by Lily Webb
“Oh, it’s not a bother at all, Zoe. I wondered if you’d forgotten about me, but it’s a relief to see that isn’t true,” Raina said, her eyes twinkling. I opened my mouth to object, but she interrupted. “I’m only joking, dear. I know better than most people how time-consuming a job like yours can be.”
“How have you been? I’m sorry I haven’t kept in touch.”
“As busy as ever. I’m thinking of retiring once this school year is over, but I haven’t decided yet.”
“Isn’t that awfully early?”
Raina chuckled and shook her head. “Maybe it is, but I’m looking forward to handing the reins over to someone else and enjoying my life as a researcher.”
“Well, I guess it’s not such an inconvenience that I showed up asking you to do exactly that, huh?”
“I would never pass up the opportunity. Now, you said Heath has already tried to get a grip on the situation? What did he do?” she asked as she pulled her wand from her robes and pointed it in Beau’s direction.
“I wasn’t around for all of it, but he cast a spell that should have revealed whether there was magic involved in trapping Beau like this. The spell didn’t show any.”
“I highly doubt that,” Raina said as she regarded Beau. “Shifters don’t get stuck in their animal forms on their own.”
“Right, that’s what Heath said. Changing back-and-forth is instinctual for them, as natural as breathing is for the rest of us.”
Raina nodded. “Yes, which makes me skeptical there’s no magic involved at all.”
A light bulb went off in my head when I remembered the chocolates. I rummaged in my bag for them and grimaced when I realized they’d either melted, gotten squished, or both. “Wait, what about these?”
Raina looked at me like I was crazy. “What about them?”
“I don’t know for sure since I wasn’t around when it happened, but I think Beau ate a couple of these chocolates before he got trapped in his dog form. Could they have something to do with it?”
Raina took the box from me and examined it from every angle before she bothered to look at the chocolates. “Nothing seems out of place on first glance. How many of these did he eat?”
“I think two since they were missing when I found the box in his office, but I’m not sure. He was locked in his office for most of the day, so it’s hard to say. Oh, this came along with it, too.” I handed her the letter and Raina’s eyes tore over the words, her eyes widening with each line.
“This sounds like a threat.”
“I’m glad you think so too.”
Raina waved her wand over the page. “Ostendo,” she muttered and I held my breath while I waited for something to happen, but nothing did. Raina frowned and turned the page over. “Whoever wrote this letter and sent the chocolates knew what they were doing.”
“What do you mean?”
“There must be magic involved with Beau’s condition, but somehow the caster masked it.”
“How did they do that?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. Can I hold on to these?” Raina asked, holding the paper and the chocolates up. “I need more time to examine them.”
“Yeah, sure. They aren’t doing me any good. You don’t think there’s anything to learn from Beau himself?”
“No, this letter and the chocolates are the keys. I’m certain there’s magic at work. I just have to figure out how this all fits together. Do you know who sent them?”
I shook my head. “No, but that letter isn’t the first one Beau’s gotten. A drawer in his desk at the office is literally stuffed with them and another one showed up in my mailbox this morning.”
Raina flashed me a confused look. “Why would they send one to your house?”
Though it shouldn’t have embarrassed me, my face flushed anyway. “Beau lives with me now.”
“Oh, that’s nice. Do you have any of the other letters with you?” Raina asked, unfazed.
“Just the one I got in my mailbox,” I said as I rooted around in my bag for it. Raina read it and the look of concern on her face deepened.
“This was personal,” she said.
“Yeah, I think so too. Whoever did this is someone Beau knows, and maybe even someone at Channel 666. I tried to read his thoughts to see if we could communicate that way, but it didn’t work. Could whatever caused him to get stuck as a dog block my powers too?”
“Hm, it’s possible. Looks like I have a lot of digging to do.”
“Well then, we’d better get out of your hair. Thank you for the help, Raina.”
