I glance at his ears. He is indeed wearing pentagram earrings. I thought they were just a fashion statement.
“Okay,” I say carefully. “So you’re a witch. What does that have to do with me hallucinating shadow creatures?”
“You’re not hallucinating,” Felix says matter-of-factly. “Shadow creatures are real. Well, shadow beings. They’re from the Shadow Realm. It’s a parallel dimension that overlaps with ours.”
I stare at him. My brain is struggling to process this information.
“The Shadow Realm,” I repeat.
“Yeah. It’s where all the creepy crawlies live. Shadows. Ghouls. Nightmares. That sort of thing.”
This is not helping. At all. If anything, I’m now more convinced that I’m having a psychotic breakdown.
“Right,” I say. “So you’re saying that the shadow creature in my bedroom last night was real.”
“Probably. Did it leave anything behind?”
The ring. Oh god, the ring.
“Yeah,” I admit. “Agold ring.”
Felix’s eyes widen. “A ring? Like, an actual physical object?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit.” Felix looks genuinely concerned now. Which is making me even more anxious. “That’s not good.”
“What do you mean, that’s not good?”
“Shadow beings can’t usually interact with physical objects in our realm. Not unless they’re bonded to someone. Or unless they’re very, very powerful.”
My stomach drops. “Bonded?”
“Yeah. Like, magically connected. It’s rare. Usually happens in childhood. Did you ever make a deal with a shadow creature when you were a kid?”
I think back. Back to those terrifying nights when I was seven years old. Lying in bed. Too scared to move. Watching the shadows.
I never made a deal. I was too terrified to even speak.
But what if the creature thought I did? What if just acknowledging its existence was enough?
“I don’t think so,” I say.
Felix doesn’t look convinced. “Well, either way, you need to be careful. Shadow beings are tricky. They don’t follow the same rules we do. And if one of them is interested in you, it’s not going to just go away.”
Great. Just great. So not only am I not hallucinating, but I’m apparently bonded to a shadow creature who wants to get into my bed.
This is fine. Everything is fine.
“What do I do?” I ask.
Felix shrugs. “Honestly? I have no idea. Shadow magic isn’t my area. You’d need to talk to someone who specialises in that kind of thing.”
“Do you know anyone?”
“Not off the top of my head. But Ican ask around.”
The bell above the door chimes. A customer walks in. Felix immediately switches back to professional mode. He smiles brightly and takes their order.
