Summoning the Night (Arcadia Bell #2)(75)

It made sense. Leave it to a bunch of misguided activists to put on a puritanical front and utilize whatever means necessary under the table to obtain their goals. Political sabotage was a big moneymaker for rogue magicians.

“You expect me to believe that this duke didn’t come back looking for your help?” Lon said.

“Why would he?” Merrin said. “I failed him the first time, and he realized that he didn’t need a trained magician to conduct the ritual. I summoned a few Æthyric demons later and inquired about him. Another demon told me that the rumor in the Æthyr was that the duke had managed to pierce the veil between the planes during our attempt at the Buné spell. Not a fully functioning door but a hole. If it was big enough, he could possess anyone in the La Sirena area without being summoned. Human, Earthbound—it could be anyone.”

Oh . . . God.

“The person wouldn’t know they were possessed. They wouldn’t be conscious of what they were doing. Trust me, I know all too well.”

If the Duke could possess anyone, how could we find him?

Lon let go of Merrin and folded his arms across his chest. “You don’t have any idea where he’d be keeping the new kids?”

“Somewhere around La Sirena, I suppose,” Merrin said. “Like I told you, the hole in the veil isn’t a door—I don’t think he can venture too far away from that area without losing power, even while he’s riding someone. That’s why I don’t go back to La Sirena. I don’t want him to find me again.”

So, right at this moment, he could be possessing anyone, and keeping the kids anywhere. We were so screwed. Disappointment crushed any last bit of hope I’d had. No one said anything for a long moment.

What are we going to do with Merrin? I finally asked Lon in my thoughts. Call the police and tell them that he confessed to us? That he was possessed by a demon?

“Where do you live?” Lon asked.

“I abandoned my apartment when you found me at the Silent Temple. I was worried you’d get me arrested. Please, Lon. I was friends with your father—I’m begging you. I don’t want to spend my last few years dwindling away in a prison. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel guilty about my role in all of it, but I was just trying to survive. You’ve got to believe me.”

Maybe he could help us find the duke, I suggested. Then we can call the cops.

Lon closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked exhausted. He used his persuasive voice when he spoke to Merrin again, clamping his shoulder. “If you know a way we can track the duke and stop him, you’ll share that with us now.”

Merrin considered this, then brightened. “I know a spell. It’s one he taught me. The duke keeps himself warded with Æthyric magick, so you can’t find him with the usual methods. But this spell should be foolproof.”

“What kind of spell?” I asked.

“It calls him to you. Only takes a few minutes. And if you are able to keep yourself inside a sanctified circle when you perform it, I don’t think he could enter you.” He paused, then finished in a low voice bitter with regret. “If I’d only done that to begin with, I could’ve avoided a lifetime of guilt, but I was young and foolish, and thought I was a stronger magician than I really was.”

Please. I was young and foolish, and I still wasn’t stupid enough to make a pact with a demon like he did.

“I’ll need to dig through some boxes to find my old spell books,” he said.

“Where are you staying now?” Lon asked for the second time.

“Hotel Guinevere in Eastern Foothills. Room 213. I’ll find the spell. You can pick it up. Just come by my hotel when you’re ready. You probably have other things to do here. Better things than watch an old man dig through boxes, right? Just give me a couple of hours.”

A couple of hours? Hell no, I thought to Lon. Why don’t we just go with him now?

“The kids on the float,” Lon said, searching my face with pleading eyes.

I’d completely forgotten about them. But still—

“You don’t have to worry. I won’t skip town,” Merrin said. “You have my word. Listen to me, Lon. You know I’m telling the truth.” He reached out and gently touched my arm, staring at me with those strange mismatched eyes. “Meet me in two hours at my hotel, and everything will be okay. You can trust me. I’ve been through so much already. I’m ready for this to be over.”

A sense of well-being flooded me, and for the first time all night, I felt relaxed and calm. I knew I shouldn’t, but I believed him. Trusted him. He was just a little old man who’d been bested by a demon. I almost felt sorry for him.

“Maybe we should all leave now. That sounds like a good idea, yes?”

Yes, it did. It sounded like a good idea. I wanted to leave. My head suddenly didn’t feel very good.

Lon nodded. “Two hours. We’ll meet you at your hotel.”

Something pushed against my back. The restroom door. “Lon!”

Releasing Merrin, he shifted down into his human form while someone knocked, trying to get inside the restroom. Merrin buttoned up his shirt, covering up the army tattoo. When the coast was clear, I opened the door. A man entered, eying me warily as Merrin passed between us.

“Sorry, dear,” he said, bumping into me as he headed into the restaurant hallway. “See you in a couple of hours.”