“Don’t be silly, dear. I’m happy to see you and to do whatever I can. I’ll be in touch if I learn anything.”
“Beau’s dad is supposed to get me security camera footage from the office tomorrow. We’ll see if anything interesting turns up there.”
“I’d be interested in seeing that myself.”
“I’m sure they won’t mind me sharing it with you.”
“Good, good. Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get busy.”
“Right, sure. Come on Beau,” I said, and though he looked like he could’ve spent the rest of the night sleeping by the fire, he lumbered up on all fours and trotted over to me to lick my hand. Raina walked us to the door. “Good night.”
“Good night, Zoe.”
Beau and I walked the few blocks home from Raina’s in silence. Nothing but the soft stomping of the gargoyle’s footsteps behind us perforated my racing thoughts. The more I learned about what happened to Beau, the less I understood. So far, everything I’d investigated had turned out to be a dead end, but if anyone could understand it all, it was Raina. She’d bailed me out of more than one predicament, so I had to hope this wouldn’t be any different.
Inside, Luna sat waiting for us, but she growled when Beau entered. “What does he think he’s doing?”
“It’s a long story,” I sighed.
The hair on the back of Luna’s neck stood. “I’ve got all night.”
“Relax, Luna. He’s trapped in his dog form. He can’t shift back even if he wanted.” Beau walked over to her and tried to nuzzle her, but Luna jumped away.
“Not so fast, bone breath. If you think I’m sleeping with a flea bag in my bed, you’re out of your mind.”
“Fine, then you can go sleep on the couch. Frankly, I don’t care where you sleep. I’m going to bed and Beau’s coming with me. Besides, you never had a problem with it before.”
“Yeah, well, he wasn’t a dog before.”
“You’re so dramatic,” I sighed and rolled my eyes as I led Beau into our bedroom. “For what it’s worth, nothing has changed for me, Beau.” He jumped up on the bed and barked at me, making Luna scowl. Beau walked three circles around his side of the bed and plopped down.
“When you wake up with flea bites all over, don’t come crying to me,” Luna said as she trotted out of the room, her tail swishing around the corner.
“Diva!” I shouted after her and collapsed on the bed beside Beau. He forced his way into my arms, his back to my stomach, and I breathed in his familiar scent, which seemed like the only thing that could comfort me. “Tomorrow’s a new day. Raina will help me figure this out. I’m sure of it. But how funny would it be if we woke up tomorrow and you were back to normal?” Beau whined as if he were skeptical, and I sighed. “Hey, a witch can dream, right?”
Chapter Seven
Unfortunately, when I woke up early the next morning, Beau was still a dog. His watery eyes stared into mine and he whined and huffed when he realized I was awake.
“No luck, huh?”
Beau covered his eyes with his paw.
“I know, this is making me crazy, too. But maybe we’ll figure something out today.”
“I sure hope so. I can’t take much more of this,” Luna said from the foot of the bed where she sat with one paw raised, mid-lick. I hadn’t noticed she was there.
“I thought you weren’t going to sleep with a dog?”
“Well, it turns ou
t the couch isn’t particularly comfortable.”
“I knew you’d come crawling back,” I said and sat up to pet her, but she darted out of reach.
“I don’t know where those hands have been. I don’t want his fleas.”
“Whatever, I don’t have time for your shenanigans. I need to get to the town hall. Sam should have the security camera footage by now. Come on, Beau, let’s get something to eat.”
Though I would much rather stay in bed all day with the covers over my head, I forced myself out of bed and into the kitchen. A pang clenched my heart when I reached the stove. More than ever, I wished Grandma Elle were there, even if she couldn’t offer me anything but encouragement. Anything would’ve helped.
“I don’t actually know what to feed you,” I said as I searched the cupboards for something appropriate. My eyes landed on Luna’s kibble, but when I turned to float the idea to Beau, he grumbled and walked in a circle. “Sorry, I guess this is as good as it’s gonna get.”
