“Officer Ott?” I murmur.
“That’s me.” Her lips pull back in a smile, revealing sharp fangs. “I was stationed here to watch over Rhazan, and the town. To ensure he didn’t break his parole.”
“Well, he didn’t,” I say, quick to defend him.
“Hismagic left the area of containment. That is a break of parole.”
I suck down a shaky inhale. I want to defend him, but I’m scared I could make things worse. I don’t know anything about his world or how magical parole works.
Her nostrils flare and she blinks slowly at me. “But there’s no one here to know that, and I don’t see him anywhere…”
I laugh, clutching my chest, then breathe easy again. “Thank you.”
She arches a hairless brow. “Don’t thank me yet.Youhave to come with me.”
“What? Why?”
She gives me an incredulous look. “It’s time to get registered, witch.”
thirty-seven
Magical Bureaucracy
Before the first word of my protest forms on my lips, I’m enveloped in glinting green magic that makes it feel like I have to sneeze, desperately. My face scrunches up on instinct, and Jamie grabs me under the arm. When the feeling dissipates, I blink my eyes open with a groan.
“I’ve been told my magic makes the human nose itch, so I’m glad to see you’re at least as human as you claim to be,” Jamie says beside me.
I’m still trying to recover from the feeling as I look up at her with dismay. She’s very anthropomorphic dinosaur-ish, still over six feet tall, and threaded through her golden eyes are lines of gray-blue that are reminiscent of her human eyes. Her face is wider than a human’s, with a longer snout ending in narrow, snake-like slits.
The background behind her head flashes brightly, and my focus changes to our surroundings. My brain’s first responseis: cave. But no, those aren’t stalactites—they’re upside-down buildings. Strings of light connect top to bottom and side to side in a lattice that little pods travel along. There are things with wings, things that blob, things with too many legs and long bodies.
My gaze zips from one strange thing to the next as my mind churns. “Where…?”
“This is the Interdimensional Bureau for Magical Affairs HQ,” she says, pulling me along by the arm. “And we’re holding up portal traffic.”
I glance over my shoulder to see a bubbling circle of magic suspended over a metallic platform. A dude with translucent skin and lots of blue electrical impulses moving underneath operates a…tube thing…that connects to the magic bubble.
“Eyes front, or you’ll run into something,” Jamie says.
I whip my head around and focus my attention on the floor. Floor looks pretty normal. It’s smooth, dark rock, or maybe metal. A little trickle of green glitter and neon pink sparkles just below the surface in a straight line.
I point to the representations of our magic in the ground. “What?”
Apparently, I’m incapable of multi-word sentences.
“ID and tracking.”
She pulls us toward a blank wall and stops, placing her hand against it. Her magic surges out from her hand and words I can’t read appear on the wall beside a rough representation of Jamie in her dino form.
“It’s used for requesting resources, opening doors, finding your way, and travel. Everyone knows we’re here—but no one knows who you are yet since you’re unregistered. Put your hand up.”
I hold my hands up like I’m in a shootout.
She snorts. “Against the wall.”
I place my hand near hers and hot pink siphons out of me into the stone. I can’t read the text, but it’s very short.
“What does it say?”
