REGGIE: Penny, I don’t know who at all. That’s why I’m asking. I’m worried.
PENNY: I meant . . . Ben? Caliban? Whatever name he’s going by? He’s supposed to be into dark stuff.
I clutch the phone to my chest, frowning. Penny has said that about Ben many times. She’s a sweetheart, but her Golden Girl is absolutely Rose. She believes everything anyone tells her, and she’s trusting and sweet and guileless to a fault. So Penny is great, but she’s not much help when it comes to most gossip. And because she works at the components store, she hears a lot of gossip . . . none of it good, and a lot of it about Ben Magnus.
Penny has told me in the past that she’s heard all kinds of ugly rumors about him, but she hasn’t been able to find anything concrete. He’s very private, and so that doesn’t help matters, she says. A lot of it is speculation, and it’s fueled by his appearance. Whereas other warlocks do their best to blend in with modern society, Ben wears his wavy black hair deliberately longer than is fashionable, so long that it brushes against his collar. He wears black at all times, and along with his pale skin and huge frame, he looks menacing and unrelenting.
And maybe he is, but he’s also wonderfully protective and smart. He has a great sense of humor.
And maybe I like his long, floppy hair.
I stare down at my phone’s screen, feeling a bit like I’m betraying Ben just for entertaining the idea. I mean, Ben is around all of Dru’s familiars. He’d know if they were cursed or not. He’s commented before on how difficult it is for Dru and himself to keep familiars, so I can’t imagine him cursing them.
Unless I’ve been in a house full of evil witches all this time and been completely unaware of it. But if that was the case, why would they be teaching me magic? Why would all of Dru’s potions be to help friends? Heck, we spent hours the other day making a healing concoction for a squirrel that the neighbor kid ran over with his bike and left in the street. Last I saw, that squirrel was completely better thanks to the potion (which gave me a migraine that day) and was living in the tree in the front yard.
If I’m surrounded by evil, it doesn’t feel like it.
I text Penny back, worried.
REGGIE: I don’t think it’s Ben? He’s complained a few times that Dru can’t hold onto a familiar.
PENNY: Of course she can’t if he’s cursing them all!!
PENNY: I don’t know him, so I trust you, but he seems like the most natural suspect.
PENNY: But I will put on my detective hat and ask around!
REGGIE: Thank you. Do you know what I can do?
PENNY: Where is Dru? Did she leave you?
REGGIE: She went to bingo.
PENNY: Oh. Well, I mean, if she’s not worried, then I wouldn’t be worried either.
PENNY: You still want to get together for coffee in the AM?
REGGIE: Yes? I think so? I’ll text you if it changes.
Penny sends me a string of emojis that makes no sense, but she’s just an excitable sort, so I send a smiley face back and end the text chain. I don’t know what to do. Dru wasn’t worried, but Dru is Dru. Just because she’s not freaking out doesn’t mean I shouldn’t. Doesn’t mean that Lisa’s not panicking, either.
Poor Lisa.
Poor me, considering I’m the current familiar and next in the line of people to get zapped with a hex.
The thought makes me vaguely panicky. Wringing my hands, I race back to the kitchen and open the pantry, tweaking cans and touching their labels to make sure they’re face out. It’s already organized, so it doesn’t fill that need inside me. Frustrated, I head over to the library, pulling out a stack of books. The “simple” reorganization of the library has been a never-ending task. It’s been over two months now, and I’m still piecing the endless pile of books together. I pick one up, and then another, but they don’t help ease my nervousness. They’re all about magic and filled with spells, and, well, spells are what have put me in danger. Lisa freaking retired months ago because she was pregnant, and someone still cursed her.
And this happens to all of Dru’s familiars, and no one told me. It feels like a betrayal. I set down the book in my hands, glancing back at the door. Lisa can’t open any of them. It’s a peculiar sort of curse, but an invasive one. Someone would have to follow her around at all times, or else she could get trapped anywhere, even the bathroom. I shake my head, full of sympathy for the woman I barely know. The worst is that Dru just doesn’t care. Has she had so many familiars that we’re disposable to her now?
My jaw clenches at the thought, and I pick up another book, this time fighting the urge to throw it across the room. I stare down at it, my insides practically boiling with a mixture of anger and terror. I thought this job was too good to be true. Seems like it is, because—
“Reggie?”
I jump, a choked scream rising in my throat. With the book clutched to my chest, I turn around to face Ben, panting. “Don’t sneak up on me!”
His brow furrows. “I didn’t. In fact, I knocked before I came in the room. Did you not hear me?”
I glance at the door, then back at him. “I—oh.”
Ben looks good tonight, I decide. He’s dressed in all black, but he always is. Today it’s a heavy, thick sweater with a black cowl-neck that somehow makes him look broad-shouldered and appealing as well as vaguely menacing. But the look he’s giving me is one of concern as he moves forward, sidestepping a stack of books written in some sort of Greek dialect. “Is something wrong? You look pale.”
I touch my cheek, fighting the urge to burst into tears. I don’t cry. I don’t. Tears don’t solve anything. I hate the gentle tone he uses with me, as if we’re truly friends. My crush on Ben is just like the rest of this job—a mistake. “At what point were you planning on telling me that all of Dru’s familiars are cursed? Because that’s a shitty thing to keep to yourself. Is that why the pay for this job is so high?”
He tilts his head slightly, confusion on his face. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Lisa,” I hiss, holding the book against my chest as if it’s a shield. “Even though she’s so pregnant she freaking waddles, someone cursed her. And when I talked to Dru about it, she told me that all of her familiars get cursed.” I throw a hand out, palm up, demanding an explanation. “So?”
Ben blinks. Twice. “Wait . . . All of her familiars get cursed?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Magnus—”
He puts a hand up, cutting me off. “This is news to me, Reggie, especially considering I was one of her familiars at some point. Exactly what did she say?”
Some of my rage bubbles away. “You don’t know about this?”
Ben’s expression is starting to mirror mine in its confusion and frustration. “How could I? I’m normally in Boston all the time. I knew my aunt had difficulty keeping familiars, but most of us do. It’s a high-turnover sort of position, because anyone halfway decent goes on to become a witch or warlock themselves, and anyone that’s wrong for the job doesn’t stick around.” He shakes his head. “But this is the first I’ve heard of her familiars being cursed.”
I set the book I’m clutching down on top of the stack once more. “Other than Maurice, you mean?”
“Maurice is a special case.”
“Well apparently not,” I snap. “Apparently all of Dru’s familiars get cursed, and she doesn’t care! She fucking went to bingo!” I wrap my arms around my chest, hugging myself. “Am I going to end up like Maurice, Ben? Because I don’t think I can be a cat for all eternity. I was a cat for ten minutes and I hated it.”
Something hardens on Ben’s face. He takes a step toward me, offering his hand. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Reggie. I promise. And a warlock takes their promises seriously.”