“You’re nothing but a squealing informant, you know that?” I said, shaking.

Algaliarept’s gaze resting on my neck pulled a memory of me on the basement floor with my life spilling from me. “Only on my bad days.”

Nick straightened. “I want to know who summoned you to kill Rachel, and if he or she is now summoning you to kill ley line witches.”

Moving almost out of my line of sight, Algaliarept murmured, “That is a very expensive set of questions, the two together far more than our agreement.” It dropped its attention back to the book in its hands and turned a page.

Worry crashed over me as Nick took a breath. “No,” I said. “It isn’t worth it.”

“What do you want for the answers?” Nick asked, ignoring me.

“Your soul?” it said lightly.

Nick shook his head. “Come up with something reasonable, or I’ll send you back right now, and you won’t be able to talk to Rachel anymore.”

It beamed. “You’re getting cocky, little wizard. You’re halfway mine.” It closed the book in its hand with a sharp snap. “Give me leave to take my book back across the line, and I’ll tell you who sent me to kill Rachel Mariana Morgan. If they are the same person who is summoning me to kill Trenton Aloysius Kalamack’s witches? That stays with me. Your soul isn’t enough for that. Rachel Mariana Morgan’s, perhaps. Pity when a young man’s tastes are too expensive for his means, isn’t it?”

I frowned, even as I realized it had admitted it was killing the witches. It must have been luck that kept Trent and me alive when every other witch had died under it. No, not luck. It had been Quen and Nick. “And why do you even want that book?” I asked it.

“I wrote it,” it said, its hard voice seeming to wedge the words into the folds of my mind.

Not good. Not good, not good, not good. “Don’t give it to him, Nick.”

He turned in the tight confines, bumping me. “It’s just a book.”

“It’s your book,” I agreed, “and my question. I’ll find out some other way.”

Algaliarept laughed, a gloved finger shifting the curtain so he could see the street. “Before I’m sent again to kill you? You’re quite the topic of conversation, both sides of the ley lines. You’d best ask quick. If I’m called away suddenly, you may want to settle your affairs.”

Nick’s eyes went round. “Rachel! You’re next?”

“No,” I protested, wanting to smack Algaliarept. “It’s just saying that so you’ll give him the book.”

“You used ley lines to find Dan’s body,” Nick said shortly. “And now you’re working for Trent? You’re on the list, Rachel. Take your book, Al. Who sent you to kill Rachel?”