Stone of Spells (Charm Kitty Mysteries Book 1) by J. L. Collins

Author:J. L. Collins [Collins, J. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J. L. Collins Books
Published: 2021-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

13

Create Some Mystery

Winston steered clear of me for the rest of the night, but stood outside the apartment’s door the following morning, nearly sending me flying broomstick over noggin as I stumbled to avoid stepping on him.

“You never did pageants as a kid did you?” the cat asked, not bothering to move as I flailed to regain my balance. “Ballet classes? Gymnastics? Seems like one of those activities might have served you well.”

I frowned down at his unblinking face.

“Maybe see some kind of inner ear specialist?” he suggested with a slight shrug.

“Or, get the sneaky cat a collar with a big ole’ jingle bell on the front,” I shot back. Planting one fist on my hip, I shifted my weight back. “What do you need, Winston? The museum isn’t set to open for another hour, which means I have enough time to run down to the coffee house for a latte and something chock full of sugar and fat before I need to be back here.”

The cat swished his tail and stared up at me in a way that somehow managed to feel judgmental without him saying a word. I didn’t care. I was getting a full-fat muffin or scone whether he—or my skinny jeans—liked it or not.

“I wanted to clear the air,” Winston finally replied, glancing away, as though an invisible fly had suddenly buzzed past his nose. He cleared his throat in a soft hairball-hacking sound, and continued, “We both said some regrettable things last night, and I feel it’s best if we sort that out prior to my audience’s arrival this afternoon.”

The fist on my hip slid over the curve and hung loose at my side. “You’re apologizing to me?” I blinked. “Hmm. Gotta say, I didn’t see that coming. Doesn’t quite seem in line with your personality.”

Winston’s whiskers twitched and I held up my hand. “Okay. I’m sorry, too. I appreciate you and Nicolai trying to help me get settled in here, even with your initial … misgivings … about me.”

The cat tucked his chin, made another throat-clearing noise, and then met my eyes. “Good. Now, as to the business of the show—”

I groaned and moved past him to start jogging down the back stairs. “We can talk about it when I get back. I have a feeling I’m going to need to be fully caffeinated before we go over your notes.”

To my surprise, the cat didn’t argue. He followed me down the stairs and out the back door, into the alleyway. My skin prickled as I glanced around, halfway expecting Sardo to pop out from behind the dumpster or something. But then I remembered what Nicolai had said about vampires in the sun, and realized that on a bright, sunny California morning like this, the vamp in question was likely holed up somewhere dark and cool.

Winston accompanied me to the coffee house, mostly in silence, though at one point he started complaining about a cluster of seagulls picking through an overturned fast food bag on the side of the road, and a passerby smiled at me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.