The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan Page A

pretty sure I would start thinking tormented thoughts about five minutes in.”
    â€œI don’t even have the words to tell you how disillusioned I am.” Mae glanced at the sky, which was changing from thepallid gray of early morning to bright blue. “I’d better get back and wake Jamie if we’re driving to London today. You got him in fairly late last night.”
    Nick left the gate and fell back in step with her as she started walking.
    â€œI didn’t keep Jamie out that late. And he wouldn’t let me drive him home. Want to bet he went running to warn those magicians about what we have planned?”
    â€œJamie’s
not
a magician,” Mae said, her voice coming out louder and more frantic in her own ears than she’d expected, sounding more doubtful than she liked.
    â€œI didn’t say he was,” Nick returned. “But don’t pretend his sympathies aren’t divided.”
    â€œWhat if they are?”
    Mae heard her own voice come out taut with fear, reflecting the sensation in her chest where it felt as if her heartstrings had been pulled tight by something sharp, like an arrow fitted against a bowstring. She knew how Nick felt about magicians.
    She looked at Nick to see he was looking away from her, his jaw tight. “It doesn’t matter. If they leave, good. If they don’t, Celeste Drake will make them. If she doesn’t, I will.” He turned his eyes back to her. “Because we have an agreement, you and me. Don’t we?”
    Mae lifted her chin. “We do.”
    They were walking up the slope toward Mae’s house now, passing gardens with summer roses in them, the sunlight turning warm gold against the grass. A man in a suit drinking coffee by his car and a woman in a kimono collecting the paper both gave Nick a slightly doubtful look.
    â€œThey think you’re a hooligan,” Mae reported. “Thatwoman’s probably locking up her daughters as we speak. The jumper doesn’t fool her for a minute.”
    â€œWhat I really wanted to wear was a shirt with a puppy on it,” Nick drawled. “But mine’s in the wash.”
    Mae laughed, sun warm on her hair like someone laying a hand gently on her head. She felt in control for the first time since she’d seen Gerald; better than that, she felt useful.
You’re good at that sort of thing
, Nick had said.
    â€œDon’t worry, you still look pretty,” she said. “I like your new ring. I’ve been wondering about it, actually.”
    â€œAw,” Nick said. “I can’t have nice things?”
    He touched the ring with his other hand, a strange sort of gesture coming from someone whose only unnecessary movements usually involved knives. The silver darkened under the shadow of his fingers, making the carving look tarnished for a moment. There were snakes on it, tangled with thorns.
    The Obsidian Circle’s master ring.
    â€œI took it from my father after he was dead,” Nick said. “To remember him by. It seemed a human sort of thing to do. But Alan didn’t like it at all.”
    Mae cleared her throat and tried not to think about that dark room in London, with blood on her hands and bodies on the floor.
    â€œYou killed Black Arthur. It wouldn’t have looked to Alan like you were taking a memento. It would have looked like you were taking a trophy.”
    â€œOh,” said Nick.
    It hadn’t occurred to him because he wasn’t human; he didn’t even have the faintest idea how to be really human, and here she was walking with him and feeling happy for no reason at all. Other than the reason that she was the stupidest person in the world.
    â€œWho’s this guy?” Nick asked suddenly.
    Mae blinked. “Uh, guy? What—what guy?”
    Nick was looking at her intently now. It was a little unsettling having all his attention, black gaze unwavering and swallowing up all hers in return, making the