18. Chapter 18

Istared down at the envelope on the kitchen table while I waited for the others to arrive. Why was I always the one who was in here when the damned things came? I wasn"t a magic worker like the others. I could sense magic, and Andy was teaching me how to do some small, useful household spells, but this was beyond me. All my gargoyle abilities told me was that there was powerful magic at work here, but that it didn"t seem to be a threat to the house or anyone in it. That was it.

I reached out and poked the envelope, tasting the flavors of the magic the sender had used. Powerful traces were there. And something very similar to the flavor of Andy"s magic. That could mean the mail came from Bella, since they shared blood. Their magic would have a similar feeling. But it could also be someone mimicking that somehow, trying to make us think it was from Bella.

That was Dyre"s suspicion. But honestly, it made no sense to me. I guess my mind just wasn"t twisted or devious enough.

The others trickled in slowly. Ambrose was with Dyre, haranguing the guy like he did, constantly trying to get the necromancer to stop being so closed off. Niamh went to the sink and started washing her hands. She had been spending all of her time in the gardens, enhancing the growth of the plants that were keeping us fed. Aahil materialized in the corner of the room, as far away from everyone else as possible. He was swimming in an oversized hoodie and sweats, still trying to make himself look small and drab, trying to escape notice. But his sharp gold gaze took in everything around him. Hasumi drifted in and went to play with the water as it flowed from the sink taps, teasing Niamh while she tried to wash her hands.

Andy finally entered the room, and Elijah"s ghostly form flowed out of the charm she wore around her neck, materializing at her side. Bis rode on Andy"s shoulder, his little front paws holding onto a lock of her hair as he stood on his back feet. The little chattering noise he made was one that Niamh had told us was a greeting. I went and patted the guy"s little striped head in response. Seemed rude to just ignore him. Bis was people too. "Hello," I murmured.

Bis reached out a paw and touched it to my index finger like giving a high-five. I smiled. It had to be so hard for the little guy, to have what we suspected was near-human intelligence, but be stuck in his rodent body with no way to speak. That reminded me of the board Andy had made him. Going to the sideboard, I pulled out the communication board—really, it was just a piece of cardboard that Andy had glued little strips of colored paper on. Each strip had a simple word written on it, like "yes" or "no" or "food."

Setting the board on the table, I turned and held out a hand to Bis, who hopped off Andy, landed on my hand, then scurried across my shoulders and down my other arm to the table. It wasn"t much, but maybe this way he"d feel more included in the discussion.

"Okay," Andy said, squaring her shoulders and reaching for the envelope. "Let"s see what"s going on now."

These missives arrived almost daily now. Most of them were just small updates or newspaper clippings. But every once in a while, they contained a pamphlet like that first day, with eye-catching headlines and barbs aimed at the Supernatural Alliance and their lies.

Today was a pamphlet day. Andy pulled the folded paper out of the envelope and skimmed it, her brows drawing together and her expressive gray eyes going stormy. Glancing up, she shook her head, then read a bit aloud for the rest of us.

"It seems the Alliance"s underhanded plans have backfired. Their attempt to eliminate a group of extremists and increase their own power base while secretly hoarding magical artifacts hasn"t quite gone the way they planned. Rather than quelling the extremist groups, the Alliance"s attempts to hoard power, steal artifacts, and blame it on a certain exiled witch have instead inflamed branches of the witch supremacist movement throughout Magea."

Andy snorted. "Blah, blah blah. The moral of the story is, there is division in the SA. Some people have jumped ship, taking their knowledge—and possibly some valuable magic items—with them. So, in the end, the SA only put more power in the hands of the extremist asshats with their little stunt with the O"Learys."

Then she glanced down and read another passage. "The organization that is supposedly sworn to protect the public has instead only placed us all in greater danger. Some even say that the leaders of the Alliance are, themselves, witch extremists." She snorted again, her mouth twisting up at one corner in a wry half-smile as she continued. "Too bad our dear Supernatural Alliance has villainized and driven away one of the strongest witches in existence who isn"t on the side of the zealots."

"This has to be Bella," Andy commented, handing the pamphlet off to Niamh, who perused it and handed it off to the next person, passing it around for all of us to read. "That last little comment? Has to be."

Dyre shrugged his skinny shoulders. "Likely, but I still don"t think you should completely discount the idea that it might be a ruse of some sort. That kind of statement might just be trying to draw you out of hiding."

Andy nibbled at her thumbnail as she considered his words. "Maybe." Then she stopped fidgeting and dropped her hands to her sides with a sigh. "Regardless of who is sending the updates, there isn"t much we can do about any of that at the moment. We"re still criminals in the eyes of the Alliance." She shrugged, then crossed the room to rummage around in the herb cabinet.

Everyone else chatted for a few minutes before drifting off to their various haunts, leaving me, Andy, and Niamh alone in the kitchen. I started pulling out things for dinner. Everyone was more than willing to take turns with the cooking, but I enjoyed making food for my new family. It made me feel useful, gave me a way to take care of them all besides perching on the roof like an ugly stone guard dog.

"I"ll help with that," Andy told me, setting aside a pile of ingredients for spellworking before she came over to wash her hands and take over the cutting board where I was getting ready to chop up vegetables for chili.

"Andy, I need to talk to you," Niamh said, coming to hitch a lean hip against the counter near where Andy was chopping vegetables.

