Page 95 of A Shade of Myself
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I unclenched my fists,taking deep breaths until the vice around my chest loosened and I could analyze the situation logically. If Edvin died, his spell on the twins would break, but was that the only way?
What about Giselle—the real Aurora? I shook my head. Thinking of them this way was going to get confusing fast. I’d continue to refer to my client as Giselle and use the nickname Gigi for her twin until their real identities were restored.
Despite what Edvin had said, I didn’t believe Giselle knew what she was getting into when she said she wanted her sister’s life. It was one thing to envy a sibling and quite another to erase them from your reality. The odds were good that Giselle hadn’t known she was dealing with a demon. Given she now wanted to be reunited with her sister, perhaps she could undo this.
I pictured Gigi’s gnawed fingernails, how vulnerable she’d seemed, and Edvin’s glee at her “mental health” struggles with her true ballerina identity. I couldn’t bear to leave her with him a second longer than I had to, not to mention that my own client was heartbroken that she’d forgotten her sister.
This had gotten too big to handle on my own. I’d been lucky to break the demon’s illusion and I’d had Marsha’s magic to help me when the kargh thurt showed up. There was no way I’d test my luck when Edvin had made a direct threat against Sadie.
I needed Carpe Demon, especially since Edvin would still have to be taken out. He’d come after my daughter if the illusion was broken any other way than through his death.
As soon as I got home, spying through Eli’s window to make sure he and Sadie were safely behind the wards for the evening, I made myself comfortable in my living room with all the lights on and Delilah for company, and called Nav.
“Any way to break a demon illusion without killing the demon?” I stretched out on my divine divan, with my shadow lounging at my feet.
“You owe me five dollars,” Nav said.
“For what?”
There was the crack of pool balls. “Not you,” he said. “Laurent. Cocky bastard thought he could make a trick shot.”
“Say hi.” I was a petty, petty human being for wishing he was at home pining for me.
“What am I? Your girlfriend passing notes?” He paused. “Yes, Laurent, it’s Mitzi.” Another pause. “There’s this incredible new technology called a phone. Use it.”
I stroked the top curve of my velvet sofa like it was a cat. So pretty. “You’re more delightful than usual this fine evening, Naveen. Who pissed in your cornflakes?”
“I was all set to cuddle up with an expensive bottle of whiskey but this one dragged me out to go smash balls. And not even in the good way.”
A loud roar came through the phone and someone yelled, “Rematch!”
I winced, holding the cell away from my ear. “There’s a good way to smash balls?”
“Oh, innocent child.” Nav sighed. Ice tinkled. “I can make anything good.”
“Aaand back to the demon.”
“Hang on. This pool hall has been inundated by cretins.” The noise became muffled for a moment and then I heard the chirp of a pedestrian crossing and traffic. “All right. My answer is that it depends. Who’s the demon?”
I stared at the ceiling, debating my answer. “If I tell you, do you promise not to do anything without my go-ahead?”
“So long as your go-ahead doesn’t take long. I’ve been very patient with you but there’s a demon on the loose and I don’t like when that happens.”
“I don’t either, but I want the best possible outcome. His name is Edvin.”
“Don’t know that alias,” Nav said. “Describe him.”
I did, adding where I’d met him. And with whom.
“Lovely,” the Brit said in a flat voice. “Is this illusion on more than one person?”
“Yes.”
“That makes it harder. We have to identify each individual caught in it and bring them in to HQ to be deprogrammed one at a time. Depending on how deeply it’s taken root, the process can be extremely painful.”
Delilah was crowding me off the sofa, so I shut her down. “Would the demon know as soon as it was broken for the first person?”
