But when I opened the door to Dad's office, he wasn't alone. Lara was in there, and even though they were speaking in low voices, the magic in the room was so intense it made me dizzy. They were both so busy glaring at each other that they didn't even notice me standing there, which was good. It gave me a chance to study Lara. I knew I wasn't going to figure out what she was up to just by reading her face; I seriously doubt there's an expression that says, "So me and my sister are raising demons at Hecate Hal ."Stil , I thought there might be some hint as to whether she already knew someone had found the demon spot.
But there was nothing. She was every bit as good at hiding her emotions as Mrs. Casnoff was. Must run in the family.
"So that's it then,"Lara said, crossing her arms. "You're not going to do anything."
"What can I do,"Dad said in that deceptively calm voice, "if neither you nor Anastasia wil tel me what exactly has happened at Graymalkin?"
Wel , there was my answer. I'd known that Lara and Mrs. Casnoff had to have had something to do with whatever was going on at Hecate, but to have it confirmed like that stil blew my mind. How? How could these women who worked so closely with Dad be up to something so heinous without his knowing?
"The school is our domain,"Lara snapped. "And so this is our affair."
"And yet you ask for my help."
Lara sprung forward suddenly, slamming her hand down on Dad's desk. "There was an intruder on a forbidden part of the island, and the security system was compromised."Another image of Archer's sword slicing through a ghoul came to mind. Yeah, compromised was one word for it.
Suddenly she changed tactics. "You swore. You swore to my father that you would do everything in your power to protect Anastasia's and my interests in Hecate."
Even I could have told her that was a bad move. Dad just looked pissed. "Don't bring him into this, Lara."
Dad final y noticed me then, and as he looked over Lara's shoulder at me, she whirled around. Immediately, her face softened, and she even smiled. Her eyes, however, were every bit as hard and shiny as the varnish on Dad's desk.
"Sophie, there you are! Where have you been the past few days? We've hardly seen you."
"A-around?"I stuttered, inwardly cringing. Oh, that was an awesome alibi. "Dad gave me a bunch of reading to do. Am I interrupting something?"
Lara waved her hand. "Just some boring Council business. Nothing that concerns you."She glanced at Dad. "We can finish talking about al this later. I'l leave the two of you to chat."As she left the office, she patted my hand in that familiar way she always did. It took everything I had in me not to wince away from her touch.
The door clicked behind her, and I gave a sigh of relief. Dad gestured for me to sit. Once I had, he said, "I'm afraid my trip wasn't quite as successful as I'd hoped. Aislinn Brannick continues to-"
"They're raising demons at Hex Hal ,"I blurted out. "I went there the other day-I took the Itineris-and I saw it myself. That's where it's happening, and six students have disappeared from the school in the past eighteen years. Two of them were Anna and Chaston, the girls Alice attacked last year."It felt good getting it al out like that. It didn't give me time to be scared that there were holes in my story.
Dad just stared at me like I'd started speaking Greek. Of course, Dad probably spoke Greek, so maybe it was more like I was talking Martian. In any case, he looked equal parts freaked out and confused.
"What?"
I made myself slow down as I went back through the story, leaving out Archer's part in it, of course. I told Dad that I'd remembered seeing something weird at Hecate, so I'd gone back to check it out, then described the pit, the rock in the middle, even the ghouls.
By the time I was finished, Dad looked older and sadder than I'd ever seen him. "None of this makes any sense."
"I'm beginning to think I should make that the title of my autobiography."
"Lara and Anastasia are two of my most trusted al ies,"he said, rubbing his hand over his jaw. "Why on earth would they be behind al this?"
"That's the mil ion-dol ar question. Is there any way to check and see if Nick and Daisy were ever at Hecate? They must have had different names or you'd remember them."
I don't know why I was holding out hope that Dad would be al , "Why, yes, let me check the Hecate Enrol ment Roster 9000 computer database."Those lists were probably written on pieces of parchment with quil feathers. Stil , I was disappointed when Dad shook his head and said, "No, Anastasia keeps al those records. And if what you say about Anna's and Chaston's parents is true, then Nick's and Daisy's own families would never have reported them missing."
Dad got that faraway look in his eyes, the one that said he was about to go in search of real y ancient books and cryptic passages. Sure enough, he got up from his desk and walked over to his bookshelf.
He pul ed out one of those giant leather tomes he was so fond of and started paging through it, so I decided I was dismissed. Fine by me. I heaved myself out of the chair and shuffled for the door.
Just as I turned the knob, Dad said, "Sophia."
"Yeah?"
When I looked back at him, he said. "I'm very proud of you for what you did. I have no idea what the far-reaching consequences of your actions may be, but-"
I held up my hand. "Let's leave it at the proud part for now, okay, Dad?"
Especial y since a lot of that pride would probably dissolve once he found out about Archer, I thought with a pang of sadness.
He smiled. "Very wel . Good night."
"Night, Dad."
