Volume 2: Burglary by R. A. Consell

Author:R. A. Consell
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: R. A. Consell

Eighteen

Strays in High Places

Things had changed around the lodge during Kuro’s aromatic exile. Mag Singh was trying on new hairstyles and first names, Sean and Gregory sat together all the time instead of with their roommates, and Marie appeared to have been replaced by a winged unicorn.

It was Charlie’s constant companion regardless of whether the room was big enough to fit the familiar. If it didn’t fit through a door, Charlie would unsummon it and bring it back on the other side.

It wasn’t terribly surprising. Lots of Kuro’s classmates were equally excited about their familiars. Arthur had a different one out at every meal, and Sean’s hummingbird was always buzzing about. The only real difference with Charlie’s was that it was much harder to ignore. It was huge and beautiful. When it stretched its wings, they touched either side of the dining hall. Nearly everyone was jealous of it, and those that weren’t were lying.

She had been forbidden from riding it without a proper saddle for safety reasons, but she wasn’t upset about that. She could just let it fly around, unsummon it, and enjoy everything it had experienced. She spent her free time watching it soar over the island, then sucking up the memories.

Kuro wondered at Marie’s absence at dinner though. When he asked, Charlie rolled her eyes and flung her arms in the air. “She’s being impossible,” she said. “She spends all her time looking for bilious tree frogs and barely talks to me. She takes her food with her and comes home late, and I hardly see her except in class, and she’s always grumpy about Henrietta taking up too much space. That’s my familiar, Henrietta. Ms. McCutcheon says it’s unseemly to name a familiar because it’s a part of you, like naming your right hand, so I just named my hands, too. This is Leftie, and this is Steve.”

She held up her hands for Kuro to see. She had drawn name tags on them.

“Maybe we should help her,” Kuro suggested. “She’s been searching for ages, and it’s due before Solstice break.”

“We offered,” said Arthur. “She said she wants to do it herself.”

“She’s being ridiculous,” added Charlie. “I helped you, and you helped Arthur, and Arthur helped me. It would have been way harder to catch the larvae if Arthur hadn’t been there to swing the bat at the adult moosefly. You should have seen them, Kuro, big as a melon with antlers like Steve and Leftie. Hard to collect their larvae with them buzzing around and charging at you, but we did it, got more than a dozen fresh ones. They look like wriggly parsnips.”

Arthur, who was interested in forgetting the experience, changed the subject. “Kuro, I have a question for you,” he said as he pulled a familiar notebook from his bag. “Did you hear about the latest burglary?”

“Oh, yeah,” replied Kuro, recalling his own terrible evening. “Azalea and your sister nearly murdered me.”

“Moira wouldn’t do that,” said Arthur flatly. “She knows we’re friends.”

“I’ll let her know you said so,” said Kuro.

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