Pulling for that thread of connection between me and the fire, I narrowed my gaze at it. A flutter of nerves shot through my arm, and the flame rose higher, shaping itself into a fireball. I held my hand over it, my magic protecting me from the blazing heat.
Shaping fire was one of my favorite little tricks, and I grinned as I worked the flames between my hands like clay, until it was a perfect sphere. I wasn’t quite skilled in the fire art department just yet, so that was about as good as it gets.
The tap on my door shook my concentration. Luckily enough, my reflexes were pretty decent and I extinguished the flaming ball before it burnt down my only home.
I threw open the door. “Come in, come in.”
Goldie flew right past me to sit on my kitchen table, letting out the most dramatic of sighs.
Oh brother. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“So Maverick and I did it.”
Had I already been drinking the glass of water I was reaching for, I would’ve spit it all over her. “Sorry, what?”
“We’ve made it official, we’re courting,” she said slowly. “Or dating, if you’d prefer.”
“Oh. Oh, okay. Please continue.”
She heaved another sigh. “I was so excited last night. We’d made plans to meet up this morning to catch some breakfast together, but I can’t seem to find him. Mathias isn’t at home and neither was Maverick. I checked his usual spots, and even stopped by The Coop. He wasn’t there… actually, no one was.”
I raised a brow. “That’s odd. Do you think maybe he and Mathias are out doing something? I’m sure it’s just a simple misunderstanding.”
“Well, I would think he’d have a little more respect to at least remember his plans with his new girlfriend.” She folded her wings out in front of her.
“True. And I’m certainly not making excuses for him.” I shrugged. “I don’t have the best track record for honest boyfriends.” There was that whole thing where my ex-fiancé cheated on me a month before we planned on eloping.
The frown on her face made me want to chase down Maverick and pluck a few feathers myself. “He’ll turn up, Goldie. The first rule of starting a new relationship is to not seem too eager. Sometimes that gives the other party this sense of power, and sometimes they want to hold that over you. Keep it cool. When you do see him, just ask him if he forgot about your plans. A good guy has the decency to at least apologize.”
As if on cue, someone knocked on the door. For a split-second I smiled at her, until it hit me that Maverick did not have a fist to knock with.
I peeked out the window and caught the edge of a dark-haired figure. I opened the door and in walked Ash in his usual LARPer regalia, sporting a new traveling cloak with librarian attire underneath. He always reminded me of those guys all of the theater girls in high school drooled over—all he was missing was some guy-liner.
I could see in the faint lines around his dark gold eyes that something was very wrong. And not in a ‘my boyfriend didn’t call me back’ kind of way.
“What is it?” I asked, my nerves on edge.
Even Goldie sat up, narrowing her gaze at him.
“I’ve been sent by the Special Council to collect you.” I jerked back, but he wasn’t looking at me.
“Me?” Goldie said. “What the hawk feathers did I do?”
There was not even the slightest hint of humor in Ash’s expression. “You didn’t do anything but they need your help. Now. There’s been a situation involving the familiars.”
A pit of dread was hollowing itself out in my stomach. “A situation?”
He nodded. “Early this morning Mathias called an emergency meeting of the council. We’re not sure what happened but he noticed Maverick acting odd. When Mathias spoke to him, he didn’t respond. He was flying around, making a huge mess of things in their home, squawking and carrying on.”
“So? Maybe he was having a bad day,” Goldie quipped. “It happens to us too, you know.”
“It wasn’t just that. He wasn’t acting like himself at all. He wasn’t speaking, he wasn’t listening. It was as if he was a normal falcon and not a familiar. Mathias said he felt something was off—that the familiar bond was tampered with somehow.”
My eyes went wide. “He was like a regular falcon?”
Goldie didn’t sound as convinced. “What does the Special Council want me for? He didn’t even show up for our breakfast date this morning. I doubt he’ll want to talk to me either, if that’s what they’re hoping for.”
“It’s not just Maverick, though. They’ve been getting calls from plenty of other witches and wizards claiming their familiars are acting in the same manner.” Ash leaned against the kitchen counter. “This is big. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Considering how immortally long Ash has been around, that’s saying something.
Goldie stood up and fluffed out her feathers. “Then we better get going. I can’t make any promises but maybe I can get them to listen.”
We wasted no time. Ash used his deceptively easy teleportation ability and we touched back down inside the lobby area of the Special Council building. I shook off the uneasy feeling that always rushed up in me whenever I travelled alongside him. As convenient as it was, it sure wasn’t my favorite means of transportation.
The Special Council was comprised of different elders to represent the different factions of supernatural beings and witches and wizards. I was acquainted with most of them, though I was still careful.
Verity McGuinness was the earth magic elder and the head of the council. Standing out in her dark blue pantsuit, she made her way over to us with deep concern in her face. “Goldie. Miss Warren. Thank you for your timely response. As I’m sure Ash has probably made you aware of, we are having trouble with many familiars in town. I thought if anyone could be a help to us, it would be you, Goldie. They are after all, your friends.”
Goldie nodded. It wasn’t news that she was closest to the lot of talking animals.
