After several long seconds, he shakes his head and waves us away. “Go get the amulet and then come right back.” He points at me. “Right back, all right?”
“Is something the matter?” I ask, more worried than I was before. “Something other than Rowan being a bird again?”
“No.” Ansel turns back to his coffeemaker. “Go on.”
Rowan follows me down the stairs, through the hall, and out the front of the rock shop. Once we’re outside, he lands in a tree, waiting for me.
I pause underneath it, realizing I don’t have my phone. “I was going to call Anna, but I can’t.”
“Morning, Kit,” Ryder hollers from across the street, carrying a pastry box. He hurries over to meet me, waving to Hudson as he rolls by with a cartful of early-bird tourists. “You’re usually at your shop by now.”
“Rowan accidentally turned himself back into a bird this morning, and I’m trying to figure it out.”
Rowan screeches a hello from the tree, making Ryder jump.
The elf turns toward the owl, thoroughly unimpressed. “You can’t be serious.” Growing angry, he adds, “Do you have any idea how difficult it was to turn you back the first time?”
“It was an accident,” I explain. “He was himself one moment, and then the next…”
“How does a mage work accidental magic?” Ryder demands.
“I don’t know enough about mages or their magic to have any idea.” I sigh. “And we can’t ask him. We think Rowan left his amulet at his aunt’s house. He can’t talk in this form without it. I don’t suppose you know Anna’s phone number, do you? I need to see if she’ll let us in, and I accidentally left my phone at home.”
“Let me give her a call, and then we’ll head over there together.” He gives me a cheeky wink as he balances the pastry box with one hand and pulls out his phone with his other. “His aunt likes me, so even if Anna’s already left, she’ll let me rummage through Rowan’s things. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
I laugh a little. “When did you go through Rowan’s stuff?”
“After he disappeared, Marshall and I went through his room and workshop to see if he had left any clues. All we found was a blasted gryphon feather that sent us on a wild goose chase for a good six months.”
“It was an owl feather.” I nod toward Rowan. “A screech owl. He was cheap and bought it online. He didn’t realize it was a fake until he worked the metamorphosis.”
“It was definitely a gryphon feather. Marshall and I took it to an alchemy expert in New York to be sure.”
I come to a dead stop. “But…Rowan turned into an owl. If it was a gryphon feather, shouldn’t he have turned into a gryphon?”
Rowan screeches again, looking highly agitated now.
“You would think…” Ryder frowns. “Let’s go find that amulet.”
Chapter 16
Feed Him to the Pigs
I’m aware that Rowan’s family is well-off…but I don’t think I’ve fully comprehended what “well-off” means.
I stare at the massive colonial house in front of me, marveling at the extensive gardens and buildings. There’s a carriage house that actually houses carriages, a glorious, Victorian-style glass greenhouse that might be bigger than my cottage, a red and white stable set in a lush pasture, and beautifully landscaped walkways that connect them all.
“This is where Rowan grew up?” I ask Ryder, feeling like we’ve wandered onto a movie set. Surely places like this don’t exist in real life.
“I know, poor guy.” The elf chuckles to himself. “They barely scraped by.”
He’s still carrying the pastry box because I gave Nadine my keys, and she wasn’t at the shop yet, so we couldn’t get in.
Ryder called Anna to warn her we would be coming, and she opens the door before we reach the top of the sweeping entry steps.
“If it isn’t my favorite Neilfellow,” Ryder greets her. “Thank you for letting us come over so early.”
“Where’s Rowan?”