I walked out into the lobby. It was nearly empty, for once, except for the two vampire guards standing watch. The whole house seemed quiet as I walked down the massive staircase. Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was nearly eleven. Less than an hour until I was supposed to meet Archer, and I had no idea what I would say to him when-
"Sophie?"
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Daisy standing at the top of the stairs, just inside the archway. There was something weird about her posture: her hands were clenched at her sides, and her head was tilted slightly to the right. Her face was blank. Alarm bel s clanged in my head, but I raised my arm in a halfhearted wave. "There you are,"I said, as I backed up. "We haven't seen you-"
I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence. Daisy started moving toward me, and then I noticed her eyes.
There was nothing human in them.
Everything seemed to slow down as nearly every hair on my body stood on end. I had seen eyes like that before, and I knew what they meant.
I raised my hands, and despite my fatigue, the magic came, clean and pure. I thought of Mom, and with one flick of my wrist, sent a burst of power crashing into Daisy's shoulder. I didn't want to hurt her, just slow her down. But even though she stumbled on the steps, she kept coming.
"Dad!"I yel ed, even though I knew he couldn't hear me.
Daisy snarled at me and lunged, her hands curling into claws, and this time I shot a bolt of magic big enough to knock her to the ground. She hit her knees, whimpering with pain, and even though I was terrified, guilt shot through me. She wasn't Daisy, I reminded myself. There was no trace of her in the thing that staggered to its feet, rage gleaming in its eyes. Then she looked up. I saw her lips move, but I wasn't sure what she was saying.
Only when I heard the horrible screeching of metal on stone did I realize I was standing right under one of the huge statues that had so impressed Jenna our first day.
A statue that was about to land on my head.
This may sound weird, but the first thing I thought as I watched that ten-feet-tal bronze lady plummet toward my face was, "Wel , at least it can't kil me."Only demonglass could do that, after al , but I wasn't sure even Cal could heal the amount of broken I was about to be.
Without real y thinking, I closed my eyes. I felt my powers surging through me, and then a strange sensation of cold wind rushed over me; something I hadn't felt since that night in the clearing with Alice.
As if from distance, I heard the deafening crash of the statue on the marble floor. I opened my eyes.
I was standing several feet away, on the staircase behind Daisy. For the first time in over six months, I'd teleported.
Daisy whirled around, confused, but apparently, the sound of a ginormous metal statue hitting the floor got everyone's attention, because I suddenly heard running footsteps. "No!"someone shouted. It was Dad, standing at the top of the stairs. He was breathing hard, one hand held out toward Daisy.
"This is not you,"he told Daisy, and I could tel it was a struggle to keep his voice calm. "You can fight this. Remember what I taught you."
But not even the smal est hint of understanding flickered on Daisy's face. That was the scariest part. Even Alice, as insane as she'd been, had seemed human. Daisy was nothing but a monster, her face twisted with rage.
Moving so quickly we barely had time to react, Daisy reached into her waistband and pul ed something out. It was the same piece of demonglass that had hit me at my birthday party. The substance sizzled in her hand, burning her, but Daisy didn't flinch. She charged us, her eyes the same violet-red Alice's had been that last night.
The next few moments were a blur. Daisy rushed at me, demonglass hoisted high, and then there was a flash of light from above me-Dad-but once again, it was like Daisy couldn't feel any pain. Dad was suddenly beside me, throwing his body between mine and the jagged, black shard, and I think I screamed.
Suddenly, a shout rang out, a word I'd never heard before. In fact, I'm not even sure it was a word, but whatever it was, there was power in it that made my head feel like it was splitting open.
Daisy went very stil , her eyes wide. The demonglass dropped harmlessly from her fingers, and for just a second, she looked like the Daisy I knew.
Then her eyes rol ed back and she crumpled on the stairs, rol ing down several of them before coming to a rest on the landing. Somewhere in the house, one of the clocks rang out eleven bel s, and I realized with shock that it had been less than four minutes since I'd walked out of Dad's office.
Dad ran down the stairs and over to Daisy's inert body, pressing his fingers into the hol ow beneath her jaw while I stared at Lara. She stood next to the fal en statue, breathing hard.
"What the heck was that?"I asked her, my voice sounding very loud in the silence.
"A simple immobilization spel ,"she replied as she crossed the hal , her heels clacking.
"You're lying."
Dad spit those words out with way more venom than I'd thought he was capable of. Lara must've been shocked too, because her face paled.
"Excuse me?"
Rising to his feet, Dad stared her down. "There is no immobilization spel that can stop a demon that has crossed over."
Dad sounded so scary that I shuddered a little bit, but Lara didn't even blink. "Clearly there is, because I just used it successful y."She gestured to Daisy. "That girl was going to kil you, James."
I moved down to stand next to Dad. "What wil happen to her now?"
Dad never took his eyes off of Lara. "She'l have to be contained somehow. One of the cel s in the lower level, I should think."
