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He nodded curtly "Yes, and vao, but stopped short He turned his head and sniffed the air "Wait a second What the hell are you?"

"I’m mixed-blood," I said

His eyes widened "Impossible"

I crossed my arms "Actually, it’s quite possible"

He seemed to consider it and let it slide for a moment "What do you want?"

"I have a demon issue" Oh boy, did I In spades

"What sort?"

"Well," I fidgeted with a statue of Isis His eyes shot to ly I set it down and cleared my throat "Someone summoned a demon to kill me I survived and now I’ht?"

I looked away "Yeah, but I’ve never had any training"

"Do you knoho summoned the demon?"

"No"

"Sorry, lady, you’re screwed" He started to walk away again, but I held out a hand

"Wait! What do you mean?"

He turned slowly, obviously annoyed "Only the sued his bony shoulders "Good night!" He ain, as if he couldn’t stand to be in the saan to throb "You’re telling me there’s no way to send this demon back to Irkalla?"

He crossed his arms "Did I stutter?"

My heart sank I looked around at the shelves full of dusty, leather-bound books, as if one of the spines would offer an answer

"Look, you wantthat demon around Because without the suainst the counter Giguhl was going to freak when I told hiet hie snorted "The art of su de for Du?"

He frowned at o, but soht my eye from a shelf behind the counter

"Wait What’s that?" I pointed at an ah When he sahere I was pointing, his eyes widened "You can see that?"

I looked at him as if he was one can short of a six pack "Uh, yeah What is it?"

His mouth dropped open, his shock evident "You’re not supposed to be able to see it"

"Obviously I can"

He stared at ue? "That," he said, taking it down, "is the Lilith aold It shone in the diht as if lit froht-pointed star--a symbol I knew very well

"The Lilith amulet?"

He cleared his throat and looked around nervously I looked around, too, wondering about his sanity since ere completely alone in the store He waved his hand for me to lean in closer

"The Lilith amulet," he whispered, "is worn by members of the Caste of Nod" He said this last with a dramatic flair When I merely blinked back at him, he continued "The Caste is a secret society rumored to be the protectors of the Preascariu lings in school "That’s aeyebrow "Oh, I assure you, it’s very real" He raised the amulet so it spun over a lit candle on the desk "This came to me from a faery whose mother was a member of the Caste"