There was a short pause.
“Especially, of course, your father.”
It might sound odd, but it took those words for me to get the big picture. I liked Arc, and finding out that he was my brother was a heck of a shock, but one I could deal with. I just hadn’t actually put the rest of the puzzle together yet. Her words locked that last piece tightly into place.
Archimedes Mineheart Sr. was my father.
Where was a paper bag when you needed one?
Chapter 13
I DIDN’T BOTHER TO tell Lily that Opie and I had already eaten. I mean, it was pizza. The two of us having already had drive-thru hamburgers and fries just meant that we’d eat more like normal people. Three or four slices each, tops. Normally, we could down a whole pizza just by ourselves. Extra-large, at that.
The street outside Lily’s house was lined with cars. One of them I recognized instantly. Opal was here. Most likely, that meant Ruby was too. Kind of made sense. I’d been waiting to hear from her all day. Opal must have convinced her to wait and come with her. At least one of us had actually gotten the invitation.
Ruby gave me a hug first thing, then stood back and looked between me and Opie. “You two okay now?”
Opie blushed, but I just nodded. “For the most part, yeah. We still have a few things to work out, but I guess we’re kind of a couple now.”
“About dang time,” Opal said. She was standing next to Merlin and Lily, looking into a large box.
Curious as to what could be holding their interest, I walked over. Box first, pizza later. That was a first for me.
Inside the box was a smaller white mother cat with three kittens. The baby cats were nursing, so they were contained and happy for the moment. I immediately started sneezing.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, dear,” Lily said. “I totally forgot that you were allergic to cats. Just a moment.” She nodded to Merlin, who reached down and touched each tiny body in turn.
Instantly, the tickle in my nose vanished. I had to know that spell. It was nothing short of a miracle.
He smiled up at me, still kneeling by the box. “I’ll teach you the spell, but I warn you, it takes practice. But it’s well worth it once you master it.”
I’d say. “How long does it last?”
Merlin shrugged. “Couldn’t say. I haven’t seen it wear off an animal I’ve spelled yet.”
“Ah, there you two are.” Arc came in the back door from the deck. “I see you’ve met my familiar, Baxter.” He frowned. “Gotta come up with a girl name equivalent now, don’t I?”
I laughed. “You didn’t know she was pregnant?”
The color rose on his cheeks. “Well, considering the fact that I thought she was a he, no. I didn’t.”
“She’s not your familiar anymore, either, Arc,” Senior said gently. “Now she’s just a normal everyday cat with kittens.”
“Having babies breaks the binding?” I was curious. I mean, it wasn’t like that could be the answer to our little problem. Arc would not be getting pregnant anytime soon.
Senior laughed. “No. In fact, I was really curious as to whether or not the familiar spell would pass on to them.” He shook his head. “Sadly, we’ll never know. When you made Arc your familiar, it broke their binding.”
Now all of us were staring at him.
“What? Do I have pizza stuck between my teeth or something?”
“Are you really saying that all it takes to break a familiar binding is to simply create a new one?” Opal got the question out first.
Senior nodded toward the box. “It would certainly appear so. Merlin said when she showed up at his house, the binding was no longer in place. If it had been, we could have traced it to find Arc.”
“And when the witches’ council showed up looking for her, they could have too.” Merlin glanced at me. “As much as I hate to admit it, you making Arc your familiar really saved his bacon. If not for that, he’d be in a magic-blocked cell right now.”
I swallowed, the hope that had sprung up with the seemingly easy solution taking a nosedive into my stomach. The binding spell between us must have been what changed Arc’s signature. Not much, but enough to throw the council off our tails.
If we broke the binding now, they’d be on him in a matter of minutes. I was stuck with the magic for a bit longer. But it gave me a little hope. I really wanted to try that kissing thing with Opie again soon, and I wanted him to enjoy it too. Not be watching my hair the whole time.
“How old does a kitten have to be before they can become a familiar?” Baxter, or whatever her name was now, had three adorable babies. The fact that they would now be allergy-free was an added bonus. A big one.
“I’d wait until they were weaned. So, you’re looking at a couple more weeks, anyway. That should give us time to put all this behind us.” Senior obviously was a glass half full kind of guy.
Worked for me, but I might need to have some genetic testing done. With two optimistic parental units, how on earth did I end up . . . well, me?
"I do have one tiny question, though," I said looking over at Arc. "You got away from the trinity by changing into a Baxter lookalike, right?"
He nodded.
"Then why weren't you a white cat when I found you at the shelter?"
Senior ruffled his son's hair and grinned. "Probably because Arc here was smart enough to know that the council would be looking for a white cat."
Ah, that made sense.
THE REST OF THE EVENING passed pleasantly enough. I filled in the others about what I’d found on Sonya’s computer, and I found out that the others had been doing a little sleuthing on their own too.
Of course, we’d all ended up with nada for our first day out, but hey, at least it was a team effort. It was nice to know that it didn’t all rest on little ol’ me. I was still new to this.
