Page 20

Chapter 20

The Curse of the Pet Emporium

H ugging my laptop, I shuffle into the lounge with the crowd, finding dozens of people gathered. Murmurs ripple, low and urgent. The high schoolers studying in the grass are now standing in a booth, craning their necks.

I take their lead and stand in another booth to see over everyone’s heads. The Shadows are unmistakable—six people wearing floor-length black traveling cloaks with hoods, utility belts around their waists. God, did they walk through downtown like this?

They’re tightly clustered, moving as a unit. One turns her face toward the crowd, and relief crashes over me upon seeing the familiar features of Natalie’s sister. Sky looks unharmed, but her shoulders sag and her steps are slow.

Questions roar through me. I assume they didn’t catch Freddie, or else he’d be with them, right? So where is he? Why is everyone so tense?

“Move, people,” a deep voice orders. “Don’t block the halls.”

At the front, onlookers shuffle out of the way, and the Shadows break apart. I suck in a breath. A ghostly pale man is being supported by two others, his arms over their shoulders, his head lolling. A blood-soaked bandage covers his neck, dirty and crimson, the sight churning my stomach. Their shouts spike my adrenaline as they order people to step aside, and they split off, rushing him down a corridor.

A tall Black girl with sharp cheekbones and a scar down the side of her face addresses someone at the front of the crowd. Natalie introduced her when I first arrived, along with Sky and Will. Hayley.

A wave of shushing noises ripples through the room.

“…seem to have acquired more…” Hayley murmurs. “…nasty security system… Trevor got the worst of it…”

A few gazes turn to me, burning hot. This is my fault. I’m the reason they had to go after Freddie Madsen. And based on the gawking audience, this sort of thing isn’t a regular occurrence.

“So the Madsens are still out there?” Agnes’s shrill voice cuts through the hum, dripping with accusation. She’s pushed her way to the front, too short to see but loud enough to be heard from the back.

Hayley narrows her eyes. “Feel free to head out there if you want to give it a shot. I’ll lend you my belt.”

“I’m just saying,” Agnes snaps, “you came back a little early.”

Hayley looks murderous, and I have to admire Agnes’s bravery in the face of a Shadow who could easily knock her unconscious.

Sky touches Hayley’s arm and holds her gaze, some kind of wordless conversation passing between them.

“That’s enough,” Fiona says, her tone casting a hush over everyone. “It was the right call to bring Trevor back and regroup before anything worse happened. And I have an update for you regarding Oaklyn’s whereabouts.”

Discomfort settles over me, and I shuffle my feet. The update is definitely about my being attacked by her an hour ago.

I grab my phone and text Natalie, my fingers trembling.

Katie

Your sister’s back. She’s fine. They didn’t catch Freddie though. Sounds like the Shadows need to come up with a new plan.

I stare at the screen until it goes black. She’s probably busy with damage control.

A tiny part of me, a part worthy of being scolded, is relieved they didn’t find Freddie yet. It means I have more time to prove to Fiona that I should stay.

As I slip my phone into my pocket, Sky scans the crowd with narrowed eyes. Probably looking for Natalie.

Her gaze locks onto me, and she jerks her chin, motioning for me to step aside with her.

My heart jumps. Me ?

She taps Hayley’s back and says something I can’t hear before heading in the opposite direction of the other Shadows, toward the corridors. Hayley watches her go with a pinched brow, casting me a suspicious glance.

I force my legs to move, holding my laptop to my chest like some kind of shield or emotional support device.

A thousand questions and possibilities zip through my mind like cars on a highway. Did Natalie get a hold of her? Is this about Oaklyn?

I stop in front of her beneath the archway leading to the Library wing. “Welcome back,” I say, trying for casual.

Sky’s face is clammy, her eyes puffy. But she hasn’t lost her fire, and I feel X-rayed as she scrutinizes me. She has the same dark eyes as Natalie, which should put me at ease, but it doesn’t. I shift my weight, waiting for her to speak.

“What room are you staying in?” she asks.

“133. ”

She nods, her expression neutral. “I’ll have a long debrief tonight, but I’ll be by in the morning. I want to talk about something.”

A wave of unease rolls through me. It’s ‘we need to talk,’ except it’s coming from Natalie’s sister who is a witch assassin. What could go wrong?

I nod, and she turns on her heel and walks away, leaving me under the stares of everyone in the vicinity—Agnes, Will, and the group of high schoolers among them—and a lot of questions roaring through my mind.

