“I have an idea,” I say.
Blaine holds his hand out to still me, but the demon says, “Speak, cub.”
“How about we help you get back through the gateway and you let us all live?”
“An interesting proposition,” Rewsin says. “But I’m very hungry.”
“Very itchy, too, I bet,” I say.
“Good point,” Rewsin says, running a claw against his belly, stripping off more dog skin.
“It’s win-win, isn’t it?” I continue. “The Golden Rule: do onto others as you would have them do onto you. We help each other.”
“Most wizards treat me with the Iron Rule: do onto others as you like, before they do onto you...”
“I guess I’m not like most wizards, then,” I say.
He stares at me hard, and I try not to blink. Eye contact is important when you’re dealing with demons.
“It’s a deal,” the demon says finally. “A mutually beneficial truce. But more than that. I pledge to help you if you help me.”
He reaches out his paw. It feels better than it looks. Under the dead dog hide there’s heat, pure energy.
We shake. I feel a ripple of power in the air, something that envelops me and those around me.
Everyone seems to suddenly relax.
“So,” says Rewsin, leaning in close to me and filling my face with dead dog breath tinged with sulfur, “what’s your plan, cub?”
Luckily, Nye comes to my rescue. “Stanley and I need to talk for a moment about his plans with the gatemaster.”
“Oh,” the demon says, holding a clawed hand up to its dead dog face. “Am I intruding?”
“Jus
t give us a minute, will you?” Nye asks, a thin smile frozen on his lips.
“Watch me back up, back up,” says Rewsin, taking gigantic leaps backward, until he is just at the end of the clearing. “I’ll wait here,” his voice booms across the clearing.
“Kind of thick, for a demon,” Nye whispers.
“I heard that!” Rewsin growls, from the other side of the clearing. “But carry on.”
Blaine turns to me, then to Nye.
“I guess there’s no choice but to negotiate,” Blaine says. “The threat of the Old Ones aside, we can’t leave a demon running around here on this side of the gateway. Not to mention your riders, the vampire hordes, and the werewolf clans.”
“We need to get Meredith back. And Carolina,” I say.
“I haven’t forgotten them,” Blaine says, looking pained. “But my duty puts the gateway above them, no matter how I feel personally.”
His face is pale, and it hits me suddenly how much we all have at stake. My stomach tightens; the hunger is back and I want to bite something, but my phone buzzes.
“THE GATEWAY WILL CLOSE IN HALF AN HOUR. THE CEREMONY APPROACHES. :)”
“We don’t have much time,” I say, half hunched over.
“Are you okay?”