Page 124 of The Music Demon

“Two minutes,” Roo replied.

“We’ll be there in one.” She ended the call and looked at Lyric, who was already on his feet eager to go. “Shivaun is my hunter. So I’m sitting in. Hope you don’t mind.”

“No. I don’t mind.”

Lyric didn’t experience hypnosis the way humans do because he was wired differently, but he did experience an altered state wherein his attention could be directed to report on details his conscious mind might have missed.

Roo skillfully directed him to search for some clue that had been overlooked and, within five minutes, he found it.

The face that had been staring at them from the other side of the stage the night they went to see Quicksilver Messenger Service had also been at the Crossroads the night he’d taken Shivaun there to listen to blues. He’d been engaged in conversation with another demon on the other side of the room.

Jerking fully awake, Lyric said, “I know what he looks like. I don’t know who he is, but it’s something. And I have a place to start looking.”

“You’d better keep me posted,” Rosie said. “I care about her, too.”

He nodded and waved his hand. A giant vase of forty-three long stem, Mexican red roses appeared on Roo’s desk with a card that said thank you in elegant calligraphy.

When Rosie returned to her office, she found three equally extravagant bouquets.

Lyric headed to the Crossroads. It was two days before the demon Lyric was looking for came in. He strolled over and struck up a conversation.

“I’ve seen you in here before,” Lyric said smoothly. “With another demon.”

“Oh yeah. Probably Quicksilver. He likes it here.”

Lyric was too old to be surprised by synchronicity, but he wasn’t so jaded by life that he failed to notice it. There was just no escaping the ‘coincidence’ that Quicksilver was also the name of the sixties band that had been so much in his thoughts of late. He had to admit that it was a perfect name for a shapeshifting demon, but hated the idea of being forever stuck associating the name with the villain who’d taken Shivaun. If it were he.

These thoughts went through Lyric’s head so fast that he didn’t miss a beat answering.

“Yes. Quicksilver. How’s he doing?”

With a dark chuckle, the demon said, “He’s gone fucking crazy. Thinks he saw a female. Anavailablefemale.”

“You mean a female…?”

“Yeah. One of us.” The demon rolled his eyes.

“Poor bugger. Thatiscrazy.”

“I know. He even went to Shelejiah to get help.”

“That old sorceress? What kind of help?”

“You know. Charm. Spell. Whatever.”

“Right. I haven’t thought about Shelejiah in eons. I could use a good old-fashioned spell right now. You don’t know how to find her, do you?” The demon raised his hand, palm up, and a hologram appeared featuring green deer with wings. “That’s a good trick. Looks like Antigani Dimension.”

“That’s the one. She lives in this paradise, but everywhere you look there are big neon signs pointing to her place of business.”

“Mages,” Lyric commiserated, shaking his head.

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, nice talking to you, ah…”

“Penumbra.”

“See you around.”

---