Page 73 of Found in Obscurity

“I am, yes,” he said, thinking back to all the emails he’d sent while they’d waited for Glenn to get them what they needed.

He’d finally decided. He’d uprooted his life for a leap into the unknown. And yet, it didn’t feel like a mistake at all as soon as he hit the send button. It felt right.

“I resigned from my old job and notified my old landlord. Hired a moving company.”

Glenn bounced on the balls of his feet a little bit. “That’s the best news I’ve had in a long while. I have so many questions!”

“And the answers to those will have to wait for a while,” Lorin’s grandmother said as she walked into the magic room, Kit hot on her heels and Sjena flying in shortly after to settle on a cabinet.

Kit padded over to Lorin and wound around his ankles, the scent coming off his fur throwing Lorin completely off balance. He usually smelled earthy and rich, very dedicated to his grooming and making sure his fur was always fluffed and pristine looking. Now it was slightly matted with whatever his grandma had put on him.

“What is that?” Lorin asked, and she handed him a vial of a transparent liquid.

“Just the oils of a few protective herbs,” she said. “From what you read about the ritual, it shouldn’t interfere with how it works. I do believe you want to do everything you can to keep Kit protected during?”

“Yes!” Lorin said. “Yes, of course.”

“Hopefully that will help.” She moved to stand next to the table, observing the items laid out on it. “Interesting.”

“I haven’t had a reason to try and get one of those in years,” Glenn said.

“How did you even manage it?” his grandma asked.

Glenn winked at her. “I can’t reveal my sources, but let’s just say it wasn’t easy and you were lucky I was owed a favor by someone.”

“Must have been a huge favor,” she said, and Lorin followed her gaze to a small transparent container holding several misshapen blobs of what looked like amber. Styrax benzoin resin. The key ingredient in unlocking the potential of a shapeshift.

Used as incense, benzoin brought two different worlds together. It cleared paths between them and made crossing from one side to the other easier and free of obstacles. Coupled with rosemary for spiritual cleansing, it made the shift as painless and easy as it could get.

Lorin hoped it would work.

He turned his gaze to the two small pentagrams drawn on the floor with the rest of the ingredients the ritual called for arranged neatly inside of them. He swallowed down bile at the sight of animal bones set in the middle of one, to ground the animal, Kit, during the shift. He didn’t even want to look at the other pentagram, the one holding a human bone, to provide the animal spirit a vessel to occupy while in human form.

His grandma hadn’t told him where it had come from, and he absolutely didn’t want to go anywhere near it. It was a testament to the magnitude of his feelings for Kit that he was willing to even entertain the idea of trying something like this. Let alone be the one to perform it.

Lorin crouched down to Kit’s level and extended his arms, letting the fox hop into his lap and nuzzle close. He wanted to pretend it was to reassure Kit, but they both knew Lorin needed the reassurance more than anyone else did.

“Remember what I promised you last night?” Lorin asked, and Kit bumped their noses together in confirmation. “I stand by it. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re safe. But ifat any point you feel like we need to stop, you let me know in whatever way you’re able to. Give me a sign and it all stops. You’re what matters here.”

Kit stared into his eyes and Lorin allowed the contact to go on for as long as it needed to, hoping he was conveying everything he was feeling at that moment.

Worry for Kit’s safety.

Hope that he might have him back.

Joy at the prospect of getting to see the human him again.

Desperation for the ritual to work the way he hoped it would.

Kit turned his head and nipped at Lorin’s fingers gently before wiggling out of his hold and bounding over to the table. He looked up at it, then back at Lorin as if to say ‘go on, I’m ready.’

Lorin stood up and looked at his grandmother, who gave him a short nod in support. He knew having her around would help. Just knowing she was there, with all the power wrapped around her and her years of experience, made him feel like there was a safety net in the middle of the chasm he was about to walk over.

“You have everything you need,” she said.

“I do.” He put his hand on a small, empty notebook with a pen attached to it that he had laid at the edge of the table.

If the ritual worked and the human Kit appeared, Lorin needed to be able to communicate with him. They needed something to give them direction.