Summoning the Night (Arcadia Bell #2)(92)

Lon whistled merrily.

I glared at him. “Explain.”

“We’re taking a little trip down to the Village. Got a meeting at the Singing Bean.”

“With whom?”

Lon grinned. “Your death dowser pal Hajo has agreed to meet us. Jupe’s going to get your vassal potion back.”

“What?”

“That’s right.” Jupe arched his back and stretched like a cat, then smugly pretended to crack his knuckles. “Step aside and watch the master go to work, people.”

Lon brushed his fingers across mine. “Dr. Spendlove said we should teach Jupe how to use his knack for good, not evil,” he reminded me. “This qualifies as good in my book.”

“So this is all for Jupe’s education, huh?” As if he didn’t get enough education last week. How in the world Lon planned to ensure that the kid didn’t go bragging to his friends about demon horns was beyond me. I was pretty sure Lon was doing this to keep Jupe happy and quiet.

“Please,” Lon pleaded, lifting my chin. “Hajo’s a bum. Am I wrong?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Woot! I get to meet a real-live junkie!” Jupe exclaimed.

Lon flashed me a triumphant smile. As he walked by, he smacked my ass, coaxing a reflexive jump out of me. “Come on, Cadybell. We’re gonna be late.”

Jupe sneaked me a mischievous look, then reared back with his palm, ready to follow Lon’s example. I grabbed his hand midswing. “You do, and I’ll break it.”

He snickered, wiggling free of my grasp, then threw down an alternate gauntlet. “Race you to the SUV.”

Challenge accepted. I scraped an invisible line across the garage floor with the side of my shoe.

Things weren’t perfect. Even if we got the vassal back from Hajo, I had the binding debts hanging over my head. My house wards had been disabled by Chora, and though they could be fixed eventually, I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel one hundred percent safe inside them again. And though Dare was relieved to have all the Hellfire kids back, he still had me over a barrel with my identity. Official Hellfire Club magician . . . I really didn’t like the sound of that.

And on top of all that, a detail from Halloween night nagged me: Merrin’s death. He was a despicable person, and he got what he deserved. But I couldn’t stop obsessing over it, and this unnerved me. At first I thought that I was having guilt issues, but after a few days of replaying his death inside my head, I finally identified the real problem: I didn’t kill Merrin with my own hands. I used Chora to kill him. My parents did the same thing years ago—summoned a demon to do their killing for them. Logically I knew that the circumstances weren’t the same, but I couldn’t stop making the connection, and it troubled me more than I liked.

But there was only so much worrying you could do before you just had to accept what life throws at you and move on, because some things were going to be out of your control, and others can’t be fixed or changed. And for everything I’d lost over the last couple of months, I still had a lot. More than I expected, actually.

Lon turned and watched us with amusement as Jupe lowered himself into a runner’s crouch at my side. “First one there gets to ride shotgun. On your mark, get set . . .”

Go.