___

  “Actually,” Ryan darted up and I stared down at my feet. The voice hadn’t come from either of us. The fox’s mouth stayed closed, but a voice resonated in my head. “My name is Dane.”

  ___

  Ryan and I glanced at each other and then back at the fox. Obviously Ryan could hear the voice too, but it sounded like it was coming from inside my head.

  “Thank you,” Ryan told him. He sat up now and was looking at me. “What?” He shrugged. “He’s your familiar, they have to be able to communication somehow.” Ryan tapped the side of his head with his finger. Of course he would be totally calm about this whole thing.

  “So, you can read minds?” I couldn’t believe I was addressing a fox. I mean, I know earlier I had spoken to it, but now I was expecting a response.

  “Not exactly,” Dane explained patiently. “Magical animals, as you called us, are able to speak into other human minds, but we can’t read your thoughts. It’s no different than you talking out loud. We’ve found the range of motion of certain animal forms limit our ability to speak in your languages, so this makes it easier.”

  I had shadow bruises that were swirled around my wrist and side — I supposed talking to a fox wasn’t too far of a stretch. And I had been surrounded by things that seemed to go beyond what was possible my whole life. It was hard to say what was normal anymore.

  Trying to clear my head, I closed my eyes. After a few breaths, I could feel Ryan’s eyes on me and wondered briefly if there was, as expected, a slight wrinkle in his forehead. Breathing out again, I decided I still needed some answers.

  “Before I start understanding any of this, Ryan, what are you doing here? And why were you running?” Ryan motioned to the park behind me as if suggesting we walk instead of him sitting on the grass. I thought it was a good idea, though I thought we might get some odd looks walking around with a fox next to us.

  “That— Dane,” Ryan immediately corrected himself. “Dane came to my place, and started howling outside, like actually howling. I didn’t even know foxes could do that, and I’m sure the whole neighborhood was looking out their windows trying to figure out what was going on.” Smiling, I could picture the scene.

  “I figured there’s no way it’s a coincidence that a fox happened to be outside without some connection to you, so I went outside. And Dane takes off like a bullet down the block before I’m even out the door.” This time he glared at Done, who was sauntering behind us. And if I didn’t know better, I’d swear the fox looked smug.

  “So then he lead you to me?” I smiled back at Dane, grateful, though curious as to why he thought to get Ryan to help me when he had growled at him earlier.

  “Yeah, and he didn’t give me a single moment to breathe. I thought you must have been dying from the way he took off. I’m sure my neighbors are all gossiping about me now. ‘The boy who took off after a fox like he was on fire.’” I smirked at Ryan.

  “Well, it was nice of you to come save me from my sprained ankle.” It had gotten better as we walked, and I barely felt it now. “Though I could’ve used your help before I fell stepping off the curb.” We had gotten to the park now and we both sat down on a bench, Dane taking a spot beneath us. Thankfully, he was more out of sight now.

  “Next time, I’ll try to be there sooner.” Ryan smiled at me. “Or you could just pay more attention to where you’re walking…” I shoved his shoulder with mine roughly, causing him to let out a ‘hey’. Ryan put up his hands and went to push back against my shoulder, but in the blink of an eye, Dane had crawled out from under the bench and jumped on top of my legs, facing Ryan, and growling.

  Ryan calmly put up his hands in a surrender position, his eyes met mine over Dane. He mouthed ‘help’.

  “Dane, he’s a friend, stop it.” Dane turned his head around to look at me as if checking to make sure I was okay.

  “Fine.” Dane’s voice echoed through my head — a man’s voice, but it sounded — lighter — than a human voice somehow. He hopped off my lap and this time, laid in front of me, by my feet. The wind had picked up now, and the clouds had darkened the sky. Dane’s ears pricked at the slightest rustle of leaves. It would probably start to rain soon.

  And hopefully, the shift in weather would keep too many people from going outside and noticing an overly tame-looking fox laying by my feet. I still wasn’t sure how I was supposed to explain to people why a fox was following me around.

