the Harbinger,” Nicolai surmised as he leaned against the side of his desk.

“It’s possible,” I said, mainly because anything was possible at this point. “Ghosts and spirits both have a habit of randomly disappearing, so it could be nothing, but...” But I wasn’t sure if I could say what I’d also felt without having to explain it to Gideon.

Luckily Gideon was moving on. “By the way, still haven’t found anything on where this school the senator plans to build is located, and I delved deep—deep-state-level deep. I’m still combing, but I’m wondering if land was purchased under a different name or company.”

“And the senator hasn’t been in the city since before the fire, when he was spotted with Bael,” Nicolai reminded us. “His aides have been handling everything while he’s dealing with an unexpected family emergency in his home state.”

I snorted. “More like an unexpected demonic emergency.”

Nicolai smiled. “Got some of us wondering if the senator is even still alive.”

“Based on previous experience with demons like Bael, if the senator is no longer useful, then you can bet we’ll hear about an untimely accident resulting in death,” Zayne commented.

“I hope not.” The three of them looked at me. “Well, he’d be a dead end then. Literally.”

“Good point.” Gideon carefully wrapped up the spikes. “I’ll tap into the street cameras and ones from nearby stores to see if they caught anything tonight. Hopefully they’ll show us something. What might not have been visible to the human eye could’ve been captured on film.”

“Like with ghosts?” I suggested.

Gideon nodded.

I grinned, thinking of how often people dismissed ghostly images on film as being a weird trick of the camera. I was willing to bet a case of root beer that people caught evidence of ghosts more often than they’d want to know.

“Let me know what you find,” Zayne said. “Even if it’s nothing.”

Looking down at the bundle he held, Gideon nodded. “The one thing I can tell you is that these spikes weren’t created by humans, and they’re not something I’ve ever seen a demon use.” He looked up. “Makes you wonder where they came from, doesn’t it?”

21

The moment the door closed behind Gideon, I faced Nicolai and Zayne. “If humans didn’t create those spikes and neither did demons, that doesn’t leave a lot of options.”

“Exactly,” Zayne agreed, watching me.

Chest feeling strangely tight, I crossed my arms. There was one potential source I could think of—one that made no sense. “I’ve never seen angelic weapons before.”