My head ached. Harvey had thought the same thing the other day at Rabbit’s Foot. “Why would Laken be running the sanctuary?”
Her lips parted as she tilted her head. “I meant no offense, Reece. That’s just been the word going around since your father left, that he trained Laken to take his place. And well, I think everyone assumed after things got sorted, you’d just, you know, leave again.”
My skin was on fire, my blood boiled, and my jaw clenched so hard it cramped. Laken Augustus runningmyfamily business? They wanted him to run it.That’s great to hear, she’d said.
“Well”—I gave Franny a tight-lipped smile—“you can tell everyone McCarthen’s is mine and always will be. It is a McCarthen-owned business and will stay as such.”
Her face blanked. “Oh, okay… I’ll be sure to spread the word.” Her voice started to drop. “So what is it? What can I do for you?”
Right. I came here for a reason.I brought up my letter. “I just need to mail this back to the flower shop in Old Ashton.”
Franny grabbed it, tucking it inside a leather-wrapped tube. “Great! What is the flower shop called again?”
“Dirty Hoes Flower Co.”
She chuckled to herself, writing with a feather on the label. “Alright.” She nodded. “You got it, ma’am.” I held it in the air, and before I could step back, a bird flew by in a red flash and snatched it with its claws. Circling the room, the rallow vanished into nothing. It never got old.
I said my goodbyes, giving my thanks, and hauled my ass to the bakery. This job was too important to screw up. Everything needed to go smoothly. I needed the money. The creatures depended on it.
Thankfully, the bakery sat on the same strip as the post office, just a bit farther down. I hustled by buildings and passed around a couple of early birds walking the town. The sun barely reached over rooftops, but just enough to share its warmth.
The pink wooden Sweet Fang door came into sight, andI breathed with relief. Tables lined the windows and empty handmade woven chairs were tucked under them. Before I got the chance to go into the bakery, Ruth busted through the door, apron tied around her and all, with boxes stacked in her arms. She hastily placed them with the two teenage boys standing out beside her. Unable to hear her from where I walked, I could tell by the pointed fingers she meant business. They took the cart and moved along.
Which left me alone and almost scared.
Ruth caught me moving in her sight, and her eyes softened. Her shoulders relaxed and she let out a deep exhale. “Reece, I’m so glad you made it. Orders are stacked today.” She looked in the direction the boys had taken off in. “But both of my carts are out right now…” She scratched her head.
“I can take it now!” I interrupted. The more deliveries, the better. It’d be getting hotter, so if I could get started as soon as possible, maybe I’d save some sweat.
“Are you sure?” She lifted a white box holding a cake, her lips turning down. “I guess it isn’t that heavy, and the house isn’t very far…”
Offering her a reassuring smile, I held my arms out. “I’ve got it Ruth, no worries.”
She hesitated, either because she didn’t want me to have to walk it or because she didn’t trust me to. Either way, all would be fine. Carrying a cake couldn’t be that hard, and it couldn’t gothatwrong. Cake in hand, I turned toward town. I kept a keen eye on the cobblestone ahead of me, watching for anything to trip me up or anyone to bump into. I wore adark-green corset dress with my hair wrapped up with a hair tie to keep it out of my face, and the cake’s box kept anything from staining my clothes.
I passed by the post office again, and the town center, slowing as I moved along. It’d been rebuilt with new bricks and polished wood floors.Well, I thought to myself,at least they have a nice place to host town meetings.
As I rounded the corner, above the tree line in a pasture a way off, smoke rose into the sky. Dark puffs whirled with a breeze. I stopped dead in my tracks.The sanctuary.Without thinking, I ran.
Sprinting down the street in flats and a dress, holding a cake, surely wasn’t the easiest or most pleasing to witness. Closing the distance, not only did the house come into sight, but so did Laken Augustus, presumably due to the chaos and flames erupting from behind the gates.
“What’s going on?” His blond locks bounced as he ran, messy and hanging over his face.
“Do I look like I know?” I snapped, lifting the obvious box in my hands as he unlatched the lock, and I pushed in. He slid in behind me with a hand on my lower back, and we both froze.
Feathers.Bock-ing. Flames. Archie. Porcupine—Phoebe.
Behind the gates of McCarthen’s Sanctuary for Magical Creatures, mayhem had been unleashed.
Through the noise and vision blurred by flying things here and there, I followed close behind Laken. “What the hell is going o—ah!”
It took all of two seconds for a furious furry-feathered fucker to dart at me with a glowing chest. Chicken and Waffles came for war. I threw an arm up in front of my face and ducked, but Laken had already kicked up the tin lid, wrapped an arm around my waist, and crouched to shield the both of us. The heat poured into the air but not a flicker touched us.
I gawked at him, thankful but in shock.How did he do that?But it wasn’t time for questions.
I carefully placed the cake on the concrete by the house.
With haste, Laken jumped up and took off, leaving me scrambling with a trash can–lid shield. It didn’t take long to realize he ran to Phoebe and Archie, our anxiety-ridden creatures who couldn’t handle such events. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where to start, what to do if I started, or how to help.