The real shocker was when Opal had announced that she was closing the shop until we got this wrapped up. I couldn’t remember the last time the shop had been closed for longer than a two-day stretch. Probably because it had never happened before.
Then I realized that with her position on the council’s board, she was in this up to her neck. By knowing where Arc was and not reporting him, or even better, turning him over single-handedly, she was risking a lot. Quite possibly more than anyone else here. I mean, even if they found Arc and took him in, we could still prove his innocence and get him freed. But when one betrayed the council—well, let’s just say they didn’t take kindly to treason within the ranks.
We had to get this solved fast. I didn’t want Opal paying the price for me bringing her into this. Or Ruby, either, for that matter. They were in danger of being in the council’s bad graces because of their loyalty to me. And maybe to Mom.
Senior took the responsibility of checking out the hit-and-run businessman, and Merlin insisted on being the one to talk with the unfaithful wife. Both of them knew the people involved and thought that they could get more to the truth of the matter than I could.
At least, that was what they said. Personally, I believed it was more a matter that they didn’t trust me to be all that diplomatic in my questioning. The fact that they were probably right about that kept me from questioning their opportunity to go first.
Besides, I had other avenues to pursue. Like that missing warded key that everyone else seemed to have forgotten about.
I wanted a talk with this Ryan Shea.
Chapter 14
After seeing me back to the hotel, Opie went back to Wind’s Crossing. He had an early morning doctor’s appointment for a follow-up on his leg wounds, but I really didn’t think that was the reason he didn’t stay the night.
He was scared. Truthfully, I was too. Now that I’d finally come to the realization that Opie was my soul mate, I was naturally curious to take it to the next level. But then there was the whole uncontrolled magic thing.
The best thing for my newfound budding love life would be for me to find the killer. Once that was done, I’d b
e free to break the binding and get rid of this cursed magic. Why had I ever thought having magic would be a good thing?
My alarm didn’t wake me the next morning. Probably because it never got the chance to. I’d done my research and found that Ryan worked as a waiter in an upscale restaurant downtown. From what Arc had said, he really raked in the dough there. Much more money than I ever made with any of my endeavors. Maybe I’d been in the wrong profession all these years.
Then again, my disposition probably wouldn’t be the kind to persuade patrons to leave me big tips. Or any tips at all.
Anyway, my plan was to go to the restaurant for lunch, a little treat for myself, and ask for a seat at one of Ryan’s tables. If he was my waiter, then he couldn’t very well not talk to me, right?
Since I had nothing planned until lunchtime, I’d decided to sleep in. Yeah, that didn’t happen.
I answered the door, ready to blast whoever was standing on the other side. Unfortunately, it was Ruby. No blasting today. At least, not this morning. The day was still young.
“Hey, Ams.” Then I noticed that she was holding two large bags.
I stepped back and let her in. “What’s with the bags?”
She grinned at me. “I’m moving in. Opie doesn’t want you here alone, and he says it’s too early in your relationship for him to stay.” She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. How long have we all been waiting for you to wake up and smell the aftershave?”
Had everyone known Opie’s feelings but me? Dang, some investigator I was if I couldn’t see something so close to me. I’d always known that Opie was a handsome guy. I wasn’t blind. I’d always thought that the girls in our class at school were really missing the boat by not jumping on him. I had just never realized I was one of them.
As it was Ruby, I couldn’t stay mad at her for long. Especially seeing as how she brought breakfast. Not just donuts, which was our usual quick eat morning meal, either. No, she brought piping hot biscuits and gravy over scrambled eggs with a side of hash browns. She had to have used a touch of magic to keep them this hot all the way from Wind’s Crossing, but I wasn’t going to complain. But that did bring up a question.
“How did you get here, anyway?” Ruby’s only means of dependable transportation was her bicycle. No way would she have ridden this far on her bike. Especially with two large bags and a piping hot breakfast. And I hadn’t recognized any of the cars outside, either.
“Have you heard of this little thing called Uber?”
I raised an eyebrow. “You called an Uber? Really?”
In the past, before I’d gotten my set of wheels with its very own motor, I’d often suggested calling them for a ride. Ruby had shot me down every single time.
She shrugged. “You gonna complain about it?”
I thought for a minute. Sure, I could bring up all those times I had sore calf muscles for a week or so after a long ride through the country to reach some destination we had in mind. But what good would that do?
“Nope.” Part of that was because she was still in possession of the aromatic breakfast. Don’t think I didn’t know that Ruby knew that too. Confused yet? Just keep in mind that Ruby could be manipulative and devious when it came to getting her way.
She set the food down on the tiny table that was getting as much use as the room’s beds, and we dug in with gusto. The first bite pretty much had me melting in my chair. I’d forgotten how good a full breakfast could be.
“So, what’s on the agenda today?” At least she’d waited until we’d slated our hunger for the most part.
“I’m having lunch at one of the local eateries and questioning a waiter who works there.” I filled her in on what little I knew about Ryan Shea.
“Wards can have keys? That’s so cool.” She looked thoughtful. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that, actually. It’s brilliant.”
“Well, Earth witches are known for their protection spells. It’s kind of their bag.”
