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“I’ll clean it off,” Paige promised as she stepped onto the burgundy rug. “Dickens? Dicky?”

She squatted down to glance under the chaise, finding nothing. She tugged up the skirt around the barrel armchair she used.

“Find him?” Dewey called.

“Nope. I bet he’s curled in a nice warm ball in your nest.” Paige climbed to her feet and headed to the door, waving a finger at it. “Do you mind?”

Dewey motioned for her to head in. “Not at all. Go ahead.”

Paige stepped through the door. “Dicky!”

“Clean up any fur he got on my velvet blanket, please,” Dewey called after her.

“Dickens?” Paige called again as she scanned the space.

She lifted her chin to peer into the nest, not finding the fur ball anywhere. She puckered her lips, skirting the circular bed and tossing a few pillows aside. She lifted the blankets and peered underneath in search of the feline.

She sank to her knees, peering across the floor, under dressers, and the nightstand.

No sign of the cat existed.

Paige wrinkled her nose as she straightened, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder.

She shambled back into the living room, shrugging as she entered. “Not there.”

“Was there fur on the blanket?”

“I didn’t see any,” Paige answered as she slumped onto the stool and sank her chin into her palm.

After a second, she let her arm slap against the countertop. “Where could he be? I wonder if he got out into the archive.”

“Oh, maybe,” Dewey said as he cracked the eggs into the bacon grease.

They crackled as their edges curled, turning crispy and brown.

“I guess I should go find him.”

“Wait until you finished your breakfast,” Dewey said, buzzing toward the toaster to butter the toast before he darted back to the pan.

He spooned hot bacon grease over the top of the egg yolk, cooking it without hardening it.

With a flick of the spatula, he scooped two eggs out of the grease and slid them onto a plate before he glided the plate across the counter toward Paige.

She grabbed a fork and dug in as he cooked his own eggs, polishing off a few slices of bacon and one egg before he joined her at the counter to eat.

“Okay,” Paige said as she bit into a slice of bacon. “So, we need to consult the magical archives.”

Dewey nodded, dipping a slice of toast into the runny yolk. “Yep. With any luck, we’ll find an enchantment that’ll just cure this thing once and for all.”

“And if we don’t?”

Dewey’s fork rocked back and forth on the plate as he cut away a slice of egg white. “We’ll need to cobble one together.”

Paige choked as she swallowed some of her orange juice. “What?”

“We’ll have to take bits and pieces of one and create a new enchantment.”

Paige stared at him, her jaw gaping open. “Uh, no. We’re not trying some experimental enchantment on me and hope it works. Pass.”