The Second Summoning

“And what if I do?”

Glancing around, as though he were about to hand over state secrets, he shoved a piece of beef jerky toward her, managed half a smile, hurried away.

Frowning, she reopened the pack and offered Samuel the jerky.

“Did you let him leave?” he demanded, hooking it out of her fingers.

“I don’t think he’ll tell anyone.”

“That’s not the point,” he protested. “The point is, there’s always more than one piece in a package of beef jerky.”

“Maybe I should just go offer myself to him to keep you from starving.” Before he could answer, the train lunged about five feet forward, then began picking up speed in a less vertebrae-separating manner. “Finally! If that demon’s raised Hell before we get there, I’m sending a nasty letter to the smoking ruins of the VIA Rail head office.”

“Oh, yeah, that’ll show them.”

“So is there some place you want me to drop you off or what?” Leslie/Deter asked, as the car squealed its way around the tight exit ramp at Division Street. “If you’re on your own, we have a mission in Kingston.”

“I so don’t care. Besides I know exactly where I’m going.”

“Might be nice if the driver knew.”

“Lower Union Street. Just off King.” Byleth wet her lips in anticipation.

“Place called the Elysian Fields Guest House.”

Chapter FOURTEEN

“It doesn’t look like it’s open.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Byleth said softly, staring up at the three-story Victorian building. The memory of darkness had left a grimy patina over the red bricks, a discoloration any eyes but hers would assume had been left by modern pollution. Well, the yellow-brown stains eating away at old mortar had been left by modern pollution, as had the patches of filthy, crumbling paint on the pale green trim, the white streaks from acid rain on the old copper roof, and the rather amazing amount of rust on every exposed piece of iron. She sighed and wondered why darkness even bothered.

“Maybe I should go in with you.”

“Maybe you should mind your own friggin‘ business.” She unlocked the seat belt and shoved open the door with the same angry motion, uncertain of just who she was angry at. I ought to suggest that he put it in gear and then drive into something solid, but why waste such a cool car. She considered telling him to park by the lake and walk out until he found a break in the ice. Or to jump off the top of a building. Or to take in a Britney Spears concert. Well, she might not be able to touch enough of the darkness to manage that last one, but all the rest were perfectly feasible. Standing on the road, still holding the car door, she examined her options.

Leslie/Deter ducked down far enough to see her face. “Be careful.”

“Whatever.” No point in wasting diminishing resources on such a loser, not when there was a world of dark potential at her back. Muscles straining, she pulled at the heavy door and was astonished to hear her own voice just as it closed. “Thanks.

You know, for the ride.”

Gratitude?

Eww.

Spitting wasn’t enough to take the taste out of her mouth. This was so the last time she was manifesting in Canada.

Clutching her open coat more tightly around her, Byleth waited until the car disappeared around the corner before turning toward the house. The God-pimp was just the kind of guy who’d hang around to make sure she was all right. “As though he could do anything about it if I wasn’t,” she sneered, climbing over a ridge of snow and up the nine uneven steps to the porch. There was a door down an equal number of steps in the area, but a teenager breaking into the basement of a guesthouse might be noticed by the neighbors while a customer, even a young customer, approaching the front door would not, knowledge not from the dark end of the possibilities but overheard last night in the mission dorm. If things went her way over the next couple of hours, there were a few other bits of overheard information Byleth looked forward to trying out, although she wasn’t entirely certain what a funchi, key caz star boi was.

The door was unlocked.

The old-fashioned brass knob turned silently.

There’d be a Cousin inside. A Cousin who’d have been able to sense her since this morning when that idiot angel had so unexpectedly changed. A Cousin who had to know she was close. Who could be waiting, ready for her, just inside.

I can take a Cousin.

Palms suddenly damp, she hesitated, wondering why she was leaking. She could take a Cousin. Couldn’t she? At the precise moment she made form out of darkness, she could definitely have taken a Cousin, but for every moment after that, she’d been changing. Or, more precisely, the body had been changing her. Into what?

That was the question. Suddenly racked with very undemonic insecurity, she froze.

I don’t even know who I am anymore. This was such a stupid idea.