Page 11 of The Spellreader and the Phoenix

Perched on his mate’s shoulder, Rory soon realized that he was a Spellreader, and he seemed to be intently identifying spells and correctly labeling them. Rory liked that. People had figured out how to preserve knowledge and pass it along, so it always puzzled him when they refused to actually do that. Protecting shifters and witches from normal people had sadly proved to be necessary, but hoarding knowledge from fellow witches was counterproductive, wasn’t it?

His mate was very intent on his task, and he startled when his alarm went off. He fished his phone out of his pocket and shut off the strident sound.

“Okay, I’m going to pop over to the hardware store. It’s just down the street, so it shouldn’t take long. You can stay in here, since I can’t explain to normal people why a cardinal is on my shoulder. I’ll just add a spell to keep cats out, alright? I mean, I’m sure Nōwē’s going to behave, but better to be safe than sorry, right?”

Rory trilled happily.

His mate rifled through a couple books, double checked a spell, which had been neatly labeled “keep one or more cats to a maximum of fifteen from crossing the threshold and entering a room” and then quickly sketched it in the air and then infused it with his magic. Rory admired how it hung there for a moment, glowing softly, before it dissipated.

“There we go,” his mate said with a firm nod. “Be good while I’m gone, okay?”

Rory chirped his agreement and hopped down onto the table where his mate had been working. His mate smiled at him, then ducked through the beaded curtain separating this room from the hallway. A second later, Rory heard the second curtain that separated the hallway from the main part of the shop, and finally, the sound of the door opening and closing, then being locked.

Nōwē came to sit outside the room and meowed in protest at not being allowed inside. Rory had the feeling that his mate was going to be punished for that later, but he genuinely appreciated how much the witch was taking care of him.

He flew around the room a few times, looking at all the books. There were only a few that were open where his mate had been checking them before his alarm went off. They were of academic interest only to Rory, because he was a shifter. As a mythical shifter, he had certain magical abilities that were enhanced or that regular shifters didn’t possess at all, but he still couldn’t cast spells like witches could. Their innate magic was simply different.

He hadn’t been paying attention when the first Spellsmiths had created the first spells so long ago. It was fascinating to him just how many spells now existed, and how there were such specific ones, like one that kept cats out of rooms but no other animals. Rory assumed that he could leave if he wanted to, though he wasn’t going to test that.

Eventually, he settled down on the table and just rested until his mate came back, to the loud complaints of Nōwē.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I had to make sure Red was safe.” Max’s voice turned scolding. “I know how cats get when it comes to prey, so don’t look at me like that.”

Nōwē was back by the door now as Rory’s mate approached, and her tail lashed back and forth.

The witch cast an “undo” charm, and Nōwē burst into the room, still meowing a stentorian protest. She pointedly did not approach Rory, just stalked around the entire room that she’d been denied.

Rory’s mate was carrying a reusable bag, and the first thing he pulled out was a cat toy. Smart. He set it on the floor, and it began to wiggle around the room in an erratic motion that immediately caught Nōwē’s attention. She attempted to ignore it for a few more moments, but Rory saw the exact moment that she decided to go for it, even if her owner was in her bad books.

She leaped for the toy, and the witch’s lips tipped up into a satisfied smile. Then he turned his attention back to Rory.

“I got you a mixed bag of small seeds. The internet tells me you eat seeds, but obviously only eat what you want.”

He looked around like he expected a feeding dish to magically appear, and then he cursed, scooped Rory up and set him on his shoulder, and dashed back up to his apartment to get several bowls.

He filled one shallowly with water.

“This is just for drinking!” he told Rory, and then carefully carried them back down to the spell room.

Rory’s mate cleared a table of books, set down the bowls, and then tore open the package of seeds and poured some into the empty bowl.

“There!” he told Rory, smiling at him. “Just for you.”

Rory flew down to the table and obediently began to peck at the seeds. It was a nice mix, and he was happy to eat it if it made his mate feel better. He chirped a thank you and then went back to eating more seeds.

“I also got this.”

Rory looked up and saw that his mate was flourishing… a pen? It was thick and white. Rory chirped at him in confusion.

“I started looking up how to make glass safer for birds,” Max explained, and there’s these strips of dots that you can apply, but they didn’t have any in the hardware store. I’ll have to order them online. In the meantime, though, apparently, if I draw a design on the window with gaps of not more than two inches, birds will see them along with the reflection and will realize they can’t fit through to what they think is the other side. So no other birds should hit the window like you did. I’m really sorry that you got hurt. I didn’t realize it was a problem. And I’ll talk to the local business owners at our next meeting and make sure they’re all aware of the danger, too.”

Rory stared at this man in awe. He’d discovered a problem, and he was forging ahead to fix it, wanting to make the world a better place for Rory and his feathered friends. Rory sang him a happy song and then went back to his seeds.

His mate set the marker down on the table.

“I’m going to take care of it after work today, okay? I’ve got a few more orders for witches that I need to fulfill.”

Rory chirped an acknowledgement and continued to eat the seed and drink water, listening to the sounds of his mate flipping through book pages, scribbling notes, and occasionally pausing to take photos with his phone or tap away at it. Nōwē continued to play with her cat toy. It made weird thumps when it ran into things on the ground, and Rory found it very entertaining.