Everything except the power of the nearby ley line. I could feel it humming thirty yards away as if it were a high-tension power line. Panting, I staggered to my feet, shocked to realize I could see it. I could see everything as if I was using my second sight—which I wasn't. My stomach roiled as I saw that my circle, once tinged with a shading of cheerful gold from my aura, was now coated in black.

I turned to the demon, seeing the thick black aura surrounding it and knowing a good portion of it coated mine. Then I looked at Ceri, hardly able to see her features, so strong was Algaliarept's aura on her. She didn't have an aura to combat the demon's, having lost her soul to it. And that was what I had pinned everything on.

If I retained my soul, I still had my aura, smothered as it was under Algaliarept's. And with my soul came free will. Unlike Ceri, I could say no. Slowly I was remembering how.

"Free her," I rasped. "I took your damned aura. Free her now."

"Oh, why not?" the demon chortled, rubbing its gloved hands together. "Killing her will be a banger of a way to get your apprenticeship started. Ceri?"

The slight woman scrambled up, her head high and her heart-shaped face showing panic.

"Ceridwen Merriam Dulciate," Algaliarept said. "I'm giving you your soul back before I kill you. You can thank Rachel for that."

I started. Rachel? I had always been Rachel Mariana Morgan before. Apparently as a familiar, I wasn't worth my full name anymore. That ticked me off.

She made a small sound, staggering. I watched with my new vision as Algaliarept's bond fell from her. The barest, faintest glimmer of purest blue rimmed her—her returned soul already trying to bathe her in protection—then vanished under the thousand years of darkness the demon had fostered on her soul while it had been in his keeping. Her mouth worked, but she couldn't speak. Her eyes glazed as she panted, hyperventilating, and I leapt forward to catch her as she fell. Struggling, I dragged her back to my end of the circle.