“You really should be questioning why he's able, shouldn’t you?” Noble stated. “Or at the very least, pointing it out to him that it is in fact not normal?”
He… He should, shouldn’t he?
“I…know he shouldn’t be able to do a lot of what he already has done. At least, not this quickly, but in those moments…I have, for some reason, failed to voice a single thought about anything being abnormal. No?—”
He cut off on a wince as a surge of pain shot through his spine like a lightning strike, but he ignored it and kept trying, even though the pain worsened with each word he spoke.
“It’s more that I don’t…haveee the thoughts a-at all until much laterrr and—Meow.” He let out a frustrated hiss as his brain became jumbled, human words beyond his capabilities for a brief moment.
Ollie eyed him with concern, before crouching down to run his hands through his fur as the witch asked, “It’s the binding, isn’t it?”
Red did his best to use Ollie’s touch to banish the remaining pain that was still vibrating through him as he sighed heavily.
When he tried to speak again, he couldn’t help but wince when his S’ came out in a very hiss-like manner. “Asss it flared up with me jussst trying to talk about it, I’d sssay ssso.”
“Are we talking about the same binding you mentioned that prevented Red from talking for like three decades?” Jahla asked.
Ollie nodded. “Yes, that binding.”
“Do we know exactly what the binding was supposed to do?” Noble asked. “Obviously, it was meant to do more than just keep you quiet until Ollie’s powers broke free.”
At one point, Red had thought he had known. But now he could only admit that he’d been far too naïve about the situation. “I know it was meant to lower the risk of me accidentally triggering Ollie’s powers earlier than what would be safe. And it prevents me from not only sharing specific information, but also from revealing certain things too quickly so soon after his magic broke free.
“I, however, do not know how long it is meant to last. I’d always assumed it would begin to fade and weaken after he awoke, but so far, it hasn’t. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that there was another purpose to it that I was unaware of.”
Ollie wrinkled his nose. “Have you talked to Rowden?”
Red scoffed. “That damn witch only speaks to those he wants to, when he wants to, on his own time frame.”
“So, no?”
He sighed and admitted, “No.”
“Do you even have a phone to talk to him with?” Jahla asked.
Red snickered at the implication. “I would hardly need one. There are far better ways for a familiar and a witch to communicate than—” He wrinkled his snout in disgust. “—technology.”
Ugh, technology…the bane of every magical being’s existence. Just an all-out pain in the ass to deal with, especially those damn cameras…
Ollie’s hand paused in the middle of him petting, as he almost excitedly asked, “There is?! How?!”
Red opened his mouth to at least give a brief explanation, but snapped it shut with a hiss as another bolt of pain sliced through him. As the pain dissipated, he snapped out loud, “Really? I can’t even tell him that?!”
“I am going to kick Rowden’s butt when I see him next!” The witch straightened up with an angry growl. “Come on, let’s go un-anchor Irene from the diner and hunt down her corpse!”
“Really? You're still planning to go forward with the spell that could possibly kill you?” Jahla asked stiffly. “Also, do I need to point out that tracking down a corpse sounds like a bad idea?”
“I mean…it should be fine. Also, they said it would be fine, right, Red…Noble?”
“Yes, you’ll be fine,” Red assured him.
Ollie waved his hand at his cat. “See. Are you coming?”
“Hell no. I have no earthly want or need to see any other ghosts than the one and a half I already have seen.”
His witch frowned. “‘And a half?’”
“I count the kitten as a half.”
