Two P.M., I thought, glancing at the clock. Why was that important? “Nick,” I whispered, going cold. “Take the batteries out of your watch. Now.”

“What?”

The clock above the sink said five minutes to two. I wasn’t sure how accurate it was. “Just do it!” I shouted. “It’s connected to Colorado’s atomic clock. It sends out a pulse at midnight their time to reset everything. The pulse will break the circle, just like an active phone line or gas pipe.”

“Oh … shit,” Nick said, his slack face going white.

“Damn you witch!” the demon shouted, furious. “I almost had you both!”

Nick was frantically working at his watch, his long fingers prying at the back. “Do you have a coin? I need a dime to get the back off.” His eyes were frightened as they jerked to the clock above the sink. His hand went into a pocket, searching.

“Give it here!” I exclaimed, snatching the watch. I threw it on the counter. Plucking the meat-tenderizing hammer from the rack above me, I swung.

“No!” Nick cried as pieces of watch went everywhere. “We had three minutes yet!”

I shrugged off his grip and beat at it. “You see!” I exclaimed, bringing the hammer down again and again. “You see how clever it is?” Adrenaline made my motions jerky as I brandished the wooden hammer at him. “It knew you had that watch. It was just waiting! That’s why it agreed to giving me a safe summoning!” With a cry of frustration, I threw the hammer at the demon. It hit the unseen wall of the circle and bounced back to clatter at my feet. There wasn’t much left of Nick’s watch but a bent back and shards of quartz.

Nick slumped against the counter, the fingers of one hand pressing into his forehead as he bowed his head. “I thought he wanted to teach me,” Nick whispered. “All those times, he was just trying to get me to keep him with me until the circle broke.”

He jumped as I touched his shoulder, staring at me with frightened eyes. Finally he was frightened. “Do you understand now?” I said bitterly. “It’s going to kill you. It’s going to kill you and take your soul. Tell me you won’t call it again. Please?”

Nick took a quick breath. He met my eyes, shaking his head. “I’ll be more careful,” he whispered.

Frustrated, I spun to the demon. “Get out of here like I told you to!” I shouted.

With an unearthly grace, the demon stood. The vision of a British gentleman took a moment to adjust the lace about its throat and then its cuffs. Motions slow and deliberate, it pushed the chair back under the table. It inclined its head to me, its red eyes watching from over its glasses. “Congratulations on binding your familiar, Rachel Mariana Morgan,” it said. “Summon me with the name Algaliarept. Tell anyone my name, and you’re mine by default. And don’t think that because you don’t have to be in a circle to summon me that you’re safe. You are mine. Not even your soul is worth your freedom.”