At nine the next morning, I’m in the passenger seat of Sky’s SUV, a nervous tremor racing up and down my spine. She hasn’t said much since she knocked on my door, just handed me a parka and scarf as a disguise and invited me to leave the building to talk in private.

“It’s about your ability,” she said, and that was all it took.

Now, as we drive away from Gastown, she graces me with a smile, the warmth in her eyes putting me at ease.

“Do you believe me?” I ask. “That I can pick up on curses?”

Her jaw works in a way that reminds me of Natalie. “Nat told me about the lab test and the thrift store.”

The knot in my stomach tightens at the memory of my failures.

“But she also told me about the kitten and the doll.” Sky stops at a red light and turns to study me. She looks less tired today, even energetic. Her smokey eye makeup is flawless, her cheeks rosy, her shaved head freshly trimmed. “I want to see what you can do, and not in a lab setting.”

Her words erupt through me like fireworks. Finally, somebody agrees that a real-world test would be more valuable. “Are you serious?”

She presses her lips together and faces forward as the light changes, her cheeks dimpling.

“Sky, thank you!”

“Well, we’ll see.” She shoulder-checks and switches lanes, heading toward the Cambie Street bridge. “There’s this pet store. It’s been oozing signs of a curse for a year, but nobody’s been able to pinpoint what, exactly, is cursed. Could be anything—a budgie, fish food, a squeaky toy, a hat for a guinea pig…” She shrugs. “Figured you might crack the case. It’s driving us nuts.”

“I’m in,” I say at once, tamping down the urge to do a victory dance.

“Thought you might be.”

This is all I wanted—one person to have faith in me. “It’s lucky Natalie got a callout this morning so we could—oh.”

I flush as Sky raises her eyebrows mischievously. I should’ve guessed when we left CSAMM unimpeded that the urgent call from a vet’s office was a decoy.

“Will Fiona be okay with this?” I ask, my nerves cranked tight as I imagine her fury over us going behind her back. It’s one thing if I get myself in trouble, but now I’m dragging Sky down with me.

Sky grins. She has the same dimpled smile as Natalie. “She will be once we get back with the good news.”

I grimace. No pressure, then.

“I hope she doesn’t scare you,” Sky says with a glance at my expression. “She’s only a hardass because of the oath.”

It’s the second time someone’s mentioned that word. “Oath?” I ask.

“Nat hasn’t told you? Witches have to swear an oath to work for CSAMM. It’s not like a normal job where you just get fired if you mess up. Directors are pretty much guaranteed prison time for breaking it.”

Holy hell. “What’s the oath about? Keeping magic a secret?”

“Something like that. Which is why I can’t tell you. But I just want you to understand that Fiona’s life mission is to make sure it stays under strict control. Nat was ballsy to bring you to us.”

That’s becoming clearer by the day.

Sky pulls over at a parking meter and uses her phone to pay. “How long will this take? A half hour?”

I lift a shoulder. How should I know?

She must see this on my face because she says, “Right. Yeah, half an hour will be fine.”

We get out and head down the sidewalk, Sky’s traveling cloak catching the wind. Traffic whooshes by, a crosswalk beeps, and four crows bicker noisily over a spilled takeout meal. The cold air bites my cheeks, and I zip my jacket up to my chin.

“Has anyone broken the oath?” I ask.

“A few times. Magic has its temptations.”

Her words echo Natalie’s from not long ago. I guess I understand what they mean, given that I’m still trying to go after curses despite every indication that I should walk away.

We head to the glass door of a nondescript pet store. Barbara’s Pet Emporium is painted on the windows in colorful letters.

“Nat and I don’t spend a lot of time talking about our feelings, but…” Sky opens the door and motions for me to go ahead. “The way she’s acting around you? It’s weird. Like, good weird.”

My insides do a jump and twist. “What? Really?”

“Let’s just say she’s never flown to Ohio to get a kitten for anyone before.”

“That was…” I splutter, my heartbeat quickening. “She needed one that looked like Lucy so I wouldn’t… Are you sure?”

She raises an eyebrow. “You don’t think so?”

The memory of that almost-kiss floods back, making my lips tingle. “Whatever she’s feeling, I don’t think she’s going to let herself act on it. ”

Sky sighs. “No. She’s not allowed to, for one. But the rules don’t stop some people from… carrying on with things under the radar…”

Hope zaps me like a bolt of lightning. I wait for her to offer more—maybe a promise to talk to her sister about what a fool she’s been, and she should obviously run up to me and apologize and give me the passionate kiss I’ve been waiting for.

