Circle vs Binder

"Stay close!" I shouted. I thrust the end of my staff into the gravel and dragged it through, drawing a line in the dust and stones. I swiftly inscribed a quick, rough circle maybe four feet across around Murphy and me, actually getting between her gun and the grey suits for a second.
"Dammit, Harry, get down!" she shouted.
I did so, reaching out to touch the line in the gravel, slamming a quick effort of will into the simple design. Murphy's gun barked twice. I felt the energy gather in the circle and coalesce in a rush, snapping into place in a sudden and invisible wall.
The nearest of the grey suits staggered, and then flung itself into a forward dive. Murphy flinched back, and I grabbed her, hard, before she could cross the circle and disrupt it.
The grey suit slammed into the circle as if striking a solid wall, rebounding from its surface in a flash of blue-white light that described a phantom cylinder in the air. An instant later, more of the grey suits did exactly the same thing, maybe twenty of them, each of them bouncing off the circle's field.
"Easy!" I said to Murphy, still holding her against me. "Easy, easy!" I felt her relax a little, ceasing to struggle against being held in place. "It's okay," I said. "As long as we don't break the circle, they can't get through."
We were both shaking. Murphy took a pair of gulping breaths. We just stood there for a moment, while the grey suits spread out around the circle, reaching out with their hands to find its edges. I had time to get a better look at them while they did.
They were all the same height and weight. Their features were unremarkable and similar, if not quite identical. They looked as if they could have all been from the same family. Their eyes were all the same color, an odd grey-green, and there was no expression, none whatsoever, on their faces.
One of them reached out as if to try to touch me, and his open hand flattened against the circle's field. As it did, a freaking mouth opened on his palm, parallel to his fingers. It was lined with serrated sharklike teeth, and a slithering, coiling purple-black tongue emerged to lash randomly against the circle, as if seeking a way through. Yellowish mucus dripped thickly from the tongue as it did.
"Okay," Murphy said in a small, toneless voice. "That is somewhat disturbing."
"And it's gonna get better," I muttered.
Sure enough, the other grey suits started doing the same thing. Within seconds, we were completely surrounded by eerie hand-mouths, writhing tongues, and dripping slime.
Murphy shook her head and sighed. "Eckgh."
"Tell me about it."
"How long will this thing keep them off?"
"They're spirit beings," I said. "As long as the circle's here, they're staying outside it."
"Couldn't they just scuff dirt on it or something?"
I shook my head. "Breaking the circle isn't just a physical process. It's an act of choice, of will-and these things don't have that."
Murphy frowned. "Then why are they doing anything at all?"
I had to restrain myself from smacking my forehead with the heel of my hand. "Because someone summoned them from the Nevernever," I said. "Their summoner, wherever he is, is giving them orders."
"Could he break the circle?" Murphy asked.
"Yeah," I said. "Easily."


Turn Coat Chapter 19, Page 162-164