Chapter 8

Thankfully Mum liked the halibut. She was still dubious about the establishment as a whole – she set out the list of failures as we walked home – but I flagged the evening under the ‘not a total disaster' column and moved on.

When we got in she excused herself and went to bed, exhausted from her trip. The sun was only an hour away from rising so I took Fluffy out for a toilet break and then crawled into bed too. As I was snuggling in, Shadow curled up on my chest. He had grown again. He purred loudly and moments later his brilliant golden eyes slid closed. Mine soon followed.

I woke to a loud, panicked yip, flung off the covers and ran out of my room. In the lounge, Shadow had Arabella pinned to the floor with one large paw. Arabella's eyes were wide, and she was panting with fear. Whoops. I'd left the bedroom door ajar so Shadow could get to his litter box in the night. My bad.

I picked up Shadow, who yowled in protest at being deprived of his naughty little game. ‘Bad Shadow,' I murmured. ‘Be nice to the annoying dog.' If I had to be, then so did he.

I carried him into my bedroom and closed the door firmly this time, then went to the kitchen. This called for a brew. Cohabiting was exhausting at the best of times; add in territorial pets and it was a recipe for disaster.

‘That is not a normal cat!' Mum glowered as she joined me. She picked up Arabella and fussed over her.

‘No, he's a lynx kitten.'

‘A lynx? As in an actual wild animal?' Eyes wide, she clutched at her throat where her pearls usually rested.

He might be a wild animal, but he fitted in fine with me and Fluffy. What did that say about us? That we were feral? I was strangely okay with that. ‘He's pretty gentle most of the time,' I said reassuringly. ‘He's a baby and he's still finding his way. The vet thinks he's only a few months old.'

‘He's bigger than Arabella!'

‘Arabella weighs 1.5 kilos. Most normal house cats are larger than her,' I pointed out.

‘That menace is going to kill my darling!' Mum squawked.

‘He's playing. It'll be fine.' She wasn't buying it. ‘I'll take him and Fluffy with me to work, give them time to cool off. Don't forget we're invited to dinner at my boss's tonight. We usually go at midnight, which is around my lunchtime. I'll pick you up.'

‘All right,' she said tightly, still unhappy about Shadow. ‘It'll take me a while to get used to a night regime. I keep largely to daylight hours in London – except when I'm dealing with other supernats, of course.'

‘Of course,' I said flatly. I knew nothing of her secret meetings with other supernats and that chafed.

The atmosphere was still a little frosty, and I'd never been happier to go in early to work. Sidnee looked up at me in surprise when I arrived, then at the clock then back at me. Yep, I was two hours early. ‘Did something happen?' she asked.

‘Yes, my mother happened. She's been here one full day and I'm ready to move out.'

‘It's your house,' she pointed out.

‘Desperate times and all that.'

I pushed Shadow's pram into its spot and lifted him out. He gave his kitten squeak and marched over to rub against Sidnee's legs. I'd never had a cat before and I wasn't sure if he was behaving like a normal one. Kitten or not, he was some kind of cool superhero creature that could drive back the beast beyond the barrier. I pictured him with a cape – then laughed. He'd probably tear it to shreds to play with.

I made some tea and coffee and took them to Sidnee's desk. ‘Guess what?' I started.

‘What?' she replied dutifully.

‘My mum didn't come all this way to see me.'

Sidnee frowned. ‘Why did she come then?'

‘Well, that's the real kicker. She's a witch.'

‘What?'

‘A fire witch,' I continued, satisfied with the way I'd shocked her. ‘She's a High Priestix, a powerful fire elemental, and Liv invited her here to help with the barrier issues. Mum dropped that bomb on me right after she arrived. Can you believe it?'

Sidnee stared at me for a long minute with her mouth open until she realised and closed it with a clack. ‘Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry, Bunny. That's a lot to take in, and I know from what you've said before that she was never an award-winning mum.'

‘She wasn't an anything mum,' I admitted. ‘I had a host of nannies and she was never there. Now I know why – she was working her way up the coven ladder. She rules all the covens in the UK.'

