upload

“We have to get back,” Merlin insisted, tapping me with a paw. “Put me down. I have to go to Luna.”

“But it’s already morning, and we’re stuck in Nocturna until at least tonight,” I informed him, but set him on his feet, anyway. I was glad he’d regained his full consciousness. That was one less thing to worry about in this very worrisome day.

“Hey, that thing works, right?” Drake pointed to my phone. He used his other hand to extract his phone from his pocket and glance at the screen.

“No bars,” he informed me, waving it before me. “Remind me to switch to your carrier when we’re out of here.” He held out his hand, open-palmed. “May I?”

“Uh, sure.” I placed the cell phone in his waiting hand and watched as he copied a number from his phone into mine.

“Shh, it’s ringing!”

Someone picked up on the other end of the line. I could just barely hear a muffled hello.

Drake’s face lit up like a bonfire. “Tawny, hey. Put Fluffikins on.”

27

“Um, could you put somebody else on evil-wizard babysitting duty and come get us, please,” Drake said once Fluffikins had answered and he’d switched the call over to speaker phone.

“Where are you?” the black cat demanded in that creepy snake-like voice of his.

Drake blinked up at the sky and then looked around, presumably searching for landmarks.“That city. Nocturna. Right near the town square. There’s a fountain.”

“But Drake,” I started to argue. “The portal only opens at—”

I stopped talking when Mr. Fluffikins appeared standing a few feet before us in his famous pink burst of magic.

Drake ended the call and handed my phone back to me.

Meanwhile, my jaw practically fell to my chest.“I don’t understand. How?”

“Your cats’ magic and mine are different,” Fluffikins explained like the answer should have been obvious. “The same rules don’t apply.”

“Is that why their magic is green and yours is pink?” I asked, still dumbfounded.

“Something like that.” The black cat plopped his rear onto the cobblestone walkway and flicked his tail thoughtfully. “I’ll admit, I haven’t quite figured out how so many magical systems can exist in the same space without following the same rules. But I assure you I won’t rest until I figure it out.”

“Are there more out there? Besides yours and what I had?” Merlin asked, settling himself at my feet.

“Yes. Yours originated in England some thousand years ago. Mine is much older than that, as old as the Earth itself, if not more.” A smile stretched from one whiskered cheek to the next. Mr. Fluffikins clearly took pride in the seniority of his magic system.

“What else is out there?” I asked, crouching down to run my fingers through Merlin’s thick fur.

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out. Once I’ve finished training my replacement—”

“Tawny,” Drake provided with an enormous sappy grin. Someone definitely had a crush. Not good news for Kelley, but then again, she and Drake probably wouldn’t last much longer, given his new creature of the night status.

“Yes. Once Tawny takes over my post as diplomat for the Peach Plains region, I intend to travel the world and learn all I can about the various magic systems out there and how they fit together.”

“Does that mean you can get Gracie out of here?” Merlin asked. It was only now that I realized his previously green eyes had settled into a honey brown. The magic inside him had died, and by his own paw.

“I can try,” Fluffikins responded with a nod. “Everyone stand close and place a hand on me.”

We scrambled over to him and did as instructed.

A pink mist swirled around us, then dissipated, leaving me all by myself on that cobblestone street.

A few seconds later, Mr. Fluffikins returned.

“I’m sorry, Gracie,” he said. “It seems you are tied to the Nocturna system of magic and thus bound to its rules.”

Tears threatened to fall, but I forced them back.“I understand.”

“They can still visit you here,” he offered, blinking up at me.

I nodded sadly.“I know.”

“And I will search for an answer in my research, a way to bring you back to the mundane world.”

“Thank you,” I murmured.

Mr. Fluffikins shot me one last doleful look, then vanished for good this time.

Alone again, the full weight of my exhaustion settled over me. I hadn’t slept at all last night. Instead, I’d been embroiled in one deadly battle after the next.

I was so, so tired.

And so I lay down, right there on the street, and closed my eyes. It didn’t take long for me to drift off into a world all my own.

28

I woke up to a soft pair of paws kneading into my side.

“Merlin?” I mumbled. “Luna?”

But when I opened my eyes, I saw the elderly Himalayan female sitting at my side wearing a concerned expression.

“Do you still want to use our portal?” she asked as she continued to paw at me.

“I’m fine, thank you.” I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

“Are you all right, dear? You look pretty run-down.”

Dear.That was Luna’s pet name for me. If I closed my eyes again, I could almost imagine that she and Merlin were right here with me. But no, I was all on my own.

Forever.