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An idea hit me. “Minnie, you understand animal languages innately. Can you apply that to magical languages?”
She shook her head, a strand of red hair falling across her eyes. “Just animals. Why?”
I sighed, disappointed. “I need a book translated.”
“Is it about how to get arrested again?” Minnie teased. “It’s honestly not that hard.”
“And go back to wearing orange jumpsuits? I’d rather don those sweatpants.” It wasn’t exactly true. Her pants looked comfy, and I’d end up back in prison once this was all over since I had never really intended to leave until I had served my time. But Minnie and I often teased each other about clothes when we met in the prison’s visitation room, and I slid into the old habit like shrugging on a robe.
“What are you doing out of prison? What happened to ‘This is a chance to turn your life around’?” Minnie said.
I still believed it. Prison was the only place where I couldn’t harm the people I cared about because they weren’t there—until Beverly, Jag, Elliot, and Moe showed up. It was also the only place that got me to stop drinking.
“I had to free Beverly. Hey, do you know a dark-haired witch who’s been closing portals?”
She shook her head, and my heart dropped. “I hate the portals! They have everyone on edge: one almost took Bob!”
Beverly squeaked as she stared up at me. I crouched to scratch her, but she didn’t lean into it like usual.
“She’s telling me to help you,” Minnie said, then frowned as Beverly grunted some more. “Help you find… Pool Boy, Wood Boy, Talk Boy, and Grump Boy. Who’s that?”
Pool Boy must be Jag for the inflatable pool he filled for Beverly in prison. Wood Boy would be Elliot for letting her chew up the furniture in the library, while Talk Boy was obviously Moe. Ram was always a grump.
Remembering them made my heart contract. I leaned down to push my face against Beverly’s fur for comfort. It was damp, and she smelled musty and vaguely of vanilla.
Minnie touched her nose to Beverly’s again and gasped as Beverly squeaked. “You have fated mates?”
I lifted my face from Beverly’s fur. “I’m surprised too.”
“Congratulations?” Minnie said, though it came out as more of a question. “Beverly says you lost them? Alyssa, what’s going on?”
I let go of Beverly and stood. “Unless you know portal magic, there’s nothing you can do.”
Minnie didn’t look convinced. “I know we’re not friends, but Zach—" that was Zachariah, or Ri from prison—“says you looked after him, and if you hadn’t… Well, I don’t know what would have happened to him in prison. He says he wouldn’t have survived without you. And then I wouldn’t have him, and Natty wouldn’t have his dad. You didn’t have to look out for him, but you were there for him when he needed a friend. So, let me help you now. He’d never forgive me if I didn’t help you when I could have.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I wanted to ask for help, but Minnie and Ri were already on shaky grounds with the law. If anyone knew they were associating with a fugitive, they’d be fucked. And any good I had done in their lives would be destroyed.
Please, universe, just let me have two friends—Beverly and Ri—whose lives I didn’t ruin.
“Alyssa?” Minnie said.
I opened my eyes. “You’ll just get arrested for associating with me.”
“You can always break me out if it goes wrong,” she said, but when I didn’t even smile, her tone turned serious. “Look, I saw what happened on the news. You, four guys, and Beverly got out of prison using magic, even though it shouldn’t have been possible.”
It only happened because someone had planted a portal for us, though I still didn’t know who or why. But I could break someone out of prison if I wasn’t locked up in the anti-magic ward too.
“True, I am very dangerous.”
“You asked about a witch who’s closing portals… you’re trying to fix the portals that are kidnapping people, aren’t you?”
I crossed my arms. “Maybe I’m creating them. After all, I am a dark witch with a shady-ass, though sometimes badass, past.”
“I don’t think you are. You’re a good person, Alyssa. I know that, and not just from everything Zach has said. All those times I visited him… I could just tell.” She wrung her hands together. “Just tell me what these missing men look like, and I’ll ask the animals to look for them. Obviously, you need to find them.”
I pressed my lips together to stop any grief from leaking out. “They’re not in Silver Springs. They’re in a bubble dimension. Everyone I love, except Beverly, is trapped in collapsing universes, and someone is casting a spell to prevent me from saving them. I can’t find the bastard who’s doing it.”
Beverly placed a paw on my foot, and fuck, that simple act and Minnie’s offer of kindness were enough to kick down my doors like a SWAT team busting in.
