Doomsday Can Wait (Phoenix Chronicles, #2)(93)

"Bespelled," Sawyer answered. "While you wear it, you're you."

I lifted my hand, touched my teeth. The fangs were gore, along with the desire to tear out everyone's throat. But I didn't think I was me. Deep down inside, the demon still howled.

"Whose spell?" I asked, and Summer raised her hand. "You had to bespell a dog collar? Wouldn't the magic work just fine on a nice silver chain?"

Her lips curved. "Where would be the fun in that?"

I almost smiled back, and then I remembered the shrieking in the night, the strange flickers across the face of the moon, the roar in the distance in answer to my call.

"What happened?" Sawyer asked.

"I kicked her ass, then tossed her in pieces to the four winds."

Sawyer frowned. "That's an old Navajo saying."

"Which I got from an old Navajo."

His brow lifted and I shrugged. "Dream-walk world."

"Interesting," he murmured. "I always thought it was a proverb. Merely a short pithy way to tell the Diné how to live a good life." He flicked his hand toward the sky. "Figuratively, we must toss evil away."

"Worked pretty well literally, too."

"Fascinating," Sawyer said. "You found that old proverb in my head, and you didn't even know you would need it."

"Yeah, worked out great." I really didn't want to talk about it anymore. While I'd enjoyed the blood flow last night, this morning it was making me kind of ill.

"Once you tossed her," Summer interjected, "then what happened?"

They are free.



"Something got out."

Sawyer, Summer, and Jimmy exchanged glances. Luther had wandered off to peer at the dark patch of earth where I'd spilled the blood of the Naye'i. That probably wasn't healthy.

"Kid," I muttered. "Come back here."

Luther seemed like he wanted to tell me to kiss off. Instead he shrugged and strolled to Summer's side, where she took his hand. I frowned at the gesture, but it seemed more about comfort than anything else so I let it pass.

"What's free?" I asked.

"The Grigori," Sawyer said.

I opened my mouth to drop the F-bomb, caught a glimpse of Luther's face, and bit my lip instead. "That's impossible."

"Not according to Ruthie."

"Ruthie?" I racked my brain; I couldn't recall talking to her lately. But since the entire night between the death of the Naye'i and waking up this morning was a blank, who knew?

"Did I—"

"No," Sawyer answered. "You probably won't be hearing from her for a while."

"Because?"

"She's in heaven. No demons allowed."

Now I did drop the F-bomb. Couldn't help it. "Get this thing out of me."

"Baby—" Jimmy began, and I flicked him an evil glare, which he didn't see because he still couldn't look at me. "There's no getting rid of it."

"Confine it, refine it. Whatever Summer did to you, she can do to me."

The fairy choked.

I glanced at her and knew why. "It's a sex spell."

She shrugged. "You told me to do anything."

I was so sick of hearing that.

"Fine. Sawyer can do it."

"No," he said.

"No? You never had a problem before."

He sighed. "Ruthie doesn't want that."

"You seem to be pretty up on what Ruthie wants. She been talkin' to you?"

Sawyer shook his head, so did Summer, even Jimmy twitched—left, right—without ever meeting my eyes. Luther nodded.

My brows lifted. An interesting development. "What did she say?"

Luther opened his mouth, and Ruthie's voice came out. "Gates of hell done flew open, girl. Trouble ain't comin'; trouble's here."

"That's just creepy," I murmured.

Not only did the boy sound like Ruthie, but he now moved like her, too. Hand gestures, head tilts, even his eyes had darkened from gold to brown, or perhaps that was just the shadow of the sun across the mountain. Though I didn't think so.

"He's the most accomplished channeler I've ever seen," Sawyer said.

Channeling, a way to talk to the dead. Some people, like me, went to them. Others, like Luther apparently, allowed the dead to speak through them.

"Could he do that before yesterday?" I asked.

Sawyer spread his hands.

"Lizbeth!" Ruthie-Luther snapped. "The demons are free, and these are worse than anything that's been on this earth since the fall."

"How'd they get free?" I asked. "I killed the darkness. Everything should go back to normal."

"Normal." Ruthie snorted. "What's that? You're gonna have to find the book."



"Key of Solomon?"

Ruthie-Luther shook her-his head. "The key says, kill the darkness, all is well. But it ain't. We're gonna have to get a peek at the other side."

"Terrific," I muttered.

"And you're gonna have to stay evil."

"Excuse me?" I tugged at the collar, which was driving me nuts.