Lesson 140- When everything goes wrong, take a deep breath and deal with one problem at a time.

When Laura arrives, I excitedly tell her that we plan to remove the binding spell tonight. She’s pretty thrilled about it. Apparently she’s been wanting to go out and do ‘girly’ activities. It seems that Catcher and Kyle aren’t all that interested in going with her to get her hair or nails done.
“Do you usually go alone?” I ask, as Torin unlocks the front doors.
“Nah, I go with my cousin Clare sometimes, when she’s available. It’s hard though since my family are so weird and all. Her parents, my aunt and uncle, they aren’t quite as bad as mine but they do keep her on a pretty tight leash and I’m obviously not the golden child right now.” Laura sighs. Ooooh, Clare is her cousin. I did wonder who that other contact was in her phone.
“Have you ever tried inviting Mira?” I wonder and Laura shrugs.
“Once, but one of the kids got sick and she cancelled on me. I should probably invite her again sometime though. Maybe we can all go together!” She suggests cheerfully and I nod. Honestly I’m excited at the thought of any activity that means getting to leave this bar.
“Not until it’s safe though.” Torin grumbles, the door now unlocked. I sigh. Damien, who followed Torin out here, sits by the bar and nods along.
“He’s right sis. No risk taking for you until this whole situation is sorted out. Oh yeah! Torin, I wanted to apologise if I was being a bit of an ass earlier. I sometimes get a bit carried away when I get stuck on an idea. Sorry if I overstepped. I’ll be the first to admit that I have no idea about any of this magic stuff. I’ll try to remember that I’m not the expert here.” He says sincerely. Torin actually smiles. It’s small and I’m fairly sure I’m the only one who would have noticed it. But I’m sure he’s relieved that Damien isn’t upset with him after all.
“Ooh, was there an argument here earlier?” Laura asks, immediately looking to hear whatever gossip is available.
“Not really an argument exactly. Tori was explaining to us about demon bargains and how technically I could get out of the one with Solem if I were under another. Damien figured I could just make one with Torin but Tori isn’t keen on the idea. I’m not sure exactly why, but it’s dangerous somehow I think?” I explain. I don’t bother trying to avoid telling Laura about this because I’m sure Damien would anyway. If only as a trade for more gossip about me. Laura stares at me, her face aghast and the rest of her frozen in place.
“You asked to make a bargain… With a demon. That’s so dangerous! It almost never turns out well. Not to mention you can’t back out or change your mind. There’s no re-negotiating if your circumstances change. Plus there is some seriously unpredictable magic involved with it all.” She takes a deep breath, apparently needing to calm herself.
“Torin might be strong and he has limited control over other magic like his ability to kind of incinerate people. But the bargains are what make him really dangerous. They don’t need to be written down or witnessed. There is no formal wording required. It just comes down to making an agreement. Even Torin couldn’t change it or take it back if something went wrong. Not to mention, because there is magic involved, there has to be some kind of sort of equal trade. Whatever you offer, he has to offer something back or vice versa. There are so many things that could go wrong!” She falls silent and looks more than a little concerned about me.
“You didn’t agree to anything, did you?” She asks worriedly. I shake my head.
“No. We just discussed that it could be a possible option. But Torin isn’t interested so I guess we’re going to have to keep looking for solutions.” I conclude. Torin nods firmly, agreeing with my answer, but also not disagreeing with anything that Laura said. It’s so strange, he seems like he’s more scared of his own abilities than everyone else is. Besides, I feel like everyone is forgetting that I’m ALREADY stuck under a bargain with a demon, and I wasn’t even the one who made the bargain. Wouldn’t a deal with Torin be better? At least then I would have some say in the terms. I could choose for myself who I want to make a deal with.

The next couple hours are pretty amusing. Mostly because Damien hangs out in the bar while I’m working and everyone is THRILLED. Apparently being my brother makes him the most interesting person of the night. Being the fabulous friend that I am, I even text Eli to confirm that Damien is still here and will be hanging in the bar with us until it gets late and he decides to go to bed. About ten minutes after I send that text, Eli turns up. For once, his presence doesn’t make the place more rowdy. He’s on his best possible behaviour, probably trying to impress Damien. Although Eli does seem more than a little frustrated at Damien’s unexpected popularity. He’s probably disappointed at having to share his attention. Still, there isn’t anything I can do about that, and it seems like Damien is having a good time being the centre of attention. Actually, it seems like the regulars are trying to get him drunk in the hopes of getting more information from him. About himself, me and apparently Torin. Jokes on them, he barely even knows Tori. Everything is going really well, until there is a crashing sound from outside. The front doors blow open causing the bar to fall silent. A feminine voice calls out.
“Send the human girl out.” She demands. I stay behind the bar, frozen in place while Torin jumps to his feet and heads to the door. The moment he reaches it, a blast of bright light blares and he is thrown backwards, landing on the floor several metres back. The room goes crazy. People start screaming and running. A couple people head towards the exit but smaller bursts of light shoot through the door and to my horror, the spots they land begin to catch fire. Shit.

I’m frozen in place. I have no idea how to deal with this, but surprisingly, Damien is the one who leaps into action. Or maybe not so surprisingly, he is a fireman after all.
“Water, we need water.” He demands urgently. I rush to open the back door and myself, Eli and Damien rush back and forth grabbing buckets of water and putting out the fires while Laura manages the customers and tries to keep everyone reasonably calm and out of the line of fire. Meanwhile, Torin has staggered to his feet. I desperately want to go to him, but I’m trying to keep up with the fires. I do try to approach briefly. But Torin yells at me.
“Don’t you dare Rina. You stay away. Hell, go to my office. You’ll be safest there. I’ll come join you just as soon as I manage to shut this damn door!” He once again tries to approach the doors, but another blast of light hits him and pushes him back, although it’s smaller and he doesn’t fall over this time. I ignore his order to go to his office. I’m more worried about the place burning down, particularly as I’ll be stuck inside it if it does. I’m really regretting agreeing to wait a few more hours to have the binding spell removed right now. I’m rushing to get more water, when a blast of light flies behind the bar. It hits a bottle which shatters and I don’t even have time to blink as glass flies straight towards me.

**TORIN**
Rina screams and I look around wildly. Where the hell is she? I can’t see her anywhere! I panic and barely notice as another blast of light hits me. As a demon I’m fairly immune to fire, but the force of the blasts are enough to send me backwards. They hurt, but I’m more worried about Rina. I need to find her. I can only assume the magic being blasted at me is coming from witches, at least three or four of them I would imagine, all specialising in elemental magic. I can’t get a good look at them, but I don’t care to try. All I want is to close the damn door so I can go find Rina. I surge forward and I manage to force the door shut, just as another burst of power hits the door. I hold them shut and struggle with the lock. Until this door is actually locked, the ward is weak. Finally, it clicks into place and I’m able to let go, Laura’s wards are fully functional and keeping us safe. There are people panicking everywhere and the room has been destroyed again, but I don’t care. I need to find Rina.