Page 52 of Found in Obscurity

Beyond his own issues, he needed to work that out. A shifter who couldn’t shift was a pretty big red flag. He’d been checked over physically, but something magically must be very wrong.

The Magic Shop was there for another day. He could always head there and get more books on familiars who were also shifters. Ask The Owner if he had any idea on why Kit seemed unable to shift at will. If anyone had heard of that, surely he had.

It was between one spinning thought and the next that he finally succumbed to sleep.

He woke up drooling on his own cheek, completely disorientated. Kit shifted in his sleep next to him, having tucked himself under his armpit, looking adorable and completely innocuous.

Had last night been some elaborate dream?

He groggily looked over, spotted the mason jar, and froze. He raised his hand and found the new marking on his finger, the shape very much real.

His fox was a shifter.

He felt his stomach flip, not sure he wasn’t about to throw up. And then he caught sight of the clock in his peripheral vision.

It was one o’clock in the afternoon.

They’d wasted half the day already.

He sprang off the sofa and fell flat onto the floor. Kit startled awake and made a curious noise while Lorin cursed.

“We overslept!”

Anxiety about Kit being a shifter at all was usurped by the worry that something was very wrong with him and his chance to figure it out was slipping away by the minute. He tore around the house, pulling on enough clothes to battle the weather, then rocketed out of the house with Kit tight on his heels.

The bike ride into town was torturous. His stomach was empty. He’d had no fluids. He couldn’t make his legs pedal fast enough, and the ice and snow made it treacherous, but he was a man on a mission and he eventually made it to the shoveled streets of town.

Until he rounded the corner and his heart dropped at the sight before him.

“You’re leaving?” Lorin hopped off the bike, panting and red in the face. He barely had the presence of mind to make sure it was leaning against the wall of the building where the Magic Shop was set up.

Kit was already out of the basket, winding his way around Lorin’s legs and yipping at The Owner. The man was pulling the sign for the shop down, tucking it away in a cart filled with things Lorin recognized from inside the shop.

“I am, yes,” The Owner said. “I was supposed to stay another day, but unfortunately an urgent matter came up and I’m leaving earlier than intended.”

“But I needed some things!” Lorin said, running a hand through his hair and feeling the panic rising back up.

He looked down at Kit and felt his heart drum with worry and anxiety. He had to help Kit. It was his duty and his responsibility. Kit was his familiar, and Lorin would do whatever he could to make sure he was okay.

“I will be back earlier than planned due to cutting this visit short, you don’t need to worry,” The Owner said, but Lorin shook his head.

“That’s still too long! There are things that need to be figured out as soon as possible!”

“My, my. That does sound rather serious.” The Owner scratched under his chin with the tip of his walking cane. “How about you let me in on what it is, and I can, at the very least, offer some advice?”

“My familiar is a shifter,” Lorin said, pointing at Kit, who was staring up at them with wide eyes and his ears up.

“Aha.” The Owner nodded, looking at Lorin like he was expecting him to continue. His face betrayed nothing other than polite curiosity.

Lorin frowned. “You don’t seem surprised.”

The Owner tilted his head, the top hat sliding slightly to the side. “Should I be?”

Lorin widened his eyes. “You knew?”

“Yes, well.” He smiled. “It was rather obvious, wasn’t it?”

“Not to me, it wasn’t!”