Page 47 of Mochas and Minotaurs

“It’s okay. I had to explain it to the old witch, too.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat at the tragic story I’d just heard. I realized the spirit had waited until I’d left to talk to Gigi. I didn’t blame her. The men in her life had let her down. I didn’t want to start this relationship with lies and deceit, so I decided I had to tell her that I knew.

With Triscuit’s carrier in one hand and an overfilled plate in the other, I made my way downstairs. I decided to bring Triscuit along because I thought maybe he’d be able to tell if the spirit was dangerous or not. I also wondered if his presence would help make the introductions easier.

Gigi was quiet as I slipped into the room under the basement.

“I want to be completely honest,” I said as I placed the overloaded plate with our food on the table, which was now dust-free. “I heard everything you were saying down here while I was upstairs.”

She stiffened, and I could feel her worry in the air. Or was that the girl’s worry?

“I didn’t mean to snoop,” I said. “I have a camera in the stairwell, and it caught the conversation. I thought you were singing to yourself at first, and I wanted to hear it.” I directed the next words at the innocuous-looking compact still in Gigi’s hands. “I brought Triscuit down to meet you since I thought you might want to meet him.” I placed Triscuit’s carrier on the table.

There was nothing but silence from the ghost girl. But Triscuit didn’t freak out either, which I took to be a good sign. I didn’t need to wonder long whether Gigi’s familiar could detect the ghost’s presence, because he started being friendly immediately.

“Hello! How ya doin’?” Triscuit asked, sounding much like Gigi.

Gigi grinned and reached over to open Triscuit’s carrier.

“Let’s eat before the food gets cold,” I said. “I had to put it all on one plate because I didn’t have enough hands.”

We ate in relative silence, surrounded by the old witch’s things, which already felt more familiar.

Triscuit continued reacting to something in the room, sometimes talking, sometimes nodding, and once even offering a toy, but it wasn’t until the end of the meal thatshefinally spoke. “I like Triscuit. Can you bring him down sometimes so we can play?”

“Sure. I’m Marcus,” I said, introducing myself now that she didn’t see me as a threat and vice versa. “Are you stuck down here?” I looked around the room.

“Kind of. I have to stay near the compact. There was a bookstore right above us, so I got to read new books sometimes. And I get to see the corner of the antique store, but it’s usually covered with things.”

“But you haven’t been in my coffee shop?” Gigi asked.

“No. That’s too far.”

After some testing, we figured out that she had a range of about ten feet around the compact. She could see past that but couldn’t interact with anything. Well, technically she couldn’t interact physically with anything at all, but she could go into books and read the words if it was within the radius.

“Wait a minute, I remember the bookstore. That corner should be the romance corner!” Gigi exclaimed.

If the air could blush, it did.

“That’s okay. Technically, you’re not really fourteen anymore. You can read anything you want,” Gigi said. “I have lots of books if you want to come upstairs with me.”

“Can I?”

“Wait,” I said. “How do we know it’s safe for her to go upstairs?” I didn’t say the second part, which was, how did we know it was safe for Gigi? “I’m pretty sure now she’s the one Arcane Development is looking for.”

“Maybe. But it could be something else in the room. Why would a bunch of wizards want a transformed girl?”

“Wizards?” her voice shook. “My father’s friend, the one he promised me to, was a wizard.”

Gigi and I exchanged a look. What were the chances that they were related? He’d be long dead by now. Why would they still want her? We were still missing something.

“Shit!” Gigi swore. “What if breaking down that wall exposed her to the wizards? What if it was protecting her the whole time?”

“You mean the spell on the wall?” the girl asked. “It wasn’t protecting me at all. The opposite. The brat cast it because he doesn’t like me.”

“The brat?”

“The old witch’s son. He hates me. That’s why he hid me away and made it so no one could find me.”

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