Nathan barked a short, bitter laugh. “I’m flattered.”
Raya, sensing an advantage, barrelled on. “I haven’t even gotten started yet. What you wrote about summoning—you wouldn’t believe what I was able to do with it.” Raya picked up a wand from the table they were standing next to and weighed it in her hand.
He blinked, once. “Go on.”
Raya replaced the wand and drew him down the row of vendors by tugging on his jacket sleeve. “I had a real breakthrough. I encountered a demon, and boom! I banished him on the spot.” She left out the part where she later tried to rescue the demon, and the other part where the demon fell in love with her friend, but those weren’t the important parts.
At least, they weren’t the parts Nathan should hear.
“That’s very interesting,” said Nathan.
Raya watched his eyes as if she could follow the strange clockwork of his thoughts.
When he spoke, it was stilted but sincere. “I wrote it with the intention of guiding witches to accomplish that sort of thing. It’s gratifying to hear that it worked for someone.”
Raya nodded eagerly. “And then, I was able to conjure another demon and command it to do my bidding.” The fact that said demon’s name was Phoenix and he was currently accompanying her on shopping trips to Le Bon Marché remained unsaid.
No need to clutter the conversation with useless details.
“Impressive.”
Raya beamed. “Do you think so?”
His head tilted slightly as he appeared to be considering something, the motion almost birdlike when paired with his unblinking stare.
Raya held her breath so she wouldn’t be tempted to interrupt his thoughts.
“I’m taking a side trip tomorrow. A little bit of magic-seeking,” he said.
“You are?”
He nodded. “I already have an assistant, but … ”
Raya’s eyes widened hopefully.
“ … we could use a third witch,” he finished. “Would you be interested?”
Raya bit her lip and attempted to contain the wild glee bubbling up inside her. “Sounds very interesting. Where would we be going?”
“Hiking.”
“Hiking?” She did not intend for the word to come out in a high-pitched squeak. Mother Nature’s all well and good until a scorpion crawls up your pants. But Nathan was watching her, assessing her, and she had to be convincing. “Fantastic!” She pasted a smile on her face and hoped he bought it.
She would have suffered almost anything—scorpions included—for a chance to learn from the best.
“I’ll leave a copy of the directions for you at the desk.” He walked away without another word.
“Bye!” she called, doing her best to sound casual. She nonchalantly pivoted to the nearest table and grabbed the first thing she could lay her hands on, which turned out to be a book titledHow to Trap a Demon. She flipped the pages without reading a word, waiting for Nathan to be out of sight.
When he was gone, she put the book down and did a happy dance in the aisle.
6
Phoenix wouldn’t tell her where he was taking her that night, only that it was a secret and he’d have to blindfold her before they got there.
“So you finally decided to impress me?”
“I’m beginning to think the blindfold won’t be enough. Maybe I should gag you, too,” said Phoenix, brandishing a folded cloth.
