The library had quickly become a place of solace for Ratface. She’d commandeered Suncat’s little nook and rearranged the pillows to suit her. Suncat and her were having a tiny war over pillow configuration but seems they were never here at the same time, the shared space worked fine for now.

Her common was getting better but she was still a slow reader. It was a shame because other than the glamour book Claudette had given her, she wasn’t able to research anything about glamours to help with the Halmir problem.

She was getting her range to increase steadily but the sheer fogginess she felt made her worried she might just forget to hold on and they couldn’t afford that.

There was a knock at the library door and Claudette entered. The demon had taken to joining her, but they didn’t do any practical work on the glamour. Instead, a lot of it was dedicated to theory which Claudette assured her would be more useful while Suncat ran her ragged.

She’d brought her own book as usual. With a wave of her hand, she got one of the chairs to come over to her. She sat down without looking and the chair slid into place just in case. Ratface was waiting for the day she messed it up and fell on the floor but it’d yet to happen. The demon used magic with such grace. It was a subtle display of her control. It was more effective at telling Ratface how powerful the other woman was than any grand magic would be.

She seemed energetic today and Ratface, she didn’t even start reading before talking to Ratface.

“I hoped we might talk about the deal I offered you,” she said.

Ratface looked up from her book. She’d known the conversation had been coming and she’d been asking around the goblins, both demon and normal.

“I was hoping to put the decision off until we helped Halmir,” Ratface began.

“Because you don’t want to anger your glamour?”

Ratface froze, and the lady snorted as she opened her book.

“It doesn’t take a genius to work out that your helping Halmir is somehow related to your glamour given how exhausted your mind has been. I’m happy to wait until after but I would like to find out which you’re leaning towards in the meantime.”

Ratface let out a breath. It was annoying their secrecy had been for nothing but more than that it was a reminder that while she was in this forest there was little that Claudette couldn’t see.

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“I don’t want to take your deal,” said Ratface.

“Interesting. Why?”

“I don’t have a good reason.”

Claudette made an irritated noise.

“This isn’t a test Ratface. I’m curious about what made you decide it.”

Ratface thought back to the goblins she’d asked. What was strange was that all of them hadn’t regretted the choice. It fixed a thousand little problems in them they didn’t notice, one of the goblins had said they even breathed easier now. It was almost like the magic was an afterthought to all the other ways it helped them.

It wasn’t some insidious change either. The normal goblins told her they didn’t change in the way they acted. Neither side tried to convince her either way. One time they had even made one goblin leave the conversation when he tried to convince her the change was good. She couldn’t find any solid reason not to change. Imagine having access to magic all of a sudden.

“It’s not something I can pin down,” said Ratface, “but something gets lost, something important. Being a demon is unique, it looks powerful. Yet I’d rather not give up that part even if I can’t say what it is.”

It was the little things. The way they were more careful, the way that they had to think a little harder to connect with other goblins. They were still goblins, there was no question about that, but it was like they were a whole family, and they were cousins instead of siblings.

Claudette sighed.

“What a waste you weren’t born with magic, that intuition would have served you well. Do you know what demon magic is centred around?”

“Deals?”

“Close. Sacrifice.’

She gestured to the window where they could see the forest.

“Most people think that just means blood or life, but the forest is a good example. It’s true I have watered most of these plants with my blood, but that’s only half the equation. Did you know that all of the demon goblins have some time dedicated to taking care of the forest?”

She closed the book in front of her, now fully interested in her lecture.

“They’re sacrificing time to the forest and as a result, they get some amount of control over it. Me being honest and forcing you to take deals with eyes open is also part of that, I sacrifice any deception and lose out on weaker deals, but the ones I get a more powerful.”

She put her hands together.

“Keep this in mind when I tell you that every goblin who takes my blood is more powerful than they should be. Whatever they sacrifice is important. I’ve had to tell most of them, but you sniffed it out yourself, for that I applaud you.”

She stood up, restless energy moving through her.

“I think you’ve made the right decision. I look at you and see a series of chances ending. I don’t know what that means, a novel feeling for me. To that end, I say you go to the park right now and tell no one. Let’s add a little more chaos to the mix.”

She stopped talking and Ratface thought about it and went back to her book. She looked up as the demon stared at her.

“That wasn’t a suggestion, was it?”

“It was not.”

Ratface closed the book and hurried out of the room. She walked quickly, then began to run. It was definitely because she was excited to go to the park. The demons eager look hadn’t freaked her out at all.