Chapter Seven

I poked through a stack of books with my lips pursed and my brow furrowed. No one ever put things back in the correct place! Sometimes I wondered if they intentionally misplaced them. I let out a small sigh, gathered the books in a pile in my arms, then strode through the store to put them where they belonged. Mayar trotted alongside me while I tidied up the different sections of the store. Eventually, I made it back to my usual post and began rearranging the tins of handmade tea.

“Oh good, I was about to call you.” David looked over at me and set down his pendulum. “Got a customer here asking about—”

“I’m lookin’ for a cookbook, Dave here says you bought it.” A woman with sharp features and a pixie cut crossed her arms at me. I did my best to focus on her and not the massive, glowing man standing behind her. The woman’s glowing companion was bound by chains and had a bloodied blindfold across his eyes. A ring of light floated behind his back, sending sparkling rays skittering across the shop. He looked like he’d been beaten recently, judging by the bruising, and his shackles had dried blood around them.

I swallowed hard and looked the woman in the eye. “Not anymore. The recipes seriously sucked, so I got rid of it already.”

“She’s telling the truth…” The golden man leaned down to whisper by the woman’s ear. Her gaze flicked to the side momentarily before looking back to me. “No…no she can’t see me.”

“Nothing…weird happened when you tried the recipes?” The woman narrowed her eyes at me.

“I’m hopeless in the kitchen.” I shrugged. “Even if I was a decent cook, I don’t think it’d have helped. Who puts chocolate, sriracha, and marshmallow on salmon anyway?”

“Ugh.” The woman crossed her arms and huffed. I remained still as her glowing companion tiptoed over to me. With his back to the woman, he mouthed instructions to keep pretending. Once in range, he prodded my cheek a few times and chuckled, the corners of his mouth pulling into a small smile. “Hard to believe you’re her grandkid. Must be so pissed to finally have had a dud show up in the family line!”

“A…dud?” I arched an eyebrow at her. That wasn’t quite the words they’d used when they threw me out.

“You sure you’re not a sorceress? I mean, working in a shop like this…” The woman frowned and peered around. “Why’d old Quinn sell a cookbook to an occult shop anyway?”

“I’m more curious why she wants it back. I’ve never known my grandmother to cook…anything. She always said that’s what the servants are for.” I shrugged, and the woman grimaced.

“Sounds like her alright.” The woman raised her hands. “Whatever. Guess I’ll try tracking the book down elsewhere. You said it had nasty recipes in it? Maybe someone lifted the real one then…”

The woman walked out of the shop and whipped out her cell phone, but her companion stayed inside. I had a feeling she’d instructed him to keep an eye on me.

“Celia, you mind checking the back for me? Customer gave me a list of books he wants to pick up.” David offered me a piece of paper with a long list of books on it.

“Sure thing.” I nodded and walked deeper into the shop, aware that the prismatic glints nearby indicated that the golden man was following me.

I glanced down at the list again and double-checked the titles. A glance down at my feet helped reaffirm that Mayar was sticking close—and he didn’t seem bothered by our golden companion.

When I stopped by the backroom, an arm shot past my head and rested palm-first against the door, preventing me from opening it. I glanced over my shoulder to find he was staring directly at me again.

His lips parted to speak, his voice barely a whisper, “Tell… Tell the Moon that the Sun has fallen.”

Mayar stiffened against my leg. When I went to respond, the strange being shook his head hurriedly and spoke again, “Be careful. Do not stay far from your nighthound.”

With that, the man turned and left. Rather than walking, he floated a few inches above the ground, his chains clinking faintly. When he disappeared around the corner of a bookshelf, I finally looked down at Mayar. His entire body seemed to have bristled.

I opened the door to the back room and strode in, feeling a little numb. That man, whatever he was—an Angel?—was a slave to the woman he accompanied. Was that the sort of treatment the demon I’d summoned expected?

