“I don’t mean that he’s a bad guy, or that he’s going to try to hurt people, or steal some shit. That’s who you deal with,” he said to Danny, pointing. “You deal with human beings. They think they’re going to get rich. Or they want revenge, or some dumbass thing. Colchester isn’t like that. This isn’t a mask he takes off at the end of the day when he’s done scaring kids. He’s evil. And that’s all he is.”

“So why don’t you just kill him? End of problem. He’s an old man. A very old man, according to you. How hard can it be?” Danny said.

That didn’t help. Eric only looked angrier. “You don’t think I’ve tried? I can’t get close to him. He stays in that mansion. It’s protected by magical wards and spells and enchantments that he’s been reinforcing since before I was born.”

“Wait a second,” Danny said. “I’ve seen him. We’ve all seen him. They bring him out for the Fourth of July parade every year. The Founder’s Day celebration.”

“Homunculus,” Eric said.

“A what?” Alana asked.

Eric blushed. “It’s a fake human being, conjured by magic. It’s made of straw and manure and…and, uh, other stuff.”

Danny smiled at the table. He knew what a homunculus was. He enjoyed seeing Eric squirm a bit.

Eric shook it off and kept talking.

“The only time he drops those shields is when he has to open himself up to perform certain rituals. He has to let the magic in. But that means he has to let everything else in, too. For those moments, he’s vulnerable. He can be touched. He’s going to try on New Year’s Eve. He has to come out of his protected space for whatever he’s going to do. He wants to set the course of the world. Which means he has to do something truly, massively, horrible. All magic has a cost. The more you ask, the more you pay. And you either pay with your own blood, or someone else’s. Colchester is going to sacrifice all of us to get what he wants. I guarantee it.”

Eric trailed off.

“So on New Year’s Eve, he’s going to turn Middleton into Hell on Earth, and he gets to be Satan?” Danny asked. “Is that how it works?”

Alana laughed. It was such an inappropriate sound, somehow, coming from her. Like someone belching in the middle of a sermon.

“You think this is funny?” Eric said. Danny was surprised, too. He thought she was on his side in this.

“I think it’s hilarious,” Alana said. “I think it’s so precious that Danny thinks it’s going to stop at Middleton. You think it’s going to be contained here? Middleton is only where it begins.”