upload

“We bat at each other’s magic within,” he explained, then pressed his ears back against his head, raised a paw, and hit at the air. “Like that, but we don’t aim to injure faces or hurt pride. We attack each other’s magic until one of us doesn’t have enough left to continue the duel.”

“You kill each other?” The thought seemed so barbaric. But I guess if humans could take each other’s lives, then so, too, could other species. As much as I wished they wouldn’t.

Merlin shuddered.“No, it’s much worse. The loser lives on without magic. A fate worse than—”

“Ah-ah-ahem!” I cleared my throat loudly to stop him.

“What’s your problem?” Merlin asked, then glanced to Luna at his side and dipped his head in regret. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

“I know you didn’t mean it,” she said softly, still clearly hurt by his words. “Just as I know you wouldn’t want to risk your magic when we have an imminent threat in our own home.”

“Why did those other cats even want to fight you? Surely, nothing you’ve done could have beenthat bad.” Sometimes he was sarcastic and off-putting, but overall, Merlin was a good cat. He didn’t seem like the enemy type… Well, other than that thing with Luna. Actually, you know what? Never mind. He’d clearly made his fair share of enemies in his short life. Maybe that was just the way with magic. I was still new to this world and learning all its quirks.

Merlin growled.“Well, before Luna was my girl, she was Tom’s.”

“Tom,” I repeated. “Tom Cat?”

“Yes, and when he saw her without magic, he blamed me. Tom became so angry, he challenged me as part of some misguided attempt to avenge her.”

“That’s actually kind of sweet,” I said with a sappy smile.

Luna shook her head adamantly.“I do not need to be avenged by Merlin, Tom, or anyone else. I make my own choices, and I fight my own battles with or without magic. Of course, Merlin agreed to the duel before I had a chance to tell him any of this.”

Merlin nodded somberly.“And when Luna made her displeasure known, the only thing we could do was run and hope we made it back through the portal before Tom and his cronies could catch us.”

“Please tell me you got what we needed regarding the ghost before all this went down,” I mumbled, upset.

“Of course we did,” Luna answered with a wide grin, which quickly faltered. “Although it would probably be best if Merlin doesn’t show his face in Nocturna for a while.”

“But without Merlin, neither of us can go.”

“I know,” she said with a flick of her tail. “So consider Nocturna off our resource list for the moment.”

Great.Our direct connection to the magical world had been temporarily severed while we struggled to deal with a very real, very immediate magical problem.

That would make things so much easier.

11

“But you said you got what we needed,” I pointed out, hoping very much that this was true. Without the ability to access other magical creatures in Nocturna, we’d be truly alone in dealing with our unwanted house ghost.

“Relax, will you?” Merlin spat as he stared at me with large green eyes. “Don’t you remember rule one?”

Yes, I remembered that I was supposed to trust everything he said without question. A terrible rule, but one he insisted on enforcing.

I pressed my lips into a firm line and waited for him to share more.

And once he was satisfied with my quiet compliance, he went ahead with his explanation.“We went to the library and found a spell we can use to trap the ghost.”

My jaw dropped open.“Nocturna has a library?” I squealed with glee. Oh, how badly I now wanted to go.

“Yes. What’s the big deal?” He wagged his tail wildly like one of those giant wavy men in front of an auto dealership.

“Nothing. I just love books, and—”

“Can we focus on what’s important here?” Merlin snapped, clearly still out of sorts from his near duel with the rival Tom Cat.

Luna fixed me with a kindly gaze.“The library is lovely, but it is made for cats. I’m afraid you wouldn’t fit through the door, dear.”

Well, there was that dream dashed. I hadn’t even been granted proper time to picture myself ensconced in stacks of magical old books. Sigh.

Merlin lay down in loaf form with his paws tucked beneath him, apparently now delegating the task of dealing with me to Luna.

She stood and stretched, keeping her tail high in the air.“We found the spell we need, and I should have all the ingredients for it in my garden. Since I am no longer magical, I won’t be able to mix the potion myself, but I still have the knowledge. I can guide Merlin in its creation. Or even you.”

Oh, that was right. As Merlin’s familiar, I was also a vessel for his magic. Kind of like a portable battery charger. I couldn’t cast any magic myself, but I always had a ready source for my feline overlord.

“One problem,” I realized aloud. “Your garden is at Virginia’s old place. We don’t have access to it.”

She grinned a devilish grin.“It’s outside. All we have to do is walk up and take what we need.”

I twisted my mouth in a grimace.“Isn’t that stealing, though?”