"-and that good thing is all that matters to me now."

"Savannah," Jaime said with a soft sigh.

My gut went cold.

"I need to protect her, Jaime," the Nix continued. "And I would love to be able to do that on my own, but I can't. I tried. God knows, I've tried."

I stared at the Nix and, for a moment, hearing those words, I saw myself sitting there… which was exactly what Jaime was seeing. The glamour spell. Shit!

"Trsiel!" I shouted.

The Nix fought back a smile.

Jaime exhaled a deep sigh. "Okay, let's get this over with. But if you double-cross me, Eve-"

"I won't," the Nix said. "Give me your body long enough to catch this bitch, and I'll give it to you with all the spook-busting credits you'll ever want."

I lunged at the Nix. Yet even though she was in spirit form, I passed right through her and landed across the floor.

I mentally called for Trsiel again, then recited a quick communication spell, putting in a desperate call to Kristof. I knew it wouldn't work-he'd never been able to master this piece of high-level witch magic-but I had to try anyway. The Nix had erected some kind of barrier against me, but maybe Kris could get through and either warn Jaime or stop the ritual.

Jaime had barely finished the first invocation when Kristof popped into the room, facing Jaime and the Nix, his back to me.

"You rang?" he began, then stopped. "What the hell?"

"That's not me," I said as I hurried up beside him.

"Of course it isn't," he said. "It's the Nix, but what-"

"She's cast a glamour spell to look like me, and convinced Jaime to let me-her-possess her. I can't stop them, and Jaime can't hear me. Some kind of spell-"

"Jaime," Kristof said sharply as he strode toward the two.

She didn't turn.

"Jaime!" he said, then bent over her and looked into her eyes. "Goddamn it!"

He turned to me, opened his mouth to say something, then twisted fast and launched himself at the Nix, trying to catch her off guard. He flew through her and tumbled to the floor.

"What kind of spell has she-?" I began.

"Not the Nix. It's Jaime-she's put up a necromantic barrier to block interference from other spirits. The Nix probably told her to."

"So what can we-"

"Do?" Jaime said, rising to her feet. "Nothing, witch. You can do nothing."

I blinked. The Nix had disappeared-into Jaime.

"Where is she?" I said. "If you've-"

"Oh, don't worry about the necromancer. This isn't about her."

Before I could answer, Trsiel appeared, landing in front of me with his back to Jaime-the Nix. His gaze darted first to Kristof, then to me.

"Ah, the angel," the Nix said. "Better late than never, hmmm?"

Trsiel spun, saw Jaime, and frowned back at me. "What's she-?"

"I was just about to tell Eve what I'm doing with this body," the Nix said. "Of course, I could surprise her, but that would quite ruin things. How much better that she should know exactly what I have in mind… so when it comes to pass, she can know that she failed to stop me."

"Trsiel!" I said. "That's the-"

"Nix," she said. "He knows, witch, and he'll do nothing about it. He won't interfere even when I wrap my hands around their necks. Yes, their necks. Those whose lives you made this bargain to save. Ironic, I think."

"Paige and Lucas?" I said. "Don't you dare-"

"Not only will I kill them but, with a little ingenuity, I can take an even sweeter revenge. What could be worse than your poor daughter losing her perfect guardians? Thinking she killed them herself."

I started to lunge at the Nix, then remembered it would do no good and spun to face Trsiel, shouting his name. But he didn't move.

"Goddamn you!" Kristof said, turning on Trsiel. "If you don't-"

The Nix's laugh cut him off. She lifted a hand, waved, and walked out the door. With a roar, Kristof rushed Trsiel. He grabbed him by the shirtfront and threw him toward the door.

"Get out there and do your goddamned job!" Kristof snarled. "Stop her!"

"I can't," Trsiel said softly.

Kristof bore down on Trsiel again. He grabbed him by the shirt, then rammed him against the wall. He locked his forearm under the angel's chin.

"You've tricked Eve, haven't you?" Kris said. "Betrayed her to that…" His mouth worked, unable to find the right word. He lowered his face to Trsiel's. "If you've had something to do with this, no Fate is going to save-"

I laid a hand on Kris's shoulder. He stopped, jaw still working as he eased back.

"Trsiel? You said you can't," I said. "Why can't you?"

"Because I'd kill Jaime."

"And your point is?" Kristof said.

Trsiel's gaze hardened as it rose to meet Kristof's. "My point is that Jaime Vegas is an innocent party. I don't know how the Nix got into her body, but unless she's a willing participant-"

"She's not," I said softly. "The Nix tricked her. Jaime thinks she's helping me save Savannah from the Nix. Which means Trsiel's right. We can't kill her… not if there's another way. The Nix can't teleport while she's in Jaime, so we have some time before she gets to Portland."

Kris stepped back and rolled his shoulders. A moments hesitation, as he slipped back into character. "I would suggest, then, that we not waste time trying to figure this out ourselves. We'll see what the Fates have to say."

"Trsiel is right," the middle Fate said. "He cannot kill her."

We stood in the throne room. Kristof and I, that is. Trsiel stayed outside, probably having decided he was better off keeping away from Kris for a while.

"Fine," I said. "He can't kill an innocent. We get that, and so long as we still have a chance of stopping the Nix before she kills Paige or Lucas, I don't want Jaime hurt any more than you do."

The Fate shook her head. "I don't think you understand, Eve. Trsiel cannot kill her. Not now. Not ever… even as a last resort."

"What?"

"Hold on." Kris stepped forward, hands raised. "You mean to tell me that you'll let this Nix kill those kids, and you won't interfere? What kind of justice is that?"

The oldest Fate slid into her sister's place and fixed Kris with a glare. "Is her life worth less than theirs?"

"Yes. There's no question about that, is there? No disrespect to Jaime Vegas, but this is a woman who whores her-"

"Kristof-"

Kris met the Fate's gaze. "Whores her talents to the highest bidder, while Lucas and Paige are down there doing your work, fighting on your side. You cannot compare her to them."

The middle Fate took over. "It's not our place to judge the value of a human life, Kristof."

"Then whose is it? Because I want to talk to him."

"No one has that power… or that right."

Kristof shook his head in disgust. "Fine, then. Maybe you can't compare lives, but I'm sure you can count, and two lives lost plus one destroyed must be worth more than a single loss." The youngest Fate appeared. "We can count, Kristof. Even me. It's you who needs a lesson. Not in math, but in English. We didn't say Trsiel may not kill the Nix while she's in Jaime's body, or that he will not. We said can not."

"You mean it's not possible," I said. "Because Jaime's innocent." The Fate nodded. "The Sword of Judgment cannot bring to justice the soul of an innocent."

"But the soul isn't innocent," Kristof said. "The Nix-"

"The soul of the body still belongs to Jaime."

"So now what?" I said. "Where does that leave us?"

"Exactly where you were," the girl said. Then her lips twisted in a rueful semismile. "Only without the backup plan."

"Great."

The Fates called Trsiel in to join us then. The more brains we had working on this problem, the better.

The most obvious solution was to treat this as a normal case of spirit possession, and contact a few living necros to perform an exorcism. Problem was, as the Fates reminded us, this wasn't a normal case of spirit possession because the Nix wasn't a normal spirit. They were ninety-nine percent sure it would fail. By the time we tracked down and prepped a necromancer for the exorcism, if it didn't work, it would be too late to try something else.