"I don't know what's more impressive," Melissa said with a smirk. "Solving Verothilas's name in ten seconds last year, or figuring out Armaros's in your sleep this morning."

Sue had a sip of her coffee then pointed out, "You said you were having a lot of those dreams right? Stands to reason that's how you did it. Some clue from the past-life memories combined with what Melissa figured out on Sunday?"

I nodded quietly. Everyone else was all impressed and congratulating me and stuff, but I just felt strange about it. With Verothilas, I knew how I figured it out. Her screen-name Solitare was the big clue, with the missing I.

This was different, I didn't know how I solved it. I could almost see the solution now that it was written out. Armaros had two As and two Rs, so did his true name. And his true name started with arma- and ended with -ros. The extra E was the wildcard.

But I didn't solve it. I just woke up and found the answer already written on my phone, and the knowledge of how to pronounce it was in my head. Maybe my girlfriends were right and I did solve it in my sleep, but if that was the case I felt like I couldn't take credit for it.

"So we all know the new moon's tomorrow," Amber spoke up. "And Lily already had a ritual planned for tonight. Sounds like perfect timing. Are we going to summon him up and imprison him tonight?"

Last year when me and Melissa solved Verothilas's name Lily was a huge bundle of energy, but this time she was more subdued. She hadn't jumped out and taken over, and it felt like her mood was up and down. Like she was excited but also nervous and maybe a bit moody as well. It wasn't the way I expected her to react.

She spoke up from where she was sitting on her big leather sofa, "No. This requires a lot more planning and preparation than we can do in a single day, and we won't make the mistake of confronting Armaros here in Susan's home. Further, now that we have his name I have to remind you all to never ever speak it. For that matter I'd like all of you to purge all your research, delete everything Armaros-related from your phones and computers. We need to lay low until we're ready to use this."

I took a deep breath and relayed that to my girlfriends, who all nodded quietly.

Amber had a gulp of her root beer then asked, "So what do we do in the meantime? Are we still going to do a ritual tonight with the brooch?"

After a few moments to think it over Lily decided, "Yes we will. There's some things I need to do though. I'm going to do something different tonight, so I won't be sharing any of the energy this time. You can let Grace know as well, there won't be any for her tonight either. Once we've taken care of Armaros, then we'll see about sharing energy again with those of you who want it."

I passed that on to the others as well, and Susan asked "What are we doing differently tonight?"

"I'll fill you all in tonight before I do it," Lily responded. "For now, the four of you can go about your normal day."

That seemed to be all she had to say on the subject, at least for now.

I got myself some breakfast, but nobody else was interested. Susan and Melissa both worked the other night, and Amber just generally didn't eat unless she felt like it. And eventually the four of us all got dressed and ready for our day.

Susan went to university, me and Melissa headed to college, and it was Wednesday so Amber was working.

I had trouble focusing on my morning classes, and I figured part of that was because I still felt off about how I 'solved' that name in my sleep. Like until I understood how it happened, I felt like it wasn't me and I shouldn't get credit for it.

I also figured some of it was because of Lily. It felt like she had some mixed emotions going on as well, and that was having an effect on me.

At one point during the second class Professor Nichols went into another of her rants against consumer-level equipment, so I took the opportunity to slip inside to see my demon mom.

"Hey Lily?" I said as I joined her on the leather sofa. I slipped an arm around her and asked, "Are you ok? I figured you'd be more excited or whatever."

She gave me a weak smile and gently hugged me back, "I am Mara, but I'm also trying not to get carried away. We need to take this slowly and carefully."

After a brief hesitation she admitted, "I received another email from my pen pal last night. Something she said inadvertently bothered me. She mentioned something that happened to her which was similar to an event that upset me in the past."

"Aww," I gave her a worried look. "Are you going to be ok?"

Lily nodded, "I'll be fine Mara. And you should be in class. Before you go though, I have a request for you? At lunch, would you please go to the mall? There's something in our safe deposit box that I require for tonight."

"Of course Lily," I agreed, then I returned to the body to finish the class.