She nodded. “Agreed. But still . . .”
If I let her get too deep into her thought process, I’d lose her to a full day of magical experimentation. I’d seen it happen too many times over the years.
“For now, I think we just need to focus on the fact that wards can have keys, and not so much on the magical spell that allows them to work, okay?”
It took a minute for her eyes to focus on me. She looked very conflicted. Ruby loved her magic. I might like it, too, if I had any kind of control over it.
“You’re right, of course.” She didn’t sound happy about it, though. As soon as this was over, or heck, if there was a brief interlude while it was still going on, Ruby would be testing out wards and keys. She might be able to read me like a book, but it went both ways.
I picked up the now empty plastic containers and threw them into the small trash can. It might be time to put out the housekeeping sign. The trash was almost overflowing. We hadn’t wanted them coming in without warning because . . . well, there had been a fugitive staying there at first. Now that he was gone, we could update housekeeping to do their thing on a daily basis.
It was a little thing, but a nice feature for staying at a hotel. No bed making, dusting, or vacuuming required. Too bad I couldn’t afford the luxury for very long. I’d paid a week in advance. When those days were done, I’d be working from the farmhouse and driving back and forth every day.
Gas was cheaper than a hotel. Even a cheap one like this.
We spent the morning catching up. I told her everything I knew about the case, and she told me about the goings on back at the shop. She was as surprised as I was about Opal closing up for an indefinite period of time.
“It isn’t like she needs the money, you know.”
That got my attention. She didn’t? I’d assumed that Opal was just like the rest of us and living paycheck to paycheck.
“Grams was kind of loaded. When she passed, she left it all to our moms equally. By that time, they’d already paid off the mortgage on the house, so it was pretty much all just put into the bank for emergencies.” She blew out a breath. “I really wish that Mom would see me not having a car as an emergency. It sure is to me.”
I could understand that. I’d felt the same way myself just a few weeks ago. But then, I hadn’t known about the large bank account just sitting there, either.
More than likely, the moms hadn’t provided us with cars because as long as they kept us on bikes, they limited our ability to get into long-range trouble. I couldn’t say it didn’t work, either. It did. All too well. If we got into trouble, it was close enough to home that the moms knew about it fast. Usually before we’d even made it home.
I kind of liked being a few towns over from Wind’s Crossing where no one really recognized me as a magic-less screw-up. It was a refreshing change of pace.
“I don’t suppose you brought some of that truth serum spell with you?” I hated to ask, but it would make it much easier if we could be sure that whatever Ryan told us was the truth and nothing but the truth. Especially when it came to the whole losing the key thing.
She flushed and turned away. “I brought the ingredients, but I’m really hoping you won’t make me use them.”
I looked at her. Since when had Ruby ever not wanted to do a spell?
“Out with it.”
“Mom really read me the riot act about using a truth spell on Arc. We got lucky that we actually had his permission first. Apparently, the council takes a very dim view of witches using spells like that on people without their consent. They call it magical manipulation, or something like that.”
“But that guy at the retreat . . .”
Her face got even redder. “Yeah, let’s hope Mom never finds out about that. Or the council. I guess I could get in real trouble over it.”
“Mum’s the word with me. You know that.”
“Thanks.”
I guess when we questioned Ryan, we’d just have to do things the old-fashioned way. Guts and female intuition.
Chapter 15
I HAD PLANNED TO GET to the restaurant around noon, when I’d be sure that Ryan would be on duty. Ruby nixed that.
“If this place is popular, then waiting until the busy lunch rush isn’t such a good idea.”
My biscuits and gravy were still digesting when we stood in line at the doors of the eatery. I hated to admit it, but Ruby had been right. If there was a line at eleven, we might not have gotten in at all at noon. And if we had, it’s a pretty safe bet that there would have been an hour or two’s wait before eating. Not that my stomach would have minded the chance to deal with the hearty breakfast first.
As it was, we got the last table for the early lunch seating. Ruby looked especially proud of herself. She loved being right as much as I hated being wrong.
We got lucky that the last table happened to be in Ryan’s area, or we might have had to wait after all. The hostess led us to the comfortable, plushy-cushioned booth and took away two of the four place settings. The menus were standing in a rack at the table. Kind of low-key for such a fancy place.
I’d barely opened the menu when the hostess was back.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, returning the extra place settings to their original places. “I didn’t realize you had others joining you.”
Huh? I opened my mouth to tell her we didn’t, when I saw Mom and Senior coming up behind her.
When they reached the table, Mom leaned down and gave me a peck on the cheek before taking the chair Senior held out for her. “So sorry we’re late,” Mom said. “Thanks for getting us a table.”
“Sure, no problem.” Then I waited until the hostess had gone back to her station. “What are you two doing here?”
Mom’s face was glowing. “Isn’t it obvious, dear? It’s probably the same thing you’re doing here.” Then she turned to Ruby. “Hello, dear. My, but it’s good to spend time with the two of you again.”
Relatively Familiar (Accidental Familiar Book 2) Page 8
