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Faris shook his head. “This is different. Her magic can kill gods. That is not acceptable.”

“It’s not her fault.” I explained what Ava had done to Bella. I tried to appeal to his compassion.

Too late I realized he didn’t have any.

“This is not up for debate,” he growled. “You will take me to her now. And I will decide what to do with her.”

“Ava cursed Bella,” I protested. “She’s controlling her.”

“Which is precisely why I cannot allow her to wander around freely. Ask yourself this, Leda: do you honestly want something like this to happen again?”

“It won’t,” I promised him. “The curse only activates during the day. Bella will be ok, as long as it’s night.”

“It isn’t always night,” Faris reminded me. “That makes her a threat half of the time. She needs to be dealt with.”

“And then?” I glowered at him.

“And then I will deal with the demons.” His voice cut like glass.

“You can’t attack the demons,” I told him. “The demons didn’t do this. It’s just one demon, and someone who isn’t even on their council anymore. Ava doesn’t speak for the demons.”

“And yet the demons have made no effort to contain Ava. That says everything,” Faris argued.

“We can’t allow this to end the truce. That truce is crucial to defeating the Guardians.” I clasped my hands together. “Please. Let me fix this before you start a war. I can break Bella’s curse.”

“How?”

“I will figure it out.”

“Not good enough.”

“Ok, let’s flip this around. Ask yourself this, Faris: when things get crazy, when the world’s in danger, have I ever failed to save it?”

He fell quiet, hopefully considering my words.

“I can fix this,” I insisted. “I just need time.”

“You have one week.” He held up a single finger. “And you will owe me for my generosity. When the time is right, I will be calling in that favor.”

I didn’t like the idea of owing Faris anything, but I didn’t argue. One week was better than nothing. I had to save Bella. I had to figure out how to break her curse.

19

COUNTDOWN

“Ilove Calli’s meatballs,” I said with a happy sigh, then stuffed the giant meatball into my mouth.

As soon as the sun went down on Purgatory, Nero and I had picked up Bella and Harker, and then we’d all gone to Calli’s house for dinner.

“Your cat also seems to really love Calli’s meatballs, Leda,” Gin snickered.

She was right. Angel was definitely enjoying Calli’s famous meatballs—both as food and for play. She batted them one-by-one across the floor, then gobbled them up.

We’d brought Sierra and the cat along to dinner too. Our daughter was skipping across the floor, making the candles repeatedly go out and back on again.

“Just make sure the little angel doesn’t set my new curtains on fire,” Calli teased me.

“Sierra should absolutely set those ugly things on fire,” Tessa commented. “Leda, how could you buy Calli anything so hideous?”