Andy sighed. "That sounds ominous. And I really don"t have any room for more ominous shit on my plate right now." She stopped and pointed the knife playfully at Niamh. "So, no thanks. We"re all stocked up here. Go sell that shit elsewhere."

Niamh shook her head, but she did smile for a second before her pretty face grew serious again. "Bis and I have been talking," she said, glancing at the little guy with a frown. "He told me something earlier today, and I think you should know."

Andy had gone back to chopping vegetables as I put some more items on the counter next to her. I"d had the beans soaking for hours before this, and I turned them on to cook. "Do you need me to leave?" I asked hesitantly.

Whatever they were about to discuss, it sounded important. But I also got the feeling that Niamh was trying to bring up something private. Otherwise, she would have just come right out and said what the problem was right from the start.

Andy just waved away my concern. "You"re fine. It seems kind of pointless to try to keep secrets around here. I have a ghost around my neck, a boogeyman in the shadows, and two other squatters who can dematerialize and appear on a whim." She shrugged and sent me a fond smile to let me know she really didn"t mind. "Besides, there"s nothing I wouldn"t want you to hear, I promise."

Niamh grunted softly. "Or so you assume." But she didn"t tell me to leave. Instead, she went over and held out a hand to Bis. When the little guy dragged his communication board closer, she grabbed that. Then Bis hopped onto her hand, and she came over and put both the board and the rodent on the counter closer to where Andy and I were working.

"Bis asked me if you were upset because of the magic leak," she said flatly.

I turned to watch them, my eyebrows lifted in surprise. Andy stopped her chopping and looked at Bis. "What magic leak?" Her voice had also gone flat.

Bis chittered and waved his front paws around, gesticulating as he spoke. But only Niamh could understand him. She sighed. "He says there is a small pinhole in your magic, in the spell powering the pocket world, near where it is tethered to your aura."

The slender fae crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the counter, waiting for her words to sink in. I shook my head. "Andy"s aura looks fine to me. And besides, you can"t physically see other people"s spells that way. How would Bis even know if there was an issue with it?"

Niamh tilted her head, her slanted green eyes riveted on Andy. "Indeed. How would he know?"

Bis chittered and waved, but Niamh didn"t translate.

Andy went tense suddenly, as if some horrible thought had just occurred to her. "A familiar could," she whispered. Then she shook her head. "No. Bis is not my familiar. Making animal familiars is illegal. It"s wrong. I would never do that to any animal, let alone someone like Bis!"

But Bis just went to his communication board, since we were all ignoring his chattering. He patted a green slip of paper with the word "yes" written on it in black permanent marker. I watched Bis while Andy and Niamh had a stare down. The little guy slapped "yes" again and again. Hating to see him being ignored, I nudged Andy and nodded his way.

She glanced at Bis, and the rodent stood up and started jumping up and down on the slip of paper.

Andy shook her head. "Bis. You are not my familiar. That can"t be. I never bound you to me. I wouldn"t do that to you, bud. So, I don"t know what it is you think you"ve seen with the magic."

The hedgehog-skunk-rat stopped chirping and jumping on the communication board. In a moment of absolute human-like communication and clarity, he went to three legs, held out one front paw, and extended his middle finger.

Andy snorted. "Fuck you too, dude. I"m not the one making up ridiculous nonsense right now."

Niamh rolled her eyes. "Andy. I know you don"t want this to be true. But you"re just being a stubborn ass right now, and you know it."

Andy glared for a moment, then she let out a long, weary sigh and scrubbed both hands over her face before combing backward to pull at her own hair.

"Of course I don"t want it to be fucking true!" she bit out. "If Bis is my familiar, not only does that mean that I"m some kind of evil asshat who abuses animals, but it also means that whatever Bis is seeing is probably right." She dropped her hands and met Bis"s gaze, exhaustion radiating from her. "Which would mean that there is a fucking hole in the spell that is keeping us all safe. And if there"s a hole in the spell, it will just get bigger over time." She turned away from Bis and put her hands on the countertop, hanging her head, her shoulders slumping in defeat, her voice dropping to a whisper. "If Bis isn"t just messing with me, then that means the SA is the least of our worries. Because we are all going to die when this pocket world implodes."

Bis trundled over and patted the back of one of Andy"s hands with his own little paw, a stream of chitters and chirps flowing from him. I put my hand on Andy"s back, rubbing comforting circles there, at a loss for words. She was my master. My lover and friend. I wanted nothing more than to help her. But I was useless with magic.

"How did this happen?" she muttered, turning her head to gaze at Bis. "I swear I never did anything to make you my familiar."

Bis waved his front paws around as he chattered. Niamh"s face was serious as she translated for the little rodent. "He says he chose you. He says he"s your familiar because he wants to be," she whispered. "So, the two of you can fix it."

Andy sucked in a deep breath, and I could sense the way she was drawing on her last remaining bit of willpower to straighten her spine and deal with this newest problem. "Right," she said lightly. "Of course. No biggie."

Scooping Bis up into her arms, our witch turned and walked out of the room.

My eyes met Niamh"s, and I saw my worry and frustration reflected there. "What do we do?" I asked softly. "She can"t handle all this stress on her own."

Niamh straightened and clapped a hand on my shoulder, as if I was a fellow hunter, rather than a big, dumb, useless hunk of rock. "We make sure she doesn"t have to."

Right. I glanced out the doorway where Andy had disappeared. Just like the rest of us, I think she still had trouble remembering that she wasn"t alone anymore. So, I vowed to remind her.