Black Magic Sanction

"He can't jump without Bis," Jenks insisted.

"Thank you for not leaving me last night," I said, my thoughts returning to my terror.

"Never, Rachel," he said, a new, soft expression on his face. "Besides, Al would have ski

Jenks darted up between us, his hand on his sword hilt and his wings clattering. "What the fairy farts is going on? You'd better start talking, or I'm going to pix someone!"

I dropped back, putting space between us. "Pierce can jump lines without Bis," I told Jenks. "He needed Bis only when he didn't know what line the coven summoned me through."

The pitch of Jenks's wings shifted. "Oooo," he said. "You can jump to the church."

Pierce was nodding, ru

"Ivy's tub," I said dryly, feeling gross. "A bucket of water? Soap? Paper towels? New jeans, a shirt, shoes and socks."

"Underwear," Jenks interrupted. "I'll show you where she hides her sexy ones. How about a contraception charm. You got any of those in your cupboard, Rache?"

My expression blanked. Shit. I've got to get to a convenience store. My gaze went to Pierce, who was three shades lighter. Good. The feeling was mutual.

"Uh, no," I stammered, trying to remember how long I had before I was going to ovulate. Twenty-four hours? Crap, I didn't have time for this.

"I'll stop at an apothecary," Pierce said, clearly worried.

"A gas station would have it," Jenks offered.

I stiffened. "I'm not going to trust a gas station charm!" I protested, and Jenks hovered backward, laughing. "Pierce, I know they have them at the grocery store three streets down."

His blue eyes were relieved when they met mine. "The one where you get your emergency ice cream?"

My lips parted that he knew, but then he would if he'd been lurking at the church for a year as a ghost. "Yes," I said slowly, wondering what he thought about Marshal. God, I must look like a whore. First Nick, then Kisten, followed by Marshal, and now him, all in the span of two years.

"I'll pick one up," he said firmly, not a hint of recrimination in his body language.

"Thanks."

"Okay," Jenks said snarkily, hands on his hips. "Now that we got the baby thing taken care of, how are you going to get close enough to give Trent his statue back without him or the coven taking a potshot at you? Ry

I turned to the unseen river, assessing what we had. "Is David back yet?" I asked, looking for a tree. There had been a deep hole in the ground in the hidey-hole that neither of us had used, and a tree would be a big improvement.

Jenks's wings hummed. "No, but he is on the way."

My head was bobbing. I had to get Trent and the coven together at the same time or this wouldn't work. The FIB was going to be my neutral ground. "We can work with this," I said as I spun around to them and pulled my blanket back where it belonged before it could slip any farther. Ivy was out, Gle

"Jenks," I said, feeling the wind find its way under the blanket. "Did Ceri leave that charm to go small that she made for Ivy?"

I glanced at Pierce as Jenks darted up and down in the sun like a yoyo. "No way!" he shrilled. "Rache, you going small again?"

Tugging the blanket tighter, I nodded. "Yup. Just to get close, and then I'll untwist it. It's a demon curse, so it won't trigger any charm detectors. Pierce can carry us in looking like Tom Bansen. The guy was in the I.S. Jenks, you can fly me up the rest of the way to Trent, and then pow! I give Trent his statue."

"Pow, you'll be naked!" Jenks exclaimed, sifting a bright gold dust. "On camera, in front of a couple thousand people."

It wasn't the thousands of people I was worried about—it was Trent, and I winced at Pierce's aghast expression. "It will be all over the news across the country," I said, feeling uncomfortable under his stare. "I'll probably make the late show. And because of it, the coven won't be able to kill me and hide me in a hole." I looked down at my dirty, cold feet, showing from under the blanket. "At least not for a week and they find something else to sensationalize," I finished softly.

God, my mother would be mortified, but then maybe not. She had grown up in the sixties. She'd probably call her friends.

Pierce still hadn't said anything, and I felt a quiver of worry. I had too many exes, and now I was going to go naked in front of local TV, sure to be syndicated around the country. But if I was naked, they probably wouldn't shoot me. "You okay with this?" I asked Pierce, hating that my voice went up.

The rims of Pierce's ears were red, and he flicked his gaze to me and away. "Remind me to tell you about my aunt Sara someday," he said, the words deep in his throat.

My eyebrows went up, and Pierce exhaled, seeming to settle himself. "It sounds like an almighty good scheme. And when you are naked in front of all creation, how will you give Kalamack the statue?"

"I thought you could throw it to me?" I said hesitantly, and Pierce laughed.

Thirty-four

I didn't like being small. And I was just small, I wasn't a pixy. Unlike Jenks, I didn't have a quick escape if Pierce stumbled other than to grab a silky fold of his vest and hope he didn't squish me when he fell down. If being small in the garden was bad, being small in the streets of Cincy was terrifying. Everything was loud, big, and heavy. I honestly didn't know how Jenks survived. About the only pleasant thing to have come out of this so far was that I was clean—really clean—again. I didn't even care that I was hairy once more.

Jenks had stayed with me while Pierce jumped back to the church for the size-down curse and something small for me to wear to go with it, and I glanced down at the exquisite light green silk that fluttered about my bare feet in the draft of our motion. I was guessing it belonged to one of Jenks's daughters, and I held a hand to the low neckline as I began to feel seasick at Pierce's quick pace. I didn't have a scrap of red on, and it worried me.

Jenks was quiet as he stood beside me on Pierce's shoulder. He wasn't wearing any red either, dressed for work in his usual skintight black silk and thin-soled high boots. If we entered another pixy's territory without red on, we'd be accused of poaching and might find ourselves attacked. His wings were a depressed blue even as they hummed to maintain his balance, but he stood ready to grab me and fly if anything should happen.

The heat of the city felt good, and I shivered when Pierce hit the shade of a tall building. He was getting nervous, and the smell of the witch overpowered the stink of the city. I breathed him in, liking the redwood scent and the bite of shoe polish. He'd taken the time for a hasty shower at the church before borrowing Ivy's sister's car and coming out to find me, and the smell of soap mingled with the silk scent of his heavily patterned vest. Looking at him, you'd never know he had a chunk of elf porn in his pocket as he gave everyone we passed a nod.