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Of course, Lucifer probably had nefarious plans for the shoes hiht now I needed to deal with the crisis at hand and then worry about the next crisis when it occurred

A key was needed to access the penthouse via the elevator, and Arkan produced it afteronaway like a baby piglet Pretty much all he does is eat, sleep, make smart comments about my poor decisions, and watch bad television

The elevator doors opened on the penthouse It was curiously quiet I’d expected an entourage,a spell But there was nothing except a room empty of people but full of expensive furniture A ros faced Michigan Avenue I pushed the sword into Arkan’s back "Move"

We stepped into the roo ht At the very least Sa for Arkan to return That is, unless

"You’re Sammy Blue," I said

He turned to face leam with triumph

Ah There’s the trap, then

I had only half a second to turn before the blow fell I had an i its fist down onwent black

I woke to the sound ofaround the room like bees in a hive The back of my head ached, and so did my ribs and stomach I suspected that Sammy Blue had either stepped on me or kicked uely like a blanket had been thrown over h there wasn’t one

I openedattention Unfortunately, I was lying on my side on the carpet, my hands and ankles bound, and so all I could really see were shoes in motion From the sound of the conversation I deduced that the witches had arrived My trapped and tied state led me to further deduce that I was the sacrifice for which they’d been waiting

If I’d thought it through all the way I would have realized they’d needcarries a curse better than blood The blood of the victiine anyone with sense in his head trying to stick Lucifer and carry away a sa was soreat-granddaughter was at hand?

I wriggled experi to see if there was any play in the knots There wasn’t I considered trying to set the ropes on fire, then discarded that idea I don’t have fine control of my powers If I tried to burn the ropes apart, the whole hotel could go up in a giant conflagration and thousands of people could be killed

Still, I’dthe building aflame, so maybe I could play Jedi and unknot the ropes with the power of ic--and it wasn’t there

Or rather, it was there, but it wasn’t available to me Now I knehy I felt like I’d had a blanket thrown overspell on uys that Saht was still in otten about him or decided that Beezle was no threat It was true that Beezle was a threat only if you were a bag of candy that did not want to be eaten, but that didn’t h closed lips My back was pressed up against a wall and no one was nearthan I do I kneolves that could hear a pin drop on the other side of the continent

My gargoyle did not respond

"Beezle!" I repeated, trying to wriggle oyle was nestled in wouldexhalation

"Seriously? You’re still asleep?" I muttered

Beezle could untie ic I could still use h, I was sure he hadn’t left it withinany attention to ainst the walls The curtains were drawn Three witches stood around a circle on the floor They were young and coht have been office workers or college students There was nothing to indicate that they were about to use theirto death

They alking through the process of the spell, and occasionally one of them would use a piece of chalk to add a symbol inside the circle Sa quietly on his cell phone, his back to e out of the suit he’d worn earlier and put on a different one--one that didn’t have a hole in the back fro that hita nap in the bedrooainst the wall near the elevator, just about as far froet untied, sprint across the room--difficult, as I’d just been conked in the head and probably had a concussion--grab the sword, fight off three witches and a clever faerie, avoid whatever giant monster had hit me in the first place, find the Red Shoes and escape froic

No pressure