It grinned. “You know the rules as well as I do—I don’t have to do what you say.”

I gave it a thin-lipped look. “All I have to do is tell Aisling—”

“Sheesh! No one can take a joke anymore,” Jim interrupted, rolling its eyes. “Fine, I won’t look at you. I won’t touch you, and I won’t sit on your side of the car, either. Happy now?”

I ignored the demon to watch Gabriel and Drake as the two men talked about what Bao, Fiat, and the mysterious dragon had possibly been up to. When I glanced back, the demon was staring at me again.

“Will you stop that?” I hissed through my teeth.

“Sorry. Can’t help myself. I’ve never seen anyone but Ash who lipped off to Bael and lived to tell about it.”

“I didn’t lip off to him,” I said, moving uncomfortably in my chair.

“Back,” Aisling said as she returned, patting Jim on the head. “What have I missed?”

“Not much. Drake and Gabe are arguing about what it means that Baltic has returned from the dead, István has gas, and May was being mean to me,” Jim said, plopping down on her feet.

István and I both glared at the demon.

“I’m sure if May was mean to you, you deserved it,” Aisling said with perfect composure.

“I didn’t—”

She waved away my protest. “Feel free to ignore Jim when it’s being an idiot.”

“Hey! Sitting right here!”

“So that guy you saw really was Baltic?” Aisling asked me.

Gabriel returned to his chair. “We do not know. There seems to be some ambiguity about his identity. However, that has no bearing on the reason I have sought your help.”

“Fiat,” Drake said, nodding.

“I don’t think so, sweetie,” Aisling told him, watching me. “It’s your demon lord, isn’t it? You kind of glossed over how things went with him, but I assume it wasn’t a roaring success.”

“Far from it,” Gabriel said with a wry twist to his lips. “We had thought to tackle Magoth again, but unless we have something to use as barter, he won’t help us.”

“And even if we had something, there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t just take it and leave us poorer for the experience, as we’ve learned,” I added.

“What do you guys expect?” Jim asked, rolling its eyes. “He’s a demon lord. Tricking people is part of his job.”

“Jim has a point,” Aisling said, looking thoughtful. “I suppose I could ask the Guardians’ Guild if they could help with the situation, but they’re not really happy with me ever since . . . Well, they’re not happy with me.”

“Was it me?” I asked, worried that I’d gotten her in trouble with her professional organization. “Was it summoning me so often that got you into hot water with them?”