Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
“Did you lock the door this morning?” I asked Aiden, bending to check under the unmade bed in the corner.
“Always,” Aiden said, shifting boxes to look behind them. “I don’t understand how this could have happened.”
“Okay, I have an idea.” I pulled out my grimoire and started flipping pages. “Remember how I wanted to try a tracking spell last fall when people were disappearing?”
“Yeah, but you needed a part of their essence, so we had to abandon that idea.”
“We’ve got some of Moonbeam’s fur here.” I pointed at the squishy bed we’d made for her. “I can use it to track her.”
“Perfect.”
“Ah, there it is.” I scanned the spell carefully, my finger leading my eyes down the page. “Not too difficult, thankfully, and won’t require much energy. Can you collect some of her fur for me, please?”
I grabbed a piece of chalk, drawing the symbols needed to set up the tracking spell on the desk in front of the grimoire. Aiden arranged the fur in a little pile in the middle.
“Do you want to have the spell cast on you as well?” I asked him.
“Yeah, then we can both watch out for her.”
“Great. Focus on this sigil, and make this sign...” I showed him the pattern required, drawing the energies of the fur and tracking symbols into my eyes. I blinked, the spell settling over my vision like a thin veil.
“I can see where she used to be,” Aiden said wonderingly, glancing around the room. “She curled up on my pillow.”
I turned to his bed. There was a splotch of purple magic on his pillow. “I think that the bigger the spot, the longer she spent there.”
“Makes sense.”
My gaze followed a purple trail to the kitten bed we’d made. A dead end. I switched to the other trail. It led to the door and out into the hall.
“Come on,” I said, scooping up my grimoire and following the purple line. I didn’t wait to check if Aiden had obeyed.
The trail led us on a merry chase to several other dorms, pausing outside the doors and never venturing inside. I didn’t bother going into any of the other wings, despite the fact that the purple trail led into them; it also came out again, heading down the stairs.
“A curious little kitten,” I muttered to myself, hurrying down the stairs. The veil made it harder to see reality, so I kept one hand on the railing and the other outstretched to avoid bumping into anyone.
“Wasn’t it the cutest little thing?” someone said nearby, when I got to the main floor.
“So friendly!” said another voice.
The purple trail led me into the mess. There were a lot of people in the room, seeing as it was dinnertime, and the wave of noise was almost deafening.
I took a deep breath, trying to block out the sounds of the voices so I could focus on my sight.
“Is it always like this?” Aiden asked from behind me. He sounded winded.
“Like what? Overwhelmingly loud? Everything else being blurry?” At his nod, I added, “I’ve never cast it before, but I would assume so.”
“Aww, aren’t you cute?”
“What a pretty kitty!”
“Does she belong to you?”
“No, not me. I wish, though. She’s so sweet.”
“I don’t think we need the tracking spell anymore,” I said with a chuckle.
“I’ll keep it on just in case it’s someone else’s escaped kitten,” Aiden said.
I removed the spell from my vision and led him through the tables to where a large group had converged. “Have they woken the familiars up yet? I thought the teachers were waiting to see the effects of the magical blanket first,” I asked.
“I haven’t heard. Are Lilia’s dragons still asleep in your room?”
“You know I’ve been with you pretty much every second of the day and night,” I said, pushing past a few students. “Excuse me,” I added belatedly.
Sure enough, sitting on the edge of a table was our missing Moonbeam. Her white coat was shimmering slightly, hints of purple showing under the bright lights overhead.
“There you are, you scamp,” Aiden said, scooping her up. “Did you miss us while we were in class?”
Moonbeam purred so loudly that I could hear her and stretched up, licking Aiden’s chin with her tiny pink tongue.
“How did you get out, missy?” I asked her, rubbing my hand over her ears. “Now you’re going to have to wait for your dinner, because Aiden and I are hungry for ours.”
“I’ll go give her to Rhiannon and then we can get our trays,” Aiden said. “Go get in line.”
“Sir, yes sir!” I said, snapping him a salute.
He grinned back at me. “If only you were so obedient all the time,” he teased.
I flushed and headed for the food, ignoring the students around us.
Aiden joined me before I had moved far down the line. “Rhiannon was happy to look after her for us, and Moonbeam went to her easily enough. Do you think someone let her out?”
I thought about his question for a moment. “If they did, why did they leave her alone? Maybe someone broke into your room to take something else and Moonbeam escaped when they opened the door?”
“I don’t have anything of value,” Aiden said, a furrow in his brow. “And nothing looked out of place until we started moving stuff around.”
“I guess you didn’t lock the door.”
“But how would Moonbeam have opened it? The doors swing inward. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe you didn’t close it fully, and it swung in.” I shrugged. “No harm, no foul, in this case.”
“I suppose.” Aiden looked concerned. “Maybe you should stay in your room for the next few nights, just in case.”
“It’s sweet that you think I can’t take care of myself,” I said, patting his chest.
“Of course you can,” Aiden said vehemently. “But I would rather not worry about you, too.”
“The only thing you have to worry about, with regard to me, is when you’re going to fuck me after you take this plug out of my ass,” I whispered to him.
His eyes darkened and a muscle twitched in his jaw when he clenched it. “You are a brat.”
