“Most girls got flowers. I got a dirt pit used for demon raising. Nice.”

“You guys could handle this on your own. Why risk getting kicked out of your He-Man-Monster-Haters Club?""Because we can't handle this on our own. At least I don't think we can.""You said yourself you already have some Prodigium working with you. Why not go to them?""We have a handful," he said, frustration creeping into his voice. "And most of them suck. Look, just consider it a peace offering, okay? My way of saying I'm sorry for lying to you. And pulling a knife in your presence, even if it was just to open a damn window to get out before you vaporized me."Most girls got flowers. I got a dirt put used for demon raising. Nice."Thanks," I replied. "But don't you want in on this?"He looked at me, and not for the first time, I wished his eyes weren't so dark. It would have been nice to have some idea of what was going on in his head. "That's up to you," he said.Mom always liked to say that we hardly ever know the decisions we make that change our lives,mostly because they're little ones. You take this bus instead of that one and end up meeting your soul mate, that kind of thing. But there was no doubt in my mind that this was one of those life-changing moments. Tell Archer no,and I'd never see him again. And Dad and Jenna wouldn't be mad at me, and Cal...Tell Archer yes, and everything suddenly got twistier and more complicated than Mrs. Casnoff's hairdo.And even though I'm a twisty and complicated girl, I knew what my answer had to be."It's too much of a risk, Cross. Maybe one day when I'm head of the Council, and you're...well, whatever you're going to be for L'Occhio di Dio, we could work on some kind of collaboration." That brought up depressig images of me and Archer sittig across a boardroom table, sketching out battle plans on a whiteboard, so my voice was a little shaky when I continued. "But for now, it's too dangerous." And not just because basically everyone in our lives would want to kill us if they found out, I thought. But because I was pretty sure I was still in love with him, and I thought he might feel something similar for me, and there was no way we could work together preventing the Monster Apocalypse/World War III without that becoming an issue.Not that I could say any of that.Archer's face was blank as he said, "Cool. Got it.""Cross," I started to say, but then his eyes slid past me and went wide with horror. At the same time, I became aware of a slithering noice behind me. That just could not be good; in my experience, nothing pleasant slithers.Still, I was not prepared for the nightmares climbing out of the crater.”

“Quite an impressive file you've amassed, Sophia." Clasping his hands, he added, "If Hecate offered classes in complete mayhem, I have no doubt you'd be valedictorian."Nice to see where I got my snarkiness.”

“Saint Anthony's medallions are very powerful objects. Witches and warlocks used them in the Middle Ages, usually if they were traveling. You could give them to someone and use them to telepathically show your location. Very useful if you got lost or captured, both of which happened quite often in those days." He flicked it back at me. "I'm actually not surprised you found one. We have dozens in the cellar at Hecate."Well,that explained it,then. Secret demon hunter and thief. Man, did I know how to pick 'em.”

“I knew I wasn't going to figure out what she was up to just by reading her face; I seriously doubt there's an expression that says, "So me and my sister are raising demons at Hecate Hall.”

“It is imperative that you have no further contact with Archer Cross."I knew all of that. But there was something about having it actually said out loud that physically hurt. "I get it," I said,looking down. "I'm a demon, he's an Eye. If we got together, think of how awkward family holidays would be. Magic and daggers flying around, knocking over the Christmas tree...”

“Cal curled his fingers around mine and raised my left hand to the brownish flower. There was a callus on his thumb that should have been irritating against my skin.”