Minias looked down at me, and the scent of amber flowed from him as his gaze took on an inquisitive hue. “Trying to steal Al’s name to prevent him from being summoned out was a good idea. Bad idea to attempt to implement, though. No one has ever gotten past that statue.”

They didn’t know. They didn’t know I had done it, and my success gave me a burst of hope. Soon as they figured it out, Al was going to be pissed, but if I could escape, I’d be okay. I could tap a line and hit Minias with it, but he’d probably just pull it out from me again, and my soul was still ringing from his first invasion. If I was going to escape, it’d have to be physically.

Gathering myself, I tried to break free, but he knew what I was going to do before I did it. The moment I had my feet, he simply jerked me off balance, into him. His yellow-clad arm wrapped around me, tightening until I almost couldn’t breathe.

At least I can see now, I thought as I spat the hair out of my mouth. The wind was worse with the sun being up, and my hair was gritty and my lips tasted of burnt amber. The red light hurt my eyes. No wonder witches had left to live in an unpolluted world—fleeing a dying ever-after to exist among humans. Stay hidden, Jenks. Wherever you are.

Al was striding out from under the trees, his white-gloved hands in murderous fists. “That witch is mine!” he spat. “I’ll fight this all the way through the courts.”

“Newt owns the courts,” Minias said coolly. “You want the witch, you can buy her like anyone else.”

They were going to sell me?

Al stopped at the base of the stairs, frustrated. “My mark came first!”

“And that means what?” Minias sniffed, and a pair of wraparound glasses appeared on his face. “Give me permission to jump you underground through the lines,” he said to me. “It’s disgusting up here.”

My chest hurt, and I wondered if the earth charms in my gun were still good. “No.”

From the gray slump that was Trent came a raspy “Never.”

One of the demons nudged him with his foot, and a shocking scream burst from Trent, quickly stifled and turned into a ragged gasp of air. Pity filled me as I remembered the agony of Al forcing me to hold more ever-after than I could bear. It felt as if your soul were on fire. Tears warmed my eyes, and I shut them when Trent passed out and the ugly sounds stopped.

“This one at least is mine,” Minias said. “Tag him as a novelty and work up a brief history so the collectors will be interested. Don’t take a lot of time. Rachel Mariana Morgan will be the high-ticket item.”