I’d just taken out a demon in front of hundreds of people using a magical skill that obviously wasn’t mine. My enemies would think I’d used the Saghred. Actually, having them think that was better than what I’d really done. I was linked in some way with a goblin dark mage. To certain powerful and influential people on Mid, that was an even worse offense. It wouldn’t matter to them that I’d saved student lives. I’d be declared elven public enemy number one within the hour, if not sooner.

The purple demon was imprisoned in the wine bottle like an evil genie. The bottle was sitting in the middle of the floor in a jail cell so heavily warded it crackled. I wholeheartedly approved of the city watch’s security precautions; I didn’t think they were in the least bit excessive. I just hoped they held.

And I thought shopping and an attempt on my life would be the worst that could happen to me today. Though I shouldn’t complain, I wasn’t the one who’d had my throat ripped out. That dead mage was downstairs on a slab in the morgue. Some of the students were in the infirmary-a few had broken bones, but none had been killed. Katelyn Valerian was one of those in the infirmary. Considering that a demon had her neck in his claws, she was doing surprisingly well, though we’d almost had to drag Piaras from her side to come here.

We were sitting outside the corner office of Chief Watcher Sedge Rinker. Piaras sat on one side of me, Talon on the other.

The room was one big office area filled with the usual: desks, chairs, file cabinets, watchers, accused perpetrators, and plenty of noise. Cells lined one wall. Some had bars, some had wards, and some had both. If the city watch had gone to the trouble to apprehend someone on an island full of magic users, I guess they wanted to make sure they stayed put. One cell held a couple of students who looked as if they’d done something last night that’d sounded like a good idea after a few rounds.