“Naw, now that’s not right, is it?” he asked. “That’s not nuffing. That’s one of them traps the Circle uses on people. I oughter know!”
“Yes. Yes, it is,” I said, frowning at it. And then beating on it some more, not that it seemed to help.
“Wot’s in there, then?”
“Nothing,” I said, looking up at him in frustration.
“You like that word, don’t ya?” He tilted his head to the side. “But if there’s nuffing in it, why are you bothering wi’ it?”
“Because there’s supposed to be something in it! Or someone.”
“Like who?”
“Like a demon.”
“A demon?” The man looked me over again, assessing. “Wot you doin’ with one o’ them?”
“Nothing right now!” I glared at the mages at the end of the street. “They switched boxes on me. He isn’t in here!”
“Well, o’ course he in’t,” Red told me. “They never put no demons in those.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Naw, why would they? When they c’n just ring up the old demon council, tell ’em to come pick up their wayward boy?”
“The . . . council?”
He nodded. “The Corps patrols humans, which demons ain’t. They got a treaty with the council. Says if one o’ their kind gets out o’ line, the Corps calls ’em up, and they come for ’em. Unless the demon makes ’em mad in the meantime, and he ‘dies trying ter escape,’ wot has been know ter—”
He broke off when my nails sank into his wrist. “Where would they keep him?”
“Wot?”
“The demon! Where would they keep him until the council comes for him?”
“In maximum security, most like. They don’t like demons.”
“And where is that?”
The guy looked upward. “Top floor, but you’ll never get in.”
“Why not?”
“’Cause I’m going to have that coat, ain’t I?” he asked, and I suddenly realized he was holding something out at me.
It was a knife. A small pocket variety, which he seemed to have pulled out of nowhere. “How did you get a knife in there?” I asked, looking from him to the box.
“The Circle don’t know everyfing, does it? Now hand it over.”
“What?”
“The coat!”
“Why?” I looked at him. “You’ve got a coat.”
And he did. It was a pretty nice one for a thief, being thick wool and fairly new. In fact, it looked better than mine.
“It looks better than mine,” I pointed out.