We stood, ready to sprint out of there just as Signora Micari entered with a plate of cannolis. “Oh, you are going so soon?”
“They are,” Eddie said. “I’ll take another.”
“Save a few for us,” Eric told her. “With luck, we’ll want to celebrate.” His phone rang, and he glanced at the display, then to me. “Father Corletti.”
“Tell him we’re in a hurry.”
He put it on speaker. “Father, we need—”
“You are correct,” Father interrupted. “It is not a common thing, but we do have documentation of a ruby being used to identify those in whom a demon hides.”
“How?” I asked.
“Once touched by the host, the ruby turns black.”
I looked at Eric. “We need to find a ruby. Like right now.”
“Oh, Katherine, you will take mine, yes?” The signora tugged a long necklace from her body to reveal a gold setting with a large ruby. It was so big I wished we could just whack it into pieces to issue to everyone at the school. Maybe then we’d find the demon faster.
Hopefully the demon was Quiric, and no more searching would be necessary.
“Thank you,” I said as she handed it to me. “But are you sure?”
“My whole life, I have helped with this battle. Of course, I am sure. Go. You are closer to finding our Allie. Now go.”
* * *
“Damn it, why are none of them answering their phones?” I am definitely not one for technology, but it does piss me off when people have the little devices, and don’t use them.
“It’s okay,” Eric said. “They’re fine. They’re together. Marcus and Eliza can handle themselves. And Ren and Ana both seem sharp.”
“We still need to find them,” I snapped. I told myself I didn’t need to worry. Quiric wasn’t on Lilith’s side. But what if she was sneakily inside him? What if that meant she could turn him on a dime. “Dammit,” I said, when Ana’s phone went to voicemail.
“It’s okay, Kate. I know where they are.”
“You know where they are? Why didn’t you just tell me that? For that matter, how do you know?”
“Location services. I made all the students turn it on.”
“Oh. Okay. I was expecting some sort of mystical answer. But that works.”
He shot me a grin. “Sometimes the easiest way is the best way.”
“Some people would say the mystical way is the easiest way.”
“But not you.”
“No, not me. My way has always been the fighting way.”
To be honest. In the demon hunting world there’s a lot that’s mystical, but very little that’s the kind of magic you see on TV. Which meant we couldn’t just do a spell and suddenly know where Quiric was located.
It would be nice if real life worked like fiction, but that never seems to happen. I guess that’s why they call it real life.
“We’ll be there in about ten,” Eric said. He looked sideways at me. “Time enough to have that chat?”
“I’m not ready to have that chat.”
“For the record, I don’t regret what happened.”
