“She could be out for hours. The woman sleeps like a log and snores like a lumberjack. Like you said earlier, we don’t have that much time. Finish it.”
“Right. Okay. I can do this.” Val crawled past Claire to the margarine tub and grabbed a handful of the grainy substance. What had she called it? Shadow salt?
“Okay,” she said, mostly to herself. “Concentrate, Valerie.”
The strange wind was still blowing. A few books had blown off their shelves. A vase filled with plastic daisies lay broken on the floor. Val leaned forward and picked up the glowing crystal and squeezed the salt tightly in her other hand.
What I want, she thought. Concentrate very hard on what I want.
“Okay, here goes nothing.” She threw the salt into the circle.
As soon as the shadow salt made contact with the inside of the circle, everything changed.
The room got incredibly light, so bright that she had to shield her eyes. Then the wind seemed to switch direction. Instead of moving in a circular pattern, it moved upward, Val’s long blond hair blew wildly, straight off her face. Where the circle was drawn on the carpet, flames shot out of the white powder, until they touched the ceiling to form a cylindrical wall of fire. She scrambled back to avoid the intense heat. The crystal glowed brightly in her hand, but remained cool to the touch.
What have I done? she thought with more than a little panic. And is it too late to be having second thoughts?
Uh, yeah.
She glanced at Claire who’d moved into the fetal position on the floor and was sleeping peacefully while sucking on her thumb.
She was going to be zero help.
“I hope you only thought nice thoughts,” Reggie said shakily. “And we get a nice demon.”
“Me, too.”
The flames cut out as quickly as they’d appeared. The wind stopped blowing. The brightness subsided everywhere including from the crystal. The white powder circle lay as if untouched on the carpet.
And from inside the circle Nathaniel looked out at Val with confusion.
Nathaniel?
Hmm, she thought, feeling stunned. Guess I shouldn’t have been thinking about him just a minute ago.
Well, hindsight was always six-six-six, wasn’t it?
Not good.
“Valerie?” he asked after a moment.
“Uh-huh?”
He cleared his throat and absently brushed off his long black jacket. Underneath he wore a black shirt and black pants. Looked to Val like a bit of a theme. Not that she expected to see him appear in a Hawaiian shirt. Not that she expected to see him. Period. But there he was.
He smiled, but it seemed forced, as if he was confused about what just happened. That made two of them. “I was just looking for you at the motel. You weren’t there.”
“No, I’m not.”
His smile faltered. “What’s going on?”
“Um . . .”
Nathaniel finally looked down at the circle he was standing in. He looked at Claire, unconscious in her Wal-Mart robe, clutching the tiny black grimoire, then again at Val with remnants of shadow salt still stuck to her palms. She slipped the crystal into the pocket of her jeans.
His eyes narrowed. “What exactly have you done, Valerie?”
She stared back at him. That was definitely the million-dollar question, wasn’t it?
He attempted to move outside of the circle, but the invisible barrier created by the white powder stopped him with an audible zapping noise. He jerked back with a confused expression on his face. Then he held out his hand and lightly touched the barrier. It shimmered.
Val just watched him in silence and a healthy amount of shock, while absently petting Reggie who still sat on her shoulder. He didn’t complain, but she could have sworn she heard him murmur, “Oooh, baby.”
Nathaniel certainly was an extremely handsome man. Demon. Whatever. She hadn’t been able to observe him at length before.
Tall, dark, and evil.
He stared down at the circle that kept him trapped. Then he looked at Val slowly, his gray-
blue eyes shimmering with an inner fire, and a shiver went down her spine at the intensity of his gaze. Surprisingly, a smile spread across his perfect features.
“So, little angel, now that you have me all to yourself, whatever are you planning to do with me?”
“Hey, do you two know each other already?” Reggie whispered.
“Shhh.” Val stared back at Nathaniel and removed her hand from Reggie, who protested a little. “If it’s any consolation, I didn’t mean to summon you in particular.”
He nodded slowly. “I see. Just my lucky day, then?”
“Must be.”
His smile widened. “I’m glad. I was hoping to see you again. I wanted to apologize for my rude behavior last night.”
“Is that so.”
“Yes. It’s just . . . I’ve been dealing with some personal issues. I certainly didn’t mean to take any of my . . . frustrations . . . out on a beautiful woman such as yourself.”
It sounds pretty good, she thought. So sincere. So warm and friendly, and delivered in that smooth, deep voice that made her knees feel weak.
Stupid knees.
“You’re lying.”
“Excuse me?” He gave her innocent eyes. “I’m not lying.”
Didn’t Claire say that the summoned demon couldn’t lie? Val was the one who threw the last bit of shadow salt into the circle. She had the crystal safely in her pocket. Didn’t that mean she was in charge now? Well, there was only one way to find out.