Luna charged into the kitchen and fixed me with her neon blue eyes. “Oh, as if it weren’t bad enough that the mutt has stolen my bed, now he’s taking my food too?”
“Get over it. Sharing is caring,” I said and reached for the container and an empty bowl. I placed the bowl beside Luna’s and filled both with the food, but neither of them moved. “Hey, beggars can’t be choosers. I’m going to shower. This food better be gone by the time I get out, and no fighting.”
“No promises,” Luna said. “If even one drop of slobber ends up on me or in my food, he’s getting the claws.”
“Ugh, you two are like bickering kids,” I snapped and stormed off to the bathroom to get ready. Though I tried to draw out the shower as much as possible, relishing the loosening effect the warm water had on my tight neck and shoulders, the hot water heater eventually gave out and forced me to call it quits. Living in an ancient house passed down from my missing parents had its perks, but the weak water heater wasn’t one of them.
Amazingly enough, Luna and Beau had both eaten all the food I’d given them. “See? Was that so bad?”
Luna glared at me as she licked her chops. “Yes, actually. But necessity is the mother of invention.”
“Behave yourself today, and try not to spend the whole day sleeping.”
“When I have the bed to myself? Not a chance.”
I rolled my eyes and went to my bedroom to get dressed. Beau followed me everywhere I went like, well, a lost puppy dog. When I was all ready, I patted him on the head. “Come on, let’s go see if your dad has turned up anything.”
On the way into town, I couldn’t help myself from stopping at the mailbox. Beau barked his objection as I reached to open it. “I know, I don’t really want to know what’s in here either, but we need to know if there’s another one of those stupid letters.” I held my breath as I opened the mailbox and let it out in one rush when I didn’t find anything addressed to him. But among the usual junk mail there was a letter for me — without a return address.
Beau barked again, jolting me back to life. “It’s a letter for me this time. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.” Beau growled and pawed at my leg. “I don’t like it either, but I don’t think there’s any risk in opening it.”
I slid my finger under the seal and tore the envelope open. The handwriting inside nearly bowled me over. “Dear Lilith, no way! It’s from Grandma!” I crouched down and held the letter at Beau’s eye level so we could read it together.
* * *
Hey Sugar,
* * *
Sorry for not writing to ya sooner. I can’t tell ya where I am — these keepers of mine don’t play games and I don’t wanna get on their bad side — but they finally let me send ya a letter to say I’m okay. I also can’t say anything specific about where we are, but the people are nice and the scenery is real pretty. I think you’d love it.
God, I wish you were here with me! I know I did the right thing for both of us, but I miss you something awful, Sugar. Can’t you quit all that politickin’ and run away with me? Aw, who am I kidding? I bet you’re makin’ that lemon-sucking face reading this. Anyway, I know you couldn’t walk away from something important to ya, and you’ve got a whole life there now. I’m happy you’re happy.
They’re telling me I’m getting too close to letting details loose so I’d better wrap this up. I hope you’re doing alright and not missing me too much. Give your “pets” all my love and try to stay outta trouble (yeah, right).
* * *
Love,
Your Old Lady
* * *
It took everything I had not to burst into tears. Beau rubbed his head against my arm and licked my face. “I can’t believe this. I mean, I’m glad to hear from her, but this is all I get?” Still, at least it was enough to let me know she was okay. Where could she be? I’d never know, and that was almost as difficult as her being gone in the first place.
Had she known that I needed a burst of encouragement? Or was it just coincidence? Regardless, with a renewed sense of determination, I slipped the letter into my bag along with the rest of the mail and set off for the town hall. Beau had to run to keep up with me, but he didn’t seem to object. Maybe it felt good to get out and stretch his legs a little bit.
When I reached the town hall a few minutes later, I found Sam and Heath in the main chamber talking in hushed tones. Heath glanced up at my entrance and waved me forward.
“What is it?” I asked, concern creeping up the back of my neck as I got closer.
