Codex Born by Jim C. Hines

against her tree. “Do you think whoever did this will send more?”
    “Probably.”
    Jeneta was crying like a child half her age. Nidhi sat withher in the grass, whispering and running her hands through Jeneta’s hair while they rocked back and forth. Jeneta buried her head in Nidhi’s shoulder.
    “What happened?” I asked. “Was she hurt?”
    Before Nidhi could answer, Jeneta jumped to her feet and ran at me. “Why in the name of ever-loving God would you do that to me?” Her fists slammed into my chest, hard enough to bruise. “Was this some kind of messed-up test? Is
this
why you were asking about my nightmares?”
    I stepped back and did my best to fend off her punches. “Jeneta, I didn’t know they’d come after your e-reader.”
    She wiped her sleeve over her eyes and stared at me. “You think I’m upset about my
reader
?”
    I looked past her to Nidhi, but she appeared to be as confused as I was. Nidhi stepped closer, hands out like she was approaching a wild animal, and said, “Can you tell us what happened to you, Jeneta?”
    “You said you needed me to help kill magic bugs. You never said they were devourers.”
    It was like she had turned the liquid nitrogen on me, chilling my body from the inside out. “What do you mean?”
    She swallowed. “You didn’t hear them?”
    “What is it you heard, Jeneta?” Nidhi asked.
    “They weren’t attacking my reader. They were trying to attack
me
, through the spell.” She started to shiver again. “Dragging me under. Climbing through my bones and chewing me up, and all the while she’s laughing—”
    “She?” I asked sharply.
    “I heard a girl laughing.” She stared at me. “It might have been me. I was losing my mind, Isaac. I could feel myself going mad, losing my grip and slipping away.”
    “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry. I never would have asked you to fight them like that.” Devourers infesting Victor Harrison’s experiment. A butchered wendigo and a man who could hide from my magic. What the hell was going on?
    Jeneta folded her arms, visibly working to stuff the fear back into its bravado-lined cell. “You owe me a new e-reader.Don’t even think about trying to pass off some secondhand clunker from last year. I want the newest model, and I want an orange case to go with it.”
    “Fair enough.”
    Jeneta looked at the fog rising off the crushed bugs and flowers. “What are they doing here?”
    I didn’t have an answer. I didn’t even know what they were.
    “Why do they hate us?” Jeneta asked. “Not just people in general. You and me. They know us, and they’re going to keep coming after us until we’re dead.”
    “If they come after anyone, it should be me. I’m the one who pissed them off earlier this year.” With Lena’s help, I had destroyed their…host, for lack of a better word. If the devourers were capable of remembering, then they had good reason for coming after me or Lena, but why target a teenaged girl who knew next to nothing about magic? “Nidhi, could you take Jeneta to your place?”
    “Of course.”
    Jeneta said nothing, but her body sagged with relief. I doubted any of us would sleep well tonight, but she’d be somewhere safe, with a woman who knew how to deal with magic-induced trauma.
    “I’ll watch over Lena’s tree,” I said. “Could you reschedule any appointments you have tomorrow? We need to take a road trip.”
    Nidhi folded her arms. “Nobody has the energy for dramatic lead-ups tonight, Isaac. Get to the point.”
    “Sorry. We’re going to check out Victor Harrison’s old house in Columbus, Ohio. I’ll need to call Deb DeGeorge down in Detroit first.”
    Jeneta perked up slightly. “The vampire?”
    “How did you know that?” Deb had been a libriomancer, and until recently, a good friend. Three months ago, the vampires in Detroit had turned her, hoping to use her as a spy within the Porters. When Gutenberg caught up with her, I had fully expected him to burn her to ash on the