“Joshua Parry… Or Murray? Something like that.”
My stomach fell. “Josh Barry?”
“Yeah. That could be it. A nice fellow.Veryprofessional,” he said that like my efforts were amateur, but I was too shocked to respond.
Josh the Jackass was in town. How had I not known? Did he know I was here, too? Had he followed me?
Then I remembered his last text and wanted to roll my eyes like Leon. He probablywasthinking about me because I was the one who used to do all the work when we took on projects together. He just wanted me back so he could do nothing and take all the credit like always. What a jerk.
Ten minutes later, I was still processing the news about Josh when I was shoved out of Leon’s antique store with a cardboardbox full of growlers and contest applications. The raven—my raven—swooped down and landed on a bench in front of the store.
Yeah. I hadn’t quite figured out what to do about the whole familiar thing yet either.
She gave a little warble and fluttered her wings, like she knew I was in shock and was asking if I was okay. Then again, if Elwood was right and she was my familiar—whatever that meant—maybe she was. Because I’d always thought George was a regular old mouse, albeit an extremely well-behaved one. But that little show George had put on with Eugene last night proved he was no ordinary rodent. He’d winked for pity’s sake.Winked!
Would the–my?–raven be the same way?
“Uh… hi,” I said to her.
She bobbed her head in greeting.
“So…”
She tilted her head and stared at me.
“I don’t know your name. Wait… am I supposed to name you?”
She shuffled down the bench in an excited dance, and I interpreted that as her saying yes. Her talons scraped along the wood as she moved. The sun glinted off her black feathers, making them appear in varying shades of purple and navy. She was such a gorgeous bird. I stepped closer and rested the box on the back of the bench.
Remembering the first time I saw her, when she’d swooped in to grab a cookie, I said, “You like cookies, what about Cookie?”
She squawked. That was a definite no.
“Morrigan?”
Another squawk of protest.
“Okay, not that one either. I guess Morrigan is more associated with crows than ravens, isn’t she? Hmm… what do you think about Licorice?”
She didn’t shriek in horror. Since my magic was connected to food, I kind of liked the idea of her having a name that reflected that. And I couldn’t quite explain how I knew this, but I got the sense she approved, too.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Licorice.”
She hopped closer, and I brushed my finger over the crown of her head. Wow. I was petting an actual raven. My familiar. How wild was that? I still had no idea what having a familiar meant, but perhaps this was enough for now.
“I need to get these over to Elwood so he can analyze them,” I told her. “But we can hang out later, if you want…”
How did you hang out with a raven? I didn’t know. Would she watch TV with me? Or stare at me while I baked? Yeah. I had no idea. Or maybe I could ask her to shit on Josh the Jerk’s head, since apparently, he was in town. That could be fun.
I didn’t want to insult her by suggesting something like that. Not yet, anyway. Not until I got to know her better and had a sense of her personality. Because if she was anything like George, she’d definitely have a personality. I hoped she wasn’t too prim and proper. I wasn’t a prim and proper kind of guy, and I really wanted the two of us to be friends.
Licorice fluffed her feathers, and I figured that meant she wanted to spend time with me, too.
“Cool. Good. That’s a plan.” I sounded like a weirdo, but whatever. It was just Licorice here, and we were getting to know one another, so I hoped it was okay. “I’ll see you later then.”
As I carried the box to the Mystic Menagerie, I poked at the contents with my magic. I didn’t expect to sense anything, but I was also super curious. And just like when I’d used my magic on Ivan’s bottle, the lingering residue of a hex scraped over me like the worst itch I’d ever experienced. That could only mean one thing. Ivan’s submission wasn’t the only one to be tampered with.
Chapter Eight
