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she’d ruined magic for all of us, and it turned out the little girl was only staring at her pizza-ass. “Maybe a Non saw you in the bathroom.”
    “Got it,” she says. Her nose crinkles. “Does it have to be a bathroom?”
    “Use your imagination,” I say. “Just be there on Thursday.”
    Her phone plays Thomas’s ringtone from her room, and with a smile she’s gone. My sister, ladies and gentlemen: practical and cute. Gran would be pleased.

    Next Thursday sorted, I can’t stop thinking about the last twenty-four hours. Today alone I’ve expelled a demon, failed to have magic again, witnessed Enforcers in action, and met a boy who illegally tracks demons. Tomorrow already feels lacking and full of one thing: waiting. Waiting for Monday when Enforcer examinations start. When I’m closer to finding my demon. And I still have a lot to figure out with my magical exams now that Connie won’t be in the same room as me. I can’t fail if I want to be whole again.
    I reach under my bed and pull out the white box that’s lived there for three years. Removing the lid, I spread out the pages and pause on a picture of my parents from their wedding. I’ve been collecting as much information as I can about getting my magic back. It started when I was fourteen, because that was the year I heard the story about the Restitution—the ritual that could supposedly restore magic. I was at a sleepover with a girl named Kelly, my only friend aside from Ric back then, and her older brother told us stories that night. I thought it wasn’t real—we all did—but then I started thinking that maybe it could be and I started researching.
    I found a few things over the years, and most of it’s lore, old stories that mention the Restitution alongside the Loch Ness Monster, King Arthur, and dragons. The biggest breakthrough was when I found a description of items needed and how it works.
    The Restitution ritual requires a demon captured by iron and fire. Then it’s a matter of the right incantation, some herbs—most of which I can’t get without clearance—and some magical weapon that will release magic back into the atmosphere before it dies. There isn’t much information about the weapon outlined in the books, and no mention of what kind of weapon it is.
    After that, I stopped finding information. It was all a dead end. I knew that meant I should stop looking because the only time things are locked away it means the Triad doesn’t want us to know. They lock all the “dangerous” information away in the library of the Nucleus House. But I won’t stop. I can’t. The only way I can start looking for anything about my magic or my demon or the ritual is there. The Enforcer examinations are my first chance to get clearance to enter the library and start finding the demon. One step at time.
    I lower my parents’ picture and pull up the information I’ve written about our demon. I don’t know much about it. I know it had orange eyes, like a pumpkin. But I’ve found a reference that could match that, and a name to start researching: Azsis.
    According to lore, Azsis was the one who discovered the power that could be accessed through a witch’s essence. He also supposedly fell in with Lucifer. Others say Lucifer created him when he became Satan. Who knows. Aside from that, there’s nothing about Azsis, not anywhere I can reach, right now. In two days I will have new clearance for the library. Then I will be able to find what he is, where he is, and how to get my magic.
    “Penelope Grey!” Ric calls, bursting through my door. I shove everything back into the box and barely get the lid on before he comes in. He raises an eyebrow when he sees me. I tell Ric everything, but not this. He’s a rule-follower, and Ric wants to be an Enforcer almost as much as I do. To prove something to his dad, to honor his brother, and I’ve always felt like that connected us.
    But he can’t know this. I can’t make him keep my secret. Enough