‘Wow.'

‘Yeah. A part of me thinks I should be proud of all that she's achieved, but I laid in bed looking through a tonne of my childhood memories and there are so many times she wasn't there. She chose her career over me – her secret, supernatural career. That she's successful doesn't make it any less shitty for me.'

‘No, I guess not. I think we're told now that as women we can have it all, and I'm sure plenty can, but it's an awful lot to juggle.'

I sighed. ‘Yeah, and she dropped some balls. Anyway, she's a fire witch and she's here to save the barrier. My dad is a witch, too. They've been lying to me my whole life.'

‘Fuck.' Sidnee reached out to squeeze my hand. It was rare for her to swear so I really appreciated her use of foul language on my behalf.

I paused for a moment and decided to change the subject back to work. ‘Okay, I can't wallow more. Any calls?' I really meant cases: I needed something big to take my mind off my mother and our whole raft of issues.

‘I picked up a kid for shoplifting a candy bar and a box of condoms at the grocery store,' Sidnee said proudly.

‘Nice one. How old was the kid?'

‘Fifteen. I brought him back to the station for processing and to call his parents, but Gunnar decided to have words with him. He won't be stealing again after the Nomo got through with him. The kiddo said he was too nervous to buy the condoms, and Gunnar said if he was too embarrassed to buy penis coats then he definitely shouldn't be using them.'

I bust out laughing. ‘Penis coats? He said that?'

‘Well, no. I'm paraphrasing,' Sidnee admitted, making me laugh even harder.

‘So, beside the penis-jacket thief, anything else happen?' I asked when I'd gotten the snickers under control.

It had been a slow few days since we'd caught Elsa Wintersteen, the wind witch who'd been influenced by the cursed gems. She was safely in an institute being rehabilitated. I'd been relieved when the council hadn't simply sent her to jail; yes, she'd done horrific things but they hadn't really been her fault any more than being briefly possessed by the fire gem had been my fault.

‘Oh! You made the paper, again.' Sidnee pulled out a copy of The Supernat Sentinel. Sure enough, there was a grainy photograph of me cuffing one of the cursed lads from the docks. The headline said: Fierce Fanged Flopsy Foments Fear.

I let out a groan. I regretted ever speaking to Lisa, the sole reporter at the Sentinel. The article was actually pretty accurate and informative because she'd spoken to some of the cursed lads after Gunnar and I had let them go. It cautioned everyone about the power of curses and ended with a warning to the perpetrator that the Fanged Flopsy was on the case.

‘Bloody marvellous,' I groused. I guessed that explained who our peeping Tom had been: Lisa was five foot nothing and the shoe prints would undoubtedly match her delicate feet. Dammit, that meant we were back to square one with the curser. I made a mental note to call Lisa and shout at her for running off like that. No doubt she'd been concerned – rightly – that we would confiscate her photos.

Sidnee grinned. ‘Apart from that, it's been a really boring shift.'

‘Anything from the hotline?' I wondered if Chris, Sidnee's drug-dealing ex-boyfriend had tried to contact her again.

‘Nah. The only call was from Gertrude – another complaint about Remmy. I visited him and told him to quit taunting her.'

‘And he agreed?'

Sidnee shrugged. ‘For this week, at least.'

‘He's going to get himself killed,' I predicted darkly.

She laughed. ‘I doubt it. I think Gertrude has a thing for him.'

My jaw dropped. ‘No way!'

‘Way.'

‘She needs flirting lessons,' I said drily. ‘You think Remmy fancies her back?'

She waggled her eyebrows. ‘There's a reason he's always on her land!'

I shook my head and chugged my tea. ‘This chat has blown my mind.'

‘Sometimes you have to look at things from a different perspective,' she advised quietly. From her suddenly serious tone she was thinking about Chris, but it was also good advice. I could apply it to the shit with my mum: maybe I should try looking at things from her point of view?

Then again, maybe not.