“Finally.” She clopped over to me. “What does he want?”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
“You really should tell me, Del-lame-y,” she said through gritted teeth. “He’s a demon and he cast a spell on you.”
“How does this work?” I asked Amy.
“Which part of it?”
I pointed at myself, then pointed at him. “The connection. Do you have to be around me all the time?”
“You want me out of your sight? A demon, set free in Ordinary, without having signed any contract to follow the rules? Just think of what I might do.”
“Did that, got the broken soul to show for it. So not doing that again.” I lifted the dragon pig so my mouth was right by its soft little ear. “Hey, buddy. I want you to take Avnas to the special jail, okay?”
Avnas drew his head up, “What are you—?”
Too late.
The dragon pig flew out of my arms—no wings, just a pink projectile of tiny pig that should not have had that kind of buoyancy. Before Avnas could raise a hand to fend it off, there was a big showy poof of white smoke, and they were gone.
I coughed at the hot coppery taste that filled my mouth and waved at the smoke.
Myra opened the front door. I opened the nearest window.
“Oh, that was beautiful!” Jean crowed. “I am so glad I was here to see the look on his face.” She chortled, then coughed her way to another window.
Xtelle looked absolutely flabbergasted. Her pony mouth was opening and closing. Her head kept turning to me, then turning back to where Amy had just stood, then back to me again.
“But…he bound you,” she finally said.
“Yep.”
“And you just…disposed of him.”
“Locked him up tight so I know exactly where he is.”
“But you let Bathin roam around Ordinary. Free.”
“Bathin possessed my soul,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking as clearly. Also, it was my first run-in with a demon. I’ve learned.”
Bathin, the cocky jerk, just gave me a small salute and a wink. “You’re welcome.”
“Suck it,” I said.
That just made him smile, because he knew what I really thought about him: I knew he wouldn’t take my soul now, if the same choices were given to him.
I knew how much he loved my sister, and how hard he was working to find his place in Ordinary so he could stay here with her.
“So he just…just sits in a jail cell while you just…aren’t you afraid he will use your connection to…do something terrible to you?” said Xtelle.
“I think he’s my problem not yours.”
“But—”
“Unless you know how to break the spell he cast on me, you should be doing pony stuff in Hogan’s yard. Getting ready for that petting zoo gig you got.”
Bathin coughed, and it was not because of the smoke. “Petting zoo? You’re,” he shifted his gaze to me, “she’s in apettingzoo? For children? Please tell me it’s for children.”
