“Ethel!” Katie scolded.
“It’s okay. She probably smells the dog hair.” I plucked a few offending strands off my sleeves.
“Aww, she has a dog? Green flag.” Katie nodded in approval.
“Yeah, he’s a real sweetie.”
As for figuring out whether Oaklyn knew anything about the chimera or witches? Whenever I tried to broach the subject of what happened at the beach, her lips ended up on mine again. Not that I’m complaining. There’s always next time—and I am determined to figure her out. Katie managed to pry the truth out of Natalie pretty fast, and I’m going to do the same with Oaklyn. I’ve got a feeling she’s somehow involved in all this.
“What’s her name?” Katie asked. She flashed a teasing grin. “Or were your mouths too busy to get each other’s names?”
I laughed. Before I could answer, my phone beeped with the distinct sound I assigned to my chimera-alert program—the one indicating that people on social media were discussing strange activity. My heart shot into my throat, my thoughts scattering.
“Oh my God.” I fumbled for my phone in my pocket.
“What?” Katie asked, freezing in place.
I squinted at the screen. I hadn’t written code to process the output yet, so it took me a second to decipher the XML.
As it clicked, I jumped to my feet. “Chimera. We need to go, now!”
Katie let out a little shriek and ran in a small circle, a bundle of folded pants in her arms. “Where? What is it?”
“People are talking about a pop-up turtle pond in Burnaby.”
Katie dropped the bundle of pants. “A pop-up… What?”
“It’s a pond that appeared out of nowhere on a dead-end street. People are assuming it’s an art installation.” I checked the time, and my stomach plummeted. “Blah, I need to go to work.”
That annoying grown-up job I was so looking forward to before all this magical chaos entered my life.
Katie grabbed her bag. “That’s okay. Go. Text me the location.”
“Will do. And text me when you’re done so I know you’re alive!” I shouted after her as she thundered out the door.
I’ll tell her more about Oaklyn later, once the chimera is dealt with. We’re going out again tomorrow, and my heart is dancing just thinking about it.
For now, I guess I’ll sit at a desk in a boring office building while Katie is out there tackling another chimera. Don’t get me wrong—I love this job, and my coworkers are cool. But damn, magic has its temptations.
Chapter 12
The Turtle Pond
Standingattheedgeof a pond that shouldn’t exist, I put my hands on my hips, the enchanted net dangling from my fingers. Lily pads float on the surface, reeds sway despite the lack of wind, and the water shimmers like a mirage in the morning sun.
Pretty. I get why the public assumed it was art. Weird place for an installation, though. The dead-end street feels forgotten by the city, cracked pavement giving way to gravel and weeds, while a rusty dumpster overflows with bits of plastic that skitter over the ground like tumbleweeds. The pond is an improvement.
My skin prickles with the familiar sensation of nearby magic.
“These streets were wild before your stones claimed them,”a voice hisses in my mind.“We remember when this was ours.”
Okay, no need to panic, it’s just a vaguely threatening disembodied voice.
I shift in my fake Animal Control shirt, which is stiff and doesn’t sit right across my shoulders. “It’s definitely in there. I hear it.”
“Voices?” Natalie asks.
I nod once. My palm is sweating on the net. All that practice in the Alchemy lab, and it still feels foreign in my hands.
