A flash of what looked like horror passed over Dr. Anders. She looked from me to Nick, then surged to her feet. Heels clacking, she pulled him in and shut the door behind him.

“Stay there,” she said as she left him bewildered in front of her desk. Nick’s pentagrams sat before us like guilt given substance. Standing before the windows with her back to us, Dr. Anders looked at the dark parking lot. “Where did you get a familiar binding spell that was in Latin?” she asked.

Nick touched my shoulder in sympathy, and I wished I’d never gotten him into this. “Uh, out of one of my old spell books,” I admitted, thinking she wanted Nick there for verification. “It was the only charm I could find on such short notice. But I know the pentagrams. I just didn’t have the time to do them.”

“There’s a binding incantation in the appendix of your textbook,” she said, sounding tired. “You were supposed to use that one.” It wasn’t the pentagrams she was worried about, and a cold feeling slid through me as she turned around. The wrinkles in her face looked harsh in the fluorescent light. “Tell me exactly what you did.”

At Nick’s encouraging nod, I said, “Uh, first I made the transfer medium. Then I closed the circle.”

“Modified to summon and protect,” Nick interrupted. “And I was inside it with her.”

“Wait a moment,” Dr. Anders said. “Just how big was your circle?”

I tucked my hair back, glad she wasn’t barking at me anymore. “Maybe six feet?”

“Around?”

“Across.”

She took a breath and sat down, motioning me to continue.

“Um, then I stood on my scrying mirror and pushed off my aura.”

“What was that like?” she whispered, elbows on her desk as she stared out the window.

“Damn—uh—darn uncomfortable. I got the mirror into the transfer medium without touching the surface. My aura precipitated out into the media, and then I put Bob into it.”

“Into the transfer medium?”

I nodded, though she wasn’t looking at me. “I figured that was the only way to anoint a fish. Then I said the incantation.”

“Actually,” Nick interrupted. “I said the incantation first in Latin, then translated it for her, giving her an alternate interpretation on the last part.”

“That’s right,” I admitted. “I said it, and then the demon showed up.” I glanced at Nick, but it didn’t bother him as much as it bothered me. “Then I knocked over Bob’s bowl. My aura was all over him. I was afraid he might break the circle if my aura touched it.”

“It would have.” Dr. Anders was staring at the parking lot again.

“Is that why some of my aura is missing?” I asked. “Did I throw it away with the paper towels?”

Dr. Anders brought her gaze to mine. “No. I think you made Nick your familiar.”

My jaw dropped. I spun in my chair and looked up at Nick. His hand had fallen from my shoulder and he took a wide-eyed step back. “What?” I exclaimed.