Page 17 of The Spellreader and the Phoenix

Evie actually called him to talk about the window, and he explained about Red being knocked unconscious and how he didn’t want it to happen again.

“You’re seriously wandering around with a bird on your shoulder?” she wanted to know.

“I think Red likes how warm I am,” Max said with a shrug.

Red rubbed against his neck.

“And they’re not, like, pooping all over the books?” Evie demanded.

“They’re not,” Max said, amused. “They actually don’t poop as much as I thought they would. But I haven’t actually watched a bird to see how often they do their business.”

Snorting, Evie conceded, “True enough. I guess most of us only notice those spectacular moments when they poop on us.”

“And Red hasn’t done that even once,” Max said triumphantly.

Statistically, it was probably only a matter of time, but Max knew how to operate a laundry machine. It wasn’t the end of the world.

“You know,” Evie mused, “you sound almost affectionate. Almost, dare I say it, social.”

“I’m hanging up on you,” Max threatened.

Evie’s laughter rang through the air. “Remember moments like these. It’s not always terrible and the worst thing ever.”

“Animals aren’t people,” Max told her flatly. “People are the worst thing ever.”

His sister just laughed again. “I agree they can be kind of awful sometimes. But they can also be amazing! Just… don’t always assume it’s not the good one.”

Max sighed. “I’ll try.”

But he wasn’t going to try that hard.

Evie sounded exasperated when she said, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you needing to hire someone. I mean it about my visit. You better get on it!”

“Uh huh,” Max said flatly.

She huffed with amusement. “Okay, okay, I’m going. But don’t forget!”

She hung up before he could have the last word. Typical.

Max left Red upstairs in the apartment for D&D on Friday. Though he was confident that his spell was good, this was a couple of hours in sustained close proximity with people. They could get loud, snacks were occasionally thrown, and it didn’t seem like a safe environment for a bird that no one else could see.

Red chirped in what Max interpreted as protest, especially once it became clear that Nōwē was allowed to be down there. Nōwē was better about going where she wanted and leaving if she didn’t like it. She usually ended up on someone’s lap for a while, and then she eventually decided that they were all fools and there were better things for her to do. She liked to stalk around the basement and hopefully never find anything to kill.

The group was as ridiculous as ever—especially now that they were dealing with a dragon who was enamored with their human rogue. (Edward had rolled incredibly well, and Max wasn’t the only one trying not to think about the mechanics of that particular relationship.)

Saturday was weirdly busy—still with the back-to-school vibe, he supposed—and the half-dozenth time he caught Alex helping a customer, he disappeared into the storage closet, dug through an old box, and came out to thrust a shirt at them.

“If you’re going to act like an employee, you might as well be one.”

Chapter Five

Max

Alex stared for a stunned moment, and then they beamed at him, the biggest smile Max had ever seen.

They tugged the shirt on, flipped their hair out of the way, and looked down at it. “I can embellish it, right?”

The shirt was white with the logo and name of the store across the chest.