  “Ryan, can I ask you a question?” He looked mildly uncomfortable for a moment, and moved one of his long sleeves up slightly, displaying the tattoos underneath, before answering.

  “Sure.”

  “What happened to your familiar?” I felt the shift immediately. That moment, where the air becomes heavy when you realize you’ve asked a question you shouldn’t have. This was one of those times. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that, I was just—“ I spoke quickly, trying to backtrack, but Ryan raised a hand and looked up at me.

  “No, it’s fine. It’s been over a year now, I should be able to talk about it. I mean, I can, talk about it. Her name was Maya, she was a hawk.” My lips parted, surprised.

  “You had a hawk for a familiar?” I could hear the excitement in my voice, before I felt something nudge my foot.

  “Something wrong with a fox familiar?” Dane’s voice echoed in my head, sounding offended.

  “No, of course not, that’s not what I—“ Taking a deep breath, I returned my attention to Ryan. “Sorry, ignore me. You were saying?”

  “Right, well, it’s sort of hard to explain, but with the spell, the resurrection one, you have to cross to this — other place.”

  “Like the underworld?” I asked. Dane growled at my feet, but it was quiet, and it didn’t seem like he was focused on anything specific. My guess was that he knew, and obviously disliked, what Ryan was talking about.

  “Sort of, but not even close,” Ryan gave me a small smile. “Like I said, it’s hard to describe if you haven’t seen it for yourself. But anyway, Maya had to come with me there and,” He rubbed the back of his neck like he was nervous, but I realized it was another emotion: sadness. “She didn’t make it back out with me.” He shrugged then as if to make it seem like it was no big deal, but the frown on his lips and the fact that he wouldn’t meet my eyes told a whole other story.

  “I’m sorry,” I told him, and I honestly meant it. Dane rested against my feet, and despite not knowing him well, I could tell we were connected. Losing Maya must have hurt him, and I didn’t blame him for not wanting to talk about it.

  “Could you go get her back?” The question came out before I could stop it.

  “No,” Ryan shook his head dejectedly. Okay, I thought, time for a subject change. So I turned forward and faced Dane.

  “Why didn’t you talk to me this morning? Instead of making me think I was crazy?” I was expecting him to have some profound reason, like it wasn’t the right time or something.

  “It was fun.” Dane explained simply, and Ryan let out a laugh next to me. At least he was feeling better now.

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  “You thought it was fun to make me feel like I was losing my mind?” I asked in disbelief. Dane shrugged, as much as a fox can shrug, at least. Looking back at Ryan, I was hoping for some backup or something, but he just shrugged as well. Letting out a long sigh, I looked up and noticed the clouds were rolling faster now.

  At that thought, the rain started to fall, and none of us, with maybe the exception of Dane, were dressed for it.

  “My place,” I called to Ryan as we both stood up and started running.

  Despite us both running, we were soaked by the time I used the key fob to buzz us in. My ankle was throbbing, and we were dripping on the carpet of the lobby. The rain was pouring even harder now, and I wondered if Dane would be alright outside. Glancing behind me as I dug in my bag for the key to the door, I caught a glimpse of orange darting past the glass doors.

  “Don’t worry about him, he’ll be alright. He is a wild animal after all.” Ryan grinned down at me, his hair plastering itself to his forehead. I had not idea what I looked like, but I was guessing it wasn’t that flattering.

  Finally getting out the keys from my bag I led the way upstairs, both of us doing our best not to drop water everywhere, and failing.

  The door swung open before I had even put the key in the lock.

  “There you are, finally.” Tanya opened the door to reveal herself in a very short dress, made out of ridiculously sparkly material. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her outfit. Our tastes were not similar at all, but I envied her confidence.

  “Nice dress,” I commented politely. “Can we come in now?” Tanya mouthed ‘we’ before opening the door further and catching sight of Ryan beside me.

