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“Whatever their game was, it didn’t work,” he said. “And now that Ty’s warned us about Aaron, it should be easy enough for you to stay away from him.”

“Far, far away,” Delia replied. “Luckily, the casino will be extra crowded today because of everyone coming to watch the finals, so it should be easy enough to give him the slip.”

Caleb hoped her confidence wasn’t misplaced. But he guessed that Ty Carter would be there to keep an eye on things, and would probably intervene if he saw Aaron going after Delia.

And that didn’t even take into account Ty’s two fellow angels, or whoever those guys had been. Caleb hadn’t seen them again, but he’d been so absorbed in staying in the game during the last round that he probably wouldn’t have noticed them unless they’d come up and kicked him in the nuts.

“Let’s hope so,” he said.

Because right now, hope was pretty much all they had.

After coffee and a quick breakfast of bacon and toast, they both showered and got ready to face the day.

Delia’s phone had been very quiet all morning, which she thought a little surprising.

Usually by now, she should have gotten at least one call importuning her to show a house or reassure someone that their escrow was going as smoothly as possible, but everything had been dead silent.

Just luck, or were the Aegis people somehow messing with her phone?

She really didn’t want to consider that possibility, mostly because it would indicate that their network was much bigger and more powerful than she and Caleb had ever imagined.

As she headed out into the living room, she wondered if she should suggest a mindless activity that would use up a few hours, like maybe going to an outlet mall or seeing if there were any open houses nearby.

She kind of doubted he was very focused on finding a new flip, but it would still be something to do.

But the doorbell rang just as Caleb emerged from the guest suite, and he sent her a worried look.

“You expecting anyone?”

“No,” she replied at once. “It’s not like I have company all that much anyway, but I would never have invited someone over today with everything that’s been going on.”

He frowned, even as she went to the door and peered out through the peephole.

Standing on the front step was Ty Carter.

At once, she opened the door. “Ty?”

“I need to speak with you,” he said.

A nice way to open a conversation, not even a “hi” or a “good morning.” Then again, she supposed if you had a long view the way an angel did, then those sorts of pleasantries might feel like a waste of time.

If he was even an angel at all.

“Come on in,” she told him, stepping aside so he could enter the house.

He took a few steps in, then paused as he spotted Caleb standing over by the fireplace. “You stayed here?”

“I did,” Caleb said imperturbably.

Delia noticed how he hadn’t added that he’d stayed in the guest room, but she decided not to say anything. Let Ty Carter think what he wanted.

“Good,” Ty said. “You were probably safer here.”

Which had been the whole point of the exercise, of course, but she supposed it was good to get outside confirmation that she hadn’t been jumping at shadows.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked politely. “A glass of water or some iced tea? I can make coffee, but — ”

Ty held up a hand. “I’m fine. This isn’t a social call.”

Which was already what she’d figured, but she’d still thought it best to follow the forms.

“Then what’s it about?” Caleb asked.

“The tournament, of course,” Ty said without hesitation. “We’ve been working on this all night, and — ”

“Which ‘we’?” Caleb cut in. “Those two guys I saw you with the other day?”

“Who it was isn’t the important thing,” Ty replied.

“What’s important is that we’ve been tracking the convergence of energy at the competition.

It’s very clear that the people coordinating all this plan to activate a sort of supernatural circuit powered by the energy they’re channeling through the tournament.

Once the circuit is opened, they’ll be able to use that power to cause all kinds of havoc. ”

Caleb crossed his arms, one brow cocked at an ironic angle. “Can you narrow ‘havoc’ down a bit?”

“No,” Ty said without missing a beat. “It is sometimes very difficult to understand the motivations of beings such as these. What I do know is that people — regular people, innocent bystanders — will most likely get hurt, possibly worse. So we have to do everything we can to keep the people at Aegis from completing the circuit.”

“How are we supposed to do that?” Delia asked. While she probably didn’t want to hear the answer, she also knew that they’d started down this road, and now the only thing they could do was finish what they’d begun…and hope like hell they safely emerged on the other side.

“It all comes down to the final game,” Ty replied. His gaze flickered over to Caleb and then back to her, keen and cool, blue as the sky she’d seen out her bedroom window earlier that morning. “Hank Bowers has been coordinating the whole thing to make sure one of his minions is in the last round.”

“None of the people I’m playing against is new to this,” Caleb argued. “I saw their names pop up all over the place when I was studying the local poker scene.”

Ty didn’t even blink. “Yes, they’re well known around here.

But that doesn’t make any difference. One of them will either be possessed, as they’ve done to Aaron Sanchez, or they will at the very least be subjugated by a sigil of control, the way Paul Reeves and several of the other players have been. ”

So that’s what that strange little mark was. Delia wondered who had put it on Paul Reeves’ arm. Hank Bowers, or someone higher up the food chain?

It probably didn’t matter. What mattered was that someone in the final four was under either demonic possession or compulsion…and the only person standing in the way was Caleb Lockwood.

His jaw had set, signaling that he understood the assignment. “So I have to win, or the circuit will be complete and all hell will break loose.”

Ty gave a satisfied nod. “That’s exactly it. But we all have confidence in you — you’ve acquitted yourself very well so far.”

Yes, he had. Still, this was a lot of pressure on someone who’d never even competed in a poker tournament before…let alone been tasked with destroying a supernatural circuit.

“There’s no other way?” Delia asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Ty responded. “Caleb must be the one to interrupt the energy and ensure the circuit isn’t completed.”

“No pressure, huh?” he quipped, but Ty didn’t even smile.

“It’s a great deal of pressure, and we understand that. But it falls on you to thwart them. Best of luck to you.”

Before either Caleb or Delia could respond, he winked out of existence, leaving them standing alone in the living room.

She set her hands on her hips. “Why even bother to knock on the front door if he’s going to come and go like that anyway?”

“Because suddenly appearing in your house wouldn’t have been very polite.” Now Caleb did crack a grin, looking much more like himself. “I suppose that’s something angels would care about.”

He had a point there. “Now what?” Delia asked.

His smile didn’t flicker for a second. “We have lunch. And after that?” A pause, and then he added,

“Well, I suppose I have a tournament to win.”