Did my grandmother, maybe even my entire family, have such beings as their slaves? The thought made me nauseous. Not only because it was wrong, but also because there had been several hundred recipes in that cookbook. My family could have had hundreds of slaves I didn’t know about—and that was just the demons.

If destroying the book had released them… I shivered.

Once I had all the books on David’s list, I returned to the front of the shop only to find he had already put up the closed sign.

“You’re a terrible liar, and that woman is even worse at detecting them.” David crossed his arms and gave me a pointed look. “You did good pretending you couldn’t see her angel, but if you have to face your grandma you ain’t going to be so lucky.”

“Uh…” I faltered, staring at David.

“Why your grandmother wanted to sell that book is beyond me! Maybe she’s going senile? Maybe she’s looking to lure in new blood?” David scoffed and sat back in his chair. “So, who did you summon? One of the peasants, or just the nighthound here? I always knew you had potential, even if your thrice-damned family couldn’t see it.”

“Well…” I slowly began.

“Bah! I’m a sorceress’ slave that broke free,” David interrupted, making a motion with one hand. His eyes flickered a glowing gold briefly. “Out with it.”

Mayar nudged me and nodded his head once. I sighed.

“Mayar is…protection, not who I summoned.” I took a seat across from David. “I’m not sure who I summoned, just that he said he’s an Aloryi, not a demon.”

David frowned and looked at Mayar, “That’s no ordinary nighthound. You say he’s protection…a gift?”

“Something like that. I’ve had one hell of a week.” I sighed again.

“So, where you keeping the book and your Aloryi?” David prompted. I blinked at him.

“Uh… I tore out the pages and burned the book, since the Aloryi said that’s how I could undo the summoning.”

David choked on his coffee and hit his chest a few times before looking at me with a stunned expression, “You destroyed a summoning book? Oh hell, girl, I knew you had potential, but this?” He let out a hearty laugh. “You’re going to need more than a nighthound to protect you from your grandmother when she finds out.

“Hah! All that fine-tuning and selective breeding, and they still produce someone like you. You’re lucky she was too stupid to see your potential. If she’d found out, you’d be buried six feet under like all the rest.”

“I-I’m not sure I follow…” I mumbled.

“Your family only got where it is by using demons, angels, and who knows what other creatures. You thought they treated their human servants bad? Their lives are cake by comparison.” David shook his head. “Proud, powerful family of sorcerers and sorceresses. Long, long lineage. Gal like you? You’re one too, just a different head on your shoulders. What I don’t understand is how you don’t know who you summoned. Didn’t you read the spell?”

“Spell? I just made one of the sandwich recipes.” I stared at him.

“…read this.” David handed me a book.

“It’s blank.” I pouted.

“You…can’t see magic script?” David exclaimed before pulling his sleeve up. “I got any tattoos?”

I looked down at his arm and then back to his face. “No, you don’t.”

“Let me guess—your grandma started treating you as inferior when she told, you to read something and you couldn’t?” David asked dryly.

“After she asked me to read some kids story.” I shrugged.

“Saved by a lack of magical sight!” David shook his head in disbelief, then looked at Mayar. “If you’ve got contact with your master still, you’d best tell him all this. Celia’s gonna need more protection, and even then, her family will still probably kill her.”

Mayar bristled and grew a little in size, baring his fangs. “His Majesty and I will not let that happen.”

“…you summoned the Aloryi king?” David stared at me. “He could have killed you!”

“I was so surprised I offered him food and wine,” I grumbled. “Then started pestering him about how I could release him.”

“Either the seals are weakening or you’ve more to you than I gave you credit for.” David pressed his fingers to his temples. “Work from home for now. Mayar can better protect you there. Here you won’t be safe, and I can’t get involved without risking some uppity witch coming along to rebind me.” David paused to make a shooing motion. “Go home. Lock your doors and windows. Let Mayar create a barrier.”

Mayar bit my skirt and tugged briefly. It looked like I didn’t have much choice in the matter.