  “Hi Ryan, I wasn’t expecting to see you. Come in.” Tanya’s eyes were wide as she tried to get me to look at her, but I kept my head down and moved past her. Taking off my shoes at the door, I made my way into the bathroom and grabbed the two of us towels.

  “Do you want to shower first? I can put your clothes in the dryer downstairs quick.” I stammered awkwardly. “If, you want to, that is.”

  “Um, sure, if you don’t mind.” I handed him a towel and pointed out the bathroom to him.

  “Thanks,” As Ryan took the towel, he glanced between me and Tanya, “I, uh, won’t be long.” Watching as he disappeared in to the bathroom, I could feel Tanya’s eyes on me, probably ready to burst with a hundred questions.

  I turned around to face her, but instead she walked past me, her eyes wide, a look I knew well. I could hear the shower running now.

  “Hey, Ryan?” Tanya knocked on the bathroom door. There was a rustling sound muffled by the sound of water running as Ryan popped the door open a crack and stuck his head out. He raised he eyebrows questioningly. “If you want to hand me your clothes, I’ll put them in the dryer for you.”

  “Oh, right, one sec.” Ryan looked alarmed, and the door closed Tanya looked at me and grinned, I never thought I would see Ryan flustered. The door opened again. “Here,” He reached out a hand that held his wet clothes, and Tanya grabbed them. The door quickly shut again and you could hear the shower curtain move.

  “Look, he wears boxers.” Tanya whispered to me, as I tried to drag her away from the door, and took the clothes from her. “You’re no fun.” She says, sticking out her tongue at me. “But you are dripping all over the floor.” I rolled my eyes and went to my room, changing into a dry set of clothes.

  I grabbed a laundry token and a dryer sheet and carried our wet clothes downstairs and set the dryer to high heat. Hopefully he wouldn’t be stuck without clothes for long. Hurrying back upstairs, I was glad to still hear the water running, meaning Tanya hadn’t had a chance to bother him further.

  “So, you going to tell me what you two are doing together?” Tanya called from her room as I walked past.

  “I wasn’t planning on it, no.” I said deadpan, but stepped into her room anyway. Tanya was sitting at her desk, a mirror and makeup brushes in front of her. “Are you going out?”

  “Yep,” She said, popping the end of the word. “A party, Jessie’s.”

  “And the theme is — sparkles?” I asked, only half joking. She laughed.

  “Actually, yes. Want to come?” I shook my head.

  “That’s fair,” She dropped her voice low. “I’m not sure I would want to go to a party either if I had time alone with—“

  “Shut up,” I told her sharply, and grinned at me.

  “Just saying,” She sing-songed as she applied a lip stain. I left her room and knocked tentatively on the bathroom door. Nothing. I knocked louder.

  “Yeah?” I heard Ryan call from the shower.

  “I’m just gonna go grab your clothes, they should be almost dry.”

  “Okay,” He paused. “I’m almost done anyway.” Downstairs, the clothes were still pretty damp, but they’d have to do. Briefly, my mind flitted to an image of Ryan in only a white towel around his waist. I shook my head and cleared that thought away.

  “Here,” I told him as he opened the door a crack and accepted his clothes. Moments later, he was back in the living room, settling on the couch with a can of pop I had offered him.

  I grabbed my own pop and joined Ryan on the couch, sitting on the opposite side and bringing my feet up. He had set the TV to some house-building show. One of the ones where people have menial jobs but can somehow afford multi-million dollar houses.

  “Yeah, I don’t really get them either,” Ryan replied when I told him my thoughts. “But the houses look nice, and it’s coll seeing how the process all comes together,” He casually put his arm around the back of the couch, and he looked relaxed now.

  “What are you looking at?” Ryan asked, and I quickly looked back at the TV. I couldn’t look at him while I spoke, but I could still manage the truth.

  “That you look really relaxed.”

  “Should I not be?” Hearing the grin in his voice, I turned to face him again.