Is that a flush in Sky’s cheeks? Wait, is she one of those people who’s carrying on a relationship in secret?

Before I can find a way to strategically ask, she says, “So, bird feed aisle or cat food?”

I turn my focus to the surrounding clutter. Hay and critters blend to make it smell a bit like a barnyard in here. Céline Dion croons from the overhead speakers, the music competing with some chirping birds at the back of the store.

“Let’s start with the cat food,” I say.

We walk slowly past the bags and cans, and I scan everything, waiting for the familiar anticipation to grip me. A bag of tuna treats snags my attention, but this isn’t the time to shop for Ethel.

“Natalie won’t tell me why all these things are cursed,” I say casually, watching Sky for a reaction.

She doesn’t meet my eye. “Well, here’s a fun fact. Superstitions actually come from real curses throughout history.”

This isn’t what I was getting at, and I’m sure she knows it, but I’m curious anyway. “So you’re saying at one time, a broken mirror really did bring bad luck?”

She smiles. “Oh, that one’s good. A king had a cracked mirror that held a curse. Everyone thought the bad luck came when it broke. But no, the mirror itself was imbued with a curse.”

“Huh.”

We reach the end of the cat food aisle and move onto dog toys .

We weave through two more aisles, and the prospect of failing again closes around me, suffocating. What if my ability went away and I can’t find the curse? This will definitely be it. Three strikes, I’m out.

Sweat prickles under my jacket, and I unzip it to let some air in.

We walk through the section with aquarium supplies—and there, at last, my breath catches. A chill runs through me like an icy finger tracing up my spine.

I stop. “Oh my God.”

It’s here.

Invisible ropes tug me to the right. When I turn my head in that direction, my heart skips.

I follow the sensation, brushing my fingers along the rows of fish food.

“Feel something?” Sky asks, her words tinged with disbelief.

I nod, scanning each item on the shelves. A thrill pulls me onward, desperate, like I’m about to miss a deadline. Hurry. Take it.

“Somewhere…” I bend down. My pulse races, rushing in my ears as my body responds to the curse.

“It’s an aquarium decoration.” My voice comes out urgent, my movements frantic.

I rummage in a metal basket of items, fingers poking through synthetic coral, grass, hollow logs, shipwrecks…

My gaze lands on a figurine, and I suck in a breath, not touching it. “This is it. This thing is cursed.”

Sky bends closer to peer at it. Her lips flatten into a grim line. “In more ways than one. What is that, an astronaut?”

“A scuba diver.” And a hideous one at that, with its plastic sheen, chipped orange paint, and dented helmet.

“Oh. Right.” She straightens up. “Well, I can see why it’s been here a while.”

She moves to take it, and I grab her wrist, stopping her.

“What if the curse is strong?” I ask .

“It probably is. But we have to touch it to make sure this really is the object.” She reaches into her utility belt. “As soon as something weird happens, we’ll nuke it.”

I nod, glaring at the little figurine. “I’ll do it. You just focus on using the vial.”

There’s a tense pause as I meet her gaze.

She pulls out a vial and nods firmly. “Ready.”

My heart is beating out of my chest, both from the curse’s effects and the thrill that I might have finally proven myself.

I can’t wait to see Natalie’s face when we tell her.

Steeling my nerves, I reach into the basket. I hesitate, take a breath, and pick up the scuba diver.

The moment my fingers close around it, the lights flicker as if there was a power surge. Birds squawk.

“ They’re heeere ,” someone says.

Sky and I freeze, staring at each other with wide eyes.

Then the same voice says, “Hello, pretty bird. Pretty bird.”

I let out a huff of laughter. It’s just a parrot—one who can perfectly mimic a line from Poltergeist , apparently.

“Well, you did it, Katie,” Sky says, shaking out her arms as if to get rid of a chill. “This thing is cursed as hell. Let’s—Jesus Christ!”

She grabs my arm and pulls me away from the shelves. A furry wave surges out from beneath them, dozens of beady eyes glinting in the fluorescent lights. Rats, a writhing mass of them, skitter past—whether escaped from cages or feral, I don’t know.

As we dance out of the way, the speakers overhead crackle, and “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees blares throughout the store.

“Sky, quick!” I shout, holding out the scuba diver.

“Yup.” Sky pops the cork off the vial—and at the same moment, a dark shape detaches itself from the shelf over her head .

Before either of us can react, a black cat lands on Sky’s head, claws out, hissing furiously. Sky roars and flings her arms upward.

“D-don’t spill it!” I splutter, reaching for the vial.

