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"He said he could teach me to deflecton"

"I think he’s into you," Jen repeated "Did you even bother to ask him what his story was?"

"Yeah, I did," I admitted "It was, u question, you know?"

"I guess So, Mr Ludovic," she intoned, "tell et kicked out of heaven and hell?"

"Soh," shethe scattered contents of raveyard dirt, coffin nail, and tooth in the tissue and stuffed it gingerly back into the leather sack, ready to due of pain I wouldn’t even have bothered if the nail wasn’t already poking holes in the tissue But it seemed that Jojo had spoken the truth, and the charm ell and truly broken

"So what happens now, Daise?" Jen askedover my shoulder "First, I need to tell Casimir that he can call off the coven Second, I need to talk to Sinclair before I confront Emmy I can’t leave him out of this He needs to decide where he stands"

"Do you want o with you?" Jen offered "Because I’ll be there if you do"

"I know" I gave her a quick hug "You’re the best This, I think I can handle But I couldn’t have gotten through thiswithout you Don’t tell anyone how badly I freaked out, okay?"

She returned esture "I’ll take it to the grave, Hel’s liaison"

It was the first time Jen had ever called me by my title, and I have to admit it felt a little weird Not bad, justweird

"Thanks," I said "Consider yourself the first "

Like rown up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer "That would be a lot cooler if I wasn’t totally the Xander" She smiled wryly "No skills to offer but loyalty and a smart mouth"

"Yeah, and life would be a lot easier if I had Slayer super strength," I said "But we reed "And it could be worse We could be stuck with Stacey Brooks as our unlikely ht"

Seventeen

As soon as Jen left, I hustled back to the Sisters of Selene to update Casier He squeezed his eyes tightly shut for the space of a few breaths, his long, cri into the counter

"Daisy, I am so sorry," he said when he’d collected himself "I jumped to a conclusion when I should have taken the time to do the research"

"It’s okay," I said "I lost my te unattended, not with dauda-dagr in it And you warned me that you didn’t know a lot about obeah"

"That’s no excuse" His face was gri "But it ht I’ll tell you, the law of threefold return’s going to bite her in the ass, and I wouldn’ton a counterspell, darling? Soeful?"

"What?" I blinked "No! Jesus, Cas! You’re the one who’s alarning me not to be tempted by the dark side--which, by the way, just makes me think about it when I wasn’t Anyway, I need to handle thishis lips, he considered ht, hold on a lass display case and ru up with a small silver medallion etched with a Star of David inside concentric circles and various squigglywith a loop so it could be worn as a pendant "Here This is your basic Seal of Solo earlier It should give you a measure of protection from hostile spells"

"I’m a little short on cash," I admitted I was always short on cash

Casimir reached for my hand and plunked the medallion into it "Don’t worry, it’s not the most expensive amulet I carry, honey And they’re ift Take it with ood health"

"Okay, okay!" I undid the clasp on my necklace and threaded the Seal of Solomon onto the chain When I was done, it nestled beside the Oak King’s talise "Thanks I’ll, uer"

He eyed er?"

"I do" I stated it with a tone of authority, or at least I tried to "In the interest ofHel’s order, of course"

"Good for you" It must have worked, because there was a note of respect in the Fabulous Casiet started on that database Too bad I knew nothing about creating databases For now, I’d just have to settle forCasimir’s shop, I went back to eto compete with Emmeline Palmer on the basis of style, I went practical instead, with a working wardrobe of jeans and a black scoop-neck T-shirt Pants weren’t as comfortable as skirts since they confined my poor tail, but I’d found that people tended to take le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>