Cormel turned his back on us to retrieve his coffee. “And the demons?” Smiling, still smiling, he leaned against his desk, looking at me over the rim of his coffee cup.

Landon’s attention shifted between Cormel and Trent, clearly nervous. “I can force all of them except Rachel back to the ever-after,” he said. “I can then close the lines so the ever-after will collapse, taking the demons with it.”

He wants to kill the demons, too? I shook my head in disbelief. “You’d end all magic?” I said softly. “What in hell are you afraid of, Landon?”

Trent was the only one still sitting, and it made him look like he was in control—when he clearly wasn’t. Or was he?

Landon sneered, telling me he was afraid. “Don’t be stupid. I wouldn’t end magic forever. With the entire dewar and enclave backing me, we can reinstate the Arizona lines.”

Jaw dropping, I followed that through. He’d hold the entirety of Inderland hostage with the threat of destroying the lines if he didn’t get what he wanted, when he wanted, whenever he wanted. Beside me, Trent made a small noise of appreciation, and I tightened my grip on his shoulder. Okay, it was a great idea, but not for us.

“The lines are dead. You can’t reinstate them,” I said quickly, wondering if Cormel had us down here to affirm or deny Landon’s claim. “Why are you listening? He wants you dead.”

Expression ugly, Landon took a step away from the thugs. “Nothing is impossible.” He turned to Cormel. “And nothing happens until I control the dewar.”

Cold, I gripped the back of Trent’s chair. Cormel’s eyes traveled over all of us, and with a little sigh, he pushed into motion. “We can take care of that right now,” he said as he pulled open a drawer and brought out a folder. “Kalamack, where are your daughters?”

“My daughters?” Trent echoed, and my first fear that Cormel was threatening them vanished. They were with Al. Nothing could harm them.

“With a demonic babysitter, I believe?” Cormel drawled. Landon looked awfully smug all of a sudden, and I tensed.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Trent said, and I snatched the papers that Cormel was extending. Trent reached up and took them from me before I could read them, but then my jaw clenched as I saw the first few lines.

“Child abuse?” I spat. “Are you kidding?”

Cormel leaned back in his chair. “No. Mr. Kalamack is accused of child abuse for putting the girls in the care of a demon.”

“You can’t do that!” I exclaimed, but by Trent’s pale face, I thought they not only could, they had.

“Criminal neglect and endangerment,” Cormel was saying. “He may as well have dangled them from the top of the I.S. tower. Not a good choice, Morgan. Your idea, wasn’t it?”