When our hour was up, Rend and I reappeared there on top of the old house.

The shifting unsettled me, and I fell to my knees, my head spinning as my body reformed itself. Rend sat down next to me, his hand tight against his forehead.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as we got used to being back in our own bodies.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Weird,” I said.

“At least you didn’t throw up,” he said with a laugh. “Franki tossed her cookies when she reformed, and she was only disconnected from her body for twenty minutes.”

“That’s super comforting, thanks,” I said.

We both laughed and stood.

“So, what now?” Rend asked. “We obviously found out some new things about the amethyst priestess, but I think we just made her mad.”

“I’m not thinking about the amethyst priestess right now,” I said. I flew down to the garden and ran my hand along the green vines and flowers. “I want to know more about this fairy. Sabine.”

Rend shuddered and shook his head. “Trust me, friend. You don’t want to mess with Sabine,” he said. “She’s lovely on the outside, but she’s rotten on the inside.”

“I think she could see us standing there,” I said. “I thought you said no one would be able to detect us with this potion?”

“I said no witch’s magic would be able to detect us,” he said. “Sabine is no witch.”

“She’s obviously fae,” I said. “But she’s not like any fae I’ve ever seen before.”

“No, she’s far more powerful,” Rend said. “She’s the daughter of the fae who rules the Summer Court, and she’s very dangerous. We need to focus on how to stop the amethyst priestess from getting to Harper. Did you see the pendant she wore around her collar?”

“A panther?”

“That’s what I thought it was, too. If we can find a door with a panther on it—”

“We’ll be no closer to finding Harper than we are now,” I said. “Without some kind of trinket or gemstone, we won’t be able to get through the amethyst priestess’s door.”

“We have to at least try,” Rend said. “You heard her. She’s planning to send deadly assassins after Harper. We have no idea what her situation is back there.”

“You said she was fine when she came to see you, right? No injuries?” I asked.

“Other than some scars on her arms, she seemed fine,” Rend said. “But her power was low. She depleted everything she had when she killed the emerald priestess.”

“That’s just a matter of a good night’s rest,” I said. “But you’re right that we need to focus on how to get back to her.”

I ran my hand along the tulips again.

“And I know exactly how to get there,” I said.

Rend drew in a shaky breath and stared at me. “I know what you’re thinking, but I have to warn you. Sabine is not as she seems,” he said. “Even if you manage to find her, she never does anything for free or out of the goodness of her heart. She’s not going to open a portal for you just because she sees how much you love Harper. She’ll demand some type of payment, Jackson, and with Sabine, nothing is ever easy.”

“You talk about her like you know her,” I said.

“I do.” He ran a hand through his hair. “She’s the one who helped me create Venom. Sabine has a similar power to the emerald priestess in that she can manipulate time, but her power is a thousand times stronger than Priestess Evers.”

“Wait. She created Venom?” I asked.

“In order for Venom to be a safe haven for all creatures to meet, I needed it to exist outside of the normal bounds of time and space,” he said. “I needed for there to be entrances to the club all around the world, making it accessible to everyone, no matter whether they were in France or the United States.”

“I thought you said she was dangerous, but you obviously survived working with Sabine,” I said. “How bad can it be?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t go to Sabine asking her for a favor,” he said. “Sabine owed me for something I’d helped her with a long time ago. I’d saved her from a vampire, and I gave her a place to stay while she healed. She owed me, and creating Venom was her repaying me.”

“Still, I have to try, Rend. I have to get back to Harper somehow,” I said. “This fairy can make a portal for me. You heard her. She said it took almost no power for her to make a portal into the past. She was looking at me when she said it. I think she wants to help me.”

“Jackson, Sabine never wants to help anyone just for the sake of helping,” he said. “If she’s willing to help you, then she must want something from you.”

“She doesn’t even know me,” I said. “What could she possibly want from me?”

Rend shook his head. “She doesn’t know you, Jackson, but she’s met Harper.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “What? You didn’t tell me this before. When did she meet Harper?”

“At Venom,” Rend said. “When she came looking for me in 1951, I was just getting Venom started. Sabine was there the day Harper showed up. She was completing the Paris door when Harper walked into Venom. I was passed out cold when they met, but she was there.”

“Why didn’t you tell Harper about Sabine?” I asked. “Maybe she could have opened a portal home for her. She could have walked straight through, Rend.”

He shook his head. “That’s not how her magic works,” he said. “She can manipulate time and space, but there are limits to her power. She can open a portal into the past, but she can’t open portals into the future. She wouldn’t have been able to help Harper even if I’d asked her to.”

“Dammit,” I shouted, kicking at the fountain with my boot. “I have to get to her, no matter what it takes, Rend. You have to see that. No matter what this fairy wants from me, I’ll give it to her. I don’t care.”

“You say that now, but Sabine, she’s tricky,” he said, gripping my shoulder. “Sometimes what she gets you to agree to can be heartbreaking. Life changing in the worst ways. You may not even fully understand what you’re agreeing to until it’s too late.”

“I’m done arguing about it,” I said, pulling my arm away. “She said she would cast the portal for the Order and go home. Do you know where she lives? That’s all I need to know.”

“Jackson—”

“No,” I said. “My mind is made up, Rend. You’re either going to help me or you better get out of my way.”

Rend sighed. “You’re the most stubborn demon I ever met in my life.”

“You can’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing if it was Franki,” I said.

Rend looked me straight in the eye. “I understand. I really do,” he said. “But I joined the Brotherhood of Darkness thinking they could help me save my sister. I foolishly let them turn me into this abomination, twisting my true demon power into something evil and unbearable. And in the end, she still died in my arms, Jackson. Making deals with the devil never turns out the way you want it to. In the end, it always comes back to haunt you.”

I turned away from him, not wanting to see the pain in his eyes.

Yes, he had made a bad deal with a group of vampires. He had trusted them when he shouldn’t have, but he had still managed to do something incredible with his life. He’d made a deal with the devil and survived it.

I had to believe I would, too.

“I don’t have a choice, Rend. It’s the only way to bring her home. I have to try.”

Rend moved to stand beside me, and we stared at the garden together, the weight of the moment weighing heavy on both of us.

“I don’t know where to find her,” he said. “But I know someone who does.”

“Who?” I asked.

“How fast do you think you can get to New Orleans?”