Chapter1
Farrow
It is alwaysa pain in the tail when the human child I’ve been assigned to watch moves house.I’ve got to figure out the new layout—as well as checking on everyone in the house—and poke around both for security and my own curiosity.So after sliding out from beneath the kid’s bed at the start of my shift, I gathered the shadows to me and did my usual scratching and opened the wardrobe door.She burrowed deeper under the blankets, sound asleep.At five, she was easy to scare.Things got harder as kids got older and braver.
I had never seen any signs of magic around her, but there was time for that to develop.Swathed in shadows, I slipped from her room to the lounge room.There were packing boxes and toys everywhere.I stepped over her favorite stuffed toy, a fox that always looked cross because of the way its eyebrows were lowered, like it was glaring at me for existing.She’d been given it for her birthday last year.I picked it up and sat it on the table before moving a few other things around to mess with the humans.
Nothing too much because I wasn’t there to mess with the mother.I work in bridge protection and will be following the kid, and any others in the house, until they aged-out of believing in monsters and magic.There were more people in this house.The girl, her mother, a man who used to visit the mother, and someone else I didn’t know—I would investigate who the other person was before I left.It appeared the mother had moved in with the boyfriend.Good for her.Maybe she’d have another kid, good for me.I liked consistency as I got to know the family.Some humans believed in the supernatural far more than others…
Despite a couple of windows being left open, it was bloody hot in the house.I closed them but didn’t lock them.A dog barked, and I paused.
That was new.
The familiar thunk of a dog flap and the scampering of four feet made me curse and run for the pantry.Dogs and cats both saw monsters, and both would kill me if given the chance.
The pantry also happened to be the nearest cupboard.From there, I planned to jump to another cupboard or wardrobe elsewhere in the house.However, without having a firm handle on the floor plan, I could end up anywhere.My buddy once ended up in the laundry, where the three cats slept.Needless to say, the cats were not asleep, and when he scrambled back through, there was a cat still attached to him, ripping into him.He’d been off work for a week, hemorrhaging magic.After that incident, he’d been transferred out of Bridges.
Which left me with a dilemma, as I didn’t want to make the same mistake.
The barking dog ran into the kitchen, claws scrabbling on the tiles.
I tugged the pantry door a little further closed and held my breath.Silently cursing the dog and the mother for moving in with her boyfriend.I never heard them mention a dog, only a bunny who liked to play fetch.
Oh.
Bunny was growling on the other side of the pantry door.
I glanced around the cupboard, looking for something to distract the dog with.I doubted the dog would eat marmalade, but it was one of my favorite things in the human world.I picked up the jar and read the label.Cumquat.I had no idea what that was, but according to the picture on the front, it was some kind of fruit.I cracked open the lid and took a lick.
Delicious.
Heavy footsteps thumped down the stairs, and a man shouted, “Bunny!”
Shit.
I needed to move.The kid, the mother, and the boyfriend slept upstairs, but the boyfriend was about to find me in the pantry.
I backed up into the corner as a sand-colored paw pushed beneath the door.
My tail knocked into a bag, and it fell over.Dog kibble…
The kibble scattered over the floor.I pushed open the door and jumped to the kid’s room to wait out the chaos as Bunny got blamed for the mess.
As if sensing my return, the kid sat up and screamed.“Mommy!”
I was not waiting here.Mommy had tried all kinds of tricks to be rid of me.I didn’t blame her, but she didn’t understand the delicate nature of the bridges.Humans in my world had the power to reshape my world—for good and ill.It was why no child was allowed to use the bridges that naturally formed where they dreamed.And what were dreams if not magic?
Mommy burst into the room, and I jumped into the wardrobe in her room.
Except it wasn’t a wardrobe.There were no doors.It was one of those fancy walk-in robes.Fuck, I hated this house!
The boyfriend grumbled at the dog.Another, younger-sounding man was saying it wasn’t his fault.I crouched in the shadows.There was too much going on.I needed to get out of here and check on one of my other charges.But to leave, I needed to jump back into the kid’s room and slide under her bed.
Not while Mommy was still in there.
Heavy footsteps came up the stairs as the boyfriend returned to the bedroom.
I was running out of rooms.I reached for the other cupboards, knowing I needed to chance the other bedroom.That or the broom closet, but no one liked a shelf to the ribs or head.The other person in the house was a young man, though one far too old to create bridges and have a monster under his bed.
