“I’m not insane.”
“Honey, listen to yourself. I don’t know what happened to you that you believe all of this, but angels don’t really exist. Demons definitely don’t exist. And, to be quite frank with you, all psychics are frauds. The world is a dull, normal, nonmagical place, and that’s exactly how I want it to stay.”
“Dull and normal?” Val sputtered, then pointed at Reggie. “Then how do you explain him, huh? A talking rat? Say something, Reggie.”
Reggie blinked at her. “Squeak.”
“Oh, that’s just great. Fine, I’ll figure it out on my own.” She stood up from the table. “But when the world ends, just remember you’ll only have yourself to blame.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Psychic Bob said. “Take care now. Buh-bye.”
Val grabbed Reggie off the table and squeezed him hard enough that he let out another squeak sound, this time involuntarily. She left the store without another look back.
They stood on Clifton Hill, surrounded by the tourists who braved the early winter chill to check out the many wax museums and gift stores of Niagara Falls. Each and every one of them probably felt the same way about the world as Psychic-fraud Bob did. None of them would be any help to her, either.
“Now what are we supposed to do?”
“He wouldn’t have been able to help you, anyhow,” Reggie replied. “He said himself he was a big faker.”
“Oh, now you’re talking again.”
“Sorry I wasn’t up to playing the part of the singing and dancing rodent, but I think he would have shut down completely then. You know, I hate to admit it, but being a rat feels very natural to me.”
“I guess your outsides finally match your insides.”
“Maybe that’s true—hey . . . that’s not very nice.”
“Anyhow,” she said, trying to get back on topic, “I honestly don’t know what we’re supposed to do next.”
“So, you’re really an angel?”
“Fallen angel.”
“Fallen angel. Wow, Val, I can’t believe it.”
“It’s true. They kicked me out.”
“Why?”
She sighed. “Garry told me it was because of pride, but that doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“Well, that is one of the seven deadly sins, you know.”
Val rolled her eyes. “Everyone’s an expert.” Then she frowned. “An expert. I need to find an expert. That’s it.”
Yeah, she needed to get Nathaniel to help her. From what she understood from Julian, they were not friends but they did know each other. He’d probably know where to find the other demon. And all she’d need to do to summon Nathaniel was probably just put her lips together and blow.
Key Largo. Oldies channel. She watched it one night last week when she couldn’t get to sleep.
No. She shook her head. No lips. No blowing. Not going to happen.
It had to be somebody else. Anybody but Nathaniel.
Come on, Val, she admonished herself. You’re going to let your personal feelings get in the way of potentially saving the world?
Actually, yes. Was that so wrong?
And on the subject of summoning demons, why couldn’t Val just summon Julian himself? Go straight to the source. Summon him, grab the key, and all was well with the world.
She frowned at the thought. Probably because the first thing Julian would do once he saw who’d summoned him was reach out and snap her spine. He seemed like a spine-snapping kind of guy.
There had to be another relatively injury-free way.
“We need to find a demon,” Val finally said out loud. “Somebody who knows where Julian might be.” She shook her head. “But how would I even go about that?”
“Go about what?”
“I need to figure out how to summon a demon.”
“Summon a demon to do what?” Reggie looked distracted. He was eyeing a nearby diner.
“I’m hungry. Do you think we could go get something to eat? I’m having a fierce craving for some cheese.”
Val gritted her teeth. “Summon a demon to help us find Julian, of course. And we need to hurry.”
“Oh, it’s too bad I’m not currently on speaking terms with Claire,” Reggie said absently.
“Demon-summoning was one of her hobbies.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Claire can summon demons?”
He looked at her. “She used to talk about it all the time. Of course I’d just ignore her thinking it was her cute little imagination at work. But now that I’ve seen what she’s capable of”—he sighed resignedly—“I’m thinking she might have been serious.”
“We need to go see her. Right now.”
His mouth dropped open, exposing his little yellow teeth. “No way.”
“Yes, way. We’re going to see her so she can help us.”
He shook his head emphatically. “Uh-uh. Nope. If she gets another chance in her current mood she’ll turn me into a dead rat.”
“I’ll protect you.”
“I’d feel more protected with a thousand miles separating us.”
“This isn’t open for discussion. We’re going. So try to act like a man and less like a rat about this, would you?”