“There’s something off around Union Square.” Her mother’s voice cut out for a moment.
She tried to play dumb. “Mother, there isn’t, like, a notice board. There are hundreds of businesses in the neighborhood and I don’t talk to any of them.” Her mother had no idea how the mundane world worked, or even how huge it was. From what Morgan could tell, the magical community was a never-ending series of coincidences piled on top of each other. From the other side of the line, she could hear Murder squawk. And then there was the high-pitched scream that Morgan had come to recognize asOh god a crow pecked out my eye. “Mother, are you in a fight right now?”
“Just a little one.” Someoneoofed and Morgan was pretty sure it wasn’t Fiona. “Some wereleopards, I don’t think they’re even involved in the main case.”
“What main case?” Maybe it was something else? Please, may it be something else.
“I told you I didn’t want to get you involved.”
“Then why did you call me?”
“Because—” Her mother suddenly choked off a scream.
“Mother?” Morgan sat bolt upright. “Mother, are you OK?”
“It’s all right.” Her mother’s voice was tight with pain. “It’s in the shoulder again, I’ve got so much scar tissue there I can barely feel a thing.”
“Mother, you need to hang up the phone and get to a hospital!”
“No, no, I’ve got this.” There was a thud and a crack and a clatter as her mother dropped the phone. Morgan clutched her own, her knuckles white. There were a few more thuds and a moan, and then Fiona’s voice was back, a bit out of breath. “Your father will patch me up.”
“Why did you even call me in the middle of a fight?”
“I’m having trouble making inroads into the mundane business community and then I realized I had my own connection, and I didn’t want to lose the thought.”
“So you called me while fighting?”
“Well, I started to dial you and then they jumped me, but I’m pretty sure it’s because they’ve got some kind of pixie dust ring going. This is a total dead end.”
The tension headache was in full force. “I can’t help you unless you tell me what you’re looking for.”
Her mother sighed. “You have to understand, pumpkin, this is all very hush-hush. But we’ve got good reason to believe that one of the mundane businesses has been demon-summoning.”
Morgan froze, her bowels suddenly curdling.
“I thought it was someone in the community. It’s why I wanted you at that stupid dinner. Who would have thought it would turn out to be someone mundane? That’s why I need your help, pumpkin.”
“You think a demon is loose on this plane?” Morgan said, careful to watch her tone.
Her mother huffed a laugh. “Oh, if a demon were loose, I’m sure you’d have noticed. You’ve heard some of the stories from your father’s research, and that’s only the ones I’d let him tell you. There would be blood flooding the streets. No, someone’s made a Deal, that’s all. But that alone has a way of casting ripples.”
“Can’t you scry for that?” she asked, her mind racing. “Look for Infernal magic?”
“Don’t I wish.” She could almost hear Fiona rolling her eyes. “The really infuriating thing is that for whatever reason, Infernal magic itself is nearly invisible. So it’s the ripples we have to track. You haven’t seen any companies suddenly getting massively profitable out of nowhere, have you?”
Her mother had never read a stock market report in her life. “That’s not really my thing, mother.”
“Fallen stars,” her mother swore. “Well. Keep your eyes open, OK? Give me a call if you hear anything suspicious?”
“If any of our competitors suddenly get declared to be a unicorn, you’ll be the first I’ll call.”
“Unicorn? They don’t have unicorns on the Infernal Plane, are people summoning unicorns?”
“No, mother, the mundane business folks call a company a unicorn when they get a billion-dollar valuation—you know what, forget it.”
“You never did like unicorns,” her mother mused. “Not after that one bit you at Windsong’s birthday party.”
Someone groaned in the background and her mother continued. “Looks like they’re waking up. Gotta go. Call me if you hear anything.”
