Why You Should Never Rescue Stray Demons Chapter 143

**KACIA**

“Okay, okay. Message received.” Mikey says, rubbing his face. The motion drags the tension off his features. When he leans in and hooks an arm around me, the hug is warm and familiar, like putting on an old hoodie.

“I’m an idiot.” He confesses. I nod, satisfied it has finally sunk through his thick skull. The satisfaction pops like a little spark in my chest.

“Eat cake before your apology gets stale.” Angelo sasses, now that he’s recovered enough to start moving again. He glides past with a plate like a judge bestowing mercy. Apparently, once he’s comfortable and settled, he is kind of sarcastic. I kind of love it.

“In his defense, he’s been a little… In his head since we found out that I’m pregnant. New job description, Dad. I think he’s been a little nervous about everything, worried that he isn’t enough. Which is completely ridiculous. He is going to be amazing.” Sarah adds gently, voice soft but sure. Mikey throws her a look that says ‘stop telling my secrets’ and she returns a look that says ‘I will tell all of your secrets and knit them into a tiny blanket.’ I exhale. The knot behind my ribs loosens, just a fraction, enough to let air all the way in. 

“Good. Now that we’re done with the existential crisis, can we make a plan?” I ask, rolling my shoulders back. The word plan steadies me, it always has. Mikey straightens, cop-brain clicking into place. His posture resets, elbows off knees, shoulders squared. He reaches automatically for his pocket and produces his own tiny notebook, the one with the bent corner and weird case notes, doodles, and a list titled ‘Top Ten Teas That Taste Like Being a Better Healthier Person Than I Am.’ He flips to a clean-ish page with the crisp authority of a man who has bullied many a form into submission. 

“Alright. We have strengths, we have weaknesses.” He says, tapping my notebook with his pen. The click of the pen cap is obnoxiously decisive. 

“Let’s convert that into actions. Rule one, no frontal assaults on fae lords. We do sneaking and scheming, not swords and stupidity.” He announces. 

“Aw, and here I was sharpening the stupidity.” Oz says mildly from my other side. His tone is light, his eyes are not. The brush of his sleeve against my arm is a small, steadying weight.

“Save it for plan B.” Mikey says without missing a beat.

“What exactly is plan A?” I ask, a little lost, because apparently we’re naming plans now and that implies more than one.

“Not sure exactly, but something a lot less direct.” He reasons. The corner of his mouth tugs, he’s already mapping boxes and arrows in his head.

“Right…” I trail off, waiting for inspiration to strike. 

We all sit and stare at the list for a long, quiet minute. Paper rustles, the lemon-glaze scent from Angelo’s cake hangs warm in the air. Oz clears his throat.

“I think we did miss something on the weaknesses list.” He says, voice even. 

“He, like most fae, is physically pretty vulnerable. When we fought him before we lost, sure. But none of us actually got a good hit on him. I bet if we had, he wouldn’t have coped nearly so well. He also does seem to be at least a little bit vulnerable to my nightmare magic, although he reacted strangely and fought harder instead of running away, so it might not be that useful to us.” He adds with a frown. Mikey’s brow furrows. 

“So it sounds like what we need to do is somehow get close enough to knock him out.” He reasons. 

“Yeah, but it sounds like his magic makes that nearly impossible to do.” Sarah chimes in, hands folding together in her lap. 

“Is there something we could do or buy to… I don’t know, subvert his magic somehow? Or defend against it?” Mikey asks. Angelo makes a face. 

“Something powerful enough to defend against a fae lord’s magic? Unlikely…” He mutters.

“It would be better if we could stop him from using magic in the first place, or catch him before he gets a chance to.” Oz answers, a hint of frustration there. Stop him using magic… Wait.

“I’ve had exactly one lesson in fae magic, so I could be wrong here…” I start, tapping the notebook with my pen. 

“BUT it seems like disrupting fae magic before it happens should actually be pretty easy? Since it’s all about focus. If we can mess up his focus somehow, shouldn’t he, in theory, not be able to use his magic properly?” I point out. Everyone pauses, the room catching its breath with me. Oz looks thoughtful. We all glance toward Angelo, he’s spent the most time around fae and wears the resigned expression of a man about to tell us we’re half right.

“In theory that is true…” He says slowly. 

“But… Lord Alhwin is old and very experienced. He is powerful because he knows what he is doing. He will have mastered his focus fairly well. And simple spells likely take very little effort for him. I don’t think that disturbing his focus will be as easy as you are thinking.” He explains.

“I think you are underestimating just how annoying Kacia can be.” Mikey says with a smirk. 

“Hey! I mean, you’re not wrong… But hey!” I object, pointing my pen at him. I glance at Oz for backup, but he just shrugs, palms up in the universal sign for ‘do not throw objects at me.’ I glare, he raises his hands higher, tone diplomatic. 

“I don’t think you’re annoying. But I will acknowledge that, if you CHOSE to be annoying, you are… Creative enough to be very good at it.” He answers. I narrow my eyes and stare him down, trying to decide if he has said anything I should be offended by. My instincts say yes. My brain cannot find a single specific word to pounce on. Ugh. Fine. I drop it with a sniff that is absolutely dignified. 

“So…” I say, clicking my pen and dragging the notebook closer. 

“The plan is basically to lure my grandfather to a location of our choosing where we will set up plenty of distractions and traps for him. Then, while he’s distracted and unable to focus and use his magic, we knock him out and restrain him somehow. Right?” I confirm. Everyone nods. “Uhm…” Sarah says, hesitant but brave. 

“You said that he is… Paranoid when it comes to prophecies. Could that be used to lure him somehow?” She asks. She looks a little nervous, fair, considering she probably knows the least about magic out of everyone in this room. I smile at her, grateful she’s even in the room for this trying to help out.

“Probably, particularly if he believes I’m going to be there.” I agree.

“So… We have a plan?” Oz confirms, voice low.

“We have a plan.” I say, and the satisfaction in my chest is sharp and clean. A plan is a handhold. A plan is air.

“So what do we need to do first?” He asks. I tap the margin and start a new list. 

“Well, we need a trip to a hardware store… And a craft store.” I decide. My brain is already listing useful items. Cord, hooks, bells, glitter, tape, tape, more tape…

“Also Ulric’s shop, but we might need to stop for some kind of bribe to win his assistance first, though…” I trail off. 

“Cake bribes.” Angelo says immediately, like he’s been waiting his whole life to be this useful.

“Legal bribes.” Mikey adds, unhelpfully, and Oz rolls his eyes so hard I can practically hear it.

“Cake is legal.” Angelo argues, affronted that anyone would suggest otherwise.

“Cake is encouraged.” Sarah rules, because she is wise and pregnant and therefore wins.

“Okay, so we stop for cake on the way to Ulric’s. Perfect.” I declare, underlining it twice like the cornerstone it is. The page looks suddenly brighter. The room, too. For the first time since I woke up, I feel almost confident. We have a plan. And cake. Honestly, what could go wrong?