Read The Trouble with Demons for Free Online

tried to sound casual, but I wasn’t buying. The kid had a death grip on the arms of the wooden chair he was sitting in. I didn’t think he even realized it. Probably his first time in a watcher station, along with being his first time latching on to a demon.
    “No, I’m making this a habit,” I told him. “ You just keep coming along for the ride.”
    His lips twitched again and his grip lightened. A little. “You’d think I’d know better by now.”
    “Hey, at least this time we weren’t kidnapped, tied up, and blindfolded. The watchers asked us nicely and there were no handcuffs involved. And we’re not in a cell.”
    Piaras almost grinned. “That is an improvement, isn’t it?”
    “Damn right, it is.”
    “So, how many times have you been arrested?” Talon piped up, his aqua eyes sparkling.
    We both just looked at him. Piaras was normally the nonviolent sort, but was clearly entertaining thoughts about his new friend and spellsinging classmate.
    “I’ve never been arrested,” I told him. I didn’t mention that the Benares family had the best lawyers in the seven kingdoms on retainer. That little benefit alone had kept my bacon out of the clink at least twice. Not that I had been guilty of anything; well, not exactly, but other people had thought otherwise. Kind of like today, my inner pessimist reminded me.
    I told my inner pessimist to shut up. “You’re looking quite at home here,” I told Talon.
    The goblin shrugged. “I’ve had a few unfortunate misunderstandings with watchers in my time.”
    Considering that Talon’s time only amounted to about nineteen years, those must have been some misunderstandings. He was slender and sleekly muscled with waist-length black hair. His silvery gray skin was lighter than normal for a pure-blooded goblin, which Talon most definitely was not. His aquamarine eyes were from his mother, an elf. Tam liked elves, Tam liked me, and Talon was the living proof that I wasn’t the only elf who Tam had liked.
    When the boys had given their statements, Sedge had asked them the usual questions, but not the one I expected him to. I was glad he didn’t, though my inner pessimist wondered why he hadn’t. I wondered, too, but I wasn’t about to turn down what could amount to a gift on a silver platter.
    Piaras and Talon had taken on a demon that a troop of Guardians couldn’t stop, and I had only been able to bottle him with Tam’s help—a dark mage, highly trained in black magic. Piaras and Talon were too young to be highly trained in anything, yet they’d held that demon until Tam and I could take control of it. What they had was natural talent: raw, powerful, and dangerous. That kind of talent also got you noticed by people you didn’t want to have notice you.
    “The two of you worked well together,” I said quietly. Piaras and I weren’t the only elves in the room. Some of the watchers were, too. Elven ears did more than just look good.
    Talon shrugged. Piaras didn’t say a word.
    “You’ve been reading new spellsongs again, haven’t you?” I asked Piaras.
    His hesitation told me everything I needed to know.
    “A few,” he admitted.
    I swore silently.
    Piaras wanted to be a Guardian more than anything and was studying with Maestro Ronan Cayle, a legend among spellsinging masters. When Tam and I had joined forces to save those six lives last week, Piaras had destroyed some nasty magical beasties before they could destroy us. He’d used a spellsong that was damned near suicidal for someone of his age and inexperience to attempt. He’d seen it once in a spellsong book, read it, and had instantly memorized it. He’d gambled and won—that time. Today he’d gambled again, and if Tam and I hadn’t been able to take that demon from him, this time he would have lost.
    I took a breath and silently counted backward from ten. It took all the way to one before I could trust myself to talk without yelling. “That was quite a risk the two of you took.” My