Katie MacAlister - Playing with Fire

‘‘Fish pond!’’ Cyrene squealed, disturbing my thoughts as she hurried off to commune in the ways of the naiads, something that overtook her whenever she was near bodies of freshwater. I sighed for a moment at the fact that I’d never be able to live in such a beautiful spot as this, but cut short the pity party when my watch made an almost imperceptible peep.

‘‘No time for dallying, May,’’ I told myself as I flicked on a penlight and examined the brick fence that divided the property from that of Dr. Kostich. Midway down the fence, a small wooden gate was set into an archway, clearly put there so the neighbors could visit with ease.

‘‘No wards. Hmm. Interesting.’’ Dr. Kostich may have been concerned enough about his neighbors to see to the warding of the house, but he obviously didn’t fear intrusion via the gate. There was a small padlock on this side, but it didn’t require much finessing at all to open it. I let the padlock drop to the ground as I shook my head at the door. ‘‘Just a few arcane protection spells… ineffectual at best.’’

‘‘Totally lame,’’ a male voice agreed behind me.

I shadowed immediately, spinning around to see who had managed to creep up on me unawares.

A large furry black dog gazed at me with its mouth slightly opened, its tail wagging gently in the balmy evening breeze.

I looked around quickly for the dog’s owner, but my eyes slowly returned to it as I realized the truth.

‘‘Yup, that’s right, you’re not seeing things. I’m a demon. Sixth class, if that helps. Whatcha doing?’’ The demon dog took a step closer to me, snuffled my legs, then tipped its head to the side. ‘‘Wow. Doppelganger. I’ve only seen one other of you guys. I didn’t realize there were two of you in Europe.’’

‘‘There are three of us, actually. One is in France, and one is in Rome,’’ I answered, my gaze trying to pierce the shadows cast by the trees. I didn’t see anyone else out there, but if there was a demon here… ‘‘Who are you, demon?’’

‘‘Now, you know, I could refuse to answer that, since you didn’t summon me and all, but Ash gets annoyed when I display what she calls bad manners, so I’m going to play nice. Name’s Jim. Effrijim, really, but no one calls me that except Aisling when she’s really pissy. What’s your name?’’

‘‘That’s not pertinent,’’ I said firmly, thinking as fast as I could. If there was a demon here, someone must have sent it… but for what purpose? And who had set the demon to watch the gate? Dr. Kostich? That didn’t make any sense-mages could technically summon demons, but I’d never heard of one doing so, not while they had arcane abilities at their fingertips to achieve whatever they wanted. ‘‘Who sent you, Effrijim?’’

‘‘No one sent me. I’m just doing my walkies,’’ the demon answered, sniffing my legs again. I stepped back, pulling the shadows tighter around me. I knew it would do little good-experienced demons could sometimes sense even those who shadow walked-but it made me feel less open to prying eyes.

‘‘Your… walkies?’’

‘‘Yeah, you know, walkies. Constitutional. Pinchin’ a loaf,’’ it said with a particularly annoying chuckle.

I opened my mouth to point out… well, I didn’t know what to point out, so many thoughts were tumbling through my mind. Instead I shook my head at my own folly, and with a firm look, asked the demon who its master was.

‘‘Aisling. She’s inside, if you want to have a chat with her, although she’s a bit cranky because Drake made her come home early from the theater,’’ the demon answered, nodding toward the house. I spun around, alarm skittering down my back at the sight of the house Cyrene had crept through-now aglow with lights.

‘‘Agathos daimon,’’ I swore under my breath, reaching for the switch on the radio pack strapped to my belt. ‘‘Psst! Stop swooning over the fish pond and get over here. Carefully! The people who rented the house are here, and… and… oh, just get over here.’’

‘‘What? Goddess! I’ll be right there,’’ her breathy voice whispered in my ear.

‘‘I didn’t realize your master had taken over the house yet,’’ I told the demon named Jim. ‘‘I mean her no harm, and I’ll leave in a minute, I swear.’’

‘‘I’m here, I’m here,’’ Cyrene said as she hurried out of the shadowed edge of the lawn. ‘‘What happened? I thought you said the people wouldn’t come this late at night. Oh! A doggy!’’

Jim turned its head and winked at her. ‘‘Hiya, babycakes.’’

Cyrene clapped her hands in delight. ‘‘A demon! May, where did you find a demon? Can we keep it? I’ve always wanted a demon of my own.’’

‘‘No, you haven’t,’’ I told her, pulling her away from where she was patting the demon on its head. ‘‘And thank you so much for using my name in front of it. Come on, I have to get you out of here without anyone else seeing you.’’

‘‘But-’’ she started to say as I grabbed her wrist and pulled her after me, sticking close to the fence in an attempt to avoid being seen from the house. ‘‘But, May-’’

‘‘Shh!’’

‘‘I wouldn’t go that way, if I were you,’’ Jim called out after us.

I gritted my teeth and turned back toward it. It ambled over to us with a raised eyebrow.

‘‘Why not?’’ I asked.

‘‘Drake takes his protection very seriously,’’ it answered, pausing to scratch at its shoulder. ‘‘Pál and István always go over the perimeter before they set the alarms.’’

I swore under my breath again, spinning around to eye the garden. The opposite side was no use-the house was butted up against a cliff. If we couldn’t go out the way I came, there were only two choices-Dr. Kostich’s garden, or the beach.

‘‘Beach,’’ I said quickly, doing an about-face as I hauled Cyrene toward the water.

‘‘They set up motion sensors out there this morning,’’ Jim said, following. ‘‘In case, ya know, someone tries to get in from the water.’’

‘‘Who is Drake?’’ Cyrene asked the demon. ‘‘Who are Pál and István?’’

‘‘Drake’s bodyguards,’’ it answered, laughter visible in its eyes as I did a circle trying to find another way out of the garden. ‘‘Drake is a wyvern. Green dragons.’’

‘‘Dragons!’’ Cyrene gasped, her eyes widening in delight. ‘‘May, did you hear that? Dragons! He must be that dragon who married the Guardian we read about! You know, the one who’s a demon lord. Can we-’’

‘‘No! OK, new plan. We’re both going into Kostich’s garden. He only seems to use arcane magic, none of this high-tech stuff the dragons favor,’’ I said with a frown at the demon. It smiled at me. ‘‘I’ll get you out, and we can resume the plan. OK?’’

‘‘Well, all right, but you know, I’m willing to bet that the dragons and this Guardian can help us-’’ She started to walk toward the house.

‘‘Cy, no!’’ I said, stopping her. ‘‘We don’t need help! We’ll be OK so long as we stick to the plan.’’

‘‘Cy, huh?’’ Jim asked, making me swear at myself for the slip of my tongue.

‘‘It’s Cyrene, really. Only May calls me by the abbreviation,’’ she told it.

‘‘Oh, great. Now it knows both our names,’’ I groaned, wanting to bang my head on the brick wall until this farce of an evening ended.

‘‘So?’’ she asked, rubbing its ears as it leaned into her, groaning with pleasure.

‘‘So now it’s going to go back to its master and tell her everything.’’

‘‘Would I do that?’’ Jim asked, its eyes closed in bliss.

I frowned at it as it peeked at me.