Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
???
Nicholas’s first instinct was to scoff. A demon, really?
But he remembered what the Gloaming Forest had felt like the other day. Nor was Sadie one to jump at shadows.
And a demon would be an intangible threat.
“How do we even test such a theory?” he asked. “And what do we do if it is right?”
He didn’t expect Sadie to have an answer to either question. He wasn’t sure answers existed.
A demon.
Spirits, there hadn’t been any credible stories of demons in over a hundred years. Rumors, tales that got exaggerated with every telling, but nothing concrete.
“We can’t tell anyone else,” Sadie said. “They’ll panic, which would only serve the demon if there is one. And we can’t let anyone leave, either. What if the demon had made its way to Linzen with Lenora?”
“So, we have to detect an invisible demon and find a way to trap it all within the next two weeks. Without letting it do whatever it is demons do to hurt humans in the meantime. That’s not daunting at all.”
Sadie bit her lip, and for a moment Nicholas didn’t worry about a potential demon, wanting only to haul her close and sink his own teeth into that plump lower lip. Her focus, however, was better than his. “I might be able to detect the demon.”
That snapped his thoughts back to serious matters. “How?”
She shook her head. “If I can, I’ll … I’ll explain. But let me test it first.”
Was it bad that he wanted there to be a demon now, because it meant Sadie would finally confide in him? Probably.
Nicholas didn’t push. “I can make more charms with that glyph and give them to everyone, but that might only incite panic if the charms are reacting constantly.”
“Maybe once we’ve identified the demon?” Sadie suggested. “If you gave a charm to everyone not possessed, we’d then know it couldn’t jump to another host.”
“Unless there are bats around.” Perhaps he had judged Lenora too harshly. She might have truly been attacked by a demon-possessed bat.
Sadie’s lips rounded, her eyes going wide. “Or spiders.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “I think I know how it entered the manor. Remember how I said the forest felt different the other day when Abigail was in it with me?”
He nodded.
“Well, there was a strange moment with a spider that landed on her, then Abigail went back to the manor, and the woods no longer made my skin creep. I assumed it was just Abigail’s nerves affecting me, but if the demon really did transfer from the spider to her …”
“Then when she left, the forest was no longer haunted,” Nicholas finished. “And when she met us there yesterday, it was haunted once more.”
Sadie nodded. “And just now in the brewing room, I only looked up from reading because I was shivering, though it wasn’t cold. It wasn’t as bad as the feeling in the forest, perhaps because the demon hasn’t been in the manor as long, but that might have been the same sensation.”
Nicholas pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m tempted to believe there really is a demon, but you said you think you can sense it so we’re sure?”
Sadie nodded. “I think I have sensed it before, but now I can pay closer attention and get a better idea if it really is a demon.”
“How dangerous will this be for you?” He didn’t like the idea of her catching the demon’s attention.
“No more dangerous than doing nothing. Plus, I have the charm you gave me.”
“You swear you won’t be putting yourself more at risk? You nearly fainted twice because of sensing this demon, if you are right.”
“I didn’t nearly faint. And I’ll have my amulet if I get overwhelmed. It means I can’t do anything until the power you charged it with fades, but I can at least add a trickle of power if needed, then.”
Nicholas reached out and trailed a finger along her cheek. “Promise me something?”
She drew in an unsteady breath. “What?”
“Only make the attempt when I’m around? That way I can boost your charm if needed. You know you can’t infuse much power into the stone yourself.”
She met his eyes. “I promise.”
???
It took until supper the next evening before Sadie could test her theory that she’d be able to hear the demon’s thoughts.
She wanted to believe that the thoughts she had heard from Abigail were proof, but …
she had heard Abigail’s thoughts from before there was any hint of a demon, too.
The extra layer of viscousness could be nothing more than the younger woman’s natural reaction to Nicholas thwarting her plans by showing no interest in her.
The way those thoughts had literally made Sadie reel wasn’t proof either. She had never tried to open herself up to her power before. She didn’t know what was and wasn’t normal.