At lunch time I spoke to Melissa and she gave me her car keys. Then she and Grace went to the cafeteria to have lunch together while I went to the mall by myself. Twenty minutes later I was standing alone in the little room at the bank with the long metal box.

"So what did you need?" I asked Lily as I opened it up and had a look inside. "And where does all this stuff keep coming from?"

As far as I knew the last time I was there was back in April when me and Susan got the brooch out. Back then I found some mysterious new stuff in the box, and today there was even more unfamiliar stuff in there. Cash, jewelry, gold coins, it was like someone kept adding valuables to our box when we weren't looking.

My demon mom sounded a little embarrassed as she replied, "Verothilas had a number of caches, valuables stored away in various locations. I've begun to empty them and transfer the most valuable objects here, since I discovered one of her properties was burgled a few months ago."

"There should be a gold necklace," she added. "With a plain unadorned gold amulet on it, about the size of a nickel. That's what I need for tonight."

As I rooted around looking for the necklace she wanted I commented, "We're going to need to upgrade to a bigger box if you keep doing that. This one's almost full."

There were five or six necklaces but I found the one she wanted, and as I pulled it out I asked "Are you going to use this to make an amulet thingy for Armaros?"

"No Mara," Lily replied, "I need it for something else. Put it somewhere safe, then we can return to college for now."

I slipped the necklace over my head since that felt like the best place to put it, and tucked the little amulet bit under my shirt. Then it took another few minutes to get the bank manager so we could lock the box safely back in the vault again.

By the time I got back to college there wasn't enough time for lunch, so I just got a drink and spent a few minutes in the cafeteria with Melissa and Grace. Melissa had already filled our friend in on the change of plans, and she decided to come over tonight even if Lily wasn't sharing any more energy. She wanted to hang out with us and find out what else Lily was up to.

After our last class I rode in Grace's car and she brought me back to the house, while Melissa drove over to the university to pick up Susan. And we texted Amber to let her know we were going to order something for dinner when she got home from work.

While we waited for Amber the rest of us filled Grace in on everything that happened over the past few days. So she knew Melissa figured out that magic square thingy on Sunday, and I'd been having a bunch of dreams again about demon Mara, and finally this morning I somehow figured out Armaros's true name in my sleep.

I still felt weird about that, but Sue and Melissa played it up like I did something special or whatever.

Fortunately we quickly moved on to other things, like I showed off the gold necklace Lily had me get out of the safe deposit box. I told them what Lily said about taking stuff from where Verothilas had it hidden, but I didn't know where the necklace originally came from or what Lily planned to do with it.

When Amber got home the five of us spent some time figuring out who wanted to eat and what we all wanted. We ended up ordering pizza and wings, Melissa and Susan were ready to start eating again and Amber figured she'd have a couple wings. We all had a pretty chill meal, then after we were done me and Melissa cleaned up and took care of the leftovers and everything.

Lily finally spoke up just as we finished tidying up. "Mara, I'd like to take over now if you don't mind?"

"Ok Lily," I replied. I let the others know, then I stepped inside.

I gave my demon mom a hug and said, "Good luck Lily. Are you feeling better now, or still upset about your pen pal?"

She hugged me back, "I'm doing better now Mara, thank you."

I settled on the big leather sofa while she stepped out into our body. Lily got the box of salt from the kitchen, along with a small sharp knife. Then she got the velvet box with the brooch from our bedroom, and finally joined the others in the living-room.

Melissa, Susan, and Amber were all sitting together on the sectional, while Grace was on the love-seat. Everyone had drinks, Grace was sipping wine and the other three had vodka coolers. Just like at the last new moon, Lily sat on the floor next to the coffee table.

"So what's the plan tonight?" Susan asked. "I take it you're going to do the ritual here in our living-room again?"

Amber asked, "You're doing something different though? Or what's changed, that you won't be sharing any energy with me and Grace this time?"

The small succubus quickly added, "Not that I'm disappointed, I don't mean to sound like I'm upset. Just curious what's happening."

