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So did we.
Directly behind the motel was a strip of scrubland that bordered a patch of forest. There was no sign of which way Jaime or her pursuers had gone. Jaime was smart enough to head for the road. Had they let her? Or had they herded her into the forest? I was betting on the latter.
I was right. There was a single overgrown path leading in. Fresh footprints in the soft earth. Vines and undergrowth trampled.
We moved quickly and quietly, ears attuned. I picked up the occasional bird cry. That was it.
How long ago had Jaime run? I didn't want to think about that. Of course I still did. We'd been gone about two hours. Two hours of running through the forest, fleeing her pursuers.
If she'd escaped, she would have found a phone and called Jeremy. If she hadn't called . . .
I jogged faster.
When the path branched, we couldn't tell which way they'd gone. The denser forest meant less undergrowth to break through and drier ground, which didn't hold prints. We split up.
I'd gone about a quarter mile when a figure burst from the forest. It was a girl. Really a girl, no more than eleven. I knew we were looking for children, but I hadn't really believed it, certain there was another explanation.
It was a child, snarling and snapping like a rabid dog, saliva dripping from her mouth, blue eyes flashing, her ponytail spiked with twigs and laced with dirt. Dirt crusted her skin and clothing. Dirt and blood. Some of the blood had to be hers--her face and bare arms were crosshatched with cuts and scrapes. But there was too much to all be hers.
I thought of that body in the motel room. The operative.
The girl ran at me, and I instinctively started casting. I didn't consider my choice of spells. I just thought of that body and I cast from my gut. A demon-reveal spell.
The girl let out a horrible scream of agony that would have made me stop if it hadn't confirmed my suspicion. As I finished the incantation, I slammed into her. Her tiny body folded like a rag doll and crashed onto the ground. I winced, but I still dropped, straddling her, pinning her hands over her head as she writhed, eyes squeezed shut.
"Keeping your eyes closed won't help," I said. "That scream told me I was right, demon."
She opened her eyes. The blue had brightened to an orange-tinged red. She spat and howled and writhed.
"Savannah!" Mom's voice. I heard her feet pounding along the path.
"Over here," I called. "I got one."
I kept my gaze on the girl as Mom came to stand beside me.
"It is a child," she whispered.
"Not exactly. Check out the eyes. Never quite seen that color, but it's definitely demonic."
"No, baby, it can't be. She's just a child. The Berithian Treaty--" She stared as the girl's eyes flashed. "That's a demon."
"Um, yeah. I--"
The girl reared up, teeth bared and on a collision course with my arm. Mom caught her in a binding spell.
"Thanks," I said. "I cast a demon reveal, which means my spells won't work on her for a while."
"Which is why you really shouldn't cast it if you suspect a demon."
"I knew what I was doing, Mom."
I'd made the right choice--reveal the demon before risking harm to the girl. Just because I couldn't use spells on it afterward didn't mean I was defenseless.
Mom crouched beside the girl. "I don't understand. The Berithian Treaty . . ." She moved behind the girl and pinned her shoulders. "Okay, I'm going to release the spell so we can talk to her. Oh, and the eye color? That means it's not really a demon. More of a demonic entity. You won't have had any experience with these guys. Strictly hell-dimension dwellers. At least until now."
She snapped the binding spell and the girl started gnashing her teeth and kicking. We had her securely pinned, and when she realized she wasn't going anywhere, she settled for hissing, eyes pulsating between red and orange.
"Where's Jaime Vegas?" Mom said.
