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Lucas leaned forward. “They were around during creation according to most sources, but have been quietly in the background since then. They pop up now and then, but mostly keep to themselves. There are supposed to be seven good and five evil archons. And I use good and evil liberally. Meaning the good ones will usually, but not always, favor on the side of light, depending on their purposes. The opposite is true of the evil. Iao, Seth, Saklas, David, Yaldabaoth, Eloiein, and Elilaios. Paraplex, Hekate, Ariouth, Typhon, and Iachtanabas. That’s where all of my knowledge ends.”
“Eli is Elilaois?” I asked.
“I think so, but besides that he’s on the lighter side of the gray area, I don’t know anything else about him.”
There had to be more. This couldn’t be everything that everyone knew. If there was no more information on archons, then how was I supposed to figure out how to make a deal with one?
I sent a look to Claudia begging for more, but she gave me one solitary shrug. “I don’t know anything about them.”
Okay. So that was horrible. “So Eli is what? A god?”
“No.” Lucas’s voice was so firm, I wondered if I’d offended him with the question. “Not God. Not an angel. Not a demon. But something in the middle of all of those things.”
“So, how do I get ahold of Eli?”
“He’s a watcher. If he’s spoken to you, then we—meaning everyone on this plane—are in grave danger. And he’ll show up and make the deal with you, but only if you meet his terms.”
“Perfect. I guess it’s too easy to assume he’ll break the tie.”
“No. Not if he said you had to do it,” Lucas said. “But I’m not an expert. I know next to nothing about archons.”
I almost laughed. The way he explained it, he was the only one who knew anything about them. “What do you think?”
Claudia glanced at her cup of tea on the table for a second before meeting my gaze again. “I wish I had an answer.”
“There’s always an answer,” Adrian said. “There has to be a way to break the tie. We’re just not thinking of it.”
“Yes. Exactly that.” Finally someone besides Dastien was on the same page as me. “We don’t have the crystals and they probably wouldn’t work anyway, but there’s got to be a way. I’m open to any suggestions, as long as it doesn’t involve me dying or selling off the rest of our souls. Once that’s done, we can focus on figuring out how to restore the Seven so that this doesn’t happen again.”
“Random question, y’all.” Adrian cleared his throat. “My demon bite is from one of Astaroth’s minions. That isn’t going to have the same effect—”
“No!” Claudia said. “Raphael was bitten by a zombie that was powered by Luciana’s magic—which was actually Astaroth.” She reached across the table to pat his hand. “You’re fine. There’s no tie.”
Adrian let out a breath. “Well, that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.”
“Yes. You’re fine,” Claudia said. “The only reason I have one is because of the blood oath. Luciana was using me to amp her own power, and I knew she’d added something extra to my oath, but…” She let out a long sigh that was full of regret. “I thought Raphael was fine, but my best guess is that the demon saw a way in he could use later and took it. And Tessa—”
“The tie’s been there since I was stripped of my magic,” I said, and Dastien squeezed my hand tighter. “I just didn’t know it.”
“Shit,” Chris said. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault.” What are we going to do?
I don’t know, but Adrian is right. There’s always a way. I’m not about to give up.
Me either. “If Claudia and I can’t use magic to break it, then what are our options?” I asked, but all I got was silence. “Maybe Cosette could—”
“Nah. Not a good idea,” Chris said. For whatever reason, Chris always seemed to connect with Cosette. So, I trusted him when he said that it wasn’t a good idea, but from what Eli said, the fey had a big hand in this, too.
“Why not?” Adrian asked.
“Just don’t.” Chris’s voice was as firm as I’d ever heard, so I was taking him at his word.
“Okay.” But I might try messaging her on my own. “So what is a good idea? Who has power enough to break a tie to a demon? Do we know any demon experts? A witch. Some sort of Van Helsing person? Lucas, you’re old. You’ve got to have something.”
“I wish I did,” he said. “We asked everyone we could before we came here, and got a whole lot of speculation, but nothing helpful.”
I was starting to think that there was no good way out of this, and I couldn’t do that. There had to be a way. I just didn’t know what it was yet.
