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Officer Dash didn’t respond, so I took the opportunity to ask a very important question. “Are you going to kill me, too?”

Finally, Virginia’s tight smile disappeared. “Unfortunately, no. You’ve made things quite difficult for us, I’ll have you know. You were supposed to take the fall for that old miser’s death so the authorities could shut you up and throw away the key before your bond with Merlin had a chance to solidify. It was our best chance of getting rid of him, but you ruined that for us.”

“What?” I snapped as I scowled up at her. “Do you want me to apologize?”

“Uh! No manners.” Virginia let out a few slow breaths before continuing. “Any murders that happen within the magical community are instantly traced. If I would have killed you outright, then I’d find myself locked up. But since your former coffee boss knows nothing of the magical world, hisdeath wouldn’t have registered.”

“Do we really need to do the whole villain monologue thing right now?” Dash growled from somewhere I still couldn’t see. “We’ve caught her. Now we need to dispose of her.”

“So youare going to kill me?” I shouted with triumph. I had been right, but I wish I hadn’t.

“Worse,” Virginia revealed with wide, bright eyes. She enjoyed this, the villain.

“What? What’s worse than death?” I asked. I had to keep her talking, to give Merlin time to find and rescue me.

Virginia played straight into the wicked stereotype and threw her head back to cackle.“You’ll see soon enough, my dearie.”

“But I don’t understand. Why did you want me out of the way? What did I ever do to you?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Virginia admitted with a sniff. “But Dash wanted Merlin out of the picture, and I was all too happy to oblige, given the history between him and my boss.”

So this was because my playboy cat had broken the wrong cat’s heart.Ugh!

“People fall in love and break up all the time,” I argued. “That doesn’t mean you kill them.”

“Oh, I don’t care about that. Although all of Luna’s incessant pining for that scruffy fleabag has certainly gotten on my last nerve.”

“Then what do you want?”

“Magic is volatile. Did you know that? The more of it that exists within the same area, the more likely it is to cause an unwanted reaction. When Merlin took you on as his familiar, Luna’s magic had to be dampened to protect the town. I certainly see no reason why either of us should be deprived of the level of power we’ve grown accustomed to, so when my companion here offered a plan to dispose of you both, I eagerly agreed to do my part.”

“But how does getting rid of me keep Merlin from finding a new familiar?”

She hung her head and let out a deep laugh.“You really don’t know much about how this community works. Do you? Once a familiar has been initiated, it’s almost impossible for a witch to obtain a new one. Not after that whole mess with the two Merlins and Arthur way back when. And without his familiar close by,our Merlin can’t legally practice magic. The powers that be would lock him up so quick, he wouldn’t even have the chance to blink away.”

“Enough!” Dash shouted from behind me. “She’s just trying to buy herself time in case that kitty cat of hers shows up to rescue her. I’m done dawdling. Let’s finish what we started.”

22

As soon as she vowed to“finish what we started,” Officer Dash at last stepped into my line of sight. She looked the same as she always had, except the bright green eyes. Eyes like mine, like Virginia’s, like anyone who’d been touched by magic.

“You’re not a real cop,” I spat at her.

“Oh, really. What was your first clue?” The fake officer Dash laughed at me cruelly, then raised both hands and snapped her fingers above her head.

The air around her rippled and shimmered with a slightly green hue as she transformed from the sardonic police officer into a chunky black cat with a crooked tail.

I gasped, and so did Virginia.

“You’re a witch,” she cried, pointing an accusing finger at her accomplice. “This whole time you told me you were a familiar, too. That you were fed up with the status quo.”

The black cat smiled devilishly.“Dearest Virginia, one of those things is true. The other? Well, you played into my hand so easily, a fact which I most definitely appreciate. But now that your usefulness has expired, I no longer need you.”

The cat version of Dash clicked her tongue, and Virginia’s face grew into a mask of horror. Her mouth opened wide in a silent scream, and her feet shuffled hopelessly beneath her as she floated a foot from the ground.

“What did you do to her?” I demanded, struggling even harder against my bonds now. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Virginia, terrified that I would share her fate. Why wasn’t she screaming? It would be easier to take if she screamed.

Dash unsheathed her claws and stared down at them, thinking.“Why do you care? She killed your boss and tried to send you to jail for it.”