The heavy scent of yeast filled the entire inn, and my stomach rumbled.
“Hey,” he said to me, smiling. He glanced at Tart. “How’re you doing, Tart?”
“Well,” she answered.
Suddenly I was very nervous. Sweat sprinkled my palms. I pointed at Owen. “This is Owen Malone. My biological father.”
Roan’s eyes widened with surprise. “Wow. Hello.” They shook hands. “Great to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Owen said.
I turned my attention to Roan. “I texted you, but you never answered.”
“Ah. Phone’s in my room. What’s going on?”
Owen took the reins. “Blissful says you need training as a demonologist.”
Roan’s gaze darted to mine. “I do,” he said slowly.
“I’m here to help.” Owen clapped his hands. “Now, show me what you’ve got going on.”
A moment later we were all following Roan down the basement stairs. He flipped on the light, illuminating the room.
“My grandfather was a demonologist. He trapped a spirit down here but never trained my father on what to do; therefore I was never trained. All I know was that when my parents passed away, I had to return here, to this inn, in order to keep the spirit trapped.”
We stared at the symbols etched in chalk on the floor.
Owen didn’t take his eyes off the ground. “And what about your gift?”
“Latent until recently.” Roan nodded to me. “I was with Blissful. We trapped a spirit in aSpiritus.It wasn’t until then that I realized I had any gift at all.”
Owen crossed his arms. “And what did you notice?”
“I sent a spirit away. Once.”
“And he sent one down below,” I said.
Owen and Tart glanced at me.
“When was that?” Tart asked.
“Last night,” Roan said. “I’m not sure what I did. But the ground opened up, and a bad spirit was dragged down.”
“Out of our realm,” Owen said. His brow furrowed. “Hmm. Sounds like you’ve got a lot going on. Well, the first thing you need to learn is to understand the fundamentals of demonology. It’s only then that you can control it.”
Roan hiked a brow. “How long will thesefundamentalstake to learn?”
“A few months.”
Roan’s eyes flared in surprise. “That’s quite a while.”
“You’re lucky. When I started, the training took years. I’ve been at this so long I can condense the scope of it to points that will help. But this isn’t easy, the gift you have,” Owen explained. “You’ve been given power that will help those in need. Keep them safe from some of the dark forces in the world.” He glanced at me. “Blissful is similar in her talents. She can help spirits cross, but she doesn’t have any power over the darkness—not like you do.”
Owen’s expression hardened. “The gift you have right now is volatile, unruly. In order to keep this spirit trapped, you must learn to wield your natural talent. I can help with that. It will take time and patience. But if you have both of those, you’ll come to a level of understanding that will transcend the pedestrian.”
Roan thought for a moment. He pointed to the floor. “I need to understand what’s here.”
“I can tell you what’s here,” Owen answered. “It’s a dark spirit full of havoc. The symbols suggest it. First chance it has, the thing will escape. When it does, bad things will happen in this town.”
