“I’ve never taken down a demon,” I said. “Tam said he had, so he told me how to channel his power.” I stopped. It took me more than a few moments to say what I didn’t want to acknowledge, let alone admit. “Tam and I seem to have some sort of connection since what happened last week.”

Mychael nodded, his expression grim. He knew only too well what had happened.

Six spellsingers had been kidnapped and held in a prison block deep under the elven embassy. They were intended as sacrifices to feed and reactivate the Saghred. There was a chance that Tam and I could save them, but only if we worked together. The Saghred had wanted to get its figurative hooks into Tam, and saving those spellsingers had given the rock a taste of Tam’s black magic. What we’d done had torn down the magical barriers between us. Tam had said that we weren’t separate anymore. Until today, I hadn’t realized what that meant.

And now, with a single touch of his hand, Mychael’s magic had merged with mine, and we could hear each other’s thoughts. It was only for a few intensely intimate, breath-stopping moments-but it had happened. It was similar enough to what had happened between me and Tam to scare me, but the Saghred hadn’t stepped in to join me and Mychael. It was only the two of us. Mychael was white magic; Tam was dark-it could be as simple as that, but I didn’t think so. Nothing the Saghred ever did was simple.

I blew out my breath. It was a little shaky. “What’s happening to us?”

Mychael’s face showed no emotion. He knew that “us” included Tam. “I don’t have an answer, but we will find one.”

“Best plan I’ve heard all day.” I stood; I couldn’t sit still anymore, either. “Vegard said that Volghuls are advance guards for a legion of demons, and implied that we have ourselves a Hellgate opening on the island.” I didn’t mention that Tam had told me the same thing in my mind. If Mychael didn’t know, I didn’t need to tell him. “What does it take to open one?”