"A peddler gave it to my sister."
"Gave it? She didn't buy it?"
"Apparently not."
He ran his thumb over the amulet's points.
"The woman said to repeat an incantation three times if we ever needed to solve something."
His hand stilled. "What was it?"
"We couldn't understand the words."
"But you repeated it nevertheless?"
I chewed the inside of my lower lip and shrugged one shoulder.
"Bloody hell, Emily, do you know what you've done?" He stood and paced across the rug to the hearth and back. He completed the short distance in two strides. "Shape-shifting demons are dangerous. They roam at night, searching for food. And I'm not referring to the pies and boiled potatoes variety. I mean living flesh and blood."
I gulped down the bile rising up my throat. "Oh God," I whispered. I pressed a hand to my stomach to settle it, but to no avail. It continued roiling beneath my corset. What had we done?
He suddenly stopped pacing and blinked at me. "Sorry," he said softly, "I shouldn't have gone into detail." He crouched in front of me and went to touch my hands, still holding my stomach, but drew back before making contact. "Are you all right? You've gone pale."
"That's quite a feat considering my skin tone," I said, attempting to smile. I reached out to press his arm in reassurance but he stood suddenly. All the softness in his eyes vanished and I bristled in response to the coldness in them. Obviously physical contact was not something he wanted.
I wondered when he'd last touched a live person. Unless he'd stumbled across someone else who could see spirits- and therefore touch him-it would have been before he died.
"If that incantation is what released the demon," I said, "then it's not a very fool proof system your Administrators have to keep them in check." I couldn't help the sarcasm dripping off the words like rain drops off leaves. His sudden changes of mood had me confused and bothered which in turn threw up my own defenses. I couldn't tell if he was friend or foe yet.
"I think we've already demonstrated that," he said.
I shot him a withering look. "They ought to have better mechanisms for controlling their demons."
"It's not just a matter of repeating the incantation. It must be done when the portals between this world and the Waiting Area are opened as they are during your séances." He held up the amulet. "And while touching a cursed object."
"Cursed? Someone has cursed that?" He nodded.
"It really shouldn't have been given away then."
"Very observant of you."