  “Of course, I just mean, well, like I said through text, you seemed different that first night… And were you busy? Before coming here I mean, I know Dane dragged you to me, and—“

  “Hey,” Ryan interrupted my monologue of worry. “It’s alright, I really didn’t have plans.” He paused. “Did you have plans, I can leave if—“ I didn’t want him to go, at least, not yet.

  “No, that’s alright, if you’re free we can hang out. I have some studying to do later though.” He nodded, and I could taste the bitterness of the lie on my tongue. I had to work on the spell, not studying, but I couldn’t say that without risking Tanya overhearing.

  “Can I show you something in my room?” Ryan noticeably hesitated, and I realized how that might have sounded.

  “Oh, no, not that, just, uh, my closet…”

  “Sure,” Ryan said, saving me from my own embarrassment. My cheeks were still hot as I lead the way to my room. Ryan looked around and I gestured to the chair by the desk, which he took.

  I closed the door behind us and opened the closet, revealing my ingredients.

  “Nice collection, how long have you been working with—“ He gestured to the closet.

  “Since last Spring.” He nodded, but didn’t pry. He stood up then, walking up behind me and looking at the shelves of jars. I felt nervous — no one knew this side of my life, not even Tanya.

  And I felt that there was a lot going unsaid. Who had he lost and tried to resurrect? What had really happened in that other place?

  But those thoughts were quickly replaced by the feel of his arms brushing mine as he reached up to grab something off the top shelf next to me.

  I could feel a chill where his arm touched mine. One day, I was going to ask him about that. But I couldn’t think with him this close.

  “This.” He said, he said gesturing to the jar filled with lemon sprigs. “What were you using it for?” I thought about it for a minute.

  “Oh, that one was a healing tonic. One of the spells had the unfortunate side effect of making me lose my voice for a whole week. I was using it in a healing spell.”

  “Interesting.” He put it back on the shelf.

  “Why?” I asked him, feeling brave and turning to face him. That had been a bad idea as we were now standing very, very close together. I looked down at his chest, close enough I could almost see the individual fibres.

  “I— uh — used it in a healing solution as well. Allergies.” He mumbled the last word, and I looked up, startled by how gray his eyes were. I wasn’t sure I was breathing. His hands found their way to my arms, warm this time. I watched him swallow and my gaze fell to his lips.

  He pulled me closer, not quite touching him, but almost — I looked up, leaning in—

  Someone pounded on my bedroom door, and we broke apart.

  “Kara! I’m leaving now, see you later.” I stepped back, and Ryan put the lemon jar back on the shelf.

  “Yeah, okay!” I called back, blushing, meeting Ryan’s gaze as he was smirking, slightly red as well. We waited until we heard the front door close to speak.

  “Well, I should, uh, probably get going.” Ryan said. It was concerning how my chest felt tight at that. Maybe what had almost happened had been a mistake, maybe he didn’t— “I just have work tomorrow, not because…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t have to.

  “No problem, let me know if Dane gives you any trouble on your way out.” Ryan winced.

  “I hadn’t thought about that.” He winked at me, and then in one motion, stepped forward, put his a hand on my arm, the other gently on my chin, and kissed my cheek.

  “See you later. I’ll text you.” Ryan walked out of my room before my brain caught up.

  “Uh, yeah, bye!” The front door closed. I sat down on my bed, and cursed myself for how happy I was right now. It was like I was 12, excited because he kissed my cheek? Pathetic.

  But still… I grinned as my phone buzzed.

  “Dane’s not happy with me, but I managed to make it to my car unscathed. And — I hope we can continue where we left off tonight. Can I still take you out on a date on Saturday?”

  I smiled at the text, and quickly typed the response.

  I’ll see you Saturday at 7pm. His reply was immediate.

  Can’t wait.

  I went to my window and spotted his car, headlights still on, parked down the block. I watched him drive away, and thought back to how close we were and the feeling of his hands on my arms.

  Saturday was only three days away, I told myself. And I had a spell to work on.