By the time the extra boost of power Nicholas had given her amulet faded, Sadie was ready to test herself. She took her spot at the supper table and was actually relieved to discover that Abigail was seated next to her that evening. Proximity might help as she tested her control of her telepathy.
Abigail took one look at Sadie and turned away to talk to Jane on her other side. The rebuff was obvious and, honestly, surprising. Not that Sadie had expected conversation, but she was between Abigail and Nicholas, so she certainly hadn’t expected the other woman to turn away.
She tried to trigger her power, that fickle beast that assaulted her at inopportune moments and now slithered out of her grasp.
“Jane,” Abigail said with syrupy sweetness, placing one hand lightly on Jane’s arm. “Would you be able to make me a headache potion?”
Demon or no, Sadie wanted to know what was going through Abigail’s mind. The woman who had scorned Jane’s admission of enjoying brewing would not politely ask for a potion.
“Of … of course,” Jane stammered. “Do you need it now?”
“No. I’m fine at present, but I have been suffering from horrible headaches lately and want to be prepared.”
Finally, Sadie did whatever it was she needed to call up her power.
It wasn’t a gentle sensation, but a surge of power that started in her belly and spread outward in fits and starts.
It reminded her of drinking a revitalizing potion, except instead of warmth and energy, it was as though lightning coursed through her.
Abigail’s thoughts swarmed her. Does she actually believe I’ll drink a potion she brewed?
She’s so gullible. If only the baron were as easily manipulated.
I can’t believe he ignores me in favor of her.
Abigail glanced at Sadie for a split second, then pretended she didn’t exist, talking right over her at Nicholas.
As supper went on, Sadie was treated to an excellent lesson in eavesdroppers paying for their snooping, except she was eavesdropping on Abigail’s thoughts. What people said behind others’ backs was bad enough, but what they thought?
There was a reason Sadie usually relied on her amulet, even as weak as it was these days.
Honestly, she could handle the insults directed her way, but what had her struggling to maintain her composure was the way Abigail thought of Nicholas.
She saw him as a means to an end. Sadie had already known that, but listening to those surface thoughts she realized Abigail didn’t feel even a smidgen of desire for him.
Her thoughts were never, “He’s just a baron of an uncivilized estate, but at least he’s handsome.
” No, she only saw him as a disappointment.
An option she was only considering because she was in a hurry and all the better options were out of reach until the social season at Linzen started up again.
Sadie bit her tongue, kept her focus on Abigail, and didn’t reach for her amulet.
By the end of the meal, she could have done with a headache potion herself, and she had nothing to show for it. Abigail’s thoughts were those of a self-centered, spoiled brat, but nothing demonic.
Maybe she was jumping at shadows, and Jane had simply been completely distracted in the brewing room the other day.
Maybe the disturbing thoughts she had heard were aberrations, moments when Abigail’s thoughts turned extra dark.
and the use of “we” instead of “I” in some of them was just a quirk and not a sign that the woman was working with a demon.
Or maybe Sadie couldn’t sense the demon because she had never practiced with her magic and didn’t know what she was doing.
When supper ended and Madeleine suggested they all visit the parlor to play games that evening, Sadie considered making her excuses and leaving.
Jane didn’t hesitate to claim she needed to see to a few potions she had brewing and made her escape.
But Sadie didn’t want to run away. She didn’t want to give up.
Which meant she needed help.
She had delayed telling Nicholas about her telepathy, asking him to let her wait to share about her magic until she could confirm if there was a demon.
A futile ploy based on her hope that by the time she heard the demon’s thoughts she’d have thought of a convincing lie to explain away how she knew it was present.
Spirits, she was going to have to tell him. Most likely there was a demon, and she’d have to mention her telepathy when she confirmed the fact. Might as well tell him earlier in order to get advice on how to control her magic.
But not yet.
One more night of holding her secret close wouldn’t make a difference to stopping the demon, so she’d take it for herself. A last evening where she could pretend that nothing would change once Nicholas knew about her magic.