He darted up, wings clattering, and Al pushed past us. “Damn mystics,” he muttered, stomping through the gate and toward the front door.

Mystics. I suppose they might have gathered here more than anywhere else, either mine or the Goddess’s thousand eyes looking for me.

Guilt closed in. I should have checked on Bis. Okay, I’d been busy, and until the sun went down he hadn’t been in any danger, but I was responsible for him.

“He’s a grown gargoyle,” Trent said, whispering it so Al wouldn’t hear.

“How do you do that!” I exclaimed, but Trent’s smile faded very fast. “He’s just a kid.”

Al turned from where he waited in the shadows, his new suit rumpled. “Treble is sleeping,” he said, voice low. “I’m sure he’s doing the same.”

Sleeping or in shock? I mused, stretching out my awareness and finding nothing, nothing at all. Trent’s grip on my elbow pinched as he looked behind us at the empty graveyard. Al took the stairs, impatient with our slow pace. Neighbors watched us from behind tweaked blinds, vanishing when he sarcastically doffed his hat at them. “You’d think they never saw a demon before,” Al muttered.

“I think it’s the helicopter,” I said, glancing over my shoulder before starting up the wooden stairs. Ivy had to be here. She was scared, possibly hurt. Vampires always went home to ground when they were hurt. The city was in a panic, but here in the Hollows it was eerily silent as everyone held their breath for sunrise. Please be okay, Ivy. Please.

Al gave the DON’T CROSS tape a look before yanking it down to flutter into the bushes. Jenks’s wings were almost normal, and I felt the first hints of relief at the bright silver dust.

“I found Bis,” he said as Trent helped me up the stairs. “He looks okay. His aura looks like he’s just asleep.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, and Al grunted as he shoved the door open.

“I told you, it’s the shock. If they’re lucky, they’ll simply not wake up.”

Saying nothing more, Al strode inside as if it didn’t bother him, but I could tell it did. His grumbling grew louder as he clicked the light switch several times to no effect.

“Jenks, what about Ivy?” I whispered.

The pixy hovered before Trent and me, a worried dust slipping from him. “She’s in her room. Nina too. Wait!” he shouted when I started forward. “Slow down. You go in there stinking like fear and you’ll set Nina off. Give Ivy a chance to organize her thoughts. She knows you’re here. They’ll be afraid of Al, but you and Trent look like easy prey.”

Oh God. “It’s bad?”