If he was proposing an end to magic, it was a good bet he had a way to fix it. “Then maybe you should try playing by our rules.”
“Maybe we already are,” he shot back.
“Right.” Mistrusting this, I leaned back in my chair, tugging my robe closed when it threatened to fall open. “So I break the lines to keep surface demons out and you here. Everyone is mad at me.” I hesitated as he beamed at me. “Except the demons, who set themselves up as king.”
“That’s about it.”
“You do it. I don’t have time to learn a new life skill,” I said, and he put a hand atop the table, leaning over me with his breath smelling of Brimstone.
“You are the only one with mystics in her.” He took a breath. “Rachel.”
I put a finger on his chest and backed him up. “So now mystics are a good thing?”
“Does it feel like a good thing?”
The birds were getting noisy, and I shook my head. It didn’t feel good. Not at all. “I didn’t ask for this,” I said, and Al looked toward the house.
“Be careful what you wish for,” he said, and I watched as a sheet of ever-after fell over him, clothing him back in his usual green crushed-velvet coat and top hat. His shoulders broadened, and his middle became thicker, more muscular.
“Because you might get it,” I finished, wondering why he’d changed until Ellasbeth’s voice rose in distress. Great, they were coming out here, and I tugged my robe closer. “Be nice,” I warned Al, and he gave me an innocent look.
Oh God, it wasn’t just Trent, but Ellasbeth and the girls, too. Lucy made a shrill demand when she spotted Al, thumping her fists into the door to be let out.
“Rachel didn’t charm you,” Trent said as the door opened and Lucy darted out before he saw Al and me waiting. “You simply fell asleep.”
“Trenton!” Ellasbeth shrieked, panicking as Lucy ran to Al.
“Allie, Allie, Allie!” the little girl cried, flinging herself at the demon’s knees. Al winced, hastily covering his crotch as she flung her doll around. Ray was no less captivated, watching Al from Trent’s hip, her evaluating eyes never looking away.
“Get her away from him!” Ellasbeth demanded, frozen at the door as she wanted to both fly at him and run back in the house.
“Good morning, Ellasbeth,” I said, and she looked at me, horrified and hyperventilating as I calmly sat at the table.
“Ellasbeth,” Al purred, delighting in the fear he’d instilled as he sat down and took Lucy onto his lap. “How nice to see you.”
“Trent! Get her!” she screamed again, and Trent sighed, waving Quen and Jon back from the window. “Get him out of here!”
I stood, uncomfortable in my robe all of a sudden. “He wanted to show me what happened to unbound souls when the sun came up.”
Trent’s eyes lit up. “And?” he prompted. Ray was beginning to wiggle to get down and get a closer look at the pink and purple flying horses that Al was making, each one coming from his cupped hands to Lucy’s delight.
I couldn’t stop my grimace. “We’re both going to have a very busy day.”
Ellasbeth was clinging to Trent’s elbow, her face red and her fear obvious. “Surprise!” Lucy shouted as Al opened his hands and another horse neighed and leapt into the air. Giving me a tired look, Trent set Ray down, and the little girl toddled forward. I gentled her to me so Ellasbeth wouldn’t pass out, and Ray leaned against my legs, watching Al and her sister.
“Get them away from him!” Ellasbeth demanded, and Trent took her elbow.
“The girls are safe. It’s you I can’t vouch for,” he said, and Ellasbeth jerked her eyes from the children, her face red.
Al straightened as he let three horses go and Lucy ran after them, giggling. “I no longer steal people,” he said as if insulted. “Haven’t you heard?”
“Seriously?” I said, and he raised his hand, tilting it back and forth to say more or less.
Ellasbeth glared at Trent, refusing to go in even as his hand on her back began to look forceful. “You aren’t believing this, are you?” she said.
I was having a hard time believing it, too, but I wasn’t worried when Ray stood wobbling before Al, captivated by the horse charm. Her little hand went to his knee for balance, and Al froze, emotion cascading through him so fast I couldn’t recognize anything but its depth.
“Why are you even here?” Ellasbeth exclaimed.
“Many reasons.” Al was staring at Ray’s hand, and I held my breath as he wiggled a finger under her palm and she gripped it, smiling up at him with her one-toothed smile.
Emotion hit me as Ray’s carefully given but ultimate trust smacked Al like a ton of bricks. That fast it happened, and I knew he’d move heaven and earth for her now. Ray may have saved us all.
Lump in my throat, I turned. I didn’t want him to know I’d seen, and if I stayed, I’d start to cry. “Ah, I’m sorry,” I said, looking around as if my purse and coat were out here. “I have to go take a shower. Al, thank you for the information.”
He looked up, and when he saw my damp eyes, he took Ray’s hand off his finger with a frown. “I’m being gotten rid of.”
Trent inched forward to take Ray, and I lifted her from Al. “You’re welcome to stay for breakfast,” Trent said as I settled Ray in his arms.
“I have already breakfasted, thank you,” Al said stiffly. He was trying to be flip, but I could tell he was shaken. He hadn’t expected Ray’s trust, and it couldn’t be taken away.
“Lucy, come here,” Ellasbeth demanded, crouched with her hand held out, ignored.
“What time was your appointment with the dewar?” I asked, having forgotten already.
Trent jiggled Ray. “Nine forty-five.”
“You, ah, think I could come with you?” I said, and Ellasbeth jerked, her attention on Lucy momentarily eclipsed. “I need to persuade them to leave the surface demons in the ever-after and the real demons in reality,” I added, wincing. I wasn’t going to be the demons’ liaison, but someone had to say something, and I did have a reputation for saving large demographics—even if the collateral damage was high.
Ellasbeth finally got hold of Lucy, and she backed up to the door with her as the little girl protested. “You’re joking,” she said, voice distracted. “You want them here?”