“Why are you so lazy?” he shot back.
I scoffed, but my tired brain was unable to come up with the perfect snarky comeback. Instead, I threw my hands in the air and marched toward the door.
The black cat followed me outside into the dawning sunlight, appearing quite pleased with himself.
I raised a hand to shield my eyes.“Now what?”
“Hold me,” the cat said almost sweetly, but I was nobody’s fool—and especially not his.
“Eww, no.”
“Do you want to fly or not?”
“I can’t fly, Mr. Fussy Britches. You took my magic.” I could feel him staring at me with those unnervingly intelligent eyes, but I continued to glance toward the horizon.
“First off, that magic was never yours,” he corrected in that serpentine way of his. “It belongs to the Paranormal Temp Agency. Secondly, pick me up and hold me tight to your chest.”
“But—” I began to argue, but that quickly turned into a loud, sonorous, “OUCH!”
Fluffikins growled and sunk his claws into my pajama pants, then proceeded to climb me like a scratching post.
Instinctively, I grabbed for him and pried him and his sharp claws from my side. As soon as I did, a burst of pink magic shot forth from his little cat body and propelled us up into the sky above my guest cottage.
Ahh, who could forget the sparkly pink magic that held more power than all of the board members put together? In fact, I’d been actively trying to and hadn’t been able to yet.
I clutched Mr. Fluffikins’s slinky body for dear life as we flew faster and faster toward our destination. I’d definitely enjoyed flying more the first time around, when I was seated on a broom and seemed to have at least some control of the process.
At a loss, I squeezed my eyes shut and focused all my energy on squeezing that crazy cat to my chest. I didn’t open them again until I felt my bottom fall into a padded office chair.
“That’s enough! Let me go!” Fluffikins cried, hissing and snarling as he struggled against my death grip.
I let go as instructed, and he jumped onto the table, then took to vigorously grooming himself—soiled by my touch, apparently. The sparkling pink magic that grounded this place rose toward the glass ceiling of the large conference room and pulled the panels shut, closing me and Fluffikins inside.
“I thought there wasn’t any time to shower,” I mumbled in irritation. Even if I was just a temp, I didn’t appreciate the double standard at play here. After all, I hadn’t asked for any of this. Yet again, all I’d wanted was a nice, hot shower to start my day.
“I can’t just leave your sweaty palm stink on my fur,” he explained as he groomed, making his voice muffled and even more difficult to understand than usual. “Besides I’m the boss, ergo, the rules are different.”
“Uh-huh.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stayed like that for at least five minutes as the cat saw to his impromptu ministrations. Part of me was tempted to walk right out of there and find my way home, but I knew the PTA wouldn’t let me go that easily.
“Excuse me, I thought we were in a rush here?” I whined, kicking back against the legs of my chair.
“Almost… done…” he informed me between long, dramatic licks.
I groaned and laid my head on the table. Maybe I could grab some quick shut eye? After all, who knew how long Fluffikins would spend grooming himself once he started? Didn’t cats groom themselves like twenty hours per day—or was that sleep? Well, whatever normal cats did, Fluffikins wasn’t among them. Even though he claimed all cats had magic, I doubted all of them could talk to humans the way he did.
Another five minutes passed before he finally finished and fixed a pair of impatient, unblinking eyes on me.“Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go!”
I raised my head just in time to see him running away, as if I had been the cause for the delay.
I was starting to suspect he kept temps around just so he had someone to yell at when things didn’t go to expectation.
Which meant I was in for an absolutely fabulous day.
4
“Wait,” I called after the quickly departing cat. Why did it seem like he was always beckoning me to follow him, anyway?
“Where’s everyone else?” I asked after him now.
Mr. Fluffikins didn’t stop, just yelled back to me as he continued to trot down the dark office building halls, giving me no choice but to jog and catch up. “There is nobody else. You can’t expect us to call the full board in whenever you visit.”
“But I didn’t… Oh, just forget it.” No matter how angry he made me, there was no point in arguing with him. Fluffikins would always pull rank, and I’d inevitably end up more upset than I started. Still, it would have been nice to have Greta or Parker or literally anyone else to serve as abuffer between me and the ornery feline.
I was still holding out hope for the sudden appearance of an ally when Fluffikins led me into a cavernous warehouse-like space that I instantly recognized as the spot he’d hurled gusting winds and fireballs at me a few days back during our last “training.” Anxiety spiked at the unpleasant memory, causing me to stop just short of the entryway.
“What are you doing?” he growled from across the space. “Get in here, and get in here now!”
I gulped down my fear with the shoddy reasoning that Mr. Fluffikins needed my help and thus wouldn’t hurt me.Probably.Although the last time I was under his protection, I’d almost been murdered by a disinherited magic user and his gothy granddaughter. But who was keeping track?
I marched right up to him, my breaths coming quick and shallow—but still coming, all the same. The sooner I did what he wanted, the sooner he’d leave me alone. Hopefully, this time for good.
When at last I reached Fluffikins, he leaped up into an opening in the ceiling, scampered overhead for a bit, and then descended back to the floor in an unnerving mix of natural grace and unnatural magical showmanship. He spat a shiny silver item at my feet.
“My magic,” I cried. “Do I really get it back?”
This ornate piece of jewelry looked like a cross between a butterfly and a bow. The last time it had been bestowed to me by Fluffikins and the PTA, it had magic that mimicked that of the Town Witch, the role I was expected to play while they sussed out the murderer of the town’s former witch in charge.
I hadn’t had it for long or really even done much with it, but I craved it all the same.
The strength of the sudden desire that overtook me was frightening.
No more magic.That was one of my three rules. Yet as I stooped down to collect the brooch, anticipation surged through my veins.
“You really think we’d give you that much power again? You practically got us all killed… what? A week ago?” Leave it to a cat—especially this cat—to put me back in my place.
“Half a week ago,” I corrected despite myself, then shook my head and raised my voice. “That doesn’t matter, though. If this doesn’t have my magic, then what does it have?”
He placed a paw on my foot, and I had only a thin ankle sock to protect me from the claws.“That magic was never yours. Remember, you’re a temp.”
“How could I forget,” I mumbled under my breath at the same time craving this job and loathing it.
“Any questions?”
“I still have no idea what I’m doing here or why you chose me.”
He tilted his head to the side and studied me.“That’s not really a question now. Is it?”
“Um.”
“Very well, then. Pin the asset to your shirt and follow me.”
“Wait,” I called again. It seemed I was always asking him to wait, but now that my mind had caught up a little bit, I did have something to ask. “Last time I couldn’t see the magic until you gave me my powers. This time I could see it right away. Why?”
He chuckled under his breath.“Observant. That will do you well for today’s mission.”
I smiled and nodded. Then waited. Then asked,“Well, aren’t you going to answer?”