Chapter13
Naomi pushedher chair back from the table, groaning. “Oh, my God. I may never be able to move again. Someone should have warned me.”
Katerina, sitting at a nearby table, looked over with a grin. “At least you won’t be looking so scrawny for long.”
Naomi narrowed her eyes. Thanks to growing up with a twin sister, she was perfectly well aware when someone was teasing her in fun. She stuck her tongue out at Katerina. “You try being stuck in your cat form, thinking you’ll have to stay that way forever so you don’t turn into a monster.”
Instantly, Katerina looked abashed. “That must have been awful. I can’t even comprehend.” Her voice was apologetic.
Naomi was about to reply when, out of nowhere… literally, nowhere… a small kitten with long, fluffy white fur and blue eyes the color of the sky appeared in the middle of the table. With a miniature growl, the kitten buried her teeth in one of the leftover rib bones on Naomi’s plate. The kitten wrestled the bone, considerably too big for her to lift in her tiny white teeth, to the edge of the table. Still growling, it leaped off the table and dragged the bone off underneath a nearby bush against the house, disappearing from sight.
Naomi knew her mouth was still hanging open, but couldn’t seem to bring herself to care as she stared in the direction the kitten had gone.
“Was that a thing?”
Alessandra was frankly laughing, but beside her, Liam was also staring at the shadows beneath the bush.
“Did that just happen?”
He was interrupted as Jacinth rushed over, looking harassed.
“Lacey!” she called, peering into the foliage. She reached underneath, and dragged out the white kitten, which clung stubbornly to its pilfered rib. Jacinth pulled the bone away, scolding gently.
“Did you bring her?” Julian asked.
“No, I left her home with Brandy. Ournormalkitten.” Jacinth scowled down at the little ball of fluff in her arms, then looked at them, grimacing. “I think she teleports. Or whatever the word is.”
“We think she’s a Familiar, waiting to find her human,” Julian explained. “She’s clearly magical. You can’t see it, but as a mage, I see magic sparking off her like crazy. She’ll be wicked powerful once she’s formed her familiar bond.”
“Familiar,” Naomi repeated, entranced. She laughed in absolute delight. “Magical kittens. This is amazing! I had no idea! So who does she bond with? Are there witches? I mean, Familiar... witch… so there are witches, right?”
Julian answered her, his hand wrapping around the bottle of beer on the table beside his plate. “Yes, there are witches. Wizards also, as well as mages like myself. Also, gypsies, or Romani, as they prefer to be called.”
“Strongly prefer,” Alessandra put in, nodding.
“Right. Don’t go calling a Romani a gypsy to his or her face. As far as this little one,” Julian tipped his head toward the kitten in Jacinth’s arms, “she’ll be looking for a witch or wizard. Mages might sometimes work with animals, but not generally Familiars… despite the proliferation of such in online gaming,” he said with a snort of derision. “I don’t know enough about the Romani to know if they have Familiars, but I suppose it’s possible. However, given that she seems to want to be here, in the Hudson Valley, where we have a distinct lack of Romani, it seems unlikely that’s who Lacey here is seeking.”
“Whom,” chorused Katerina and Jacinth together. They looked at each other and laughed.
“Jinx!” Katerina called out, a half second before Jacinth.
Naomi caught both Julian and Alessandra rolling their eyes, and she laughed. “They do this often?”
“They’ve appointed themselves the local grammar police,” Julian grumbled. “Plus, they’re both wrong. It’s who,” Julian scowled at them. “Re-work the sentence… Who is Lacey here for?”
Jacinth looked at Katerina, who looked at Jacinth.
“Damn,” Katerina said, on a mournful note. “He’s right.”
“Magical kitten,” Liam hinted pointedly, redirecting the conversation.
“Oh, yes,” Naomi brought her attention back around to the kitten, who appeared to have fallen asleep in Jacinth’s arm. Somehow she’d managed to tuck her head beneath her so she was curled in a little ball, looking rather like a fluffy marshmallow. “Inquiring minds want to know more.Lotsmore!”
“What worries me,” Jacinth broke in, a worried frown creasing her brow, “is the way she just appeared here, at the barbecue. What if she does that when there are the non-magical about?”
“She won’t,” Julian responded, confidence in his voice. “After she first showed up at the door of my shop last month, I’ve done some research, and talked to some colleagues amongst the mages. Familiars are canny creatures. Truly magical. From what I’ve learned, they…” he paused, rubbing the side of his nose thoughtfully. “There’s no real good way to explain this, except that, they seem toknowthings.”
“Like she knew to show up at your store?” Liam asked, brow furrowed in concentration.