“I got the footage, like you asked. And there’s something there,” Sam said and I bit my lip.
“Come to my office, you can see for yourself,” Heath said and strolled down the hallway. His gargoyle guards cleared out of our way and when all four of us were inside, Heath closed the door. He pulled his wand from his robes, waved it at the lights to dim them, then jabbed it at the stretch of blank wall to the right. A grainy image appeared on the wall.
“This is the mailroom,” Sam explained. Large baskets on wheels lined the room, each close to overflowing with mail. A staff of three people sat at a large table sorting through the mail that had arrived that day. “There’s a basket for each floor. The sorters put an email that’s not for someone important in the appropriate basket. But the bigwigs have their own personal ones.” He walked closer to the image on the wall and pointed at a large basket behind the table where the sorters sat. “This one is Beau’s.”
“Nothing interesting happens here, but if we skip ahead a bit, we can see Rose come in to pick up Beau’s mail for the day,” Heath said and waved his wand to the right to skip forward in time on the recording. I didn’t pretend understand where the recording was coming from, but it wasn’t important anyway. The people on the tape moved in double time, zooming around the room like they were on speed, until Rose fluttered into the room. Heath jerked his wand to the left and the recording returned to normal speed.
Rose had a brief interaction with the warlock who appeared to be the lead sorter, who handed her a large stack of mail from the basket behind him. The heart-shaped box of chocolates rested on top, and the letter that accompanied it was taped to it. Though there wasn’t any sound, Rose seemed to thank the sorter and left.
“As you can see, nothing out of the ordinary. But here, we can switch to another angle to follow her from the mailroom up to Bo’s office,” Heath said and flicked his wand. The image distorted and came back into focus to show an angle from above of the hall leading from the mailroom back to the ground floor entrance of the Channel 666 building. Rose fluttered down the hall and around the corner to the elevator. Following her, Heath changed cameras to inside the elevator and again sped up the time.
Rose exited the elevator at the fortieth floor, and Heath followed her with another camera change. She sat down at her desk and began combing through the armful of mail she’d brought up from the mailroom.
“She’s probably sorting it for priority,” Sam explained. “The most impor
tant stuff goes on top, the stuff that probably doesn’t need attention goes on the bottom.” But when Rose finished, she picked up the phone. “We checked the footage in Beau’s office at this time, and it’s clear that she’d called him.”
“Right, probably to ask him if he needed anything. Was this when you told her you didn’t want to be disturbed?” I asked Beau and he barked. “Okay, good, so far everything lines up.”
Heath sped the time up again until about an hour later in the footage when Rose suddenly looked up with a surprise on her face. A second later, Marissa Knight entered the frame. She and Rose had what looked like a heated exchange until finally rose allowed Marissa into Beau’s office.
“Well, I guess Marissa was telling the truth,” I said as I continued watching.
“You talked to her?” Heath asked.
“Yeah, yesterday. Sam and I went to her bar.”
“So you know—“
“That she and Beau dated? Yeah. It doesn’t seem like she has anything to do with this though.”
Heath nodded and continued the footage. Around five minutes later, just like Marissa said, she came out of Beau’s office. Rose took the opportunity to hand Beau his mail, including the box of chocolates, and he disappeared into his office. Heath switched to the camera inside Beau’s office and just a few minutes after he sat down, he picked up the box of chocolates and tore it open. He ate one, then another, and for a few minutes nothing happened.
But then he stood and fell to his knees. I turned away so I wouldn’t have to see him shifting, but when I looked back at the wall, there he was in his dog form. Heath turned off the recording at that point; none of us needed to see poor Beau trapped in his office all day.
“This confirms it then. The chocolates did this to him, so who sent them?” I asked.
“We don’t know, but it doesn’t look like anyone in the office did,” Sam said with a shrug.
“Not necessarily. The mail could’ve come from anyone and since we don’t have any footage of how it got from the sender to the mailroom…”