Lily smiled slightly as she put the salt to one side for now, then set that gold necklace on top of the coffee table as she held the small paring knife, our fingers carefully grasping it by the blade.

"To keep things safe," my demon mom said as she started carefully scratching tiny runes onto the small gold disk, "I can only take so much energy out of Verothilas' brooch at a time. And I'm going to need all of it tonight, so I can't spare any."

We were sitting crosslegged on the floor, our back hunched over slightly as we worked on the necklace. I couldn't help thinking there was probably a better way to do that, like maybe sitting at a desk. And for that matter there were probably specialized tools you could get for working on jewelry and stuff. On the other hand this was all very last-minute, so Lily was working with the stuff we had available.

Melissa asked, "What is it you're doing with that necklace? Is that going to become the vessel for trapping Armaros?"

"No," Lily replied as she continued to focus on her work. "I'll need to procure something special for him. I'm going to enchant this with protective magic, the runes I'm carving right now are part of that enchantment."

Amber asked, "So it's a protection charm? What'll it protect against?"

My demon mom kept marking her tiny runes in the gold as she responded, "It will shield against exposure to demonic magical energy. We can assume that imprisoning Armaros will release a surge of energy, just like we experienced last December with Verothilas. When I'm done, this amulet will ensure that Mara doesn't absorb any more of that energy."

After a moment she added, "And should anything go drastically wrong, it will also protect the both of us from any magic Armaros throws our way. But I don't expect that to be a problem. He'll be safely trapped in a containment circle, as we did with Verothilas last year."

"So that will keep you and Mara safe," Susan said. "What about the rest of us? Or is this something you and Mara are going to do alone?"

Melissa added, "And where do you plan on doing the ritual to capture him? Not here obviously."

"Not here," Lily confirmed. "If possible, I'd like to return to the cottage we visited in the spring. Mara can you check and find out if it's available at the next new moon? Or if not, then the one after that?"

I nodded, "Sure Lily."

My demon mom continued, "As for your other question Susan, all four of you are welcome to accompany us there. To ensure your safety though, none of you will be with me when I perform the ritual. The rest of you will stay inside the cottage, and I'll place protective runes around the structure to ensure you're all shielded from the magic."

"Even me?" Amber asked. "I get why Sue and Melissa would want to avoid more of that energy, but..."

Lily nodded "You too Amber. While I don't think there'd be any danger for you, I don't know for sure and I'd rather play it safe. So if you're there, you will stay safe inside the cottage."

That was about all the questions for now, everyone was quiet for a bit as Lily finished her carving. She put the little knife aside and picked up the salt.

The next fifteen or twenty minutes were spent with Lily carefully making two interconnected salt circles on the coffee table. She added a bunch of demonic runes and stuff around the circles, then the silver brooch went in one circle and the gold necklace in the other.

"Mara," my demon mom addressed me again. "When this is over I'll be resting again, but I'd like to you put the gold necklace somewhere safe for now. Maybe store it in the drawer with the brooch? Don't just wear it around, it's not to be worn until we're ready to confront our foe."

"Ok Lily," I replied. "Got it."

There weren't any last minute questions, so she finally got started.

Like all the other times the whole thing started with her chanting and stuff, and the salt circles took on a dull red glow. Then the purple crystal in the brooch started glowing as well, and everything got brighter till it hit a peak.

Instead of the purple laser thing, the necklace and amulet suddenly got surrounded in a kind of golden glowing light while the purple glow at the brooch dimmed a bit. It seemed pretty obvious to me that the one was getting darker as power was sucked out and into the gold necklace.

That lasted six or seven seconds before it was finished, and after that we got the purple laser thing. It hit us in the chest and same as last month I felt it in our heart, but nothing at our ankle.

After that I was back in the body again and the whole thing was over. The glowing faded and I finally picked up the brooch and necklace and put them both away. Then I swept up the salt and stuff, and finally got my girlfriends another round of drinks before I joined them on the sofa.

After all the excitement in the morning, it seemed like a very anticlimactic ending to the day.

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