“Whatever you need me to do, Verity.”
“I appreciate your help. First, I think you should see something. Mathias?” Verity turned and called out to a man behind her. He was pulling along what appeared to be a supply cart with a black sheet draped over it.
Mathias, the fire magic elder, was careful with the cart until he came to a stop right in front of us.
“What’s this?” I asked, confused.
Mathias looked right at me and pulled the dark sheet off. A black falcon was perched on a log, a small leather hood closely covering his eyes and ears. His head tilted to the side, but he didn’t appear to be worried.
“If I were to take off the falconry hood, he would become distressed. It’s better to keep him this way until he needs to hunt,” Mathias said, folding his thick arms.
Goldie let out a soft hoot, shuffling from one leg to the other. “Maverick. And they’re all like this? Has anyone had the chance to check with each familiar on record?”
He shook his head. “We’re working on that. As far as we know now, every witch and wizard who we’ve contacted has said the same. Either their familiar is missing all of the sudden, or they’ve gone mundane again. That’s not to speak of those who have called the Special Council themselves to let us know.” He slid the sheet back over the cage and pushed the cart out of the room.
The anxiety rolling off of Goldie twisted my gut.
Verity sighed. “As you can see, we are incredibly worried about the familiars. It certainly doesn’t help not having Gallows here for his opinion on the matter.”
Oh, no. Gallows was the familiar elder. He may have been a scraggly-looking tomcat, but he was possibly one of the wisest beings in town. I couldn’t even imagine him acting like a normal cat. Gallows was not the batting-at-a-ball-of-yarn type.
Ash walked off with Verity to discuss everything more privately, leaving Goldie and I alone in the lobby.
She was quiet for a minute before finding her voice. “I just don’t understand�
��” She drew in a deep breath. “This kind of magic doesn’t exist.”
“This kind of magic? How are you sure magic caused it?”
“A gut feeling. Besides, nothing in this town happens coincidentally like this. Familiar magic is something none of us completely understand. It would’ve taken magic to mess with it somehow.”
I swallowed against the rising lump in my throat. It made sense for this to be magic-induced, but what kind of magic could we be dealing with here? My friend and magic tutor, Fatima, was also an expert in other types of magic outside of the usual elemental magic we used in Charming Springs, but familiar magic was so mysterious and powerful that it felt almost impossible for someone or something to breach it.
If we were going to find a way to give the familiars their magic back, then that only meant one thing.
“You know what I think?” I said, adjusting my gloves. “I think it’s time for some research.”
Goldie groaned and hid her beak under her wing. “Of course you’d say that. You sound exactly like Ash and now I’m convinced that he’s brainwashed you.”
The corner of my mouth quirked up. “Maybe a little.”
3
The very last place I expected to spend my Sunday morning was in a treehouse in the forest. Maybe when I was ten, but definitely not at thirty-six.
Of course this wasn’t just some ramshackle place that a couple of kids threw together one summer. A wide, curving ramp topped with pretty lanterns lit up the pathway that led to the front door of a two-story treehouse. The house was bigger than my camper and had that whole ‘secret princess living in a cottage’ vibe to it. Part of me half-expected to see Snow White sweeping up cobwebs in the corner. Honestly, she would’ve fit right in.
“Gallows has some style, I will give him that,” I said, unraveling the scarf from around my neck. The place even had a fire that roared to life in the gorgeous stone hearth as soon as we stepped inside.
Goldie came to perch on top of a very used scratching post in what I assumed was the living room area. “Yep, he does. And luckily for us, he also keeps meticulous records. We should probably start looking for them.”
I nodded. “Good point.”
According to Verity McGuinness, Gallows had possession of the town’s familiar register. Every single witch or wizard who was chosen by a familiar had to register their familial bond with the Special Council. Gallows being the familiar representative, had felt it was best that he was in control of those particular records. I couldn’t blame him.
“If I were an old dusty book, where would I be…?” Goldie hummed to herself, hopping down from the scratching post.
“Do you think he has an office, maybe? God, that sounds like such a weird thing to ask about a cat.”
“You’ve said weirder things.”
“This is true. Do you want to check around in here and I’ll look in whatever is behind that door?” Between two polished wood beams was an alcove with a single door slightly ajar.
Goldie rolled her eyes. “Of course you take the mysterious room. Fine, I’ll check through here.”
But I was already pushing open the door, fumbling around for a light to see where in the world I was going. The light switched on and bathed the small room in a warm glow. With a plush divan centered in the middle of the room, I assumed this was his bedroom. Easily a dozen framed photos of different animals in group shots hung on the walls. Some of them newer, and some of them much older.
I knew Gallows was probably on the older side, but that could mean anything here. Goldie in fact, was two-hundred and fifty-seven years old, though you wouldn’t know it.
One picture hung above the divan, catching my eye. The faded and yellowed photo featured a cat that was most definitely Gallows, sitting on a table next to a beautiful woman in Victorian-era clothing. He looked regal, as if he was meant to wear a crown, while the woman could’ve been a model with her doe eyes and sly expression. Usually you didn’t see photos like this back then—subjects in photos were told to hold still for so long it was difficult to hold a smile. But she didn’t seem to care.
