Indigo muttered under her breath about “crazy, brainless humans,” and I heard a familiar chime when she unlocked her phone.
I kept my gaze on Eclipse and slowly crossed the courtyard. All of my instincts screamed at me to run to safety, but the breezy feeling of my own natural magic grew.
This is the one thing I’m good at—handling animals. I’ve always been cautious, but I believe in my magic, and in Eclipse.
I stopped short of the creatures and held out my palm.
The shade took a few steps—this close I could see its fur was still blurry, but distinctly matted—and sniffed my hand. Its dry nose brushed my fingers, and then it licked me with a slimy tongue.
My heart stuttered, but I felt my magic, and noticed when the shade started wagging its tail.
I slowly reached over its head and petted it.
I nearly screamed when it abruptly moved in and pawed at my foot with one of its two front paws—which were a gray color.
“Good boy,” I stupidly offered, but it leaned into me with the delight of a dog getting pets.
The gloom screamed again, which made me jump and kicked my heart up another notch. But I offered my hand out again.
The gloom sniffed it like a house cat might, then rubbed its cheek against my palm.
The shade’s fur was thick and full—if not a little greasy feeling. The gloom’s fur was sleek but strangely gritty feeling.
I relaxed as the gloom started purring, a deep, throbbing noise that came from its chest and rattled my bones as it leaned into me.
I finally dared to look away from it, and glanced at the other glooms and shades lingering with my night mares.
I did my best to offer them a smile, though for a moment I could haveswornI saw movement far behind the night mares, and a glimpse of silver hair and dark eyes.
Is that Rigel? What’s he doing here?
Twilight turned around to see where I was looking, and the gleam of silver was gone.
If it was Rigel, he’d moved on.
I glanced around the courtyard, but none of the animals seemed upset. I turned a little and called back to Indigo. “We’re good.”
“Are you sure?”
I glanced from the shade—which was still wagging its tail—to the gloom rubbing its face on my pants. “Yeah. It’s fine.”
Indigo reluctantly climbed down from the bench and slowly crossed the courtyard, watching the animals rub against me. “I will say that for all your brashness in dealing with fae, you are excellent with animals.”
“Or maybe the animals have always wanted to be like this, the fae have just been ignoring them.”
“No, I don’t really think that’s it.” Indigo stared at the gloom’s paws and gigantic claws.
I grinned, but let it slip from my face and sighed. “I should get back to ward practice—for offensive and defensive purposes.”
Indigo squinted at me. “Wards can only be used for defensive purposes.”
“Maybe—I bet there’s a creative way you can use it to smash someone.” I winked, then froze when I heard a rumbling noise.
My fingers were buried in the gloom’s fur, so I felt the cat tense up.
“What’s that?” I whispered.
Indigo grabbed my arm—this time her eyes swam with despair. “That’s the ward surrounding the Night Court. It’s failing!”
