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He shrugged. “Well, I am getting hungry.”
“We’ll have a pancake party for breakfast,” I said with a grin then passed through the shikvihr ring to the center of the nexus. Within the vortex of power, the pull of the moon became tangible, like a gentle updraft. I motioned the others to me and circled up with them in the midst of the power. The demon stood tall with both pairs of hands locked together before him while Pellini looked as relaxed and easy-going as if this was a daily occurrence. Michael fidgeted, eager and excited.
“Okay, let’s get this ball rolling,” I said, clapping my hands together. “Pellini, you do whatever it is we pay you to do.” I paused briefly at his amused snort then continued, “Michael, you look for Szerain. Turek, I’ll arcanely follow Michael’s gaze and create and hold open a conduit for you to communicate.” Easy, right? “I’ll get the—”
“I see him!” Michael shouted.
Crapsticks. I wasn’t even close to being ready.
“He’s all lonely walking back and forth with dark all around,” Michael went on. “He looks like he needs a nap.”
My knee-jerk reaction was to hurry and lay the conduit before Michael lost the vision, but my inner Responsible Summoner pointed out that forging ahead without the proper groundwork was not only a way to guarantee failure but dangerous to everyone involved. “Don’t focus too hard,” I said, keeping my voice calm and reassuring as I worked the needed preparations. “I need you to keep seeing him for about a minute more, okay?”
“I’m trying, but it’s all wiggly with stars and hard to look at long.”
“Hold steady for as long as you can.” My original plan to form a conduit relied on Michael maintaining a stable and reliable vision for several minutes. Gut instinct told me that wasn’t going to happen, which meant it was time for a change of plan. “Pellini, follow my lead and reinforce.” Working as quickly as I dared, I placed knots of potency along Michael’s line of sight, like tying string around trees to mark a path through the woods.
“I can’t do it anymore, Kara!” Michael’s voice quavered with distress.
“It’s okay, you can let it go now.” I gave him a warm smile. “You did great!”
Michael sagged as the pathway shut down, and Pellini lowered him to sit. My focus stayed locked onto the potency knots. As I’d hoped, they remained as a faint but perceptible trail, and I proceeded to run threads of potency from knot to knot, until I had an arcane strand that ran from the center of the nexus to where Michael had seen Szerain.
“All right, that part’s done,” I said. “Turek, can you feel him through the strand?”
The demon lowered his head. “I have reached him, but his response is dampened to impressions only.”
Right. Because a nice, easy, two-way communication was obviously too much to ask for. I mentally flipped the universe a middle finger. “That’s okay,” I said as if I believed it. “We can make this work. Tell Szerain I’m set to do the Dekkak summoning at the height of the full, at 11:23 p.m. tonight. But I don’t have the gimkrah. Does that change anything?” Like, has he come up with a plan that doesn’t involve me dancing with an ancient killer demon?
Turek’s nostrils flared. “The impression I sense is to ask all and tell all with haste, then wait.”
In other words, we didn’t have time for a leisurely back-and-forth. “Did he get stuck away from the others? Is the plan still on for me to set the bunker diagrams and bring everyone home once I have Elinor? How soon? The Jontari have the master gimkrah. Lannist is dead. I have Elinor’s journal
. Ilana has manipulated and suppressed Mzatal. Xharbek knows about the summoning, and I’m sure he wants me to do it and die. Should I proceed with the summoning or not? I’ll hold this connection open and wait for an answer.” I bit down on the urge to ask Turek if he’d gotten all of that.
The demon went still while I fed potency into the strand to maintain contact. A good thirty seconds later, he lifted his head. “I have transmitted the information, but know not if it was received in full.”
“It’s a darn good start.” I tried to sound cheerful and upbeat even though my nerves jangled. I hadn’t realized until now just how badly I wanted Szerain’s reassurance that we were on the right track and good to go with what little plan we had.
The strand of potency abruptly flared then burned away like a fuse on dynamite. Aghast, I swung my full attention to the demon. “Did you get an answer?” My voice shook. “Anything at all?”
“Secrets,” Turek hissed. “Nothing more.”
I shook my head in confusion. “Secrets? That doesn’t make any sense.” Frustration and despair rose in a choking wave. All of this effort for one cryptic word? No answers. No advice. Just secrets.
Pellini softly cleared his throat. “Did y’all have a secret hideout or handshake or something? Maybe it’s a clue.”
A caustic retort boiled up, but I choked it back as his words triggered a memory.
A spiral notebook appearing out of thin air.
“You need to teach me that trick some day.”
“How can I amaze and mystify if I give away my secrets?”
My pulse pounded with relief and excitement. “Secret hideout is right. Pellini, you just earned your pancake party.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said with a chuckle. “So, where is the hideout?”
