Charmed to Death by Gretchen Galway

Author:Gretchen Galway [Galway, Gretchen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eton Field
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

23

On my way back home, orange cones and detour signs, warning of a flood, directed me around Main Street. I didn’t think anything of it until I was pulling into my driveway and the protective spells around my house erased the Protectorate enchantment.

Agents must’ve arrived in Silverpool and taken over the crime scene.

I hosed off Random’s paws before letting him inside, then ran in for a towel. By the time I was kicking off my own muddy boots in the kitchen, I was ready to collapse with a cup of hot—

“Good afternoon,” Raynor called out from the living room.

I yelped and dropped the towel. And then, belatedly, cast a defensive spell around myself.

“How did you get in here?” I yanked the towel away from Random, who thought it was a game. Nobody should’ve been able to get through my boundary spells, not even Raynor.

“Your gnome friend let me in,” he said. “He said he didn’t want me darkening your doorstep. I think, though, he really just wanted his privacy. He was making something out of flowers in your front yard.”

I put my hand on my chest, begging my lungs to return to normal functioning. Willy’s romantic life was going to kill me. “You shouldn’t have come in without my permission.”

“You shouldn’t have come into any building, even your own home, without scanning for danger first.”

He was right, which only made me angrier. I marched into the living room and pointed at him where he sat in my favorite slipcovered chair. “You should be out there making sure Birdie is OK.”

“I did what I could. Timms is questioning her now.” He made no move to get up. “Darius said you were looking for me. I thought I’d drop by, see how you’re doing, make sure you didn’t feel the urge to, ah, help. The solstice is over. With Timms, all his agents, and Darius, we’ve got this under control. Enjoy the holidays.”

“Birdie needs a lawyer,” I said. “The Protectorate needs to join civilized society and stop imprisoning and interrogating people without due cause.”

He leaned back and crossed an ankle over his knee. “I’ll do what I can, but I’m not exactly at the top of my power game at the moment.” He shrugged. “She’ll probably be fine. There wasn’t any trace of her magic anywhere near the body. They’ll be looking for demons, Shadow, solstice tourists. If anyone should be worried, it’s you. Joanna was a cat shifter.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. It’s the most popular type of shape-shifting.”

“Maybe for women,” he said. “I’ve known more men who trained to shift into birds. Who can resist the urge to learn how to fly?”

I thought of the birds at the Berkeley meeting. Had any of them come to Silverpool in human form? “Cats kill birds,” I said absently.

“My grandfather took the shape of a golden eagle. No house cat could’ve taken him down.”

“You’ve never mentioned your family before,” I said. Suddenly I remembered what Lionel had said about demon possession and shifting. “Sounds like he wasn’t your demon ancestor then, was he?”

He stared at me and said nothing.

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