Page 76 of Found in Obscurity

Glenn rolled his eyes. “You’ve sworn me to secrecy already. I remember. Don’t let the fox out of the bag, yada, yada.” He dodged a swat from Lorin’s grandma with a laugh.

“This will show anything majorly wrong,” she said, taking the basket. “Lorin, prep Kit so he knows what to expect. We went through it.”

Lorin nodded, grasping Kit’s hand gently. Kit tilted his head and blinked his bright amber eyes at him, oh so trusting. “Grandma is going to cast a spell to check you over. She’ll draw symbols on the seven tunnels of your body in order to try and find what might be wrong.”

Kit cupped his throat and Lorin nodded. “Yes. Hopefully it’ll give us some kind of understanding of what to do to help you. Is that okay?”

Kit nodded his consent and Lorin helped him over to his grandma, who was crushing things with a mortar and pestle so they could begin.

Her hands were steady as they took to Kit’s skin, the paste she was drawing with thick and green. She moved from the base of his spine to his abdomen, over his solar plexus and heart. Next was his throat, and Kit swallowed heavily as she worked, his fingers twitching a little. Lorin squeezed the one he was holding tighter, trying to pour comfort into him.

She finished up with the marks over his brow and the crown of his head, the green coloring his white hair starkly at the root.

“Let go, Lorin. It’s time,” she said.

Lorin pulled a face but did as he was told, letting go and stepping back. He watched as his grandma clutched her staff and began to chant. She did it in mutters, so it was hard to make out the exact words she was using, but the glow of Kit’s body told everyone it was working.

At once Lorin began to see red pulsing over Kit’s throat, like a beating heart, and his grandma increased the speed of her incantations.

Kit winced, but he stood firm with his eyes closed until the incantation died down, the glow fading with it.

Lorin hadn’t realized how fast his heart was beating until his grandma stopped and it was the only thing he could hear drumming in his ears.

“Grandma?”

She clutched her staff tightly, letting it take some of her weight as she rested after the spell. Sjena cawed. It must have taken something out of her too. “I was hoping something might be illuminated about the spell that was cast upon him, but there’s no trace I could find.”

She looked sort of pissed about that and Lorin commiserated. This unknown spell was driving him up the wall as well. “And Kit himself?”

“Is surprisingly healthy for being shift locked, but the throat is damaged. The vocal cords specifically. There is inflammation and weakness in the muscles.”

“Is it serious?” Lorin asked.

Kit shifted next to him, cupping his throat again anxiously.

Grandma shook her head. “That he was able to vocalize even a little earlier is a positive sign, but I couldn’t begin to guess. I’m not trained.”

“I have some herbal recipes I’ve collected over the years to help with things like that,” Glenn said, and both Lorin and Kit looked at him with hopeful eyes. “I can’t guarantee it will cure anything, but it’ll definitely make things more comfortable for you, Kit. You’ll most likely be able to substitute a lot from your stores, Lorin.”

“Thank you,” Lorin said, and he saw Kit smile as well.

Glenn waved them off with a smile. “Buy me a coffee in town someday and actually stay to chat and we’re even. I’ll write the recipes down then get out of your hair.”

Lorin nodded, watching him go with a slight frown. Lorin couldn’t believe he’d kind of made a friend here. Or at least, what he thought one should be like. Someone who would offer to help just because. Who didn’t look at him with any preconceived ideas. Who wanted coffee and Lorin’s company for payment.

The idea of meeting up was…nice.

A revelation.

He was shaken out of his musing as Kit shuffled closer to him and grasped his arm, looking for attention like he did in his fox form. He didn’t have to try hard. Ninety percent of Lorin’s time since they’d met had been spent thinking about him in one form or another.

And with Kit human right now, he didn’t want to waste it.

Lorin turned to his grandma a little awkwardly and she snorted. “I’ll give you two some time alone. We’ll decide on thenext steps tomorrow once we’ve had time to regroup. At leasttryto get some useful information though, Lorin.”

Sjena flew to her shoulder and she shuffled away with that thinly veiled insinuation. It made his cheeks and ears burn hot, the wooden stairs creaking with her steps before they fell silent.

Lorin turned toward the still burning benzoin resin and snuffed it with a wave of his hand. The flames whispered into embers before fizzling out completely, and Kit remained by his side, still human.