Taming Demons for Beginners (The Guild Codex: Demonized #1)(21)

“Um,” I whispered uncertainly. “Are you … okay?”

A muscle in his cheek twitched, a suppressed reaction to my question. He opened his mouth to reply, then his gaze shot past me to the door and darkness whooshed through the circle. I launched to my feet and spun around.

Uncle Jack and Claude walked into the library.

“… won’t wait much longer,” Uncle Jack was saying. He swiped at the switch and lights brightened throughout the room. “But it shouldn’t—”

He and Claude spotted me at the same time. I clutched the Demonica book, my brain frozen with panic.

“Robin?” Uncle Jack barked. “What are you doing in here? I told you to stay out!”

Claude’s pale eyes moved from my guilty face to the black dome. “Were you talking to the demon?”

“No!” I gasped. “I—I—I just wanted to borrow a book.”

Face reddening, Uncle Jack advanced on me. He wrenched the book out of my hands. When he flipped it open to read the title page, his eyes bulged.

“What are you doing with this? Have you read any of it?”

“N-no. I only just got it a minute ago—”

His fingers closed around my arm with bruising force. He dragged me across the room, shoving The Summoner’s Handbook at Claude on his way past, and propelled me toward the stairs. I stumbled and almost fell.

“You’re living under my roof,” he growled, a vein throbbing in his forehead. “I will not tolerate any lies. Have you come down here before?”

“No,” I whispered, staring at my feet as I twisted my hands together. “Not since you showed me the—the summoning circle. I wanted to learn more about Demonica so I came down just to … just to …”

He grabbed my upper arm again. “You don’t need to know anything about Demonica. Didn’t your parents forbid it? Stay out of the basement, Robin.” His hand tightened, fingers grinding into my flesh, and tears spilled down my cheeks. “If I catch you down here again, I’ll kick you out of my house in a heartbeat. Understood?”

“Yes,” I choked out.

The moment he released me, I bolted for the stairs. My socks slipped and I pitched forward, bashing my knee against a step. Lungs paralyzed by pain, I heard Claude’s say from the library, “I warned you about her.”

I shoved myself up and ran. I didn’t stop until I’d reached my room and slammed the door behind me.





Chapter Ten





I was getting good at sneaking around.

For three days I hid in my room to demonstrate my obedience. That was as long as I could stand my boredom and restlessness. When I ventured out again, it was with a plan: sneak into the library and steal The Summoner’s Handbook, or a similar book, without getting caught.

If Uncle Jack was determined to keep me away from Demonica and summoning, the information must be important. It could be he was afraid I’d realize he was breaking laws—as if I needed a book to tell me—or it could be more than that. I would find out.

Once I knew what I was dealing with, I’d devise a way to get my mother’s grimoire back from him.

Stealing the Demonica book should’ve been easy, except Uncle Jack and Claude had developed a new obsession with the library. In the three days I’d been cloistered in my room, he and his partner had upped their visits to the summoning circle from once a day to every hour or two, day and night. Claude wasn’t even going home—he was sleeping in a guest room between library sessions.

I’d been stalking them around the house for two days. They weren’t following a schedule, so I couldn’t guarantee a free window in which to sneak down there myself. Getting The Summoner’s Handbook was important, but not getting caught was more important.

Crouched at the top of the basement stairs, I listened to the muffled echo of Uncle Jack’s and Claude’s voices coming from the library. When light flooded the hallway from the door opening, I darted into the kitchen. Sliding onto a stool, I took a huge bite of the apple I’d gotten out earlier and pretended to read the mystery novel I’d left open on the breakfast bar.

Uncle Jack’s voice preceded him out of the basement, his tone frustrated and impatient. “Its breaking point should be any day now. We just have to keep checking.”

“It should have come days ago,” Claude replied.

“Which must mean the demon is exceptionally powerful.” Uncle Jack strode into view. “We can’t miss it or our last chance will be—”

Breaking off, he glared at me suspiciously.

“Good afternoon,” I said politely, glancing up from my book.

He kept walking. Claude followed in silence, his mouth pressed in a thin line that pulled at the scar on his chin, and to my surprise, Travis trailed after them. I hadn’t realized he was down there too, but I supposed it made sense. Travis was Uncle Jack’s stepson, so why not train him alongside Amalia?

I listened to their passage through the house as I finished my apple, pondering my chances of making it downstairs and back again without getting caught. I was just thinking I should try when heels clacked down the hall.

Kathy swept into the kitchen. The way she glared in my direction before opening the oven to check on her casserole made me wonder if Uncle Jack had asked her to keep an eye on me.