“Ah-ha,” I said. “So if we can find Scott and hitch a ride in with him …”

“Impossible, I fear. He is, at this moment, one of those empty shells he once exploited.”

“He’s dead? Well, he can’t have been dead long, so if you know where his body is, we’ll have Jaime give him a taste of his own medicine. Resurrect him—”

“He isn’t merely dead. He’s quite dead.”

“Quite dead?”

“Flayed.”

“Oh. What’d he do? Piss off a lord demon?”

“No, it was a group of your garden variety demonic underlings. He thought he might be able to contact Lucifer himself if he summoned enough of his foot soldiers. He was mistaken.”

“Well, we can’t work with flayed. He’d need skin.” I looked at Adam, who confirmed that with a nod.

Asmondai appealed to Adam. “Are you really listening to this spirit, my son? You are brighter than that. You have studied your histories of his kind. Have they ever helped mortals?”

“They’ve been known to help restore balance,” Adam said.

“Tell Balaam’s grandchild when they last did that. And how they achieved it.”

Adam looked at me. “Eudemons are said to have been responsible for several plagues.”

“Which solved serious issues of urban overcrowding,” Aratron said. “And led to many of the scientific advances in hygiene, medicine, and disease control that allow you to live such long and healthy lives today.”

“The thousands of people who died in agony might have rather you guys found a kinder, gentler way to go about it,” I said.

“Kinder and gentler does not inspire fear. Fear inspires innovation.”

I turned to Asmondai. “I’m okay with the plagues.”

He gave me a sour look. “You won’t be, if that’s what he’s planning now. This virus you’re trying so hard to suppress could be another method of establishing balance, as he sees it.”

“Then he wouldn’t be trying to stop de Rais,” I said. “In this case, he’s on our team.”

“He’s handicapped you by taking your spells. He is not on your side, girl.”

“No,” Adam said. “You’re the one who’s not on our side. You want this thing stopped—the virus, the reveal, all of it. Not for our benefit, but because you think it would be the end of supernaturals, and you’d kind of like to keep us around. We can be useful. De Rais thinks Lucifer will help him; you think Lucifer will destroy de Rais. So you’re here to make sure we don’t interfere. As for Hope? She’s inconsequential.”

Aratron laughed. “Your son has indeed inherited your astuteness, Asmondai. You must be very pleased.”

The demon glowered.

I turned to Aratron. “What about a glamour spell to make someone look like Scott—Wait. The ward would kill that, wouldn’t it?”

“It would. But you are on the right track, child. Gordon Scott can get inside those gates. You cannot use Scott himself, but you could make someone appear to be him. How can that be done without a glamour spell?”

“It can’t,” Asmondai said. “You’re wasting their time, spirit. Perhaps you are also in no hurry to stop the summoning of Lucifer.”

Aratron kept his gaze on me. “You know there is another way. A special tool tucked deep in the Cortez security cells.”

“Jasper Haig.”

“Who loves Lucifer’s child. Who would gladly do this to save her.”

Asmondai snorted. “Free a man like that? In the midst of all this? I do believe you may have a taste for chaos after all, spirit.”

“Asmondai has a point,” Adam said slowly. “Jaz isn’t a tool we can easily control. What incentive do we offer? He might claim to love Hope, but the way he terrorizes her? That’s not love. We could offer to set him free if he does this, but he’ll know that’s a lie. He’s too dangerous. He’s never getting out of there.”

“Which is why he’ll do it,” I said. “In order to save Hope, we have to let him out temporarily. It’ll be the first real chance he’s had to escape. He’ll take it. He’s arrogant enough to think he can get away. First, though, he’ll want Hope. Whether he really loves her or not, he wants her. He won’t try to escape until after he’s freed her, so he can take her with him. In other words, he won’t try escaping until he’s done what we want him to do.”

Adam nodded. “That might work.”

Aratron turned to Asmondai. “Your child is astute; Balaam’s is cunning. Do you see how well the two of you could work together?”

Asmondai snarled and stalked off into the cornfield.

Aratron waited until he was gone, then said, “That, children, is his grudging agreement that our plan might just work. Now go. Put the wheels in motion, as they say. Before de Rais tires of waiting for his necromancer.”

FORTY-TWO

Both Benicio and Lucas suspected Jasper Haig would want more than a day pass in return for saving the supernatural world. But it turned out I’d been right. He asked for nothing. If Hope was in danger, then by gosh he was going to save her. Or something like that.

So Jaz was coming. Under lock and key. Heavy locks and well-guarded keys.

Lucas had just gotten off the conference call setting this up. We were in the tent—him, me, Adam, Clay, and Paige—when

Jaime came hurrying over, Jeremy behind her.

“Eve’s found a break in the warding against spirits,” she said. “It’s a small one, but she can get through with Kristof. We’ll have eyes on the inside in a few minutes.”

“Finally,” Paige said, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

That relief didn’t last long. The first report was certainly positive—Hope was alive. She was being held under a doctor’s care. Group members were milling about. There was no sign that the summoning was imminent.

But we had hours to wait until Jaz arrived, and while it was good to have an inside view, it was nerve-racking, too. Every time my mother or father came back to report that something was happening, we were certain Giles was preparing to summon Lucifer. Then it would turn out to just be lunchtime, and we’d grumble and pace and settle back into watching and waiting.