AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I frown. “Why do I get the sense this goes deeper than not wanting to accessorize with a talking tuft of feathers? She’s just a raven. Aren’t witches supposed to like ravens?”
Josie pegs me with a look. “Familiars aren’t ordinary animals—they are demons in disguise. When a witch makes a pact with a cat, or a ferret, or raven, she swaps a fragment of their souls and binds them together.”
Her tone makes the prospect of that sound like it ranks right up there with hot pokers and the removal of fingernails.
Has she been burned by a pact in the past?
“You’re already bound to three demons—what’s one more?”
Josie fixes me with a look before turning back to Phi. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I really don’t have time for this right now.”
“I am the one who doesn’t have time,” Phi squawks, flapping her wings. “If I don’t find a witch to take me on soon, I’ll fade from this realm.”
“Personally,” I interject after translating, “I’d love to figure out why I can hear you.”
“It’s never happened before?” Josie asks.
I shake my head. “No. I’ve never had a familiar say a word to me.”
“Tavor has,” Elara says, one hand over her mouth, holding back laughter.
“What’s so funny? What has he been saying?”
“That you’re a falmin’ galah,” the rodent says.
I blink at it in shock. “Holy shit.”
I didn’t expect him to have an accent. Especially not an Australian accent. Hell—I didn’t expect the ferret to talk to me at all.
What is happening?
Josie’s wide-eyed gaze meets mine. “You heard Tavor?”
“I did! What in Odin’s name is going on?”
Josie is practically bouncing with excitement. “Rune, I think you got your ability from the two of us sealing our bond.”
I look between the bird and the ferret and yeah, that might be it. “I was hoping for something more like shooting fire from my fingertips or spewing acid, but I can get down with animal communication.”
“Acid? Really?”
I shrug. “You can’t tell me it wouldn’t be cool to spit on someone and watch their face melt off.”
“Sure. If by cool you mean traumatizing.”
“What if it was Egan’s face?”
“That just sounds gross,” Elara chimes in.
And it is, but I can tell Josie is imagining how satisfying it would be to watch the werewolf alpha suffer the way he’s made her suffer.
Maybe now that I can talk to animals, I’ll ask a pack of wild wolves to tear Egan to shreds. It would be equally satisfying watching his own kind enact justice.
“So, what are we going to do about Phi being your new familiar?” Elara asks, coming around the counter to get a closer look at the raven.
“She is not my familiar. And we’re not going to do anything.”
Elara is staring at Phi. “Hold on. Wait a second…Are you the raven statue that’s been missing from outside the shop?”
