Cody frowned. “Why? If you’ve got a pet demon, why not use him? Otherwise, what’s the point?”

It all came together now. “To get him out of the picture,” I said slowly. “That’s it. The final piece in all this weird demon intrigue. That’s what all the misdirection was building toward.”

“Right. Cedric gets rid of Jerome, and suddenly there’s an opening in Seattle for a new archdemon. And if Jerome doesn’t return soon, they will get a new archdemon and reestablish the hierarchy here.” Hugh gestured to all of us. “The status quo will resume.”

“Let’s stick to ‘when’ he returns and not ‘if,’” I said. “And I don’t think Cedric’s behind it.”

“Of course Cedric’s behind it,” said Hugh. “They’ve been fighting over territory, right? You of all people should know that.”

I shook my head, recalling Cedric’s exasperation and Nanette’s smug look. “No . . . I think Cedric’s being set up here. If you ask me, it’s Nanette who’s behind it.” I gave them a quick recap of my observations of her with both Cedric and Jerome.

Hugh arched an eyebrow. “Portland Nanette? She’s hot, I’ll give you that, but she’s not that strong.”

“All the more reason for her to mess with Jerome and Cedric. She’s been worried about them dragging her into their turf war. Besides, if she combined her power with a human capable of a summoning . . .”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “She could maybe do it . . . but that doesn’t mean she did. My money’s still on Cedric.”

“Wouldn’t she get in trouble for that?” asked Cody.

“Only if she’s caught,” said Peter.

I sighed. “And in the meantime, this is bad for Jerome.”

“Glad to see your powers of stating the obvious didn’t disappear with your shape-shifting,” remarked Hugh.

I shot him a glare. “I mean reputation-wise. Nanette told me lots of people have been keeping an eye on Jerome because of all the stuff that’s gone down here—particularly with letting nephilim escape. They think he can’t keep control. Even if he surfaces tomorrow, I’ve got to imagine that getting summoned in the first place won’t look good.”

“It won’t,” agreed Hugh. “In fact, that’s the other reason I stopped by. A bunch of demons are having a meeting tonight to talk about replacing him. Back room of the Cellar at seven.”

“Wow, they move fast,” said Cody.

“It’s nothing official. Once word got out that Jerome was gone, every demon maneuvering for power moved in like that.” Hugh snapped his fingers. I refrained from pointing out that all demons were maneuvering for power as a general rule. “They’re mostly just here to assert themselves—show how tough they are, cozy up to Grace and Mei. They might try to schmooze us a little, actually.”