“So you’ve told me, multiple times,” I sassed back. I took a plate of spaghetti from the warming counter. “Remember, I’ve got nothing on under this skirt. Are you going to do something about that?”
“You are playing with fire, missy,” Aiden growled, his knuckles turning white from how hard he gripped his tray.
I chuckled at his pun. “You think you’re a big, bad monster, but you’re really a softy,” I teased. “What are you going to do about it? You shouldn’t be using extra magic right now, so you can’t make us invisible to do whatever you want to me in the middle of the cafeteria. You don’t want other men seeing me naked or what I look like when I come.”
“I should fuck you in a supply closet,” Aiden threatened. “Make you walk back out here with my cum dripping down your legs. Every beast and witch in the room would scent me on you. Is that what you’re aiming for?”
That shouldn’t turn me on as much as it does.
I squeezed my thighs together, trying to stave off the throbbing in my core. “We can’t just leave Moonbeam with Rhiannon,” I said weakly. “It’s not fair to her.”
“Then maybe you should stop tempting me and go sit down.” Aiden’s nostrils flared, smelling my arousal, and he groaned. “God, woman. Every beast is going to pant after that scent when you walk by them.”
“And yet, they can’t have me,” I said. “You’d better hurry after me to keep them away.” I grabbed a pudding and spun, heading back to our table.
“You are evil, you know that?” Aiden rumbled, his body a warm presence at my back. “I didn’t have time to grab a dessert.”
“I thought I was your dessert?”
He growled, powerless to do anything else, and I chuckled.
I was relieved to see that Brom and Lilia had left our table, but Clarissa and Bruce had joined them, and Clarissa grinned widely when she saw me.
Her gaze flicked to Aiden and then back to me. “Is he not seeing to your needs, Siobhan?” she teased.
“Right now, what she needs is—” Aiden began.
I put up a hand to cut him off. “He’s great. I’m just needy.” I grinned at her smirk and sat down.
“I’ll say.”
“Not to interrupt this fascinating conversation,” Una said, “but what are we doing about this kitten?”
“What do you mean?” Aiden asked, sitting practically on top of me. “She got out of my room. I’ll bring her back.”
I glanced at Rhiannon, playing with Moonbeam, while I twirled my spaghetti. “Are the purple markings more visible now, or is it just me?” I asked.
“Her coat is coming in beautifully,” Rhiannon said, making kissy faces at the kitten. “Although it is a little strange. She was only born a couple of days ago. She should still be stumbling about, completely blind.”
I shrugged. “Magical animals. Maybe her species matures faster than regular cats. Who knows?”
“That’s the thing, though. I should know.” Rhiannon frowned. “I’ve never heard of a creature like her before.”
“I’m always learning something new in Nexus class. Why can’t you learn something new about magical creatures?” I asked.
Moonbeam lapped at Rhiannon’s fingers and rolled onto her back, exposing her soft white belly. Rhiannon tickled the kitten, who curled up, trying to grab at the hand with her paws.
“No clawing,” Rhiannon said firmly, bopping the kitten on the nose. “Soft paws with me. Claws are for attacking.”
Looking suitably chastened, Moonbeam retracted her claws and kept batting at Rhiannon’s fingers.
“You’re so good with her,” Aiden said admiringly. “Are you sure you can’t take care of her?”
Rhiannon shook her head with a smile. “Moonbeam saw you first. You’re her mama.”
Aiden made a face. “Why can’t I be her papa?”
“That’s not how it works in the animal world,” Rhiannon said with a chuckle. “The young form attachment bonds with the first adult they see, which is usually the mother, since she usually ends up giving birth on her own.”
“What about pack animals?” I asked.
“That’s different. The cubs would look to all the adults, but would only receive nourishment from their mother.”
“How do we know Moonbeam isn’t part of a pack?” Aiden asked.
“Could be,” Rhiannon acknowledged. “She seems fine with letting you out of her sight.” She waved her hand. “Although she did go looking for you this afternoon. I’m not really sure. We could ask Professor Wright. He might know. But no matter what, I’m not taking her. She bonded with you, and on top of that, I’m looking after enough familiars with this ley line mystery.”
“The blanket isn’t working?” I asked, worried.
“It is!” Rhiannon beamed at me. “But I’m going to have to go around and wake up everyone and make sure there aren’t any side effects or other problems. Highly magical creatures, like Lilia’s dragons, might not react as well to the blanket as, say, this little girl. Professor Wright said we can start waking familiars after dinner.”
Moonbeam purred and butted her head into Rhiannon’s hand.
“Rhiannon, are you ready to get started?” Professor Wright boomed from halfway across the mess hall.
“Speak of the devil,” I said mischievously.
Rhiannon smiled and got to her feet, cuddling Moonbeam close. “Be right with you, Professor,” she half-shouted back.
The professor happened to be in my line of sight, or else I wouldn’t have seen him turn as white as a sheet. He half-ran toward our table, eyes fixed on Rhiannon. His obvious panic made my heart stutter.
Is something wrong with Rhiannon?
“What are you doing with that creature ?” he spat. “That’s a manducare! It’ll drain you of magic until you’re no better than a human!”