Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            Al’s eyebrows rose at my slumping sigh. “If by some miracle you do maintain control of the Weres, I imagine he will try to use the elves next,” Al said. “Seeing as he’s likely an elf. The witches, though, might be a better choice. The witches never liked you. Odd, that.” Al’s expression became introspective. “Perhaps because they can see what they might be if they had the courage, and are pissed that they are afraid.”

            It was the same vibe I was getting from Vivian, and I sat before the fire, my ruined marshmallow hanging high over the flames. “Jenks never got close enough for even a sniff,” I said, wanting to show him the ring in my pocket. “I think he knew me, though.”

            “The mage? Everyone knows you,” Al said lightly. “Are you going to eat that?”

            He was eyeing my charred marshmallow, and I handed him the stick. “No wonder you’re all reclaiming your books,” I said as Al delicately nibbled the burnt marshmallow, his eyes closing in bliss. “Ever since you regained your ability to cross into reality, everyone seems to think they can do your magic. And who gets blamed? Me.”

            Al popped the marshmallow into his mouth and licked his fingers clean, apparently satisfied with the entire world. “Yes. It’s a problem. What do you intend to do about it?”

            Worried, I took the ring from my pocket and rolled it between my thumb and finger. “Will you look at this and tell me what it is? Walter used it to uncurse David.”

            Al’s gaze flicked from me to Trent and back again. “He’s awake? David is okay?”

            “Okay being a relative term,” Trent said.

            “They beat him near to death before uncursing him,” I said as my hand dropped, the ring heavy in it. “They wouldn’t have bothered to uncurse him at all, except the mage thought they couldn’t peel the focus off him if he was spelled.” Thank God I was there to stop that.

            “David can’t be awake,” Al said, sounding affronted. “I saw what happened at Eden Park.” And then Al sort of froze. “I made a mistake. David was not downed by a chakra curse.”

            Trent’s gaze flicked to me, the slant of his eyes telling me he’d heard the unusual tightness in Al’s voice as well. He made a mistake? “Fine,” I said. “Then tell me what this is.”

            I extended the ring again, and again Al didn’t take it, the very way he stared at it chilling me. “I am sure I don’t know,” he said as he focused on his marshmallow, now a perfect tan. “If David is awake, it wasn’t a chakra curse that downed him. There is no cure.”

            But his words were too fast and his voice too low. Trent shook his head, confirming it. Al was lying. To me.

            My jaw tightened as Al set his marshmallow aside and reached for the Piggly Wiggly bag, taking out a box of graham crackers and a chocolate bar. He really was making s’mores. “The hospital verified it,” I said, fishing.

            “The hospital is mistaken.”

            I made a fist around the ring. “I bet Hodin knows what it is.”

            It was an empty threat, but Al finally looked at me. “You are not talking to Hodin.”

            “That’s right,” I said in a huff. “I’m talking to you. Will you look at the stupid ring?”

            Eyes narrowed to slits, he put out his hand and I dropped the ring into it. His focus went distant as he held it, but it wasn’t until he gazed at the moon through the battered circle that he exhaled. “Hodin indeed crafted this,” he said, worried. “I know his aura as well as my own, and it clings to his work like a disease.”

            Al blew through the circle to hear it ring, and my gut tightened. “What does it do?” I asked.

            “I don’t know,” Al said. “I should keep it.”

            Annoyed, I held out my hand, not liking his hesitation before he dropped it into my palm. Doesn’t know what it is, my lily-white ass. I’d seen David’s chart. He had been under a chakra curse, same as Cassie’s employees, and now he wasn’t. Walter had clearly used the ring to break the curse. Brad thought the ring was his, and seeing as Brad would be doubly stupid to buy a curse without the cure, he was probably right.

            “I’d help if I could,” Al said, and my eyes narrowed in suspicion. He’s offering to help?