“Pardon?” the woman said distractedly.
Rexi stopped staring at the pie and looked at the woman. “You called him something. I’ve just been calling him fur ball, but is there really a name for what he is? As in, there’s more than one of him out there?”
“Fur ball,” the woman snorted in disdain, talking to me and ignoring Rexi entirely. I liked her already. “This noble creature is a chimera. Very rare and clannish. I’ve never heard of one this far from the mountains.” She looked me up and down with renewed interest. “You must tell me how you enchanted him. Slavery spell? Potion? Or did you somehow manage to smuggle out his egg before he was hatched?”
I leaned in to talk to Black Crow, hoping to make her an offer she couldn’t refuse, considering her obvious interest in Kato. “You are Black Crow, right? I’ll make you a deal. If you share some of your food and drink with us, I’ll tell you all about my friend here.”
She squinted into her thick glasses. “Do I know you? Have you attended one of my Spider’s Webinars or perhaps read my latest bog post on potions?”
“Actually, I heard about you from the Queen of the Bumpkins.”
“Hemlock?” Black Crow said.
“Never caught her name.” In my head, I’d just been calling her “icky bug creature” or “queen of the cockroaches.”
Rexi butt in to close the deal. “So, about that food?”
Crow stepped back, and her eyes widened, getting even bigger, as if she was taking in the whole picture for the first time. “Oh. Oh, forgive me. I don’t get a lot of visitors and I’m not really good with social situations. Come in, come in.” Her hands flitted about, and she blinked rapidly. “You probably do need help. After all, you look terrible.”
“Not good in social situations? You don’t say,” Rexi muttered.
Black Crow didn’t act like she’d heard and waddled toward her home. I gave Rexi a look, warning her not to blow this. Kato did me one better and whacked her with his tail.
Crow ushered us inside her home, apologizing for the nonexistent mess.
We all took a seat at the little white dinette set—well, Kato sat under it, so big now that he lifted it up just a smidge—and I explained our chance encounter with the Bumpkins and how that led us to her door.
“How odd,” she said, stirring a little honey into a gaudy pink-rose teacup before she handed it to me. “The rule of favor is broken, you say. I wonder how that happened.”
The tea was sweet with just the slightest tang, like it had a little bite to it. At first my stomach protested the intrusion after being empty for so long. Then it was nice and happy, and it demanded more. It’s like that bedtime story If You Give a Princess Some Tea, She’ll Ask for a Cookie to Go with It.
“I don’t suppose you have any chocolate wands, do you?” I asked when she refilled both mine and Rexi’s mugs.
She blinked her big eyes behind her thick glasses. “Gracious, no. Why would I have a chocolate wand? They’d melt at the very first spell. Terrible thing to make a magical instrument out of. I do have a fine one made of wormwood if you’ve lost yours.” Her nose scrunched, and she looked me over again. “I didn’t take you for a practitioner.”
“Foooood,” Rexi croaked, looking groggy and very near to passing out.
Crow gave Rexi and me a piece of pie, then put the rest of the tin on the ground for Kato. I was fed, so it wasn’t worth explaining what a chocolate wand was and extolling its magically delicious virtues. She looked at me expectantly though. Like it was my turn to give up the goods.
“I’m not a magic user. At least not on purpose.” I settled in and told my story, starting with the odd, porcelainlike child, the gift, and the wish. Things popped out of my mouth that I had no intention of saying—like my initial hatred of Kato, though he was kind of okay now. At least for a pet. Then I went on about the issues with my parents and how much I was beginning to hate rainbows. Soon, I couldn’t even remember what I was saying seconds after I said it.
In my mouth, my tongue grew thick and slow. Pink spots danced across my vision, twirling and spinning.
“’Scuze me. Can you point me to the little princess’s room?” I slurred.
Crow gave me a friendly smile and patted my head. “Of course, dearie. It’s just down the hall. Take your time. I was just going to spell a pot and make a call.”
Her hand made my head feel heavy(er). “Oh, thaz nize.” I got up and stepped over Rexi, who had slipped off her chair to the floor. That made me giggle.
I ambled off in the direction Crow had pointed, and Kato wobbled behind. I placed a hand on the counter. “Why do I feel zo weird?”
Kato whispered, “I dunno. I think we should go.”