“I see you’ve made it far,” Goldie said, standing at the foot of the doorway.
“Sorry. I was just looking around. This is a pretty interesting picture here,” I said, nodding to the older photo.
“No matter, because I found the book. He had it tucked away in a cabinet. Come on.”
I glanced at the picture one last time and followed her back out into the living room area. “So what exactly does this register say, anyway?”
In the middle of a rug on the floor, lied a thick red book.
Goldie used her beak to push open the first couple of pages. “It has names and addresses of folks with familiars, as well as the type of animal and their name. It’s pretty straight-forward.”
I took a seat on the floor next to her and helped flip through the book. When we made it to the last entry, Goldie made a disappointed noise.
“What?” I asked.
“There are a couple of people here who are a little suspect in my opinion, but I don’t think they’d do anything like this.” She was quiet for a moment before adding, “it could’ve been anyone, but I can’t imagine someone with a familiar being responsible for what’s happened to them all.”
I was already thinking along the same lines. “It might not have been, right? It doesn’t make sense for someone who has a good relationship with their familiar to want to do anything to jeopardize that. From what I’ve heard and seen, familiars and their humans don’t part. So that must be a strong connection.”
She stared down at the page. “That's mostly true, yes. But sometimes things happen and they go their separate ways. That’s what happened with Gallows, in fact.”
My jaw dropped. “What do you mean ‘go their separate ways?’ I thought once the bond was made that was it?”
“In theory, yes. Gallows had a particularly powerful bond with his human—that was her in the old picture. She left Charming Springs and never came back for him. Most familiars don’t last long past something like that, but Gallows did.”
I couldn’t even imagine the kind of trauma that must have saddled him with… And I didn’t want to try. “Where do you think we should get started?” I asked, pushing aside thoughts of heartbroken animals.
“We’ll take this to the library. Ash will probably drool a little over a new book to read through. I’m going to go ahead and get started looking in on some of the humans with familiars that I already know,” Goldie said, tapping her wing to the book.
“What about me?”
She fixed an owlish stare at me. “You get to mop up the drool.”
The Charming Springs library had a funny little place in my heart. It may not have been anything special to look at, but it had been my temporary home at one point, and it didn’t hurt that it was the perfect spot to get away from everything. There was hardly ever anyone here.
Ash’s head was bent down over a book splayed open on a table. His mouth moved as he silently read to himself.
“Knock, knock,” I said, announcing myself. I dusted off the melting flakes of afternoon snow from my shoulders. “What are you reading there?”
He looked sideways at me. “Properties of sigils. I thought it might help the council round up the missing familiars.”
“Some are missing? I didn’t realize that…” I trailed off. It wasn’t as if they could get very far with the curse’s barrier up, but even a small mountain town had plenty of forest and places to get lost within. I frowned.
“Missing is a strong word. It’s more like they’re scattered. Some witches and wizards have been able to find their familiars and put them somewhere safe for the time being. But there are plenty of people out there, especially those with winged familiars, who are struggling.” Ash tucked a feather in-between two pages to mark his spot and turned to me. His gaze wandered to the red book in my arms. “Is this a friendly visit, or do you need something?”
“Wh
y can’t it be both? Do I always have to have a reason for swinging by?”
There went that infuriatingly sly smile on his face. “No, but you usually do. And it seems you’ve brought me a present.”
“Fine, you caught me. Goldie wanted me to drop this off to you,” I said, sliding the book toward him. “It’s the familiar register. She figured since Gallows isn’t exactly around to ask, she’d take a look through it.”
Ash pulled it over to him and cracked it open to the first page. “Interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen this before. The familiars tend to keep this sort of thing—”
“Yes, yes, I know. They’re a secretive bunch,” I said, cutting him off. “On top of the delivery, I was thinking that maybe I could look into some of the lesser-taught magic myself,” I said, my eyes already on the aisle I needed. “There might be something in that section that could help determine what caused the familiars to lose their magic.”
Ash followed my gaze. “Right. While I commend the effort, it’s Fatima you want to see. She has a better selection of books for that sort of thing. A lot of those books there are hypothetical and theoretical. Her books contain more actual magic in them.”
Whoa. Did he just openly admit that the library lacked the right reading material?
As if he were reading my mind—which a reaper cannot do, thankfully—Ash sighed. “Fatima is particularly elusive about donating her books to the library. I’ve asked her to no avail.”
I grinned. Sometimes I found joy in my pettiness with him. “And I bet it drives you nuts, too. Someone else having access to more information than the library.”
Waving me off, he stood and stretched. “Ha. Ha. I am hardly one to dismiss anyone’s access to different information.”
I ignored the patch of skin he exposed underneath the hem of his shirt. “I guess I’ll go have a chat with Fatima then.”
Ash walked over and held out a hand. “Do you want a lift?”
Big Ben was parked outside waiting, and I wasn’t a fan of teleportation, but every now and then the convenience was too good to pass up.
Cold Cases and Haunted Places Page 41