A pop rings out at the far end of the aisle, pulling my attention. A crack opens in a fish tank, spilling water onto the beige floor. The guppies inside swim in frantic circles.

“The fish!” I cry.

Sky is busy. Yelling in pain, she grabs the attacking cat with her free hand and throws it aside. It lands on its feet and bolts, leaving Sky gasping with lines of blood oozing down her cheeks. “Motherf…”

Shouts and footsteps come from the front of the store. “Oy! What’s going on back there?”

Shit. We’re about to have a lot of explaining to do.

“Quick, fix the tank!” I tell Sky.

“What? Oh?” She wipes her bloody face, looking stunned, and extends a trembling hand toward it.

Immediately, the waterfall slows. The glass welds back together, sealing the crack from bottom to top as if her palm is a soldering iron.

But another crack rings out. A jagged line runs down the tank beside it, sending more water onto the floor.

I’m powerless to help, standing there with a tight hold on the tiny scuba diver.

The footsteps get closer. I check over my shoulder, and my stomach drops. A horde of mice and hamsters bounds toward us. They scurry up the shelves to escape the river of aquarium water, getting unsettlingly close to face-level.

I whimper, stepping back so I don’t get a pile of rodents on my head.

“Brad, the lizards are out!” someone shouts from the next aisle over.

Okay, this stops now. I dash to Sky, panic constricting my throat. “Sky, the vial—”

A strange sensation freezes me in place. My throat keeps tightening, as if the muscles and tendons are swelling. I inhale—and not enough air passes through.

My heart lurches, a tingle running through my head and neck.

No.

I try to gulp down air but can’t get any. My chest spasms, a jolt of pain shooting through my ribs. Spots erupt in my vision, blackness obscuring everything but a few patches of vinyl floor and swirling fish.

The scuba diver clatters to the ground.

I reach for my throat, my fingers working as if to massage my airway back open.

Can’t breathe.

Dizziness overcomes me, making me sway. The Bee Gees keep singing “Stayin’ Alive,” the words warping as if coming from underwater.

Glass shatters. Birds squawk.

“Katie!” Sky’s voice mingles with everything else, faint and distorted.

Pain shoots up my legs from my knees. I’m on the ground, clutching my throat, trying to pull air into my lungs in short, desperate gasps. Sharp little claws dig into my thighs through my jeans.

There’s a distant fizzing sound. Smoke obscures what little patches of light remain.

BOOM!

An explosion shakes the shelves, sending bottles and containers rolling across the vinyl floor. Water sloshes out of tanks.

A gasp rattles my body, and my ears ring. I’m on all fours, coughing, panting hard as oxygen returns to my brain. My jeans are soaked to the knees, my fingers cold where they’re splayed in a puddle.

The dizziness wanes, and for a moment, I can’t move.

A crater blackens the beige vinyl. A purple butterfly sits on top of a gemstone. It flaps its wings, then takes off, soaring over the bird seed aisle and out of sight .

Sky’s hands close over my shoulders, her face swimming into my vision. “Hey. You did it. You got through it.”

Slowly, I register her words. I did it. I helped Sky locate the curse that nobody’s been able to find for a year.

Sky turns her attention to the crater in the floor, pocketing the gemstone and moving her hands to fix the damage while glancing over her shoulder.

Footsteps pound closer, the staff finally having found us among the aquariums. “What the hell is going on?” a man shouts. “Get out before I call the police.”

Sky meets my gaze, a mischievous smile on her lips. There’s apparently no protocol for how to deal with the aftermath of neutralizing a curse because she seizes my hand and hauls me to my feet. “Run.”

We sprint out of the pet store, and my shock falls behind me like I’m shedding a heavy jacket. It gives way to elation—warm, rising, free, like being in a hot air balloon.

“Cursed aquarium decor is no match for me!” I shout, and Sky laughs with me.

We jump into her car, and she taps the clock. “Two minutes to spare.”

I grin as she peels away, taking us into the flow of traffic. “I did it!” I squee, stomping my feet.

She reaches over and squeezes my shoulder. “Impressive, Katie.”

The buzz stays with us all the way back to CSAMM, where Sky throws open the door of an Alchemy lab to reveal a group of people that includes Fiona, Will, and—God help me—Natalie.

“Fiona!” Sky shouts, interrupting their conversation.

Everyone falls quiet. Fiona faces us with an eyebrow raised.

Sky motions to me with a flourish, giving a little bow. “Guess who just solved the Curse of the Pet Emporium?”