Thirteen

As I maneuvered the car at a breakneck speed toward the school, Laura called the house. On the third try, Eddie finally decided to answer the phone, and when Laura switched her cell phone over to speaker, I heard his gruff, "Whoever the hell this is, it damn well better be important."

"Allies room," I yelled. "The right-hand drawer of the hutch on top of her desk. Go see if there's a man's ring in it."

I heard him shuffling toward the stairs. "Dammit, Eddie!" I yelled. "Faster!"

"Keep your panties on," he shouted back, but I could hear the tempo of his steps increase, and his breath started coming in puffs. "Damn frou-frou furniture," he muttered. "Where am I supposed to be looking?"

"Her desk. By the window. There's a little drawer on the right-hand side. There's a ledge on top of it that might even have a small black address book."

"I see it," he said, and I silently prayed that she hadn't taken her father's ring to school. "There's no ring in here, though," he finally said.

I looked at Laura as I approached a red light.

"Run it," she said.

And I did.

* * *

"Allie!" I yelled, racing through the halls. Coronado High is a closed campus, and parents are supposed to check in at the front office. Fortunately, the school hasn't yet started locking its doors against outsiders, and I was able to barrel inside, ignoring the signs reminding me to get a visitor's pass.

The bell had just rung, and all around us, students stopped and stared. I didn't care. I needed to find my daughter.

I stopped Bethany, one of the cheerleaders. "Have you seen Allie?"

Her eyes widened, and she pointed down the hall. "She just got out of P.E. I don't know what she has next. Are you okay?"

"Fine," I called, sprinting toward the gym. "Family issue. No worries."

!I barreled through the double doors that led into the

gym, then paused to get my bearings.

"That way," Laura said, pointing off to the left. We'd both been in the gym dozens of times, but only for school events. The locker rooms had never been part of the equation.

"I'll go check," I said. "You go back to the office. Find out what her next class is, just in case she's not here."

"Check," she said, then sprinted toward the door.

"No," I called. "You're not her mom and we're not supposed to be here. Forget the office. Just go find David."

She waved with her good arm, then clutched her injured wrist close to her chest as she raced across the basketball court, her loafers clattering on the polished floor.

I sprinted in the opposite direction and found the girls' locker room. I burst through the doors, calling my daughter's name.

"Mom!"

I found her huddled in a towel on the floor in front of her gym locker. My heart split in two, and I rushed forward, desperate to hold her and make sure she was all right.

Mindy was with her, holding her hands and telling her it was going to be okay.

"Allie!" I knelt in front of her, grateful when Mindy movedaside so that I could fold my daughter into my arms. I held her tight, hugging her so close I probably injured a few ribs. After I'd soaked her in, I pulled back, then turned to Mindy. "Your mom went to get Mr. Long. Can you go find them and tell them we're down here and that Allies all right?"

"Urn, yeah, sure. But—"

"Mindy!"

"Okay, okay! I'm going!" She sent one pitying look back toward my daughter, then disappeared into the gym. I turned back to Allie, my hands grasping each shoulder as I looked her over once more, anxious to prove to myself that she really was in one piece.

She put up with my examination until I tugged at the towel. That's when she slapped my hand away. "Mom! What is with you?"

"Are you okay? You're not hurt?"

"I'm fine. Why would you think— Oh. Did something happen?" She turned her head, scoping out the empty locker room for stragglers. "Is it about demons?" she asked in the world's quietest whisper.

"Well, yes," I said. But now I was the one confused. "But weren't you—"

I cut myself off, realizing with a start that we'd been at cross-purposes here. Allie hadn't been attacked by a demon at all. But if she hadn't been attacked, then what had happened?

I indicated the way she was sitting on the floor, still wearing her towel. "I thought something had hurt you."

"I'm not hurt," she said. "I'm just . . . I'm just. . ." She trailed off and started crying again.

"Baby, what is it?" I was right in front of her, trying to read her expression. "What's happened?"

"Daddy's ring," she said between sniffs. "Someone stole Daddy's ring."

* * *

"It's okay, baby. It's okay." It wasn't, of course. That ring loose in the world wasn't okay at all. But I was hardly going to announce that little tidbit to my daughter. Not at the moment, anyway.

Instead, I just held her and told her it would be fine. We had other memories of her dad. Better memories. And certainly better souvenirs.

"Start at the beginning," I said, once she had calmed down. She was dressed now—a feat she undertook after I promised her that she hadn't incurred my wrath until the end of time. Secretly, I was more than a little concerned. But as I hadn't yet explained to Allie why I'd rushed all the way here to protect her, I was trying to keep my expression calm and collected.

Right now, I needed facts. When and where and how.

The part of the program where I freaked out about the fact that we'd lost a tiny ring that just happened to be the key to all of the current demon activity in San Diablo? Well, that could come later.

"I wore the ring to school today," she said. "Because I thought about what you said. About how we'd survived the demon in the park, and so Daddy's ring really was lucky."

I grimaced, remembering the conversation. She'd said the ring brought bad luck. I'd told her that was silly since I'd come to save her.

Considering the ring had brought the demon, she was right all along. So much for a mother's good instincts.

"Did you actually wear the ring?' I asked.

"No. It's too big, you know? And it's really kind of ugly. I kept it on the chain around my neck."

I mentally exhaled a sigh of relief. The demons already knew that the ring had been in my house, and considering the way they'd been hounding me, they must have believed I understood its significance. But if she hadn't put it on her finger, then maybe the demons hadn't come to the school. "Then what?"

"We can't wear jewelry in P.E., so I left it in my locker. But when I came back, it was gone."

"And you don't have any idea who took it? Did you see anyone suspicious going into the locker room?"

She shook her head. "No one."

I clenched my fists, frustrated at the brick wall we'd run up against.

If the thief was a demon, we were in trouble. But if our bandit was a student? Well, that kid would soon become a demon magnet. Worse, the kid would soon be dead.