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"I hadn't thought about that"He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed "Curiouser and curiouser"

Startled, I glanced at hiht orry, Dad ed to look a little amused "It's from Alice in Wonderland Appropriate, don't you think?"

Yeah, except that our rabbit hole was a heck of a lot darker, I thought

I pretended to study the bookcase in the far corner I'd expected boring books about Prodigium history or shifter economy, and there were a few of those, but I also noticed some recent fiction, as wel as several Roald Dahl books Dad went up in my estimation another notch

"Do you think whoever-or whatever-raised Daisy and Nick had that piece of paper?"

"They would've had to"

I turned back to him "And that's bad"

"Worse than bad"He leaned forward "Sophie, Virginia Thorne raised a demon to use as a weapon I can only think that whoever raised Nick and Daisy had similar motives"

I blew out a breath "Dad, this is a total clusterum, a mess"

He flashed me a wry smile "I think the word you were about to use is probably the best summation of the current situation"

"So what do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do right now except wait and see how it al plays out"

I tappedans shake Whoever had that ritual could technical y raise a whole ariuht back the i broken and bloody at the feet of so out into the huht, I said, "Wel , waiting is lame-sauce"

"I'm not sure I knohat that means, exactly, but I think I share the senti the draith a soft click

I hoistedout who did this can stop a war fro atreat, but it would have to do

I was alo, Sophie, would you tela Saint Anthony's medal ion in your pocket for the past two days?"

"Huh?"Then I reiven me Reluctantly, I pul ed it out ofI found

How did you know I had it?"

He turned it over in his fingers "I could sense the lanced up at me "Saint Anthony's medal ions are very powerful objects Witches and warlocks used the You could give them to someone and use theot lost or captured, both of which happened quite often in those days"He flicked it back at me "I'm actual y not surprised you found one We have dozens in the cel ar at Hecate"

Wel , that explained it, then Secret demon hunter and thief Man, did I kno to pick 'e back to bed, but when I opened the door tofor ed on h my copy of The Secret Garden

"Is this your er set e, I stil wasn't crazy about hih h his teeth as he placed the photograph back onto check on you Heard you got hurt doing a spel today"

"Oh,"I said "Uhyeah, I was practicing with Dad But I' himself down on the bed next to Daisy, Nick folded his ar stuff"

"Such a waste of tier over an il ustration of Mary Lennox wandering the hal s of Misselthwaite

I let that go "Wel , as you can see, I' aboutoff the bed "I think we're being dis her to her feet

"But we didn't get to talk to Sophie about the party,"she said, a hint of whine in her voice

"What party?"I asked